A Problem Solved
Dye migration problem solved – thanks Tony!
The screen print team at Cannock-based Yazzoo Personalised Clothing had a problem with dye migration – until they called in the pro. James Ellis, production manager, takes up the story.
On the left is the print with the new technique and the right-hand image shows the dye migration Yazzoo was getting before
H
ere at Yazzoo Personalised Clothing we experienced the same problem all screen printers suffer from – dye migration on garments containing polyester.
That annoying problem where the polyester dyes bleed through the print and makes the white print on the red garment go pink. And even more annoying, it doesn’t happen straight away. It comes out the dryer nice and white and you get in next morning and it’s all gone pink, aaaghh! Then we got in touch with Tony Palmer, the screen print guru who solves print shop issues in the UK and Europe. Just one 10 minute phone call solved a problem we had had for years. In that short phone call Tony explained what we needed to do to avoid dye migration, and it went like this.
The how and the why
He explained why garments with polyester suffer from this phenomenon. Apparently,
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
the polyester dye becomes unstable at around 140˚C and the gasses in the dye release and over the next few hours bleed through the ink turning it pink, especially if the garment remains hot after coming out o the dryer. So, Tony suggested some simple yet very effective ideas to solve the problem.
First, use a low cure white, which most ink suppliers will offer. These inks cure at a lower temperature, around 135˚C. Use this ink and turn down the dryer to suit. Second, at the end of the dryer stack the garments in small piles so that they have time to cool down before you stack another one on top. Put the first garment on a table and the second next to it, the third next to that and the fourth next to that. By now the first garment has had enough time to cool down to put the fifth garment on top of the first. This was the bit that we originally balked at, thinking how the end of belt operator would cope with different sizes, but
we thought, sod it, let’s try it and solve the migration problem first then we can look at solving the belt operators’ issues later. It turns out we were worried about nothing. We had a big job coming up, so we said to the belt operator just try it and see how you get on, she was worried but agreed to give it a try. Next day when asked how she got on she said that she ‘Aced it. No problem, once I got a rhythm going it was easy’. We checked the prints, and they were still pristine white, even the ones in the middle of the pile.
We can’t thank Tony enough for this advice. He has made our customers very happy; I would recommend any printer with this problem to get in touch with him!
If you’ve got a similar positive story to tell, get in touch with P&P editor Melanie Attlesey at
mattlesey@datateam.co.uk January 2023 | 63 |
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