High Production DC Dryer Temps and Retention

[ZooCity]

Dialing in our dryer to handle 2 presses running full tilt with DC.  I know this depends on the print itself and how much ink is in that garment v. air flow/exhaust/temp and retention and we're going to tune the setting to the specific run we're doing and wash test of course.  We could use some advice or starting points for temp settings and min retention.

Sprint 2000 HO 60", 16' chamber.  Air flow all the way up. 

Standard DC settings are 350˚F, 1.5-2min retention time.   

Thinking 400-450˚ and dropping retention to a minute.  I guess my big question is, ample heat and air flow being in place, what's the minimum retention needed for a DC print to do it's thing? 

[Colin]

You have a doughnut probe correct?

[ZooCity]

You have a doughnut probe correct?

Yup. Did all our testing for the regular settings with it, mapped the dryer, etc.

[Colin]

We can run at our dryer as fast as 1 minute 30 seconds.  But I don't go higher than 340.

We know that the water has evaporated around the halfway mark in our dryer and that we reach cure temp with a couple feet left to go.   We prefer to see it at cure temp for closer to 3 feet minimum..... juuuust in case there are a few spots that were wet longer.  This makes our headaches go away   Otherwise we go for a full 2 minute retain time.

Its all about mapping your garment temps under a full load of wet shirts.  Big print/shirts just off the ups truck will take longer to fully evaporate.  Where in your dryer does that evaporation take place is huge when it comes to throughput.

[ZooCity]

Super helpful.  I had the guys map the dryer initially but didn't think to do it under load. 

Why no higher than 340˚? 

[Colin]

The owner does not want to run the risk of damaging delicate fabrics......