Printing Tri-blend shirts

[Doug S]

Hi everyone,  I have some shirts to print that are 50% Polyester 25%cotton and 25% rayon.  I was wondering if you could use the Union ink low bleed diamond white which is for 50/50 blends or use strictly polyester white.  Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Doug

[ZooCity]

I use standard inks on them all the time but our standard white is Epic Quick, a low-bleed.  So yeah, no need for the gnarly poly inks here.  This is for AA tri-blends, can't speak for other mills.

[ebscreen]

Epic Quick here as well. Watch your flash times closely. These babies like to scorch like nothing else.

[Doug S]

I appreciate the advice.  It's so nice to ask a question and get a reply so fast.

[Get Shirts]

Ahhh these tri-blends can be a headache.  We print a lot of these now (canvas, AA, next level) and use our poly/cotton, drop the temp on the oven, and roll.  Be really careful with the lighter colors, specifically with canvas, that you lay the shirts as flat as possible.. They scorch like crazy.

[RICK STEFANICK]

HANDS DOWN. The Rutland HSA is the best ink for those tri-blends. you will get no fibriation and a super opaque brite white. tri-blends are the fuzzyest shirts out there and this product will eliminate bleed and the problem with the fuzz.and you will get a killer hand. its all we use on tri-blends now.

[ebscreen]

I was hoping you would chime in on the HSA stuff. Should probably ask our new resident Rutland rep as well.

Can you overprint the stuff? With waterbase? Plastisol?

Sent from my Inredible using Tapatalk

[tonypep]

Rutland does not advise overprinting high solids acrylics with plastisol, citing adhesion issues but I've not tried. I discharge underbase them.

[IntegrityShirts]

Rutland does not advise overprinting high solids acrylics with plastisol, citing adhesion issues but I've not tried. I discharge underbase them.

This is what I do, discharge ub or discharge wb colors.  Test though, going bright white can be challenging based on brand/garment color

[MarielAviles]

Doug,

I would recommend Epic Quick white for this application.  However, based on the % of rayon you may need a low cure ink that would help with the dye migration.  I would treat rayon as a heat sensitive substrate.  Therefore, you can use Epic Performance white.  It cures @ 290 and has the bleed resistance needed on the poly/blend.

[tonypep]

The problem with plastisol on these, regardless of brand, is the pilling it is practically impossible to get a matte finish on these. WB IMO is the way to go or as Rick says the HSA. The HSA dries rather quickly for me though, so far but i have just rec'd an open air extender and have yet to try.

[ebscreen]

We did pretty well the other day with a 155 underbase, flash, then a 180 white (basically underbase printed twice) flash
then top colors through 280-355. Luckily it was a rather small print though.

So you guys are discharging these things? How the heck does that work?

[tonypep]

There is just enough dyed cotton (35%) to take enough dye out of the shirt to overprint with plastisol and still achieve bright colors. I have tested most brands and colors and it works across the board. The hand isn't as soft as pure cotton though still pretty darn good  and a real nice matte finish.

[RICK STEFANICK]

as tony said the problem is not the rayon its the poly treads and getting that smooth matt finish. We havnt had any real migration problems with tri-blends its been all matting of the threads and the pursuit of that killer hand as those are super soft garments. hsa seems to do the trick.