HOW THE PROS DO IT…
The best and most common way to cure water based ink is by using a large, forced air, tunnel dryer… but not all of us have the space, money or ability to use top end, factory grade equipment.
With this in mind, we have tested 3 different ways to cure water based ink which can be accomplished in the smallest of studios. We have tested, cold cure additive, curing ink with a heat press and also using our infrared tunnel dryer.
COLD CURE ADDITIVE
Cold Cure Additive is a substance that you can put into your ink which will allow your ink to fully cure without heat.
We mixed 10% additive directly into our Amex water based ink before printing. Once the garments are printed you need to leave them to dry for 48hours before stacking to allow for a full cure.
You can purchase Amex Cold Cure Additive along with the Amex water based inks at Screen Print World and you can use our discount code : CRP5
This is what our garment looked like after completing a wash test. While there is a small amount of fading, this is almost unnoticeable and is a perfectly acceptable method of curing inks.
HEAT PRESS
Curing water based ink with a heat press is very common among small studios. The best thing about using heat presses is that they are very versatile, for example you can use the heat press to cure ink, apply transfers and also print onto difficult areas of the garment that screen print can’t achieve. Heat presses are generally very compact and useful to have in the studio.
The downside to using a heat press to cure water based ink is the amount of time it takes. You will need to keep your garment in the press for at least 45 second per print. If you have multiple print placements, you will need to press your garment multiple times too! This is very time consuming if you are wanting to print on a commercial level.
We recommend purchasing a high quality heat press from Target Transfers. Check out our review video and make sure to use our discount code when you purchase (discount code for Target Transfers : SQUEEGEE)
This is what our garment looked like after a wash test. As you can see, there is a very slight amount of fading but nothing too drastic. We would advise, if you don’t have space for a tunnel dryer, a heat press will do the job as a good stepping stone.
OUR TOP TIP: When using a heat press to cure water based ink, make sure you have a good pressure between the garment and the heating element.
INFARED TUNNEL DRYER
A small infrared tunnel dryer is the closest alternative to the factory grade tunnel dryer. We use this method in house every day and have had no problems.
The benefit of using a tunnel dryer is the speed of curing each shirt. You can put the freshly printed shirt directly onto the conveyor belt and once it comes out of the other end your t-shirt is cured.
The downside to using an infrared tunnel dryer to cure water based ink is the lack of air flow. To successfully cure water based ink you will need a good flow of air circulating through the garment. To achieve this with our infrared dryer, we open the gates slightly higher to allow for air to move through – however we don’t open them so much that the heat escapes!
If you are curing water based inks with a tunnel dryer, we suggest getting the longest oven possible. We highly recommend the BBC Big Buddy which can be purchased from Screen Print World using our discount code : CRP5
This is what our garment looked like after a wash test. As you can see, there is no change in the ink colour and the garment looks good as new. In our opinion, using a tunnel dryer is the best way to cure water based inks.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON’T CURE MY INK?
We completed a wash test on an uncured t-shirt to see what the results would be. The results were more drastic than expected and you can see a huge amount of fading in the ink.
I think it’s safe to say, we should all be curing our waterbased ink. Whether you choose to splash out on a new tunnel dryer or stick to the cold cure additive, any option is better than not curing your shirts at all!
CHECK OUT OUR LATEST YOUTUBE VIDEO
Different ways to cure water based ink:
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR BLOG!
========================
We fund our blog and YouTube channel by selling our Blind Maggot t-shirts. Please help and support us by purchasing a shirt. As a thank you, we are giving all of our squeegee viewers £10 off our limited edition t-shirts!
GET £10 OFF LIMITED EDITION T-SHIRTS DISCOUNT CODE : SQUEEGEE
Check out all of the designs here and keep watching our YouTube channel to find out how we printed them: https://www.blindmaggot.co.uk/collections/limited-edition
> BUY A SHIRT HERE <
THIS BLOG IS SPONSORED BY:
BLIND MAGGOT.CO.UK
Buy ‘Blind Maggot’ limited edition t-shirts here:
https://www.blindmaggot.co.uk/collections/limited-edition
GET £10 OFF USING DISCOUNT CODE : SQUEEGEE
@blind_maggot https://tinyurl.com/3exxma6z
@squeegee_and_ink https://tinyurl.com/m52wej83
TIKTOK
@blind_maggot https://tinyurl.com/pc79vzdj
@squeegee_ink https://tinyurl.com/5cmnsw4b
