# how to avoid cracking?



## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

I just searched the posts and didn't see any answers to this. apologies if i missed something.
Anyway, sometimes my prints crack. I use water-based textile inks, not plastisol. I'm wearing a shirt I made earlier this week, which is a black shirt with i think 3 layers of white ink on it in a fairly simple design. Some areas have cracked and if I fold the fabric I can create a crack.
How can I avoid this? I don't want to be selling bad merchandise. Did I cure too long, not enough, not hot enough? I use a pretty hot heat gun to set and dry ink in between layers.
Thanks
Brent


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## b_pudd (Oct 18, 2006)

Water based inks aren't as flexible. Applying several layers of ink combined with too much heat could cause the cracking. Are you using opaque ink made for dark garments ? Reason I ask is using opaque may allow you to use less ink. I would try doing some tests on scrap with different temps and time with the heat gun with the same layering of ink. An iron or a home garment press would probably give you more consistant curing than the heat gun because of a larger heat surface. Also some presses have a temp setting instead of just a number setting or a hi/med/lo setting. Hope this helps.


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## b_pudd (Oct 18, 2006)

just ran across some info on Speedballs site. Says the final ink needs to be a thin, even coat to prevent cracking when washed.


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

thanks for the ideas. I have to make shirts for friends with white ink on black. I'll try doing thinner layers and not overdoing it with the heat gun and see if that helps.


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

I hope it's not a problem, but I'm just bumping this thread because I've had some more cracking issues recently and was hoping someone might see the thread who had more ideas on how to avoid this.
Could anyone suggest a brand of waterbased ink that would be a good opaque white to use?
Should I try thin layers of whites, heat setting with an iron between layers? A sharper squeegee spreads less ink i've read, so should i use that instead of an older squeegee with a rounded blade?
I'm going to purchase a flash cure unit soon. Would that alleviate the problem, either using it to final cure the shirt and/or to flash between layers? 
Any suggestions would be much appreciated. My main client has one design that is white on maroon shirts and I need to do it right, no cracking.
Thanks in advance.


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## Annushka (Jul 26, 2006)

brent, what brand of ink are you using?


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

Annushka said:


> brent, what brand of ink are you using?


Speedball. Suggest a better waterbased brand for doing opaque white prints and I'll order it! I gotta improve my white prints.


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## Annushka (Jul 26, 2006)

I'm sorry, I wish I could help. I don't have enough experience with waterbased inks yet to give you advice. I really hope you'll find a solution to this issue.
Have you looked into discharge printing btw? They say that's another way of achieving great color on dark shirts. There info on the forum on this method.


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## instrumental (Dec 28, 2006)

try union ink aerotex. its what i use and i usually have no problems on dark garments


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

instrumental said:


> try union ink aerotex. its what i use and i usually have no problems on dark garments


thanks for the tip. I googled and dickblick.com has decent prices. 
Curious, if you're using it on a black shirt, how many layers does it usually require for a bright white print? two?

Also, I see they have a metallic clear ink also. Have you tried that? I am wondering what kind of effect it has and what interesting things could be done with it.


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## nfractal77 (Mar 21, 2007)

I just posted a listing asking the same question...I sell custom art shirts that I design and print and have been having nightmares with opaque inks. I've tried verstex, permaset, nazdar and speedball and all of them crack...have you ever tried heat setting with a flash dryer? I hoping that might solve the problem...have you gotten a chance to try the union ink aerotex ink?? I'm curious to see if this works? It's kind of stressful thinking that the shirts that I have sold are cracking...they sell for alot and I only want to create the highest quality possible. I don't want plastisol cause I don't want to use the toxic solvents to clean and really do love working with waterbased...Anyhow if anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

nfractal-
I've started using aerotex white and it's a lovely ink. a couple of coats and it's a pretty bright white. I now use a blackbody flash cure unit and I haven't had any cracking issues yet. from what I've gathered, cracking can be pretty much avoided if you're using an opaque ink so that you don't have to do a ton of layers and if you cure properly.


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## nfractal77 (Mar 21, 2007)

brent said:


> nfractal-
> I've started using aerotex white and it's a lovely ink. a couple of coats and it's a pretty bright white. I now use a blackbody flash cure unit and I haven't had any cracking issues yet. from what I've gathered, cracking can be pretty much avoided if you're using an opaque ink so that you don't have to do a ton of layers and if you cure properly.


I'm glad to hear that aerotex ink is working for you. I just bought some and am waiting for it... So how long do you cure it with your flash dryer?? Do you recommend that type? I've been wanting to buy one and am starting my search...Well the cracking happens when I do test washes and the ink looks rather crappy...not perfect which is what I want if I'm going to continue making dark shirts and selling them...Anyhow thanks and I look foward to your reply
Cheers,
Nathalie


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

I totally recommend the blackbody unit. I cure shirts in 20 to 30 seconds now. Along with recommending the flash cure, I suggest you get a kitchen timer. I got one with a magnet so it sticks on my unit, and I set it for 25 seconds or whatever after I monitor the temperature rise with my thermometer gun. After a few shirts I just use the timer, which has memory, so I set it for ~25 seconds, put a shirt under, hit start, the timer goes off after the 25 seconds, then i hit the button again and it has memory so it resets to 25 seconds. Makes it very easy. I got mine on ebay for $1 plus $4 s/h, and the guy accidentally sent me a second one, so now I have one for curing and one for timing screen burns.


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## nfractal77 (Mar 21, 2007)

Is the only ink you use the aerotex water based inks?or have you tried other ones? Have you done the wash test with them? I'm sure you have...I'll look into that flash dryer today...do you know how much they run and what is the exact model you have? Thanks for all the advice I greatly appreciate it...I just can't wait to test all this stuff out.
Many thanks,
Nathalie


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

nfractal77 said:


> Is the only ink you use the aerotex water based inks?or have you tried other ones? Have you done the wash test with them? I'm sure you have...I'll look into that flash dryer today...do you know how much they run and what is the exact model you have? Thanks for all the advice I greatly appreciate it...I just can't wait to test all this stuff out.
> Many thanks,
> Nathalie


I got the BF1-16005. 58pg59 performance screen was where I bought it. The prices is outdated perhaps, I think I paid $475 with shipping. Other than aerotex the only ink brand I've used was speedball, which also cures fine with the unit.


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## nfractal77 (Mar 21, 2007)

that's cool to know that speedball cures well with the flash. I like the speedball opaque inks but they have still cracked... so I'm hoping that getting a flash dryer will solve all these issues with all my inks...I feel that alot of my problems in the past have arisen due to not curing the shirts enough. I have used landramat dryers to heatset my shirts in the past...(really really hot ones) but someone in a forum told me that even that is not really hot enough.
Cheers,
nathalie


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

nfractal77 said:


> that's cool to know that speedball cures well with the flash. I like the speedball opaque inks but they have still cracked... so I'm hoping that getting a flash dryer will solve all these issues with all my inks...I feel that alot of my problems in the past have arisen due to not curing the shirts enough. I have used landramat dryers to heatset my shirts in the past...(really really hot ones) but someone in a forum told me that even that is not really hot enough.
> Cheers,
> nathalie


They were right, a dryer at a laundromat wouldn't be hot enough. The shirt needs to rise to 320 degrees for a couple of seconds to ensure curing. You also should get a thermometer gun, like an IR one with laser pointer. My dad gave me his, said it cost him around $50. It's not super super accurate, but it's accurate enough. Without something like that to monitor the temperature as it rises, you won't be sure if the shirts are really getting hot enough. It's also fun to play with.


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## nfractal77 (Mar 21, 2007)

I've heard of those thermometer guns...sounds great. Thanks for the link to the flash unit...looks great to me...now I just have to save a little money. So do you make your own designs and shirts or jobs for other people?


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

nfractal77 said:


> I've heard of those thermometer guns...sounds great. Thanks for the link to the flash unit...looks great to me...now I just have to save a little money. So do you make your own designs and shirts or jobs for other people?


Save up, I promise it will be worth it.
Another thing about aerotex white I wanted to tell you is that you should use a retarder/reducer. I had added water to mine a while ago, but I was doing prints with it a couple of days ago, and it clogged the screen after one layer. I added some retarder base to it and did a few more white ink prints with another screen and had no problems. Also, you might want to get some spray screen opener. It's kinda nasty stuff, but when your screen starts to clog a bit, you just spray some on a paper towel and rub the bottom of the screen without having flooded the screen. It's definitely a better thing to do than to break down the screen, wash, and tape/set up again. "Work smarter, not harder" is a mantra I follow nowadays. 

And I do mostly custom work for customers, orders usually around 50 shirts, although I've done orders up to 200 shirts and as few as 10 shirts. I like doing shirts for bands, and my house hosts a lot of basement music shows, so now every band that comes through I ask them if they have shirts for merch and if they say no, I try to get their business. I also am working for a guy starting a clothing line and I'll be doing all his prints, and that should start up next week. I've started my own little line of designs that I'm trying to sell online, and of course I do some of my own designs/ideas for my personal wardrobe. Oh and I print shirts for christmas presents too  I do everything I can.


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## nfractal77 (Mar 21, 2007)

brent said:


> Save up, I promise it will be worth it.
> Another thing about aerotex white I wanted to tell you is that you should use a retarder/reducer. I had added water to mine a while ago, but I was doing prints with it a couple of days ago, and it clogged the screen after one layer. I added some retarder base to it and did a few more white ink prints with another screen and had no problems. Also, you might want to get some spray screen opener. It's kinda nasty stuff, but when your screen starts to clog a bit, you just spray some on a paper towel and rub the bottom of the screen without having flooded the screen. It's definitely a better thing to do than to break down the screen, wash, and tape/set up again. "Work smarter, not harder" is a mantra I follow nowadays.
> 
> And I do mostly custom work for customers, orders usually around 50 shirts, although I've done orders up to 200 shirts and as few as 10 shirts. I like doing shirts for bands, and my house hosts a lot of basement music shows, so now every band that comes through I ask them if they have shirts for merch and if they say no, I try to get their business. I also am working for a guy starting a clothing line and I'll be doing all his prints, and that should start up next week. I've started my own little line of designs that I'm trying to sell online, and of course I do some of my own designs/ideas for my personal wardrobe. Oh and I print shirts for christmas presents too  I do everything I can.





Thanks again for all the advice. Most people obviously use plastisol and finding people with knowledge of all the issues with water based inks is a godsend. I wanted to ask how bad the fumes are when you use your flash? Do you need to have the room really well ventalated? I can move my printing station to the garage in the summer so the door will be open...but in the winter it'll probably be an issue if the fumes are nasty...
Sounds like your busy for sure with your business. I personally run a silkscreen studio for Warehouse 21 (which is an awesome teen art center in Santa Fe New Mexico)and teach silkscreen printing...but our set up is pretty getto...we have an awesome exposer unit we got donated but no flash dryer. We do big jobs every so often. But it's funny you said that your house hosts basement shows cause my Warehouse 21 is well known throught the country for it's venue...although right now we're in transition...Well anyhow the reason that I was really interested in learning how to make my shirts better quality is for my own art shirts that I sell. They are more like wearable art...Anyhow Thanks again for all your info.
NAthalie


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

Nathalie-
there's no fumes really when I cure the water-based inks. It just lets off steam. It does have a small odor, but it doesn't smell nasty, a nasty smell being a warning of possibly being harmful. I was just printing with the aerotex white again today and started having clogging problems again. you're definitely going to need to get a retarder base if you want to use that brand. Oh, and the screen opener, which helps unclog pretty well, smells pretty nasty, and is a health hazard, so I open the door if I have to use it more than just a tiny bit.
And I stay fairly busy, but not busy enough!


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## nfractal77 (Mar 21, 2007)

I just bought some of the retarder base. Thanks for the advice...also one last question with this ink your not supposed to have to heat set it..do you anyway??


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

nfractal77 said:


> I just bought some of the retarder base. Thanks for the advice...also one last question with this ink your not supposed to have to heat set it..do you anyway??


Yes, I always do. With that aerotex ink, if you add another chemical that it comes with then it claims to air cure in 24 hours, but it says that you have to use what you mix quickly, and I believe it says that the chemical has a 'pot life' of only 3 days. I never mixed it in, and instead I heat set. Another reason I heat set is that some days that I do prints the customer picks them up immediately, and I want them to be fully completed, fully cured, if they are picking them up. If I told them to let the shirts sit for a day before they could wear or wash them, then I might look bad, and if they didn't heed my advice and they faded, then I would most likely look bad. But if it makes sense for you to use the additive and let them air cure, then that might work fine for you! Just try it and do some wash tests after 24 hours.


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## nfractal77 (Mar 21, 2007)

have you done wash tests with your shirts? to see if they crack?
nathalie


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## neato (Mar 21, 2006)

This is an interesting thread. I recently gave up on WB screen printing because of the hassles involved. And one of my biggest headaches was the white ink cracking. I couldn't live with that. 

If there truly is a WB ink that doesn't crack, I'd be tempted to give it another try.

One brand of ink that seems to be overlooked is Pavonine inks from Union. They have a line called Pavostretch that is supposed to be a bit stretchier. But even that would crack for me. Maybe I was missing a step.

As far as the advice on the flash unit, I would say yeah, definitely get one. But if you do, you might as well start using plastisol inks. Your cracking issues will disappear.


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

neato said:


> This is an interesting thread. I recently gave up on WB screen printing because of the hassles involved. And one of my biggest headaches was the white ink cracking. I couldn't live with that.
> 
> If there truly is a WB ink that doesn't crack, I'd be tempted to give it another try.
> 
> ...


I've ordered some ink degradant so that I can put plasitsol down the drain. I would really like to try white plastisol. My main question right now is, do you flash a bit on the platen before you take it off the platen and then heat cure it fully later? What can you do to set it a little bit so the ink doesn't make a mess when you're moving the shirt off the platen and placing them somewhere before you flash the set of prints? I don't want to fully flash on my platen every time as I fear warping.


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## Johnny Shirts (Mar 30, 2007)

well, I love the cracked look. I understand that it is not desirable and not something you want, but I spend extra time on my designs to make it "look" cracked.


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## nfractal77 (Mar 21, 2007)

brent said:


> I've ordered some ink degradant so that I can put plasitsol down the drain. I would really like to try white plastisol. My main question right now is, do you flash a bit on the platen before you take it off the platen and then heat cure it fully later? What can you do to set it a little bit so the ink doesn't make a mess when you're moving the shirt off the platen and placing them somewhere before you flash the set of prints? I don't want to fully flash on my platen every time as I fear warping.


I would love to one day use plastisol since I know it would solve the cracking issue...but I create wearable art shirts and the way I print them I think would not work with plastisol...which is why I'm on the search for the perfect techniques for waterbased shirts...

I print many layers and use hand cut masking techniques. The main problem I see with using plastisol is that I would easily over cure my shirts due to the many layers and custom printing techniques I use.. Maybe I'm wrong.. 

The issue I have is that I print these shirts in sections adding to them over time. This means that each time I print I have to let the image dry. If I were to use plastisol in order to have a dry image I would have to flash dry it first right?(by flash drying I mean a quick pass by the flash dryer not fully curing it) Then if I wanted to add another section and flash dry that would I be over curing the original image?? Can I simply do a quick flash dry on the shirt over and over again just to dry the ink and then the final cure is over the whole shirt?? I just think that using this technique of flash drying section could easily become a nightmare in trying to figure out how not to over cure my shirts.

With water based inks I just air dry each section and plan when I finally do get a flash dryer to use it only one time at the end to actually cure the shirt.


Hopefully I'm explaining myself clearly enough, I know I'm rambling a bit but it's great to have a community that understands what I'm rambling about...Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Nathalie


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## cycocyco (Mar 2, 2007)

Be very aware that you aren't curing the ink between layers, rather just drying it sufficiently that it's tacky (gelled). If you are curing your layers the next layer won't adhere to it.

Honestly, I'd chuck the water-based ink. You will have much more rewarding experiences with Plastisol.


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## billpyle (Dec 19, 2006)

brent said:


> Save up, I promise it will be worth it.
> Another thing about aerotex white I wanted to tell you is that you should use a retarder/reducer. I had added water to mine a while ago, but I was doing prints with it a couple of days ago, and it clogged the screen after one layer. I added some retarder base to it and did a few more white ink prints with another screen and had no problems.


Sorry to bump an old thread, but if you're doing only one or two shirts at a time, do you still suggest using a retarder/reducer?


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

billpyle said:


> Sorry to bump an old thread, but if you're doing only one or two shirts at a time, do you still suggest using a retarder/reducer?


Old threads can still have value.

If you're only doing a couple of shirts, there's no need to use retarder base, as it wouldn't have time to dry up, unless you did one shirt and stepped away for a few minutes then tried to do the second shirt. Retarder is only necessary once you're printing for more than maybe 20 minutes with some white inks.

I highly recommend all waterbased printers try Matsui brand, at least for the white. It's great stuff. Doesn't clog or dry quickly. Almost like a plastisol/waterbased hybrid. I can't recommend it enough. Contact the nice and informative guys at Westix 1-800-741-3887 and order some. It's fantastic.


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## Billyboy (Apr 25, 2006)

Hi guys im having the same problem so thanks for all the info!


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