# I cant get dtg ink to cure properly



## dutchess designs (Sep 10, 2008)

i just need some ideas of how long everyone cures a light colered shirt with 2 color passes at 720x720.My prints are fading after 1st wash.I was doing 1.5 each pass for a total of 3 minutes.help


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## martinwoods (Jul 20, 2006)

dutchess designs said:


> i just need some ideas of how long everyone cures a light colered shirt with 2 color passes at 720x720.My prints are fading after 1st wash.I was doing 1.5 each pass for a total of 3 minutes.help


I am not sure what type of machine you have but we are using a brother andan anajet and for the light colored shirts no white ink we do 359 for 30 seconds and with white ink 330 for 90 seconds.

Not sure if that will help because I do not what type of machine or inks you use but that is what we use


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## dutchess designs (Sep 10, 2008)

i have a kiosk2


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## raise (Apr 11, 2008)

We use 95 secs @ 330 for both white ink and CMYK only prints.

We get very good results with minimal fading, more image degradation from shirt fibers coming loose than loss of ink.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Jazz what temp are you curing at ? it should be 330 degrees for 3 120 to 180 seconds.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Wow Teresa, that is not very long for the dupont inks with a white underbase. Your cure with a white base should be twice that. How are they washing with that time ?


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## dutchess designs (Sep 10, 2008)

i am using 325 at 90 per pass


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

I would try going up to 330 for 120 seconds. Which ink are you using on your kiosk?


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## dutchess designs (Sep 10, 2008)

bright ink


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Hmmm are those the coleman inks? I have heard of certain problems with them such as colors not looking right. Another thing you can try is using the fastcolor pretreatment from equipment zone. It does make for brighter colors and better washability. I use this for higher end jobs when I want to get the best results possible. I dont use it all the time just because I dont like to have to use a pretreat, but it does make a difference in the results as far as making the prints last longer and better.


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## dutchess designs (Sep 10, 2008)

So i dont have to use the coleman inks in my kiosk 2


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

You should be able to get the dupont from mesa. I know several people from the dtg forum have gone back to the dupont that were using the coleman inks. There is also supposed to be a new better dupont ink coming out, which might already be out for all I know haha  I think it was supposed to be out this month, and I have heard that it is comparable to R & H inks which is what I use, unfortunately they quit making the R & H.

But yea you should be able to get dupont from mesa.


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## dutchess designs (Sep 10, 2008)

thanks i think ill try adifferent ink


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Ok If I am reading the dupont site properly it appears that the new inks have been released, here is a news thing from dupont DuPont Artistri : News & Events : New Marketing Partner for DuPont? Artistri? Offers Software to Drive DuPont? Artistri? Printer. Maybe Mark/Daguide can comment on this? It would be nice to know if they are selling them yet here.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Ok I just thought of one other question to ask you about the way you are curing. What do you put on top of the shirt when curing? Do you use a teflon sheet or the silicone treated parchment paper? This can also make a difference


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## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

It could be the t-shirt you are using. Try different t-shirts and see how they wash.


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

Ok, here is what I am hearing. The new Dupont Colors, White and Pretreatment have been released to the OEMs and master distributors. The new cmyk colors are either finished or are wrapping up being finished for profiling. However, most manufacturers and distributors still have inventory of the existing ink that they need to sell first. Then they will probably switch everyone over to the new inks and the new profiles. If someone wants the new Dupont inks, I just worked with someone that I believe got them from Harry at Equipment Zone (www.equipmentzone.com). I am not sure how much they have in stock at this point though. That is all I know for now. Might know more after the SGIA show.


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## martinwoods (Jul 20, 2006)

sunnydayz said:


> Wow Teresa, that is not very long for the dupont inks with a white underbase. Your cure with a white base should be twice that. How are they washing with that time ?


 
That is what we were told by anajet and they seem to wash fine.


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## Don-ColDesi (Oct 18, 2006)

> You should be able to get the dupont from mesa. I know several people from the dtg forum have gone back to the dupont that were using the coleman inks.


The issues with some of the Bright Inks have long ago been resolved, we had some surface tension issues that were manifesting themselves mostly in the amount of maintenance required. Never has washfastness been an issue. Conversely, we saw a large migration of T-Jet users to our ink sets during the first half of the year when they were not able to get inks from their normal source, and so far, they seem to be sticking around (the number of folks on the forum expressing concerns was perhaps 5 or 6 - about 1/2 a percent of the users of our inkset - several would be a bit of a reach). If you were to read thorugh this forum you will find tenfold that many folks having washfastness issues with the D-brand color ink sets - which was our main reason for not using them as our color ink set.


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## weave (Jan 30, 2008)

I get really confused on curing times as well. I have mine set at 330 for temperature. I read where some people heat press twice at 60 seconds each time and some people heat press three times at 60 seconds each time. Or is it better to heat press for 120 seconds all at once. Thanks for all your input. Just want to have satisfied customers. Thanks all!


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## vinyl signs (Dec 26, 2007)

One thing that is important is to verify that you have the correct temperature on several different places on your heat press!


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## Mistewoods (Jul 7, 2007)

weave said:


> I get really confused on curing times as well. I have mine set at 330 for temperature. I read where some people heat press twice at 60 seconds each time and some people heat press three times at 60 seconds each time. Or is it better to heat press for 120 seconds all at once. Thanks for all your input. Just want to have satisfied customers. Thanks all!


As a general rule 60 seconds at a time avoids scorching- longer than that without a brief cool down, on many shirts, will leave a yellow scorch mark.


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## dutchess designs (Sep 10, 2008)

well i use coleman bright inks and i did several test at 330 for 90 seconds,330 at 3 min,330 at 120,and 365 at 30 sec (on light shirts) and so far it is just an amazing difference,i have washed one shirt three times and it looks almost as vibrant when it was printed.I started this posting really flustrated,but this method seems to really work,thanks.


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## weave (Jan 30, 2008)

What temperature are you setting your heat press at and for how long with a lot of pressure or a little amount of pressure?


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Michele I did also notice the yellowing at 330 degrees but I turned my press down to 325 and dont get any now.


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## dutchess designs (Sep 10, 2008)

my best results came at 365 for 30 sec at medium pressure.


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