Discharge Printing

[terryei]

The customer wanted a silver/gray lighthouse and white words, but a soft hand.
Attached is what we printed.  The lighthouse looks a little more white in the picture than it does on the shirt.
Customer loved them.
Terry

[Prosperi-Tees]

 Was this printed with 1 screen or 2?

[terryei]

2 screens
one with discharge, one with discharge plus white.
t

[Prosperi-Tees]

Printed wet on wet? I noticed you used 306 screens? Any trouble with drying in the mesh?

[terryei]

Printed wet on wet? I noticed you used 306 screens? Any trouble with drying in the mesh?

No prob with drying.  About 2/3 through I noticed a fan next to the head, not blowing directly on the screen but within a foot of it.  Never dried once.
t

[screenxpress]

Interesting.  Rutland and Ulano must have quite different characteristics for their discharge. 

The Ulano tech for their product (Plasticharge) recommended mesh count between 156 and 180 and firm pressure, but not too heavy so as to drive it through the fabric where residue from the one side could affect the inside of the other side. 

35 doz an hour?  You must have gas.

They look nice.

[terryei]

Interesting.  Rutland and Ulano must have quite different characteristics for their discharge. 

The Ulano tech for their product (Plasticharge) recommended mesh count between 156 and 180 and firm pressure, but not too heavy so as to drive it through the fabric where residue from the one side could affect the inside of the other side. 

35 doz an hour?  You must have gas.

They look nice.

ooops, you caught me, it was a 160 mesh.  You must have thought I was crazy?
I did have a little gas, but the smell of the discharge masked most of it, and the radio was turned up high enough.
And I do have a gas dryer with a blower, and turned down the belt and stacked 2 wide, it's 36 inches.
Terry

[3Deep]

I would like to try some discharge prints one day, NICE job!!!

[screenxpress]

ooops, you caught me, it was a 160 mesh.  You must have thought I was crazy?
I did have a little gas, but the smell of the discharge masked most of it, and the radio was turned up high enough.
And I do have a gas dryer with a blower, and turned down the belt and stacked 2 wide, it's 36 inches.
Terry

Cool.  I've only done the Union Plasticharge a few times, but theirs didn't seem to have much of an odor.  And with an electric dryer (30 inch wide) running reallllyyy  slooowwww, I can only get about 40/hr (about 90 seconds each).  Oh well, it is what it is.

[Prosperi-Tees]

Yeah with an electric dryer it is a slow go. I have used plasticharge but I dont like the way the colors come out. The plasticharge premix white is not bright at all. I have used the Jantex ink discharge and it worked really well but have not done a big production run with it.

[screenxpress]

This was done with the Union Plasticharge White -



I received the clear for underbase and understand you can lay quite a number of different Union colors on top.  Haven't tried yet.

[Prosperi-Tees]

Mine does not come out that bright, I may be doing something wrong. It comes out real stiff right out the dryer but after the 1st wash feels real nice. Nice print.

[prozyan]

Both these were done with Union plasticharge.  Crappy cell pictures   

[Prosperi-Tees]

Ok give it up what are you guys doing that im not?lol What inks are you using? Maxopake?

[screenxpress]

No secret on mine.  Was just the one component - Plasticharge white.  I use a gram scale ($40 something at bed, bath, and beyond) to determine the activator percentage (6 - 8% max).

This is not for an advertisement for Union, but meant to be for info only.  I spoke with Joe Catizone from NY (helluva nice guy and knows their discharge products) and took the following notes that I'm willing to share (as I've gotten older, I take a lot more notes, lol) -

==============================================================
Mesh between 156 and 180 - too low of a mesh will be too much ink content and will not let the oxidizing process complete properly leaving the print muted and not bright.

The Activator powder is the bleaching (oxidizing) agent.  Suggested activator is 6% to 8% with 8% as the maximum.

Suggested dryer time is 90 seconds and the print should reach 320 for at least 75 seconds.  Do not get the print temperature too hot at the exit point.

Multicolor discharge can be printed wet on wet, but some flashing may be required (possibly with more than 2 colors).

Excess pressure is not needed.  The inside of the shirt should/should not show the oxidizing effect all the way through as if too much mix gets through the front fibers, it's possible to double print on the back in the dryer.  The image should not bleed all the way through to the inside.

Union has 4 distinct Discharge products -

-Discharge Clear
________________
- by itself will leave a tan or khaki image since raw cotton is that color

-Clear Base
___________
for adding Waterbase inks

-Discharge White
________________
- Used for underbase or White printing.  The white should be about as opaque as the Plasticharge White,
but could be a bit softer and sometimes a bit brighter.

-Plasticharge (white or base clear)
___________________________________
- White - White is white but to make less opaque, try 186 mesh or add discharge clear base to base down the White opacity for a lighter print.
- Clear can be mixed with Mixopake or Maxopake products, not Ultrasoft.  Ultrasoft is not a discharge ink.
- For the mixing with Maxopake or Mixopake with clear base, the normal ratio is 50/50 (+ activator).  The best Red is Maxopake Flag Red.  Mixing a White would be the Maxopake PADM 1030 (1001 will work and is slightly less opaque-test-test).  Since the normal mix is 50/50, to get a less opaque print, decrease the ink percent increasing the CLear base percent.  It's possible to go all the way down to 10% ink and 90% discharge clear base. 
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Maybe something in there might help someone.  Joe was really a great source of information and willingly spent quite a bit of time on the phone with me.  And I'm just a little guy.