# Heat Curing Creating Ring on Neck - How to Solve?



## antvenom13 (Apr 6, 2017)

I am having trouble with a local screenprinter and his screen printing my tag - a logo with the required FDA shirt information. He says he has to "heat cure" the print, but that creates a very obvious ring around the neck that's visible from the back of the shirt, and if you open up the lip of the neck and look inside. Doesnt look good to say the least. I tried washing the shirts and that interestingly got rid of the ring on one shirt, but not the other. Of course, I dont' think I should have to take that extra step of washing the shirt after I get it back from the printer...

Has anyone else run into this issue? If so how did you solve it? Is it possible that we can NOT heat cure the screenprint - how will that affect the longevity of the print?

Thanks!!!!!!!!


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## Dekzion (May 18, 2015)

They are probably just being lazy and not lifting the print area above the front 'scoop' before pressing.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Can you post a picture?

Most printing techniques will require heat to set the print.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Here is the picture. I'm not sure what is causing this. It looks like it might be an impression of the collar? Maybe the printier is not threading the garment on the platen instead he's laying the entire shirt (inside-out) on top of the platen?


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## antvenom13 (Apr 6, 2017)

Yeah maybe I will go back to him and ask him using those terms... just so frustrating! Any idea what happens to the screenprint if he just doesn't heat cure it? Does it just fall apart and the ink bleeds or it dissipates after a few washes or ? Maybe I just have to try that and put it through the wash and see what happens.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

antvenom13 said:


> Any idea what happens to the screenprint if he just doesn't heat cure it? Does it just fall apart and the ink bleeds or it dissipates after a few washes or ? Maybe I just have to try that and put it through the wash and see what happens.


If it is plastisol ink, it won't even dry until heat cured. It will still be wet, and messy.


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## Dekzion (May 18, 2015)

That's the impression from the front 'scoop' probably from the initial pressing to rid of moisture


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## antvenom13 (Apr 6, 2017)

Interesting! What is the problem then, i.e. how does he fix it? It is just the nature of the assumedly smaller machine he has? I.e. not a billion dollar shirt printing company? I just can't imagine presses are sold that are inevitably going to create a ring like this...it makes the shirt unsellable/untenable  I'm new to this though so I guess maybe that's just how it is? So curious!


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

If it is in fact a mark from the collar then the solution is to thread the shirt onto the screen printing press platen. Here he is laying the entire shirt on top of the platen and the collar is getting in the way.


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## antvenom13 (Apr 6, 2017)

I'm not sure I quite gather how this whole process works but any way for me to recommend him to get around this? The collar is always there, even if you turn the shirt inside out....but major manufacturers don't have this problem so what do they do differently I wonder?


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

antvenom13 said:


> but major manufacturers don't have this problem so what do they do differently I wonder?


I just told you.

Tell you printer to thread the shirt on to his platen instead of laying the whole shirt on top. Tell him exactly that.

Laying the shirt on top results in the collar getting in the way of his printing causing the mark.


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## Dekzion (May 18, 2015)

Agree Joe. but if he's neck tagging he'll need to put something like a felt under the back of the shirt (the size of the label) where the labels going which will lift it above the level of the front neckline so there's no pressure on it. Threading is the right way to go if you are working on the back or front of the shirt, but to get to the inside neckline you'd probably be best to turn the shirt inside out, but that's where the laziness factor could creep in again


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## TBDesigns (Jun 1, 2011)

Looks like heat press was used to cure the ink. If this is true, there are a couple of ways to fix it. First is to lower the pressure of the heat press, dwell time may need to be increased. The other is to use a heat pillow inside the shirt while curing.


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## Goodguy96 (Aug 5, 2009)

This is all kinds of wrong. The photo makes me think the back part of the collar was folded down, otherwise no other part of the collar would line up with the mark. This would create uneven pressure and it would show in the print. That brings us to the print; if it's a screen print, why use a heat press to cure it? If it's a transfer, again, uneven pressure would affect the print. I would offer the following options to the printer: 1) a full explanation and a plan to avoid it in the future 2) allow you to watch as he does the print and come up with a solution 3) go somewhere else if 1 or 2 don't work.


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## TBDesigns (Jun 1, 2011)

To me it looks like the shirt was inside out when it was printed and cured/pressed(I think . Using the heat press to cure the ink isn't ideal but it can work. If it's wet ink, you just need the heat not the pressure so a lighter setting would work. If it's a transfer the heat pillow would solve the problem of uneven pressure.


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