Garment Printing Ink
One Stroke Inks manufactures garment printing ink for the T-shirt screen printing industry. Call us at 800-942-4447 with any questions you may have about this website. Below is some basic knowlege a screen printer would need to get started with our plastisol-based inks.
Curing Process
Garment printing inks require a heat curing process as opposed to air dry inks often used in sign printing. In most garment printing shops, T-shirt inks are cured using a conveyor belt dryer. Typically, the garment inks will be heated to 320 degrees fahrenheit. This may require 60 to 90 seconds in the heating chamber. For durability, this is the most important factor in garment printing. If your inks are not fully cured in the conveyor dryer, the ink may crack or fall off in the washing machine. The best way to guarantee a full cure every time through the dryer is to use one of many available thermometers created for conveyor dryers. garment printing inks
Testing Conveyor Dryers
One Stroke Inks recommends using a heat probe when testing garments for a full ink cure. The Atkins Heat Probe is a very accurate device guaranteed to give you accurate measurement every time. The probe looks similar to a donut but it has cross-wires that measure the temperature. The donut is attached to a long cord and a handheld device that gives a live reading of the temperature the entire way down the dryer. This allows you to see if there are any temperature highs or lows indicating a problem with your heating element.
Other ways to test curing with garment printing ink include thermolabels, Cure Rite temperature dots, and infrared heat guns. All of these items are available for sale at One Stroke Inks. They work well but they don't give the real-time accuracy in the same way that the Atkins Heat Probe will. They will generally read the hottest temperature in the dryer and you are forced into some guesswork with the actual dwell time. temperature control devices
General Care Information
Garment printing inks do not require much maintanance or care. Unlike the air-dry sign inks, the T-shirt inks will not dry in your screen mesh after a few minutes of printing. The T-shirt inks will remain a creamy consistancy as long as they are not exposed to excessive heat or sunlight. It always helps to stir the inks in the bucket before you use them. This will bring the ink back to its original consistancy and make them much easier to push through your screens. If a crusty layer of ink forms at the top of your bucket, it has likely been sitting open for a long while. Due to the nature of plastisol, you may poke many holes in the ink and stir it back to a usable consistancy. Reducers may also be added to lower viscosity of thicker inks. Some reducers will effect cure time and temperature while some will not. reducers
Industry Links
Visit the links to our partners for more information about screen printing plastisol ink and One Stroke Inks. links
