# Odd Look To White Ink (Need Advice)



## RobP614 (Jun 26, 2011)

Hi,

I'm not sure what's causing my white ink to look "funny" it's a marbleized look...(areas of higher and lower concentrations of white ink.) 

I don't think it's the ink; because I've had consistent results with the Firebird inks since I started using them.

I printed the same design as attached with Firebird and Image Armor PT; the image armor was worse with the "funny" look...

This is printed on a Keya shirt...

It looks like the same texture as my PT cover sheets...could that really be the issue?

Any input or ideas would be appreciated.

Overall the customer was happy with the final product...but I'm just trying to narrow down the issue!

-Rob


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## Smalzstein (Jul 22, 2008)

Which weight Keya? My employee showed me something like that on lower weight KEYA.

Usualy this would be the PT fault but I tried and different PT gived the same result on couple Keyas.


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## MarStephenson761 (Sep 19, 2011)

If this was one of our printers and DTG Ink I'd say it was the pretreat


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## RobP614 (Jun 26, 2011)

It's the middle weight Keya, 5.3oz


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## RobP614 (Jun 26, 2011)

Also I tested on another shirt (still a Keya) and mega pretreated the shirt and it was just brighter "splotches" but still noticeable.


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## designthenprint (Jan 16, 2014)

a lot of lose cotton fibers with this fabric? had a lot of trouble printing on some gilidans, terrible for getting a quality image using my spot process 230 mesh. worst trouble was getting the whites to mat all the fibers down for a good look. lacked some finesse in the print but worked out. your image you've posted looks like it was printed that way intentionally, and personally i think that looks like a great print. similar looking design to diamond supply co?...


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## RobP614 (Jun 26, 2011)

Keya shirts are a very tight ring spun shirt with basically no lose fibers...

Funny that you say you like to look...because the customer did also unfortunately I don't think it's long term replicable.


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## metalbone (Sep 7, 2013)

How old is your firebird white ink? Also have you done any priming on it lately (pulling it through the lines)?

I ran into the same issue for the most part and what I was noticing is that it was working great up till the last couple weeks when i had some down time and I started printing again. During the downtime I was pulling the White ink through manually. After that I was seeing fast separation of the pigment. I Talked with Firebird and they think somewhere during that time I got some contamination in the white ink that is causing it to separate and not lay properly. My white print looks similar to yours. I can see the ink in the lines going clear after sitting overnight which it shouldn't do.

I have new ink that will be here Monday so I will know then for sure.


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## RobP614 (Jun 26, 2011)

I am running refillable cartridges, but I was down for a week and just got up and running again yesterday. I had the head flushed clean for the time I was down. But I wonder if it separated in cartridges...they did look a bit more settled then normal.


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## metalbone (Sep 7, 2013)

I had the same problem with the Dupont white and if it is the case that i got it contaminted at least i know what the issue is. I don't do lots of printing, i do print everyday just to keep the head clear, but in my case at least maybe I need to work with less quantity in the bottle and might solve my issue at least contamination wise.


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## EricDeem (May 7, 2011)

It looks like pretreat to me but it could be the white ink is not mixed well enough and might have caused the issue.


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## g.lupo (Aug 20, 2007)

I would check pretreat first. If not that I would try increasing your white lay down amount. Sometimes with different inks it light need more underbase but not as much highlight.


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## BandPrints (Feb 4, 2007)

The white ink no matter what the brand will have the tendency to settle. You should be shaking the cartridges or bulk containers gently 2-3 times per day. Our staff does it morning, lunch, and before leaving for the day. We have noticed that Firebird white settles a lot slower then Dupont and is much more fluid. How much pressure do you have on the heat press? Also are the curing sheets that you are using sticking to the ink when you pull them off? Also, double check to make sure your pre-treat is all the way dry.


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## Teez310 (Nov 10, 2010)

It almost looks as though the pt was applied with a regular spray bottle. I sometimes get this when I don't use my viper for pretreating and you can see spottiness really well on blues and blacks. How was the pt applied?


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## RobP614 (Jun 26, 2011)

It was applied with a Wagner power sprayer.


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## RobP614 (Jun 26, 2011)

Quick update: I cleaned out my wager sprayer, made sure my ink was well mixed and used a fresh gallon of Firebird dark PT and everything is looking awesome again!


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## DTGPRINTERPARTS (Jul 13, 2012)

2 Questions:
1. How old is your pretreat
2. How old is the white ink?


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## Smalzstein (Jul 22, 2008)

90% its the heat press. I just got the same problem and I used diffreent press and it went away.


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## BQChris (Aug 16, 2012)

Also, be sure you are agitating your pretreatment every day. If the PT settles out of the water, the gun will fire more PT at times and more water others, which looks like what might have been happening here.


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## 23spiderman (Jun 26, 2008)

glad you got it figured out. my guess is the ink wasn't fully mixed; that's when i've seen that "marbled" look. your coverage was solid, so while i don't think the PT was the issue, it's also very possible that the Firebird PT will work better than other brands with Firebird ink. i know that Firebird was doing more tests with Image Armour to see how they can get more consistent results.


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## ben9898 (Feb 15, 2011)

Looks like the white pigment has separated in the cartridge, I would remove your cart shake it up and pull some ink throgh


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