Tri Blends best ink

[3Deep]

What is your go to ink for Next Level or any other Tri Blend shirt that you can not us a DC ink for and still have a nice soft hand?  We just picked up a cross fit company and they us a lot of this style shirt and not all colors will take a DC ink, so my best today was using a high mesh for the white ink and high mesh for the top colors to keep it soft.

[DannyGruninger]

All we print on them is hsa waterbase. If they bleed we run a black blocker under the hsa white base.

[Prosperi-Tees]

What is your go to hsa?

[dirkdiggler]

All we print on them is hsa waterbase. If they bleed we run a black blocker under the hsa white base.

This is what is about to happen at our shop aswell, tested this exact situation at the Wilflex lab Monday.  It seems to be the go to.

[Prince Art]

HSA may indeed be the best choice; can't say, as we haven't tried that option. But we've been having a terrible time with NL's triblends being heat sensitive, and One Stroke's ELT-S series has been very helpful in avoiding discoloration & scorching. (Also helps prevent bleed by curing lower.) We've also gotten reasonably good hand (for plastisol) from their Aquasilk white.
Of course, any time you can do vintage prints on triblend, you'll have an easier time & a great feel.

[DannyGruninger]

What is your go to hsa?

Green Galaxy, virus, matsui, magna, wilflex, permaset...... They all have something we like to use but we are mainly green galaxy as I like their bases due to open time on the screen.

[ZooCity]

You guys moving to HSA for this- in the case of something like a big spot color white print on a black tri, are you able to run 2 screens of HSA and do this?   

[ebscreen]

You guys moving to HSA for this- in the case of something like a big spot color white print on a black tri, are you able to run 2 screens of HSA and do this?

Yes, we've done it on colors/brands we know won't bleed. I have a pic on here somewhere.

[whitewater]

hey i do crossfit..ask brad..LOL

we print on the triblends and we use 230's on them using a 50/50 white

[Inkworks]

We sell them on the "vintage, faded look" and do a based-down white single hit through fairly high mesh counts.

[ZooCity]

You guys moving to HSA for this- in the case of something like a big spot color white print on a black tri, are you able to run 2 screens of HSA and do this?

Yes, we've done it on colors/brands we know won't bleed. I have a pic on here somewhere.

We can get it with DC UB on a good discharging fabric.  Past that it's 3 screens.  Added cost can be a turn off to some clients, no biggie on larger runs.

Agreed that each mfg's HSA has it's place.  We run Matsui here, nearest to what the Rutland HSA was, which was the best imo.

[Sbrem]

for what it's worth, we run straight plastisol on tri-blends, no issues or complaints. After reading a lot of conversations on HSA here, I have trouble seeing it as an everyday ink, with the amount of extra hits and screens, the average customer here will simply not pay for that. How short a run can you go with HSA and still be worth the while?

Steve

[DannyGruninger]

for what it's worth, we run straight plastisol on tri-blends, no issues or complaints. After reading a lot of conversations on HSA here, I have trouble seeing it as an everyday ink, with the amount of extra hits and screens, the average customer here will simply not pay for that. How short a run can you go with HSA and still be worth the while?

Steve

I'll say for my shop all we print is pvc free now, and mainly hsa ink. It does not matter if the order is 12 pcs or 12k. HSA is where the industry is going and we want to stay ahead of the curve. We used to feel that we put out great product with plastisol but we are putting out much better with pvc free.

Are we making less money? Yes
Is it more difficult to use? Yes
Are there days/jobs where I would rather print plastisol? Yes

But at the end of the day I own my shop and it's a passion of mine to watch shirts come off the belt that I am stoked about. I'm 100% not the best businessman there is because I could make a lot more money printing plastisol right now but honestly it does not challenge nor excite me. I started to lose some passion recently printing the same ole inks but challenging myself and my shop to make this switch has brought the fire back. Seeing prints that we used to do with plastisol come out feeling softer, looking better, etc is what it's all about to me. But is the ink an everyday ink for most? Probably not, as we have taken many steps backwards on a lot of jobs that we used to print in our sleep but when we figure it out has made printing much more rewarding then it was a few months ago. But for what it's worth I can't ever see my shop printing plastisol again, we have had a couple clients specifically request it now but we send them elsewhere(good business? probably not but we are willing to re build our client base with those who understand and appreciate the differences in the ink we are using)

[Prince Art]

@ 3deep: Your choice of ink may depend a bit on what your customer wants/expects. We print OSI Aquasilk white on triblend for a gym that uses a lot of these shirts, and they are quite happy with them. A lot of customers don't measure a good print the same way printers do! We give them bright prints that are lightweight, flexible, and stretch nicely; they don't care that the ink has a texture that's different than the shirt itself. And if the customer is happy, like Sbrem asked, is it worth it to attempt a more complicated process? Now, if you've got a saavy customer who specifically wants the hand of HSA or discharge, and they're willing to pay for it, then that's another story. But many customers aren't there. (Of course, if you want to blaze new trails like Danny, that's also great - but not where all of us are for our bread & butter work.)

[Doug B]

  We do a couple of cross fits also and they are happy with plastisol. Would they pay more
for a soft hand? In this market, no (only if we charged the same as plastisol). Around here
EVERYBODY wants white that's WHITE. Can't sell them on the "faded look" even if we gave
a discount for it. I guess the people here are just a bit behind the current market trends.