Has anybody tried REactivating their recently fizzled-out WB Discharge Inks??

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

It is against my better judgement actually, but I did do a little test on some pooped out Sericol Yellow-Shade Red Texcharge  ink.  It was originally activated with 3% ZFS and following printing, I scooped it back into the deli-container and in the fridge it went on Saturday. (About noon)

The following Monday Morning, the urge came over me to swab a little ink into a shirt with Q-tip, and yep, it was all pooped out...sure enough.  A few minutes later, I had my RE-activated (3%) experiment back on the same tee and ZOWIE...my swabbed blob was bright red!

I figured it wouldn't wash test well, or something weird would happen, but no.... It might have been a smidge more stanky, but not much, and it might have been my imagination. It washed well, and still as of today, nothing unusual has happened.

Why can't this be done? I sounds all wrong, but somebody who knows should tell me why, or why not.

I really would like to see a discussion on this, but I just probably need to call Fujifilm and see what they say.

Stan

[screenprintguy]

We'v done it before, it works sometimes, but if the mix is over a week old, not really worth relying on for a long lasting final product. All that activator that will be in the mix leaves a hand and may not let it bind to the fabric properly. I know it sucks to have a lot of waste, but I think that's part of learning how much to actually mix for a run. I was just at our friends shop last week, Real Thread, all they print is WB exclusively. Pat was showing me how he has now figured out his mix quantities to conserve. He uses all Sericol discharge now. Mixes the colors, and only activates a certain amount at at time. Evidently the Sericol system uses the same base for discharge and straight WB so you don't have to activate if aren't printing on darks, and it doesn't go bad if it's not activated. We watched them line up a 5 color discharge on the Challenger 3, using M3 25x36 frames and I was amazed at how, "little" the amount of ink in each screen was. This also hinted off to me that the Sericol inks stay nice and wet in small amounts on press. They were very relaxed and not in a crazy rush mixing and printing like we tend to get when we do water based and discharge. I know I went off topic, but I think the moral is, only activate what you need of a mix to conserve the waste.

Always learning and praising God for the lessons!!

Mike

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Hardly off topic, Mike. This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. The particular job which I had originally considered REactvating a small quantity of YS Red Texcharge for, turned into a plastisol job.

But still, the additional info you wrote was right on point as I am considering adding an AUTO,  and phasing out Matsui COMPLETELY for Sericol (but keeping some CCI bases) based on reviews on this forum.

And I might contact the shop to which you refer...to see how they make the ink retain its flowable viscosity.

Thanks
Stan

[Prosperi-Tees]

I have noticed the Sericol to be alot more fluid than the CCI stuff, especially the white. That would be the only complaint I have on the CCI is that it does seem a bit to thick but nothing some water doesnt fix.

[screenprintguy]

Hey Stan, Pat is really cool, and very open to helping pass on what he has learned. I know there are plenty of people out there doing wb, but after the visit to their shop, seeing the system he has developed over the last few years, and seeing the HIGH quality of discharge work they are rocking out on their Challenger 3, all over, jumbo and all, he really know's his stuff. He has helped me tremendously with passing on info, especially mixing custom colors. He showed me a book that came with the Sericol system for perfect pantone matching. He said it was very pricey to get set up with the whole Sericol system up front, but for them, they are a wb exclusive printer, so it's an investment that has probably paid off. I just bought a ton of CCI base and white, which I know I'll use, but it was nice to see how you can buy, 1 base for all wb and discharge, tint, and use that same mix for both activated or non activated printing. When I saw how efficient and easy mixing and activating was for him, on huge screens with an over sized job, the little amount of ink he had to put in the screen, and how it stayed wet, man, it got the wheels ticking. His final favorite after the last few years of day to day wb printing, he said, is Sericol, and for high opacity water based ink, IC-Gen IV in place of anything that would normally be plastisol. He only used 5% activator in the Sericol, and it seemed to activate almost instantly after he mixed it up. He is on this board here as Patfinn. Have a good one Stan, I actually have to get out there and whip up some discharge white and get rockin!

Mike