# Discharge Underbase & Plastisol Print Over



## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

I want to try something new for a customer that I have. They are printing yellow onto black t-shirts. I was either thinking discharge underbase & yellow soft hand plastisol over it. If I choose this route, will I need to cure the discharge completely before printing plastisol? (When I think about this concept, I figure if I don't cure the discharge completely, plastisol sitting on top of it will prevent the discharge from receiving any heat in the dryer). Am I wrong?

Other choice I thought about was to print high opacity white waterbased, then print yellow waterbased. Seems simple enough, but I've never used Matsui's high opacity white and not sure how well it will do as an underbase.

Option 3, print discharge underbase and print yellow waterbased over it. 

I've never used discharge before, I have a gallon sitting on the shelf with the agent powder, perhaps I thought it might be a good time to try. But I have to print 100 of these by today and won't be able to wash test these. I've heard some people say that discharge underbase with waterbased over it makes the print crack.


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## Thaitex (Feb 11, 2009)

Just make sure if the T is reactive dye black


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## Thaitex (Feb 11, 2009)

Discharge printing for your first time always needs to be tested first, The methods you mentioned we have done many times, however all dark tees should be reactive dye, unless the mill you got the fabric from has good quality dyes. I think you probably wont get an answer from whom you bought your shirts from unless you purchased from the manufacturer of the garment. Experience is the key when printing with the before mentioned processes. Test first it doesnt take long and if you dont things can get mesy and garment will get wasted.


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## mikelmorgan (Nov 1, 2008)

why not use yellow discharge?


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

Thanks guys, I would try using yellow discharge, but I don't have any yellow pigments.


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## Unik Ink (Nov 21, 2006)

I asked this very question to my Matsui ink dealer the other day. He said that you can print wet on wet discharge base under plastisol. I haven't had a chance to test it yet though.


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## adamewoods (Feb 10, 2009)

I've had a lot of luck mixing water-based/acrylic inks in with my discharge base to make my own pigments. They're slightly less consistent, but easier to work with and I already have them in stock. Just be sure to mix the water-based ink and discharge base really good before adding retarder/softener/hydrophil, then mix them really good before adding activator.


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## Steelheader100 (Jan 18, 2007)

I've printed an underbase of Matsui discharge with plastisol on top wet on wet and it worked fine. In fact the job went discharge underbase , plastisol yellow, plastisol, brown ,plastisol white all wet on wet. The shirts were navy. 
I don't think using Matsui waterbase white as an underbase is recommended due to adhesion problems with the overprint colors. But I did here they were working on an underbase waterbase white.


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## Steelheader100 (Jan 18, 2007)

Oh and in the future when you have more time you might try Union plasticharge.


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

Good to know that discharge underbase over plastisol works! I am actually going to try that tmmr for a job and hopefully it works. 

Today, I tried discharge underbase on american apparel and used matsui waterbased yellow ink. They came out awesome! I printed 100 pieces in about an hour. I am test washing a couple of them as I post this so I'll see how well they cured. My conveyor dryer is 8 ft long, I turned the speed to 0.1, the shirts were in the heat tunnel for 1 min 40 seconds (heat was at 400 degrees F coming out). I might run them through the dryer again tommorow for the same time just to make sure all of the moisture was taken out.


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

Steelheader100 said:


> I've printed an underbase of Matsui discharge with plastisol on top wet on wet and it worked fine. In fact the job went discharge underbase , plastisol yellow, plastisol, brown ,plastisol white all wet on wet. The shirts were navy.
> I don't think using Matsui waterbase white as an underbase is recommended due to adhesion problems with the overprint colors. But I did here they were working on an underbase waterbase white.


How did you cure the shirts? Did you cure to 320 degrees for plastisol? Or did you cure it like it was waterbased discharge? I'm afraid that the plastisol will cure, but the discharge under it may not fully cure. But I also don't want to cure it like its waterbased inks, because I don't want to overcure plastisol.


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## coolkyle (Feb 9, 2008)

You need to try Wilflex plascharge. You can take a stock plastisol like Union Ultrasoft or whatever, mix it 50/50 with plascharge, add 5% activator, and all the WB additives, and you have a colored discharge. Somehow Plascharge dissolves plastisol and becomes a type of discharge that STINKS but is really easy to work with. It doesn't cut regular emulsion as quickly as straight up discharge, and it doesn't dry in the mesh as fast. The prints are badass, too, though color matching is really a crap shoot with this stuff.


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