Water base question

[Lizard]

Had a pretty large run today and had a lot of issues with the ink. The color had about 10 percent white mixed in it. No matter how I mixed the ink we couldn't get the white to completely mix and would get some white speck from time to time in the screen. Some batches were perfect, the next batch was horrible.

Rutland WB inks. All new batches. Any suggestions?

[ebscreen]

Filter it through waste mesh. It's an obnoxious step but it's the only
thing we've found to guarantee no issues. Pigment will dry on the inside of
the bottle exposed to air and I can't think of a way around that.


I'd like to automate the filtering process somehow. We lose quite a bit doing it by hand.

[ZooCity]

Yup. 

There is a way to avoid this most of the time- pop the tops off the bottles and soak them overnight, rinse in a.m.  Put a piece of mesh over over the cap to filter at the bottle.  If your ink tech can keep up on the hygiene the pig chunks will be minimal.

Past that you have to hand filter it with mesh....although I think ebscreen has theorized on here that a true shearing blade mixer might kerplode them and avoid the filtering, like putting your chocolate milk in the blender instead of stirring with a spoon.... but I looked into those and it's all expensive lab stuff that looks real fun to clean.  So just save yer old mesh and strain it.

Welcome to water based printing with pcs!

[Lizard]

Yeah boy, sounds like lots of fun.

[TCT]

Or use a different pigment/ink. We switched our white to Matsui and those AWESOME white specs are a thing of the past.

[Frog]

Filter it through waste mesh. It's an obnoxious step but it's the only
thing we've found to guarantee no issues. Pigment will dry on the inside of
the bottle exposed to air and I can't think of a way around that.


I'd like to automate the filtering process somehow. We lose quite a bit doing it by hand.

What about the trick we use on Nylobond? (and the way Plastic Wood comes packaged), store it upside down. Makes the air go to the "bottom".

[ZooCity]

Chunks still form and then you shake that bottle up and they're in there.  Filtering at the container and, if needed, the finished ink is kind of the only way.  And it's not just white pig, yellow seems to be our pigment chunk of choice.

[ebscreen]

Flo Pink hates us here.

For us if you get a single pigment chunk in the screen it's enough of a hassle to warrant filtering the whole
shebang beforehand.

Rutland black was the worst but we switched to CCI black which is much more water so less likely to chunk on
you. Use it at about 10x the amount called for in Rutland mixing software.

[Colin]

The CCI pigments are weaker than Rutland, that's why you see fewer chunks.  More water to evaporate.  Could be a blessing in disguise...

[ebscreen]

The CCI pigments are weaker than Rutland, that's why you see fewer chunks.  More water to evaporate.  Could be a blessing in disguise...

Exactly. However, things like strong reds can get a little thin for our taste using the less concentrated pigs.

[T Shirt Farmer]

we buy knee high women's stockings @ the dollar store for filtering, the elastic fits snug to the rim of qt container. Put the used stockings in a sealed container and use them several times before discarding. This is the one thing I absolutely hate about WB.

[ebscreen]

we buy knee high women's stockings @ the dollar store for filtering, the elastic fits snug to the rim of qt container. Put the used stockings in a sealed container and use them several times before discarding. This is the one thing I absolutely hate about WB.

That's a killer idea. We were using hop bags from the homebrew place but those ain't cheap.

And yes, it is the worst part of the process.

[Frog]

I have mentioned that I took a break from screen printing to run a die stamping press (engraving) The guys who'd been around a while told me how easy I had it running the newer waterbased inks. Used to be all varnish type that before a run was always squeezed through some cheesecloth to filter out the dried bits and pieces. I don't envy you guys this similar problem.

[brandon]

Just move to New Orleans. It's like printing under water all the time with the humidity.