# Is this true? Curing waterbased ink...



## karolina (Oct 7, 2007)

Hey there - 

I plan on printing with waterbased ink, and was considering getting a conveyor dryer... Then I browsed the forum, and learned that a conveyor dryer will *not *cure/dry waterbased ink. Is this true? 

If so, can I use my flash dryer? I don't mind the more time consuming process, but just to get an idea if I'm even on the right track, how long do you flash dry for (roughly)?

Since getting a conveyor dryer is something that I would rather not spend money on right now, using a flash dryer would be the perfect solution for me - But I would just feel a whole lot better if some of you screen printing experts could confirm this! 

Thanks so much, I look forward to hearing from you all ~


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

You can cure with a conveyor belt oven! It just takes more time than a plastisol print. It just needs to get over 320 degrees and stay there for 30 seconds ideally.
I cured with a flash cure unit before I got an oven. It stinks cause it ate up so much time. The print overall needs to get to 320 degrees, at least. Flash cure units have hot spots tho, so some areas might get hot enough while others don't. Also, I did prints that were large enough that I had to cure in two steps, top half then bottom half. I would spend 20 to 45 seconds curing, to allow it to get to 320+.
Oven is way better, finish the print and put it on the belt. Eliminated that whole other step of curing under the flash one by one.
Hope this helps.


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## jlcanterbury (Jul 26, 2007)

_most_ conveyor dryers will cure _most_ water based inks.

water based inks usually require more time to cure than plastisol inks, so as long as your belt speed can slow down enough that the garment spends adequate time in the oven then it will do the job.

some smaller ovens may have a harder time curing wb inks...

also, some wb inks require more time to cure than others, for instance Matsui inks require a 2.5 to 3 minute cure time... some conveyors simply move too fast to cure these inks


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## karolina (Oct 7, 2007)

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your advise! You guys are great! 

I guess I was a little confused and needed some clarification... So basically I would have to get one of those longer conveyor dryers? Space may be an issue, I was hoping to get away with the shortest available (I believe it's about 6 feet). 

Any suggestions on what brand to get? I have come across an_ Atlas Sure Cure 620_ for $1000. I also found an_ American Texair Dryer_ _36"_ - 6 feet for $750. Any thoughts on these dryers. Are they a decent quality. Should most dryers be able to go slow as a setting? 

Thanks again, I don't know what I'd do without this forum! Have a good one!


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

You're going to want it to go pretty slowly, and have a long chamber with two or three infrared panels. I have a Hix brand oven, 10 foot belt, 5 foot chamber, 24" wide belt. My speed dial goes from 0 to 10, and I keep it on 2 usually, and the prints just reach 330 or so when exiting. I kinda wish I had gotten one even bigger.
So I wouldn't really advise a six foot oven. Think bigger. If you can't afford it, just use a flash to cure, and save up, and look for a good used dryer of decent length.


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## Scooter480 (Jan 4, 2008)

The only way to cure waterbase with any kind of production is a gas dryer and a long tunnel. You have to extract the moisture from the ink unlike plastisol which cures at 320 degrees. Waterbase will eventually dry on its own tho. The downside with trying to dry waterbase with a small infra red dryer is you risk scorching the shirt due to the amount of time in the tunnel. We run a M&R Sprint gas dryer with a 8 foot tunnel (at least I think 8 ft).
Scooter


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## neato (Mar 21, 2006)

> The only way to cure waterbase with any kind of production is a gas dryer and a long tunnel.


That may be true with traditional inks, but not with some of the newer waterbased inks.

The Matsui info all says 2.5-3 minutes, but anyone that uses it will tell you that those numbers are overkill.

Like brent said above, he would just get it to 320 degrees, and I've talked to him personally, he didn't have any problems with the ink washing out.

Mine stay in the chamber for about 90 seconds. I have shirts that have been washed 20 times and look as good as the first day I printed them.


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## nickbarry (Sep 18, 2007)

I haven't really worked with water based inks, I was wondering whats wrong with air drying them?


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## adawg2252 (Dec 12, 2007)

nickbarry said:


> I haven't really worked with water based inks, I was wondering whats wrong with air drying them?


The inks need to be set with heat, so if you just let them air dry, they will wash right out.

Also, some of my customers who print wb inks let the shirts air dry, and then the next day send them through the dryer and say that (because over the day they evaporate slowly) they only have to put them through the dryer for much less time than before. So maybe flash curing them to air dry, and then the next day sending them through a smaller dryer might work for you.

But you'd need to be able to store the air dried shirts before you dry them, and still have to buy the dryer, and I can't garuntee it'll work for you, because every dryer and wb ink is different. Too many variables. But it is something you might want to ask the suppliers you've been looking at.


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## ozzteee (Oct 12, 2007)

If you want to save space and still use water base you can find a flash unit with forced hot air .Not a lot of them around but it would make a faster more even cure for your water base inks.They are hard to find and kind of expensive but space savings and drying speed will make you happier .
Good luck
JP justpunk clothing and graphics


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## bradical (Jan 21, 2008)

What about putting the shirts in a regular (cooking) oven, at 320° for a minute or 2.
how long until the t-shirt would scorch?


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

There's been a lot of discussion about curing in a regular oven. The concern is using it for food after curing ink in it. I don't think it's a good idea.
Waterbased ink only needs to get to 320 or 350 for a few seconds to cure, usually. I'm not sure how hot shirts have to get to scorch.


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## bradical (Jan 21, 2008)

ok
cause I just recently got a small run of jobs, about 20-30 shirts, and don't have plastisol, and don't really want to invest in the proper items (dryer, all that) and plus I already have a bit of WB ink.

what if I aired out the oven after curing the shirts, is/should there be a waiting period between cooking shirts and food?


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## adawg2252 (Dec 12, 2007)

bradical said:


> ok
> cause I just recently got a small run of jobs, about 20-30 shirts, and don't have plastisol, and don't really want to invest in the proper items (dryer, all that) and plus I already have a bit of WB ink.
> 
> what if I aired out the oven after curing the shirts, is/should there be a waiting period between cooking shirts and food?


YES! There is but I couldn't tell you how long. You've evaporated shirt moisture and a small percentage of waterbased ink into the oven. 

Is there any way to do like a "self-clean" on your oven? I would do that if it's not too time consuming.

My guess is a day or so would be fine, or possibly just leave it open for a while (hours) and just air the thing out. I'm honestly not sure.

If that's not an option, let them [shirts] air dry and then hit the inside of the shirt (over the image) with a regular iron. If it's hot enough and on long enough, that will set the ink in the shirt too.


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## amp267 (Oct 11, 2006)

can you cure water based ink with a heat press, and or a dryer and heat press combo


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## karolina (Oct 7, 2007)

Thanks everyone, you have been soooo helpful! 

I came across a dryer on ebay, and hope that perhaps someone could give me their opinion on it... I asked the seller about drying waterbased, but told me to ask the ink manufacturer. Well, I'm not exactly sure what ink we'll be using (just depends what we can afford in the beginning) and hope to get a little feedback. Again, I appreciate all you time and advise!!! Thank you.

Harco Electric Conveyor Dryer for screen printing - eBay (item 150207508320 end time Jan-23-08 10:20:46 PST)


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## ozzteee (Oct 12, 2007)

Yes you can cure WB inks with heat press or small conveyor .It just takes longer because you have to remove all the water before the ink will cure properly.Small dryer might need to run shirts through 2 or 3 times to get full cure .You could even use a high temp heat gun to flash dry then use heat press for final cure.Home depot has heat guns for 35 bucks .I have use for them short runs and samples instead of powering up big flash .Good luck and leave the broiler for biscuts !
Teee


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## ozzteee (Oct 12, 2007)

Hello The dryer is a big one and looks like good price. You need to check with harco to see if it has circulating hot air as that is what you want to have to dry the water out then heat will cure ink.Teee


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## Scooter480 (Jan 4, 2008)

bradical said:


> ok
> cause I just recently got a small run of jobs, about 20-30 shirts, and don't have plastisol, and don't really want to invest in the proper items (dryer, all that) and plus I already have a bit of WB ink.
> 
> what if I aired out the oven after curing the shirts, is/should there be a waiting period between cooking shirts and food?


I think the waiting period is a moot point considering if the fumes don't get you the ensuing house fire might. You have got to be kidding! Why bother if you don't want to do it right? Farm out the job to an experienced printer, make a small profit and don't die! Just some friendly advice. 
Scooter


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## sinaz (Feb 3, 2008)

For small home based waterbased jobs, will it work fine to let the shirts air dry then hit them with the household iron?

I thought that was kinda how to do it, then i see talk of all these bigger machines and other things i obvisouly don't know about


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

sinaz said:


> For small home based waterbased jobs, will it work fine to let the shirts air dry then hit them with the household iron?


If your shirts are for personal use, then that might be ok. But if your shirts are being sold, you will not want to use a household iron. An iron is what's suggested on home waterbased ink like Speedball or Versatek. But they really don't hold up very well in the wash.


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## TealTown Ink (Feb 14, 2008)

sinaz said:


> For small home based waterbased jobs, will it work fine to let the shirts air dry then hit them with the household iron?
> 
> I thought that was kinda how to do it, then i see talk of all these bigger machines and other things i obvisouly don't know about


Yeah, it will. I know the other poster said not to do it, and ideally you should get professional equipment, but I've been running an online shop for months now with a heat gun and a household iron and I've never had a customer complain about washing out. If you're going to do it experiment -iron Speedball for 5 minutes and you can wash as much as you want and it'll look good. I have a shirt with a pretty large print that had some serious amount of ink on it in spots and fine details in other areas and it has held up through many washes. Also one of my most satisfied customers has the same shirt and she swears by it.

I'm looking to get a flash dryer myself, because I just ironed 10 shirts today and at 3 minutes a piece it ate up some massive time, I can only imagine doing a huge run that way would be horrible.

Hopefully you can get the right stuff, but there's no way I can shell out the money for a conveyor - and then where on earth would I put it?


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