Miami screen supply ink

[Homer]

I liked the street fighter just fine, but the miami ink is just a tad better in every category.  Better coverage for underbasing most notably between the two, but other than that we could certainly live with the SF, especially mixing it with some qcm 159.  We keep 159 on hand at all times to mix into the longer bodied inks to get them to a medium body.  The miami needs a touch of 159, as did the IC 711, SF, and the other Rutland white we used for a while (can't remember).

Al -what's your take on this ink compared to Phoenix? we absolutely love phoenix white. . .when it's warm.

[alan802]

I liked the street fighter just fine, but the miami ink is just a tad better in every category.  Better coverage for underbasing most notably between the two, but other than that we could certainly live with the SF, especially mixing it with some qcm 159.  We keep 159 on hand at all times to mix into the longer bodied inks to get them to a medium body.  The miami needs a touch of 159, as did the IC 711, SF, and the other Rutland white we used for a while (can't remember).

Al -what's your take on this ink compared to Phoenix? we absolutely love phoenix white. . .when it's warm.

I think the Phoenix is good stuff, it is more similar in body, brightness and flash time to the miami than any other ink.  The Phoenix, street fighter and snap white, ic 711 are all longer bodied whites that all performed really similarly at our shop.  I wish the longer bodied whites would shear as easily as the short bodied, but right now there isn't a white that can do literally everything we want so we have to choose a long or short bodied and modify them or deal with them as is.  We are still modding our white with the qcm 159 but it's not needed as much and we could get by without doing it. 

Honestly, I think you would be happy with the Miami but I think price would likely be the determining factor.  The Phoenix performs as well as any white out there, so depending on what you are paying it might not be worth changing.  The Miami 5'er is $180, that's ridiculous compared to what wilflex is asking, and I can't remember what I was paying for the Phoenix but I think it was mid 200.  Street fighter is good and cheap but lacks opacity in my opinion compared to the Phoenix and Miami.

[Rockers]

What problems do you guys have with the SF?

Workin' pretty well for me.

No problems, but it does not live up to the hype. 

[Homer]

5 of Phoenix is high 3's. . .It is an awesome ink but damn, this is way too tempting to pass up. We have about 15 different whites kicking around, what's anouther gallon. I'll shoot a call on Monday and see if I can get snag some and see if it works for us.

[Gilligan]

Homer, of you literally meant a gallon then i'd suggests two... shipping was like $8 for one or $10 for two.

[ScreenPrinter123]

I liked the street fighter just fine, but the miami ink is just a tad better in every category.  Better coverage for underbasing most notably between the two, but other than that we could certainly live with the SF, especially mixing it with some qcm 159.  We keep 159 on hand at all times to mix into the longer bodied inks to get them to a medium body.  The miami needs a touch of 159, as did the IC 711, SF, and the other Rutland white we used for a while (can't remember).

Al -what's your take on this ink compared to Phoenix? we absolutely love phoenix white. . .when it's warm.

I think the Phoenix is good stuff, it is more similar in body, brightness and flash time to the miami than any other ink.  The Phoenix, street fighter and snap white, ic 711 are all longer bodied whites that all performed really similarly at our shop.  I wish the longer bodied whites would shear as easily as the short bodied, but right now there isn't a white that can do literally everything we want so we have to choose a long or short bodied and modify them or deal with them as is.  We are still modding our white with the qcm 159 but it's not needed as much and we could get by without doing it. 

Honestly, I think you would be happy with the Miami but I think price would likely be the determining factor.  The Phoenix performs as well as any white out there, so depending on what you are paying it might not be worth changing.  The Miami 5'er is $180, that's ridiculous compared to what wilflex is asking, and I can't remember what I was paying for the Phoenix but I think it was mid 200.  Street fighter is good and cheap but lacks opacity in my opinion compared to the Phoenix and Miami.

I'd concur that Miami Ink Superior has quite a bit more opacity/vibrancy to it than the SF II.  I would contend, however, that the flash time is longer.  For an underbase with a lot of open area that will have a lot of open area top colors, I'm flashing at 6-7 seconds to start off at to avoid that tacky/popping/suction sound that top colors have initially on top of a white underbase.  Having said that, as the job goes on, of course, we reduce the flash time and it's well worth the greater opacity.

[alan802]

You need a better flash unit then.  Seriously though, we always start at 4-5 for the first revolution or two and by 100 shirts we are down in the 2-3 second range for flashing.  Maybe the small addition of 159 decreases our flash time a bit?  I know the 159 flashes fast, one of the fastest out there.

[ScreenPrinter123]

I'll be having some sweet flashes after Las Vegas. I'll just try not to get them dirty as I eat your supplied burrito over 'em.

[Binkspot]

I will dry cycle with the flash while applying adheasive to the pallets and getting ready to print maybe 3 or 4 revolutions. We start at 3 seconds and are down to 1.8-2 by the third reveloution using the Miami. That goes for the white and other colors.

[Homer]

we do somewhat the same thing, but we warm the platens for about 10 minutes or so before we start to run. in the summer, we only go a few round and they are up to temp. I need to get a small space heater for my ink room because it gets cold as a mf'r in the warehouse.

do you think I should go with the superior or the smooth? like I said, we are only using phoenix now.

[GraphicDisorder]

Just shot them an email, its time to try them out!

[ScreenPrinter123]

We get out pallets to c. 110 and then try to maintain 140-145 during the job (once they hit c.  140, we lower the flash time) - what about you guys?

[Binkspot]

We tried both, I like the smooth, Megan likes the supior. IMO smooth is closer to Quick white, supior compares to Bright Tiger. Both are creamy and easy to use.

Our shop was 45 degrees yesterday morning and was able to use the Smooth right out of the bucket and still creamy. Some of the other inks needed to be mixed to get them to move.

[tancehughes]

I actually found the Miami ink to be stiff. Maybe it's just me, but I wasn't a huge fan of it. I've tried tons of different whites and Phoenix just kills everything else out there. Wilflex Epic Quick is my #2 white, but Phoenix has a little more opacity (puff maybe) to it.

I don't care about price, to an extent. Phoenix is good, and a little pricey, but eliminates so many problems and allows an easy one stroke print that we save (make) money by using it.

[Frog]

Like I said with my reference to 31 flavors of ice cream earlier, as long as I have been in the business, there has never been one white that suited everyone.
That said, virtually every single white out there right now seems consistently better than what we had in 1990!

Good to see another player getting good reviews though.