# Soft hand Base & Cureable Reducer



## Blacksheep 78 (Oct 27, 2006)

I've searched on here and elsewhere about Soft Hand Base and Cureable Reducer additives (for plastisol inks) and found some helpful information. I'm still not really sure on some of the finer details of the two (and just in general).

*Cureable Reducer:* For reducing the thickness of your ink; correct? 

1. How often do you use this and in what instances do you find it most necessary or convenient. i.e. Do you only use it if you have a paint that is just really thick that doesn’t want to print properly? Or are there other everyday uses or special techniques for this additive? 

2. Does this additive affect the tone/hue of the color your using, if so on average, what does it do to the tone/hue? 

3. Any other info you feel is important would be great too.


*Soft Hand Base:* Creates a softer or less stiff/hard print?

1. What are your primary uses for this other than the somewhat obvious, if any?

2. How often would you say you use this product on a monthly average (if this is an additive that you use in your shop)?

3. What type of results can someone really expect using this additive?


Hope I was descriptive enough without being to confusing. 

Thanks,
-Tim


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## Fluid (Jun 20, 2005)

we only use cureable reducer. Soft hand will help yet your limited to the a certain ratio which may not meet your specific needs

we use cureable reducer for:
thinning back inks for better mixing on press
reducing ink build up on sequential screens
thinning inks for a waterbased type feel/hand - lxnt for towel printing

as it states in the name cureable reducer, it will cure correctly where as soft hand if used incorrectly (not correct percentages) proper curinng is sure to be an issue.

We use all purpose inks, which are good for darks and lights. We add cureabloe reducer to thinn the inks for white & light colored shirts. This also renders more ink  

Our inks, Rutland and Wilflex have great opacity. This can be an issue when printing simulated process and index prints when you need your inks to be more transparent than normal. Makes for better mixing on press.

Also helps with proper shearing of the ink when pulled by the squeegee.


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## Blacksheep 78 (Oct 27, 2006)

Thanks Richard,

After reading your descriptions I'm going to purchase the Cureable Reducer and skip on the Soft Hand Base.

-Tim


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## Fluid (Jun 20, 2005)

Glad it helped and sorry for the poor typing  Im an artist


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## Cloud9 Design (Aug 29, 2007)

Great thread. I have the reducer, but have yet to use it. It doesn't harden if left on the screen does it?


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## Unik Ink (Nov 21, 2006)

If trying to achieve a soft hand close to that of a water based ink, would it be better to use soft hand base, curable reducer, extender base, or some combination of these? If so, what % of each should be added to the ink?


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## Unik Ink (Nov 21, 2006)

Any takers? I have a customer that wants this technique used on an upcoming order, and I would really love to hear from someone that has experience with this so I don't ruin a bunch of ink with trial and error.


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## studog79 (Jul 13, 2006)

For us it depends on the type of shirt. On 100% cotton we would use either fashion soft or discharge/water base. On Non 100% cotton we would us fashion soft most the time.


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## Challenger (Nov 30, 2007)

Tim and Unik Ink, Curable reducer is a balanced reducer used for reducing your ink viscosities that will cure at standard plastisol cure temperatures 320F which ensures that you can lower ink viscosity without fear of cure problems if used properly, you will need to add this reducer by weight, an addition of 5% will lower the viscosity of most Wilflex inks by 25%. Additions greater than 10% may reduce bleed resistance and opacity.
Soft hand clear it is a soft clear plastisol designed to blend with general purpose and specialty plastisol inks to soften and extend inks, also tends to drop viscosity slightly, but the main feature is to reduce build-up while making inks easier to print.
You can get more info in the following website Welcome to PolyOne Corporation they do have a PIB-product information bulletin, that will tell you how to use the product properly.
Hope this can help you,
Challenger


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## coolkyle (Feb 9, 2008)

Clear base is a great way to adjust cmyk prints. 60/40 magenta is probably the most common adjustment I make when prints are coming out too red, and this is only after the squeegee is straight-up and rock-hard. Reducer (qcm makes a great super-reducer called de-tack) is really good for preventing buildup on WOW prints.


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