Curing Questions

Why does the ink look faded/dull after washing?

It may be happening due to a few reasons:

Why is ink falling off the shirt during the wash test?

It’s an under cure issue. Go back and test how you are checking heat within the ink layer. Plastisol needs to reach cure temp from the top of the ink down to the VERY BOTTOM of the ink layer. Water-based needs to first evaporate ALL moisture from the

How do you cure water-based ink?

To cure water-based ink, you need to evaporate all the water, reach cure temp, and hold at the temp for at least 20 seconds. The most ideal situation is to have a minimum six-foot forced air conveyor dryer; you’ll be able to accomplish a cure in the

How do you cure water-based ink without forced air equipment?

If you don’t have forced air equipment, you need to use Warp Drive. It’s an ink additive that chemically cures the ink in 48 hours. Add it to the water-based ink, print, evaporate all the moisture from the ink, and set the shirt aside for 48 hours. D

Why is the ink cracking when I do a stretch test?

First off, a stretch test isn’t an all-tell test on whether or not the ink is cured. It shows if the top layer of ink is fused enough for the top layer to stretch. You always want to do a wash test as well to confirm the ink is cured. When you notice

Why is the ink showing cracks after washing it?

It’s most likely that the ink deposit is too thin and you are seeing ink film split. Ink film split is where the ink layer is thin and it doesn’t have enough support (from the shirt fibers or shirt mass) so when the ink is stretched to its maximum, t

What does undercured ink look like?

Undercured ink shows up more like a shatter pattern. If you tug on the ink deposit, it will “shatter.”

How do you cure plastisol ink with a flash dryer?

Curing with a flash unit isn’t perfect, but you can get the job done with practice and the right tools. First, you’ll need something to measure the temperature of your ink as it cures. You can use a temp gun or a donut probe to check the temperature

I'm using a flash dryer to cure ink. Why is the ink cracking?

Typically the ink will crack if it is undercured. While it is difficult to directly measure how hot the ink is when using a flash unit to cure, it is 100% doable.

Can you over-cure plastisol ink?

It's difficult to actually over-cure plastisol ink, but it is easy to get the ink hotter than is needed. If you overheat an ink, you may notice one of few things: