Water Base Glue and Silicone Wash Shirts....

[Colin]

For those of you who use a water base pallet glue - whether rolled on or carded on - and then print these awesomely super soft silicone washed ringspun shirts...... how many pieces can you print before you have to stop and scrub/remove the lint?

We find we have a range of 150 to almost 300 pieces (rarely more) - depending on brand of shirt.

Cotton Heritage we have to scrub most often..... Canvas and District much less so.

When we print standard 50/50 or PC61's etc, we can and often go to 700+ before needing to scrub our boards.  Run temps are anywhere from 120 to the low 130's.  We rarely get close to or above 140, although it can happen with certain jobs.

We are currently using Tekmars TB-EZX which is designed for difficult to grip to Performance Polyester.  I don't want this to turn into a this glue is better than your glue scenario, I am looking for procedures and insight.  Or maybe there is a better glue for this... I dunno...

I.e. are we doing something wrong?  Is there a nuanced step that we are missing?  Is there no good way to minimize the impact of silicone residue on our pallets? 

Is there a different glue out there that I should be applying at 150-200 pcs that keeps my downtime minimal?  Allowing for scrubbing only at breaks or end of the day?

When scrubbing our procedure is to mist the boards with water and use a scotch brite pad to quickly scrub off the lint.  This typically takes around 30 seconds per set of boards - rotate boards over, scrub, remove lint from pad if needed, repeat.  On a 16 pallet press this can equate to 5+- minutes of down time.  When stopping every 200 shirts..... its a nightmare.

Thanks for every ones input or condolences

[LoneWolf2]

I haven't printed the silicone washed shirts yet, but using the garment dyed garbage that is comfort colors, I have to stop and scrub after every case. Using the same glue as you too. So I'd kill to be able to knock out a few hundred before having to stop!

[Underbase37]

I haven't used the TB-EZX. But it doesn't sound like you're doing anything wrong to me. The softer shirts seem to be treated with a fabric softener or somthing with the dye that makes it almost like a repellent. On a basic cheap %100 cotton shirt we scrub pallets or re-glue every 300-500 shirts. On these softer style shirt we are around the 150 mark you are seeing ( some times in extreme cases we end up needing to use web spray.....yuck ) 

Murphy

[LuckyFlyinROUSH]

Do you necessarily need to scrub the lint off? Like you have a ton built up? We may go 3-4 days without scrubbing lint off, just re-apply glue when needed. Let the press cycle the shirts off while flashing, re apply glue, flash around and start putting shirts back on.

We may scrub more offten or change paper if we change to 100% poly, or after we do hoodies, but for the most part the lint seems to stay flat so we can go longer.

[Colin]

Specifically what glue are you using?

I tried that - kinda - recently.  What we noticed was the glue was absorbed into the lint/residue and made it soft..... maybe we need to spin it under the flash a little more....

We have the most trouble with residue on the board when using the Cotton Heritage garments.  They are definitely different....

[dirkdiggler]

we never scrub pallets EVER, just reapply Tekmar TB-10 as needed.  Change tape maybe once a month.

[jvanick]

we never scrub pallets EVER, just reapply Tekmar TB-10 as needed.  Change tape maybe once a month.

this is how we are too.. change over pallet tape when doing performance wear or after a long hoodie webtack run... otherwise, just reapply textac when needed.

I tried the water spray/scrubby pad attempt a few times and only ended up with a mess.

[dirkdiggler]

we never scrub pallets EVER, just reapply Tekmar TB-10 as needed.  Change tape maybe once a month.

this is how we are too.. change over pallet tape when doing performance wear or after a long hoodie webtack run... otherwise, just reapply textac when needed.

I tried the water spray/scrubby pad attempt a few times and only ended up with a mess.

Exactly the same here!

[Underbase37]

we never scrub pallets EVER, just reapply Tekmar TB-10 as needed.  Change tape maybe once a month.

Do you ever feel that after a few thousand impressions with just re-glueing, you have a build up of glue and lint on your boards that just creates problems? We have. Kind of like a gummy substrate. Expecially if you're boards start to get hot.

We just did a run of 15k that we did half and half, first half re-glue second half scrubbing. In the end it was just as fast scrubbing, and we didn't have a build up compounding into other problems. As far as the mess, we sweep at least three times a day so it's not a problem, it gets swept up anyway with the rest of the day.

Murphy

[dirkdiggler]

never, I will manually pull off strings or large lint when necessary.

[Colin]

Underbase:

Are you using the same glue as Dirk?

Last time I tried the re-apply glue without the scrubbing method I also had a kinda goey mess......  I do wonder if its the glue makeup that makes it work for some.....

I have not used enough water base glues to know what the real variables are....

[Underbase37]

Underbase:

Are you using the same glue as Dirk?

Last time I tried the re-apply glue without the scrubbing method I also had a kinda goey mess......  I do wonder if its the glue makeup that makes it work for some.....

I have not used enough water base glues to know what the real variables are....

No. We use the TB-HV. We have tried the TB-10, but we ended up not liking it, a little to watered down for us.
Maybe we need to take a look at it again. I could see the thinner formula maybe not getting as gummy.  If I remember correctly the TB-10 is formulated to use with the spray guns.

Murphy