Author Topic: Donut probe works inside shirt but not in ink  (Read 1345 times)

Offline StuJohnston

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Donut probe works inside shirt but not in ink
« on: September 06, 2013, 03:41:51 PM »
I got a donut probe recently for cheep cheep and it seems to read temps correctly when in contact with whatever it's measuring, but I cant seem to get it to contact properly with the ink. Is this normal? After a bit, I decided to see what happened when I put it inside the shirt figuring that if I hit temp on the inside of the shirt, the ink would definitely hit temp and it read more like what I was expecting.

Does the ink method only work for bulletproof prints? Another detail that is important is that I am using an infrared dryer. It does have forced air, but not enough to heat the air significantly if the donut probe is to be believed.


Offline Gilligan

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Re: Donut probe works inside shirt but not in ink
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2013, 07:03:50 PM »
Donut probes that I have seen work by the contact made that the crossing of the wires in the middle.  It doesn't want/need to be contacting anything else.  Being able to sit on any service (non-metallic I suppose), is just a bonus for us.

You should be able to drown that thing in bowling water and read ~212 degrees F.

Not sure why ink would cause a problem, thickness of ink has no relation... it can tell what the temp is of the air it's sitting in if it needs to.

Offline abchung

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Re: Donut probe works inside shirt but not in ink
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2013, 10:43:37 PM »
I usually place the printed substrate on a hard surface, then I get a wooden stick and carefully push the wire into the ink so it touches the substrate.
This way I know I am measuring inks that is touching the shirt.


Offline StuJohnston

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Re: Donut probe works inside shirt but not in ink
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2013, 03:14:36 AM »
ABChung, that makes total sense, the belt isn't perfectly taut so the shirt would dip below the probe unless there was something stiff behind it. Wait, do you mean send the substrate through the dryer on the hard surface, or something else?

Offline abchung

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Re: Donut probe works inside shirt but not in ink
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2013, 07:54:16 AM »
No.
If it is a wooden board. I carefully remove the board, so the wire does not pop out of the ink again.
Don't use your finger to push the wire. The ink will stick to your finger, then you will have a thinner deposit of ink.