Actual INK temperature Measuring devices...What is best?

[Dottonedan]

What heat measuring device do you think is best to measure ink temperature?


We are looking at the method to test ink temp on the shirt to determine if dryer temp is also accurate and if the shirt is actually reaching the desired temp.

[ZooCity]

Voted donut but the strips, if they are accurate, are smart as you can "map" your cure on a specific garment if need be.

[Steve Harpold]

If you are looking for specific answers bring you garment and ink to Long Beach ISS, or ship the items to our lab. The thermal imaging systems working in  the Fire Fly will give you a compete map of the heating process descirbed  by a 1x1 pixel between garment and ink. . If you want a system to map your current dryer you need two different probes at the same time, one to map shirt temp and another to map ink temp.

If using an electric dryer (non heat exchanger)) you will find crazy results between ink colors and shirts colors. This is explained by a property defined as emissivity. There are several charts online that will explain provide emissivity numbers.

If using a heat exchange dryer (gas/electric with heat exchanger/any way in which energy is transferred by air  only) the rate at which items heat up is mostly based on mass only. The thermocouple within the dryer will show you the temp you are hoping to arrive at. If the item (ink/shirt) doesn't reach the number on the control your dwell time is to fast, as air for the most part ignores the emissivity principle, or the dryer is poorly designed and the air temp varies greatly within the chamber.

Brown has a thermocouple graphing software system you can purchase which will graph the results. It allows for infinite traces on the same graph so you can compare the ink temp to garment temp on the same trace. It works on a standard Atkins probe. See us @ Long Beach if interested, thanks

[Frog]

Voted donut but the strips, if they are accurate, are smart as you can "map" your cure on a specific garment if need be.

You may remember that back on the old board, I often recommended putting strips on the inside, to really know that the bottom of the ink deposit has reached temp.
btw, I cut them down the middle lengthways, and double my stash.

[Steve Harpold]

Voted donut but the strips, if they are accurate, are smart as you can "map" your cure on a specific garment if need be.

You may remember that back on the old board, I often recommended putting strips on the inside, to really know that the bottom of the ink deposit has reached temp.
btw, I cut them down the middle lengthways, and double my stash.

Putting it on the iniside is brilliant! If not and you use an electric dryer and a temp strip you will effectively
Measure the emissivity value of the temp strip!

[Frog]

Voted donut but the strips, if they are accurate, are smart as you can "map" your cure on a specific garment if need be.

You may remember that back on the old board, I often recommended putting strips on the inside, to really know that the bottom of the ink deposit has reached temp.
btw, I cut them down the middle lengthways, and double my stash.

Putting it on the iniside is brilliant! If not and you use an electric dryer and a temp strip you will effectively
Measure the emissivity value of the temp strip!

Hence their reputation for inaccuracy.

[ZooCity]

I do remember frog, it was great advice then for a guy curing with a flash unit!

I also use strips to map heat presses.  It helps to show the operator how the temp varies at the edges so they know the physics in a visual way.

[Maxie]

Where are you buying temp strips?

[mooseman]

there are all kinds of industrial temperature products that can easily be applied to our purposes.
Here are a few examples

http://www.tempil.com/temperature-indicators/temperature-indicating-labels/reversible-labels/tempilabel-reversible/

http://www.tempil.com/temperature-indicators/temperature-indicating-labels/

http://www.tmchallcrest.com/products/labels/irreversible/textiles-1

http://www.tmchallcrest.com/products/labels/irreversible/textiles-1


tons more on google search
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=textile+temperature+indicators

mooseman