# Curing Plastisol Inks



## cre8veindustries (Mar 21, 2015)

Hi there, I've been encountering issues with my flash dryer and plastisol inks. Potentially just not drying them long enough, but my instruction manual says at full capacity to dry plastisol inks for roughly 30 - 40 seconds. This doesn't seem to be the case as my designs are washing out and fading about half way. Any tips?


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## squeegequeen (Feb 11, 2009)

Cure time will vary due to thickness of ink, color of ink, manufacture of ink.
One way to test to see if it's cured is the stretch test. After the shirt is cool, pull on a printed area...does it crack? if so..it's not cured


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## ericsson2416 (Aug 29, 2007)

30-40 might work but it also depends on the height between the flash and the garment, the type of material, ink, even the color of the garment, etc. You need a temp gun to test it realizing the time changes as the pallets heat up.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Move your flash closer to the garment. Allow no more than 2 inches of clearance.


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## wearfareco (Apr 7, 2015)

I believe the temp needs to be atlas 325F and dwell for at least 25 seconds, keep it no further than 2" away like he said before.
Hope this helps!


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## Screen Medics (Feb 23, 2015)

Flash dryers should be used for just that...flash drying between colors, not final drying. We have used about every brand flash dryer over the years and have never been satisfied with them as a final dryer. If you dry long enough to bond the ink permanently to the fabric you quickly have overheated pallets which causes a series of other problems.

Nothing beats a conveyor gas dryer at 350 degrees and 17 feet per minute belt speed. This drys the print from the top and bottom and gives a considerably longer print life. Our prints frequently long outlast the use life of the garment.


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## micleross (Mar 25, 2014)

*Get you a temp gun ...... Check all areas round your design.......Let the temp get to about 
350-360 on your final cure just to be sure. You should be ok...... BUT!!!!... Don't let it get over that or you will burn them. Go ahead and do a stretch test as well. May need to adjust your height as well. *


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