When is ink to old to use?

[3Deep]

I was going thru our inks and I have some pretty old ass ink maybe 10 years old some never used some used.  Now what about cymk inks I have some union thats pretty old to, maybe 10 years and some knew.  Is there a date we should toss our old ink, does really go bad, I know I have some thats stiff as a sailor at sea for 2 years, can I add some reducer and still use it,the ink Homer!!!  LOL

Darryl

[Fresh Baked Printing]

Somebody mentioned in another post that the plasticisers or some component can start to dry out/evaporate, yielding a print that may wash off. So, while plastisol can last years, I do suspect that there is a shelf life, It would be awesome of one of the ink reps would chime in on this one.

A wash test would probably answer your question too. Print with it and if it holds up under washing, I can't see what would be wrong with it.

[pwalsh]

I was going thru our inks and I have some pretty old ass ink maybe 10 years old some never used some used.  Now what about cymk inks I have some union thats pretty old to, maybe 10 years and some knew.  Is there a date we should toss our old ink, does really go bad, I know I have some thats stiff as a sailor at sea for 2 years, can I add some reducer and still use it,the ink Homer!!!  LOL

Darryl

Daryl:  I’m probably not going to tell you what you want to hear, but here goes.  Depending on the conditions that the ink was stored to include; closed vs. open container, and the average temperature that the ink was stored at, its highly likely that you could stir up a batch of 10 year old ink and have it work just fine, but..

Maybe you should think about your customers and your shops reputation.  Should the people paying you good money for garment screen-printing in 2011 be saddled with shirts that are printed with ink from 2001?  Don’t they deserve your first quality in service, design and materials? 

Sure you could shave a few dollars of cost off a few jobs here and there, but the question that you need to ask yourself is; “Is it really worth compromising quality to save a few bucks”

[Shawn (EIP)]

I have inks 5 - 8 years old also Union ink maybe older that I have scored from buying ink lots ,prints just fine...  To toss your inks every year so you have the current years stock to me anyhow... is rather silly and wasteful.

Only thing I hate about older union inks is they smell funny.

[3Deep]

Peter we're not trying cheat anyone just have inks we have bought over the years, used very little out the can and some never open.  I know I just can't toss these inks in the trash OSHA would be at the shop the next day.  What maybe I asking would these inks print bad, hold there colors..oh yes I would test any ink I thought would cuz trouble for me and my customer.  Some of these old inks I,ve mixed to make a totally new shade of ink, don't kow about you other guys but I,ve mixed plastisol right out the bucket with other inks to get the shade I need.  Now if I find these inks to be bad I will just spread them on some scrap shirts like peanutbutter and cure the hell out of them and toss.
@ endless I dig ya man hate to toss anything that might still be good just to put new stuff on the shelf

[Denis Kolar]

I got an email from Workhorse products with this info:

Q. Does Plastisol inks expire? I’ve had this ink sitting for a couple of years.
 
A. No, it does not expire. You could have a gallon that was 20 years old and if you mixed it up it would likely print just fine. There is no water in plastisol to evaporate. There is no solvent to flash off. Plastisol is a 100% solid product you just got to mix it up and then off you go to the races. It may be a little thicker, but it will still print.

[Shawn (EIP)]

I got an email from Workhorse products with this info:

Q. Does Plastisol inks expire? I’ve had this ink sitting for a couple of years.
 
A. No, it does not expire. You could have a gallon that was 20 years old and if you mixed it up it would likely print just fine. There is no water in plastisol to evaporate. There is no solvent to flash off. Plastisol is a 100% solid product you just got to mix it up and then off you go to the races. It may be a little thicker, but it will still print.

Exactly! An ink manufacture wants to sell ink so they might tell you to use new stock, granted the new stock has probably been adjusted to print easier. I wouldnt say it would be a good idea to use old ink on kids clothing though.

[Frog]

I think that the bottom line is that it's easy enough to test print and launder all suspect inks to know exactly what you have.

[mk162]

We've got some older ink around here.  I just throw it on the mixer and put in some cureable reducer.  problem solved.

[sportsshoppe]

I agree with MK here.... reduce and print away...