# printing on pique polo



## terzdesign (Mar 8, 2010)

Hey guys. Ive got an order of about 70 pique shirts that the client wants screen printed. they wanted to go with the cheaper way over embroidery. 

Anyways, its a two color print (white underbase, navy outline). The trouble is that i print the white, flash it, print it again and then hit it with navy. After curing it in my dryer, the navy seems to want to flack off if i put my fingernail to it. What is the issue here? am I not allowing the print to cure long enough? The white layer seems to be alot thick then what it normally would be on a regular cotton t. This is my first time with pique so any advice would help. thanks!


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## thutch15 (Sep 8, 2008)

Could be due to the cure temp not being correct, but my guess would be that you are flashing at to high of a temp. If your flash actually starts curing the ink then the top layer will not stick.

What temp are you curing and flashing at?

I just did 150 polos where I printed a white underbase, flashed, printed white, flashed, printed red. Had no issue with peeling.


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## terzdesign (Mar 8, 2010)

i run the shirts through the dryer at 305 for like 30 seconds or so. that may not be right tho. my thermostat is wack on my dryer. i always do a stretch test on the shirts when they come out to see if they are cured. in this case they were passing but still felt a bit gooey-er than normal.


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## thutch15 (Sep 8, 2008)

Need to run to your local hardware store and get a digital temp gun...

Your ink brand will tell you what temp to cure at, but I am sure that is fine if you are getting in that range.

I still think that it has to do with your flash temp.


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## terzdesign (Mar 8, 2010)

i tried not flashing it for as long (only for say 5 secs) but now the navy blends into the white, mixing the colors!


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## thutch15 (Sep 8, 2008)

Plastisol ink? You should flash until it is not tacky to the touch. Sounds like 5 seconds is not getting to the proper temp.

Some picture would always help to if you have any.


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## nuclear_j (Dec 9, 2009)

sounds like you are doing a print, flash, print, print

try print, flash, print, flash, print


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## terzdesign (Mar 8, 2010)

nuclear_j said:


> sounds like you are doing a print, flash, print, print
> 
> try print, flash, print, flash, print


as much as I didnt want to have to do that, i ended up needing too. once I did that and swapped the white squeegee to a stiffer one, I was getting pretty good prints. The letters were crisp minus the texture making them wavy here and there. thanks for the help guys.


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## tpitman (Jul 30, 2007)

I tried printing on a pique shirt just to see how it looked, and I thought it looked crappy. The texture is just too overbearing for my tastes, and even though your customer is all jazzed on saving money over embroidery, you might want to show him just how his print will look on that rough texture. I always steer people to a jersey knit polo because I don't like selling a shirt that I think looks like crap, or having to explain to the customer why it does after the fact.


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

jcterzin said:


> i run the shirts through the dryer at 305 for like 30 seconds or so.


If it passes the "stretch" test, then it could be a couple of things. One has already been mentioned about flashing your ink. When you flash the ink before the next print, the temperature should get to about 200˚F. I would invest in some temperature strips or a RayTek gun to show your true temperatures.

The second thing that could be happening is you are using too much heat. Most plastisol inks cure at 300˚-320˚F. If it takes 1 second or 100 seconds to get to that temperature, it's cured. The heat blisters the PVC in the ink and expands it causing a bonding to the plasticizers. So it's irrelevant to how long that takes, just as long as it gets to temp. Now with white ink, it may take a little longer because you are wanting to cure the ink throughout and the white ink goes on thicker. It could be 330˚-340˚F on the surface, but I wouldn't go any higher than that. What you are experiencing could be an overheating of the ink. When you touch it, it still appears wet and will eventually cool off and no longer appear wet. But you could also degrade your print with way too much heat. It could cause it to crack prematurely.

Hope that makes sense!


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