Waterbased adhesive

[acescreen]

We've completely switched to TexTac about a year ago. We dilute with water 50/50 in a pump spray water-bottle, we use the a screen stripping sponge (cci) to apply/spread evenly and also to delint. We keep a bottle of the mixed tac and a bottle of water next to the press. It really works great and keeps the shop, the press,  and our skin/lungs much cleaner.

We usually apply once in the morning and then we delint and warm up after lunch. At most we apply twice a day most of the time once. Just depends on the garments and the size run.

We still keep a couple of bottles of aerosol tac handy for test prints and short runs on the manual.

[screenxpress]

I been using Tex Tac for 8+ years

Apply a dab in the middle, spread with a wet paper towel (to get a slightly diluted mixture), flash for a min to dry and get tacky.

When lint builds, take a wet paper towel and scrub it off, flash again and go.

Flash for a minute? First that blew my mind, and I then realized that perhaps you have bare naked aluminum boards. At a usual distance that gives one a 1-10 second flash,  a minute would fry rubber or melamine.

Okay, you got me.  I was way too generous.  In fact, often you can wipe it down with a paper towel until it starts grabbing the paper towel and you're good to go.  Truth be known, I rarely use the flash on the tac.


Oh, I don't remember anyone mentioning pallet tape.  I do use that and when the tape gets to a point where the tex tac is too grungy to re-add, the tape gets replaced.   Way better than applying the tac to the pallet directly, imo.

As I've said, these days I'm more part time than not and usually all I have to do to the pallets (with the left-on tex tac from the last job) is rub the lint off with a wet paper towel, let it dry off and the darn stuff is STILL sticky enough to start off the next job.

[SpeedColor]

I use Xentac for cotton and Tekmar for polyester.  I always use water based ink.  Also, always over pallet paper.
The poly tac can only go up to about 110 degrees C or it will fuse to the polyester though.  I scrub the lint off with a wet rag and get a lot of reuses out of one application of tac,

[lancasterprinthouse]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I can't find an answer to my problem.

Trying to use water based adhesive in a manual print environment. Works well if I have my flash going. Not so much without a flash. I can't seem to get more than 12-15 shirts off in a single color scenario without losing tack. Any tips on how I can keep up the tack when printing single color stuff on a manual press?

[Frog]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I can't find an answer to my problem.

Trying to use water based adhesive in a manual print environment. Works well if I have my flash going. Not so much without a flash. I can't seem to get more than 12-15 shirts off in a single color scenario without losing tack. Any tips on how I can keep up the tack when printing single color stuff on a manual press?

Which tack are you using?

[lancasterprinthouse]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I can't find an answer to my problem.

Trying to use water based adhesive in a manual print environment. Works well if I have my flash going. Not so much without a flash. I can't seem to get more than 12-15 shirts off in a single color scenario without losing tack. Any tips on how I can keep up the tack when printing single color stuff on a manual press?

Which tack are you using?

CCI Probond


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[screenxpress]

Get TexTac.  But I said that above already.

When the lint builds up on the platen, just wet a paper towel and rub across the platen to remove the lint.  Then wipe over the platen with a dry paper towel until the excess water is removed and the Tac starts to grab the paper towel and you're good to go.  Stop rubbing with the dry one before the Tac really starts to grab on or you will have a mess. 

Stuff is like the Energizer Bunny.  Goes and goes and goes - even with days setting unused.  Just dampen it and briefly hit with the flash and you are off and running again.

The ONLY time you have to use the Flash on it is after you have applied a damp towel to remove the excess water in it.  Once the water is gone, it sticks like crazy.

And I'm manual too.

[mooseman]

Looking to completely get away from spray tack stuff in the shop since it just causes a huge mess, but I haven't found a waterbased adhesive that's worth a damn yet.

I've used 3 different kinds of WB tack, and none of it has lasted for more than a few dozen shirts (Pro-tac, albatross, and some rebranded stuff from Spot Color). Granted I am printing on comfort colors shirts, so they're extra linty and messy in general, but that adhesive should still last longer than that.

What brand/kind of stuff are y'all using that have had good/long results? It's a pain in the ass having to stop production to re-apply every few rounds.

Lone you are chasing a ghost. The better a tac works the better it fails to peform. Forget WB tac for a moment and think about double sided tape.You could cover your pallets with double sided tape and stick down some shirts. Very soon however the tape would become so clogged with lint that it was useless.
Switch your attention to masking tape, use the same piece of tape over and over again to hold two pieces of paper together soon the tape is useless.
In both cases you have to replace the tape with another piece and start all over again...
WB tac has the same problem HOWEVER it is easily and quickly renewed to original condition with just a little moisture and a stiff brush. In the matter of seconds the pallets are clean and seconds more are completely dry ready for more work.

Nothing is forever but water based tac comes pretty close you simply have to renew it on a regular basis especially with the shirts you are printing.
We have a 6 station manual and can clean and renew the pallets in literally less than one minute for all six .
We use Tekmar HB cut about 50/50 and apply it with a foam roller the stuff is simply magic it goes farther  than the pink bunny.
mooseman

[Maxie]

Moose man, we use exactly wha though do but still have to change paper when loose threads stick to the platen.
It’s hard to get them off with a brush.

[Frog]

Moose man, we use exactly wha though do but still have to change paper when loose threads stick to the platen.
It’s hard to get them off with a brush.

Can I assume that the shirts with loose threads are bargain priced? The reason I ask is years ago when we were printing Joe Boxer stuff, they went to a contract sew shop for a deal, and it made the press people work a lot harder. Those loose threads were on the print side, and taught us the value of a sticky lint screen.
Inside, that's a different issue that you have to contend with.

[im_mcguire]

Moose man, we use exactly wha though do but still have to change paper when loose threads stick to the platen.
It’s hard to get them off with a brush.

Can I assume that the shirts with loose threads are bargain priced? The reason I ask is years ago when we were printing Joe Boxer stuff, they went to a contract sew shop for a deal, and it made the press people work a lot harder. Those loose threads were on the print side, and taught us the value of a sticky lint screen.
Inside, that's a different issue that you have to contend with.

Frog:
This happens on a lot of higher end shirts too.
We used to use District DT104 for a client who absolutely loved the shirt, he would run 5-7k shirts at a time. We would constantly be stopping because of loose strings. We had a Sanmar rep in and showed them our problem. We were constantly stopping while he watched us run, and he took our complaint up the ladder. Ultimately they said they see no issue with the shirts and that was that.
We have since switched to Bella Canvas 3100c or Next Level 3600 and maybe have to stop 1-2 times for the entire run.

[kingscreen]

We really like CCI Top Bond. Diluted.

[Maxie]

We  import our shirts from India.
We have a good quality shirt and the Indians are really good at cleaning and checking but every now and again their is a loose thread and once that sticks to the first screen which is the underbase you have a thread showing on every print.
I'd love to print either with a sticky board or vacuum (I know Roq make one) as my first station, but if I do that then print flash roller I'm loosing a lot of heads.
On my S type my second head is a flash, no print head.
Problem that a thread is hard to see once the top color is added.

[CCI]

Hi

The stickiest version we have is called Thick Bond, might be worth a try

https://www.ccidom.com/us/en/products/cci-line/thick-bond-pallet-adhesive/

[Frog]

Hi

The stickiest version we have is called Thick Bond, might be worth a try

https://www.ccidom.com/us/en/products/cci-line/thick-bond-pallet-adhesive/

From what I have seen on the forum, this probably just means that many folks will dilute it even more! Almost everyone (other than me) I see who posts about it, says that they put the water whack on it.
Myself, I like the higher viscosity products and use it straight.