Author Topic: Any CCI DC WB users have a killer Royal Blue formula they care to share??  (Read 4821 times)

Offline tonypep

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This is all good news to me


Offline Itsa Little CrOoked

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I might have been unclear with my gelling story. I gel PLASTISOL waste ink (very little) and dispose of the warped but solidified ink cups in the trash. Its easy and I don't get into hot water with the Enviro-Nazis. I've never found a good way to dispose of waste WB DC inks that fits my budget. (Or my nostrils.)

But I won't stop printing WB DC completely, because it's a slam dunk for certain jobs. I just do less of it than I though I'd be doing at this point, and waaaay less than a couple of years ago. I think its because of the average size of my runs. (read:  small)

The job that prompted this thread was Royal Blue.  My WB DC Royal Blues are just underwhelming ever since my almost wholesale change to CCI. I should have my sample of Texcharge TC 217 Blue (Red Shade) tomorrow. I'm anxious to see....

But yeah. For us...on certain jobs...plastisol has quicker setups and less waste generated. Clean up is slower however.

Plastisol doesn't work for our mixed media and foiled stuff and we are doing lots of it right now. Foil resist is inconsistent in my experience.

I've never tried Virus. Yet.....
« Last Edit: August 19, 2015, 01:41:47 PM by Itsa Little CrOoked »

Offline ScreenFoo

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^^I believe you are supposed to cure/fully solidify ink, although gelling is one step better than many do.  As far as WB/DC goes, I hear (Disclaimer: Hearsay)  mixing it into cement is a reasonable equivalent.  But then again, I suppose it all depends on your area/regs.

This is all good news to me

I've been in your corner this whole time.  ;)

No really though, I understand the conundrum--I can't even manage to educate the guys I work with.
"What do you mean, we have to clean it up right away?" 
I really enjoy doing DC/WB, but I really only do it for friends and myself.
Too bad.  Fun stuff....

Offline tonypep

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I may have a few unfair advantages, but after 20ys printing waterbase we have managed all the problems out of the technology.

Offline mimosatexas

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I much prefer the finished results with waterbased, but there are just so many "issues" with printing it in my shop.  Manual shop, one person, live in central texas with wide temperature and humidity swings, etc.

Pretty close to impossible to prevent dry-in on high color count high quantity jobs because it's just hard to keep the ink moving fast enough manually.  I assume an auto would fix dry-in issues on long runs mostly just because the ink can keep moving through the screen.  Of course there are "fixes", but they are annoying and time consuming (misting frequently, adding fresh ink frequently, etc).  Plastisol on the other hand, put ink on screen and print.  Fast, slow, long run, high color count...none of that matters because they inks print the same the whole time.

Being a one man shop also causes headaches with waterbased.  Get a phone call or have a walk in, hard to stop mid-run and expect it to be fine 30 minutes later.  Not finished with a long run and have to leave for some reason (happens a lot with me since I have a one year old who seems to get sick all the time).  Have lots of small jobs that need out the door, too bad you have to clean everything immediately after finishing before setting up the next run.  Plastisol on the other hand...wanna take a 15 minute break, no problem.  Long run can't finish tonight, no problem just finish in the morning.  Wanna batch clean later, go for it.

Don't get me wrong, DC is awesome ink and I use it for my personal work and for jobs where it just makes sense (retail lines, one color bright colors on black 100% cotton, huge coverage on thin garments, etc), but it just can be a headache a lot of the time.  There is a lot more waste too in the form of activated but unused ink.  Even if you measure it well and have minimal overage, you still need overage to cover the flood at the end of a run and you have to toss that ink.