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Ink Questions

What's the difference between water-based ink and plastisol ink?

How much time do you have? Think of the inks like oil and water. Plastisol is an oil-based ink. Water-based is an ink made and dispersed with water. They vary in many areas. Let's dive into a few. First up, printability. Plastisol is typically thicke

I'm new to screen printing. Which ink should I start off with?

It completely depends on what you or your customers want. Do they want a bright, vivid print? Go with plastisol. Do they want a soft print? Grab water-based. We typically recommend new printers to start off with plastisol ink. It's a more forgiving i

Why is white ink so difficult to print?

There could be several factors involved in your white ink being difficult to print. Before you try to make adjustments, know that white ink has to be thicker than all other colors. If you try to make the ink thinner and easier to print, the opacity a

How many prints can I get with a quart or gallon of ink?

There are too many variables to determine this number: Size/total area of coverage of the print, mesh count, how many strokes, how many passes, pressure, type of ink, squeegee angle, squeegee durometer, garment thickness, garment type, ink temperatur

I just got ink and it seems to have separated. Is the ink bad?

Nope!. When you buy a bucket of plastisol ink, it might have been sitting on a shelf for a bit before it got to your shop. You might notice that your ink has separated a little bit. Even ready-to-use inks can separate over time. When an ink has been

What's the difference between FN-INK™ and Wilflex Epic (formerly known as Lava)?

FN-INK™ is short-bodied, creamier, and easier to print compared to the Wilflex Epic. FN-INK™ also has a much softer hand feel. Since FN-INK™ is low cure, there’s potential for faster cure times. FN-INK™ is best to directly print on cotton only. If yo

What's the difference between an ink base and an ink additive?

Base: a finished ink designed to have color concentrates or pigments added. It can be printed and cured by itself without any colors added. Think clear bases, puff base, high density base etc. Additive: an ink designed to be added to a finished ink t

What do I need for an ink mixing system?

To mix custom colors, you need the following tools:. Of course, you also need an ink mixing system. You can get a plastisol or water-based ink mixing system.

Where do I find the ink mixing system software?

For the FN-INK™ mixing system, you can find the software here. For the Fusion mixing system, you can find the software here.

I want to print with discharge ink. What do I need and how do I do it?

Before even considering discharge printing, you need to have two things in place — ventilation and a conveyor dryer. During the curing process, the sulfur that’s in the discharge agent binds with the formaldehyde to make an inert molecule. Not all fo

What is color shift and why does it change the color of my inks?

Have you ever printed a color, checked the print, and noticed it turned out different than you expected? That is called color shift. It will happen with every ink you print. Depending on a few key factors, you can end up with one color looking comple