Cure times with discharge base

[Maxie]

I cure plastisol for two minutes at 320, how much should I increase this with a discharge base?

[RICK STEFANICK]

That seems long with plastisol. once the ink reaches 320 with standsrd inks the plastisizers and resins fuse and that constitutes fusing. Some retention time certainly can help though. With Discharge or waterbase the key is getting the water out so a gas or forced air dryer helps. With a discharge base we run 75/25 base /d-white now and flash before overprinting. This eliminates any discharge / washability issues. I would think your current setting should be sufficient doing that. With out flashing you may run into curing issues that has been discussed fully in another thread here on the shirtboard.

[tonypep]

Loaded question to be sure. Flashing.........best to steam off and not fully flash as you would w/ plastisol. Final cure? Might want to bump up temp/retention as Rick mentions. Trust your senses and crock test and wash test for most accurate results

[RICK STEFANICK]

Well said Tony..

[JBLUE]

Fixer is your friend. We use it in all our water base ink. We have a Mini Sprint that has 8 ft of heat and run it at 375 8 fpm. Its in there for a minute at best. Absolutely no issues at all. Now if you are slathering the ink on through a 110 like a Dry-waller slinging mud on the wall you might have some issues.

[brandon]

All great info above. But just remember every shop environment is different. Being in New Orleans it is very, very humid and garments especially hoodies hold a lot of moisture. So be careful and test. And not just once but keep it an ongoing process along with the change in seasons.