Is My Dryer Going to Cut It for W.B. - Discharge?

[Inkworks]

Okay, I know nobody can answer for sure and that I just need to try it, but I'm looking for edumacated guesses.

Older 14' Hix, 24" belt, 9.5' of heat, 4 panels, but the kicker is it has no forced air in it. I can't complain, it cost $200. It keeps up to the auto at a comfortable pace, but we do bury the belt if we're pushing it. We have no problem getting 1.25 - 1.5 minutes process time in the tunnel and don't get significant temp drops even with a solid belt full of fleece.

I'm on the lookout for a gas 36 -48" belt, total length of 14-18' feet, but until that comes along I'm wondering if W.B. - Discharge is but a pipe-dream or if I should give it a go because it's not unreasonable to expect a full cure.

Most of our runs are 48 - 400pcs with the odd run up into a few thousand. I'd be happy with being able to pull off ~100-200 pc. runs of W.B. - Discharge for now at a slow dryer speed, but running things through twice would probably put me off until we upgrade the dryer.

Thoughts?

[Evo]

It would probably keep up with a manual printer, not an auto.

Here's the thing, without forced air you need tunnel time and lots of it - like 3 minutes or more depending on the print, etc. You will need to run the belt slow and keep the temps down to avoid scorching. This will dry out the moisture in the ink.

Then you will probably need to run the shirts through a second time to actually make sure the ink is cured. (you can do this with wb inks)

I would also suggest adding a fixer to the ink (stir in before the discharge agent) to help with washfastness.

[244]

Okay, I know nobody can answer for sure and that I just need to try it, but I'm looking for edumacated guesses.

Older 14' Hix, 24" belt, 9.5' of heat, 4 panels, but the kicker is it has no forced air in it. I can't complain, it cost $200. It keeps up to the auto at a comfortable pace, but we do bury the belt if we're pushing it. We have no problem getting 1.25 - 1.5 minutes process time in the tunnel and don't get significant temp drops even with a solid belt full of fleece.

I'm on the lookout for a gas 36 -48" belt, total length of 14-18' feet, but until that comes along I'm wondering if W.B. - Discharge is but a pipe-dream or if I should give it a go because it's not unreasonable to expect a full cure.

Most of our runs are 48 - 400pcs with the odd run up into a few thousand. I'd be happy with being able to pull off ~100-200 pc. runs of W.B. - Discharge for now at a slow dryer speed, but running things through twice would probably put me off until we upgrade the dryer.

Thoughts?

Simplest answer is it will not work.you will waste too much time bottle necked at the dryer. Wait until you get a gas dryer.

[Inkworks]

Any recommendations of what to look for in a reasonably efficient smaller gas oven that can run on single phase? Used is preferred....

[Prosperi-Tees]

With your current dryer expect production to be cut in half or more.  So yes it can be done just not efficiently.

[Evo]

Single phase gas: M&R Heatwave. Hands down.

Secondary choice (for me anyway) would be something like a Hix HG 3612 if you can find one in decent shape used. They go for about the same as the Heatwave new so I would go with M&R if I were buying new.

[Doug S]

I have pretty good results with the mini sprint.  Mine has an 8 ft chamber.  We had a run of 200 discharge prints that were 13" x 15" in size the other day and were able to print at 28 dozen an hour and that was giving all of the shirts 90 seconds in the dryer.  I know that there are better and larger dryers out there, but this one was perfect for us due to the limited space we have.  To cure at that rate with discharge using the mini sprint, you have to have a careful unloader folding and placing the shirts on the belt so that they don't touch each other.  As far as used, I found this one for $12200.00.  It's been great.

[jsheridan]

yes it will work but very limited.

Best thing you can do, pre flash the shirts before they leave the press. This way the flash gets the cure started, the dryer finishes it off.

Keep looking for that used gas dryer as dry gas heat is really the only true way to cure WB.

[Printficient]

Any recommendations of what to look for in a reasonably efficient smaller gas oven that can run on single phase? Used is preferred....

Call Winston Strickland.  He will know.  He will build you one to order.  Your specs.

[Evo]

Best thing you can do, pre flash the shirts before they leave the press. This way the flash gets the cure started, the dryer finishes it off.

And if you do this, make sure you have plenty of active ventilation in the shop. An exhaust hood over the flash is not a bad idea. (unless you enjoy prolonged headaches)

[Inkworks]

Good point, hoods over the flashes on my wish list for just getting rid of the heat too. Does anybody have a picture of what they've done for flash-hoods?

[244]

Any recommendations of what to look for in a reasonably efficient smaller gas oven that can run on single phase? Used is preferred....

Look for a Heatwave or Mini Sprint. Both can run on single phase. The Heatwave runs on 110 volts

[chubsetc]

Any recommendations of what to look for in a reasonably efficient smaller gas oven that can run on single phase? Used is preferred....

Look for a Heatwave or Mini Sprint. Both can run on single phase. The Heatwave runs on 110 volts

What is the main difference in curing between a heatwave and mini sprint both with 8 ft of heat?

[Nick Bane]

mini sprint puts out about twice as many btu of heat.

[chubsetc]

I realize that the mini sprint puts out more btu's but how does that effect the actual curing of the shirt.  Can you cure many more prints an hour with the mini sprint?  Just to be safe not to hijack this thread i'll start a new one.