# Discharge or waterbased white ink?



## Pixelpame (Nov 13, 2016)

Hi
I'm new to this forum and screen printing so I look forward to the wealth of information here. 
I want to print onto black tshirts with either a discharge method or waterbased white ink and then airbrush over with transparent ink for color. (Is any one else doing this?)
My question is which will be best for my application? 
I would prefer the discharge for the softest feel but am Leary about the toxicity and odors. 
And, if it's better, could I let the waterbased ink air dry and then airbrush and then cure it all with a heatpress (so I only have to do it once)?
Thanks so much!


----------



## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

I started out doing discharge, then moved on to opaque WB as I was concerned about discharge fumes.

You'll need a way to flash your white WB so that you can Print/Flash/Print to get the coverage you want, at least if you want it to be a bright underbase. A flash unit or a heat gun will take care of drying the ink before you do your airbrush work. To be clear, this is DRYING, not curing.

Once all the ink is on the shirt, then you can cure it with your heat press (which is what I use). They have certain advantages (obvious: lower cost, less space) (less obvious: can be faster, can smooth rough prints a bit).

As to air drying ... don't count on it. Some WB inks never really dry at room temp, even weeks later, others do seem to dry, but since you'll probably want to Print/Flash/Print, it is a moot point, and realistically you don't want to sit around waiting for "paint" to dry.


----------



## Pixelpame (Nov 13, 2016)

Thank you t shirt junkie. I really appreciate your help!


----------



## gvenket (Feb 25, 2009)

*Re: How to avoid the odors in discharge print*

could any one can advise how to avoid odor from discharge print


----------



## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

*Re: How to avoid the odors in discharge print*



gvenket said:


> could any one can advise how to avoid odor from discharge print


The chemicals used stink; there is no way around that fact.

For safety, use lots of ventilation and wear a respirator with an organics filter cartridge.


----------



## gvenket (Feb 25, 2009)

thanks for your advise..
and could you tell me if any method is exiting which can prevent odor on garment after discharge print has been done on garment.


----------



## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

gvenket said:


> thanks for your advise..
> and could you tell me if any method is exiting which can prevent odor on garment after discharge print has been done on garment.


One would have to launder the garment.

All blanks have a chemical smell due to the manufacturing process. Discharge just adds yet another aroma to the mix. It is expected that consumers will launder any new garment before wearing it, be it discharge or not.


----------



## herokid (Jul 22, 2016)

NoXid said:


> I started out doing discharge, then moved on to opaque WB as I was concerned about discharge fumes.
> 
> You'll need a way to flash your white WB so that you can Print/Flash/Print to get the coverage you want, at least if you want it to be a bright underbase. A flash unit or a heat gun will take care of drying the ink before you do your airbrush work. To be clear, this is DRYING, not curing.
> 
> ...


 I am curious as to what ink you are using and where can I purchase. I want to go from plastisol to wb.


----------



## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

herokid said:


> I am curious as to what ink you are using and where can I purchase. I want to go from plastisol to wb.


I started out with Matsui discharge, but didn't want to deal with the fumes long term, so switched to regular waterbase inks. Also, once you activate ink with the discharge chemical, it has a short pot-life, which wouldn't really workout well for my semi print-on-demand model.

I've used Green Galaxy, from Ryonet. It has certain advantages, like not drying in screen as easily as some, and the opaque white (Comet White) is easier to print than other opaque whites I have tried, and cleans up stupid easy. It can get a little tacky when hot and/or takes a bit more flashing, so a cooling station would speed production. Other than the white (which is like marshmallow fluff!), these inks seem a bit runny, but I suppose that is part of the not-drying-in-screen magic.

That said, I mostly use Permaset Aqua (colors for light colored garments) and Permaset Aqua SuperCover (opaque colors for dark colored garments). It looks great, covers great, flashes great, and cures great. And costs a great amount  It is made in Australia. I believe these guys are still the main USA importer (https://www.permaset.com). I've been getting it from these guys (https://www.waterbaseinkusa.com), who--at least last I checked--seemed to have better pricing. You can also find it at various screen print suppliers, but those two outlets are the only I have seen who stock a wide range of colors and sizes.


----------

