Curing your water based ink at home is vital to its consistency and quality. Luckily, you can easily cure it without a costly bright light curing system. The best way to cure your ink is to use a UV curing system however, if you are working on the cheap, try these tips that will help build consistency and quality in your ink.
Water based ink is used for fabric screen printing, screen printing on paper and polyester fabric. Air dryer dries this kind of ink. We will tell you about the process for curing water based ink with air dryer.
In many industrial applications, curing water based inks is done with a hot air dryer. Some of the benefits of hot air drying are that it is fast and affordable. In addition to the equipment being cheap, the maintenance is also inexpensive.
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Best Methods to Cure Water Based ink At Home
Pressing
The most popular method of curing water-based ink is with a heat press. Heat presses use pressure and heat to cure the ink on your shirt. Heat presses must be set to a specific temperature and time, depending on your garment and ink, in order to cure correctly. Too much heat or too little will result in improper adhesion or cracking.
If you are pressing a blank t-shirt or a garment that is 100% cotton or 65% poly/35% cotton, you will want to set the dryer on medium to high heat. You will want to let the dryer run for 5 minutes, take out the garments and let them sit for 1 minute. Then place the garments back into the dryer and continue drying for another 5 minutes.
Heating
The best method to cure water based ink at home is by heating the item. This can be done through a clothes dryer, iron, or heat gun. The key is to get the ink hot enough to cure it but not so hot that it burns.
The safest way to cure water based ink at home is in a clothes dryer. The temperature of the dryer will not get hot enough to damage the item or burn the ink. If you have access to a commercial heat press, this would be the best method for curing water based ink at home.
Drying
There are a number of ways to dry water-based ink. The most common is to use a forced air dryer that circulates hot air at high velocity. This can be used in combination with infrared heaters to cure the ink faster, but is often enough as a stand-alone process.
Another method of drying water-based inks is by using ultraviolet (UV) light exposure for immediate polymerization and fast curing. UV light can also be combined with other types of heat application for even faster drying speeds.
Curing
In the textile world, curing is an essential part of the process to ensure that the print sticks and stays on. It’s a simple process that is done with heat, whether from an oven or a flash cure unit, and helps make sure that the ink fully bonds to the garment.
Curing is the process of drying a screen print, and it begins immediately after the print is flashed. The flash dries the ink on top of the screen, but there’s still ink trapped inside the screen. This has to be dried as well. There are only a few ways to cure your t-shirt printing:
Heat curing – using a conveyor dryer
Air curing – using a fan on low heat
If you’re in a rush, conveyor dryers are great for quickly curing prints. But they can be expensive to buy and run, and they can also dry out your hands when you’re moving prints in and out.
Curing water based ink at home with air dryer
The most common method is to use an air dryer. This method is pretty straightforward – all you have to do is put the shirt into the dryer and turn it on. You can also use a heating pad or an electric iron for this purpose.
However, there are some drawbacks when using air drying methods: Curing water based ink at home can take a lot of time and effort, especially if your shirts are not pre-shrunk. This means that they will shrink after washing which means they won’t fit anymore! The only way around this problem is by using heat transfer paper instead of regular T-shirt material.
If your shirt has been washed before then it might just fit perfectly again after curing water based inks with an air dryer – but if not then you’ll need another solution such as using heat transfer paper again
Set the cured ink at a high temperature
The first step in curing water-based inks is to set them at a high temperature. This should be done for about 2 hours so that all the water has evaporated and the ink becomes dry.
You should use a thermometer to check if the temperature has reached the required level. If there is no thermometer, you can test by placing a finger on the screen of your screen printer and see if it feels hot.
Make sure that you are using the right ink for your printer
Make sure that you are using the right ink for your printer. There are many types of ink on the market today and not all of them will work with the printers you are using. You should always check with the manufacturer before purchasing any type of ink.
Keep your printer clean
Keep your printer clean. Most of the damage that inkjet printers do is when they clog and smear the ink, so keeping your printer clean is the first and most important step towards curing water based ink perfectly.
With a few simple household items, you can cure water based ink at home. Make sure your printer is clean and you have a good quality, bristle brush.
- Add liquid dish soap to the water in the plastic tub until it lathers up and bubbles appear.
- Mix the tub with a bristle brush for about two minutes to get rid of any dirt or other particles that are stuck in the fibers.
- Rinse out the tub with clean water, making sure all soap residue is gone.
Prevent overheating
Water based ink will scorch if it is exposed to too high of a temperature for too long. Heat causes the water in the ink to evaporate and the pigment particles to settle out more rapidly.
When this happens, the color will change and become uneven as some areas have lighter pigment coverage than others.
To prevent this, you should set your dryer as close to the recommended temperature as possible and run your shirts through at slow speeds.
Conclusion
At home curing of water based ink is done in a different way. Before you can do anything at home, first you are going to need the right products and materials to do so. Using dryers and heating are best option go for when you are willing to cure water based ink at home.
