by Kevin Cook

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Last Updated on: 3rd November 2024, 10:41 pm

You may probably know about the challenges of transitioning from plastisol to a water-based ink system when you have bought the hand, longevity, and sustainability benefits of water-based ink. Because the learning method includes a lot of experimentation and regression, you can find some suggestions for effective printing with water-based form here.

A package would be a decent starting point if you just decided to pursue printing with water-based inks.

There are various appliances and preferences for each printing screen printer and each kit exposes you to various products. As a rule, if you use it correctly, any kit will work.

There are two potential (and very obvious) explanations whether you have used a package and it doesn’t fit. You may not use it properly first.

You can default to plastisol printing techniques or skip steps or instructions, especially if you are an experienced printer, when using water-based ink.

It is important that this is approached as a student, not a master, because of the factors involved.

Your package could not have worked or you may have used a poor product. When vendors get samples or kits that have been sitting on their shelves for quite a while. They can dry color pigments and harden them and remove them from their encapsulation.

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Get to the bottom of the container to decide whether anything occurred with your package. You can replace it if it’s difficult or feels like a hockey puck.

Continue to try, no matter why. Water based inks printing is a journey of test and error; maybe it won’t be ideal for you if you can’t welcome the challenge.

However, there are some things to know if you are still interested before you start:

1. Firstly, What is your goal?

To determine your goal, you must address these questions before you go for a transition. How do you like your shop to operate with inks on water? Would you want a full change eventually? Were you customer-friendly? Would you seek this as entertainment?

2.Screen:

Make sure you are thoroughly exposed to the dual cure emulsion
prior to use. It is not recommended to use a single-cure Photopolymer emulsion, even if it can work with a hardener.

This isn’t, however, recommended if you are a water-based ink printer beginner. Select a suitable diazo additive for an emulsion and do not let too many bubbles trigger it.

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Quart samples can easily be collected from your vendors; just contact them and inquire directly.

When the cure is good, the press is ready. You need to coat 2×2 with the round edge of the scoop coater because dual cure emulsions are not as large as one-clean emulsions, so you do not need high emulsion over the mesh.

3. The Double Stroke Method:

Twice the strokes create a big difference. Don’t use slow packs like with plastisol ink; use faster medium-pressure double packs. One stroke is too incoherent and creates more risk.

For the display, spray the front of the panel with water-based inks, helps to save time, and keeping the mesh filled with ink.

The ink should not also be dried. When testing, remember that for the number of shirts you print, you need the correct amount of ink.

4. Different Types of Ink Systems:

Understand the ink system you’re using. You must follow the kit rules thus following is an overview of different ink options.

Discharge:

On the appropriate garments, this ink type performs like a dream. However, it can have a high strike-o rate if quality control isn’t in check. It’s very aggressive on emulsion and prints are hard to see before going through the dryer.

Cure times must be met; otherwise, they won’t have proper evaporation, which is important with all water-based printing, but most apparent with discharge ink. is ink type also stays in the screen well, can print a wide range of art, and is used wet-on-wet with no bases.

One of the easier ink systems to learn to use, beginning with discharge ink will provide a sense of accomplishment.

However, it’s important to understand which products will and won’t be compatible with this ink type, as not all 100% cotton shirts are equal.

Also, screens and quality control must be in place. Don’t remove any corners. It is better to allow proper time for the activation process. Thus it ensures the correct cure times.

Gray or burned-out discharge ink means longer cure time is needed.

High-Solid Acrylic:

It is the hardest type of ink to print with. After almost every color, washing is necessary, particularly on vector art. HSAs dry quickly if the humidity is small on the screen so that a higher degree of error will occur.

Apparently it is not feasible to print wet-on-wet for HSAs. With their own collection of rules and complexities, new systems are being created.

If washing does not sound ideal for your shop after every color, then this ink system should be avoided. But it contributes to amazing printing, a large hand, and virtually no color migration when used correctly.

Low solids:

These inks are limited to use on white or light-colored garments, as they use very little white pigment in the mixtures. ey have great screen time — hours, not minutes — and
can be used to print a wide range of art.

Low-solids inks leave no-hand-feel prints on garments and have no opacity, so they will not print on dark garments.

The lack of opacity may make it difficult to match the color. This type of ink is however easy to use on the right clothing.

Medium Solids:

These inks can be printed directly on some dark robes and are of medium opacity. A base is needed for marine, black, or any really dark color with discharge or highly solid white inks.

If you run a job, please ensure that every two colors are warm, double-stroke, and flash. This method is more opaque than fluxes and low-strength tints, but not more opaque than HSA.

Depending on the style, usually two colors — and as many as three, can be printed wet-on-wet. The medium-solid inks show better time than the HSA inks, but not as well as the low-solid inks.

Wet-on-dry/wet systems:

These inks are still flowing and can be difficult. The wet-on-wet printing is based on hot pallets and is ideal for smaller printers, meaning that it can be reproduced up to three colors before blinking again.

Owing to short print-time windows these inks are more challenging to learn. However, they should have a market transition potential when such technologies are mastered. Most importantly, none of the above-mentioned tinctures print like plastisol.

An experiment in adjusting squeegee angles, pressures and flood thicknesses with each ink or kit.

Document it all so you know what to try next or avoid. The variation is another important nuance of water-based printing. between types of clothing in effects. Often, the best way to find out what works is to wear various fabrics.

Different combinations yield different outcomes. Get a gallon of super white discharge and a certain activator for guaranteed first-run success and search the discharge rate of the garment manufacturer.

5. What Else:

Prepare for problems: Save any stress and do not schedule some work or tests until you attempt to enforce this method and realize that with water-based inks you will print out successfully.

• Create procedures and record all through testing so that you can retrace the steps and address the problems if necessary. You won’t know what to adjust to future success if you don’t remember what a job fails.
• Make friends with your suppliers: those who supply your equipment have a strong interest in your achievement. Don’t worry about asking for advice and samples.
• Start with Easy: Get ready to succeed early on, to build enthusiasm as you continue to print.

Do you have printers? Are those printers sitting idle?

Become a Print-on-Demand dropshipping app like Printful or Printify. Dropship your merchants' orders.

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