Nylon Shorts?

[mimosatexas]

Have a handful of jobs coming up for 100% nylon shorts, no stretch to them, not waterproofed as far as I know.  I want to go ahead and get an ink made for them since it is a recurring job and I have another similar job for another client that will benefit from the same inks.  Anyone use and recommend the One Stroke 222 series (what about the HO white vs standard white, this job is just one color white)?  I like One Stroke's stuff, but always like to hear from other board members.  Any other inks I should be looking at?  Thanks!

[Printficient]

Xenon Mustang Inks will work.  Cure at 258 degrees

[Frog]

I do fine with any regular plastisol on plain old nylon jerseys and shorts

[ZooCity]

We just add nylobond to Wilflex Performance ink.  Cure peaks at 290˚F.   

We add the nylobond always for printing nylon (and charge for it) just because I find it very hard to know if there is waterproofing or other coating present on nylon fabric and it seems like there is more often than not. 

[Frog]

We just add nylobond to Wilflex Performance ink.  Cure peaks at 290˚F.   

We add the nylobond always for printing nylon (and charge for it) just because I find it very hard to know if there is waterproofing or other coating present on nylon fabric and it seems like there is more often than not.

I only see waterproofing on windbreakers and the like, while most of the stuff I get are just regular football practice jerseys, and the occasional reversible basketball jersey with one side poly and the other nylon.
I must say that over the years, it has declined and I have seen fewer and fewer.
My problem with adding Nylobond, and this may be subjective, but I feel that it reduces the suppleness. It also reduces stretch, which can be an issue in some sports applications even though the garments aren't stretch specific.

[mimosatexas]

nylobond also makes the ink trash after the run, which is why I am interested in the nylon specific ink formulation.  I went ahead and got a gallon of the OneStroke 222 HO White.  I'll let the boards know how it performs.

[ZooCity]

See we never get the classic athletic nylon mesh stuff, it's always pu coated dry bags and patagonia jackets that are so thin they can be stuffed in your back pocket, etc., more outdoorsy stuff than athletic. 

Yep, you need to toss ink after with nylobond which means you need to charge for it.

As far as stretch and suppleness, maybe try adding a little less?  We add about 10% by weight and it always feels great. 

But nothing beats an ink made for a specific substrate, I'm sure the one stroke will be excellent. 

[Gabe]

See we never get the classic athletic nylon mesh stuff, it's always pu coated dry bags and patagonia jackets that are so thin they can be stuffed in your back pocket, etc., more outdoorsy stuff than athletic. 

Yep, you need to toss ink after with nylobond which means you need to charge for it.

As far as stretch and suppleness, maybe try adding a little less?  We add about 10% by weight and it always feels great. 

But nothing beats an ink made for a specific substrate, I'm sure the one stroke will be excellent. 

Also, the use of nylon bond can affect the ink opacity, thus allowing dye migration to take place.

[Colin]

Dye migration will never happen on Nylon goods.  Only on polyester.  (it can appear to bleed since you are thinning out the ink letting more of the garment come through...)

The only time Nylobond is needed on Nylon goods is when you have a jacket type material that is coated or on nylon bags (which are not always coated).

Both of those products have the same thing in common:  VERY tight weave, also called denier (sp?).  Higher the denier the tighter the weave.

At that point a standard Athletic ink is called for and possibly Nylobond.  You can get away with standard HO inks and Nylobond, those inks just don't have as many "high adhesion" resins in them as Athletic inks.

As for why we are having this conversation in the first place?

Nylon thread is Very Very smooth.  Thus making mechanical adhesion difficult with standard inks.  *Cotton shirts have thousands of little pieces to grab onto and around*

Athletic nylon tops typically are loose weave garments that allow for the ink to flow around the threads, making adhesion much easier. 

Athletic nylon bottoms are a tighter weave, but are typically open enough to let ink adhere well.  It is at this point that an ink rep would strongly encourage the use of an athletic ink formulation to ensure a long life of the finished garment.

The addition of Nylobond to any ink will make the ink less supple and stretchy as our good Mr. Frog pointed out so well.  So it is only recommended to be used when absolutely necessary.

Example:

I am printing umbrellas at the end of the week..... I will be using IC's nylon ink series and their bonding additive.  We will flash the umbrellas until we get a *surface* read of 300 and setting them out over the weekend to finish curing.  The print will definitely have some hand and will make closing the umbrella a little bulky in that spot.  But it wont come off

Hope this helped.

[mimosatexas]

Just wanted to update.  The One Stroke 222 HO White worked like a dream.  One hit white with no issues, held up to all the tests, easy to print, easy to clean up.  Only downside is the ink is pretty glossy, which isnt my preference usually, but the client didnt care.