Issues on white blend tees?

[ericheartsu]

We are printing a 2 color print (red&black) on a white tultex blend tee. The Test print went fine, but when we switched to the real garments, and it seemed like the black ink was bleeding out.

We are using a 230 mesh, at 28n, and we were using black ink straight out of our union mixopaque bucket.

The ink wasn't to thin, there was normal pressure being applied, correct angles, but for some reason, the ink would look a little fuzzy before going through the dryer, then at the end of the dryer it would look like the oil was escaping from the plastisol, and forming a little ghost haze around the image.

I've since switched to waterbased black and that fixed the problem, but what were we doing wrong? or doing to make it cause that? My dryer was at normal speed, and i lowered the temp. from 330 to 310.

any ideas?

[Orion]

I have had this happen before, it was attributed to high pigment load in the ink.

[ericheartsu]

Thats so strange. why would that affect only the blend tees? and not say a 100% tee?

[whitewater]

Eric, are you on a manual or auto?

asking because when i was on a manual that happened to me sometimes, but on the auto it doesn't...

[ericheartsu]

This particular job was being printed on our manual

[whitewater]

I don't know, maybe someone else can chime in...would the sharpness of the squeegee have anything to do with this? I've thought about that..maybe not shearing the ink of properly?

[Frog]

No definitive answer, but wonder a bit why you were using that particular black. I bet that it costs twice as much as Ultrasoft. Is it the only plastisol black that you had?

[Inkworks]

Did you stir the ink in the bucket before using? had it sat a while?

Some inks separate a bit  and that can cause issues like you have described.

[whitewater]

Now i remember talking to roger jennings about it..He did say to make sure its stirred really well..

[ericheartsu]

It was stirred really well!

Frog we use it, because we mix with it alot for custom colors on the auto, and the ultrasoft can sometimes be a bit to runny

[Orion]

My apologies, I misspoke earlier. It was a low pigment load that caused the problem. I was using a private label ink from my supplier. When I re-printed the job I used Wilflex and did not have the same problem. Oh how I loathe poly garments!