How to print T-shirts with plastisol ink?

In the screen printing business, to print T-shirts with plastisol ink is an essential part of the job. And is that the proper use of plastisol inks guarantees valuable screen prints.

Why print T-shirts with plastisol ink?

Well, plastisol ink is the most widely used in the art of screen printing for its easy use and excellent results. Particularly, we achieve excellent results on synthetic fabrics and almost any type of linen and cotton.

In addition, since they do not air dry, there is no risk of them drying on the screen and blocking the pores of the mesh. This is a huge plus, especially when it comes to doing fine detail jobs that need high resolution. This ink allows the smooth use of dense meshes.

Procedure to print T-shirts with plastisol ink

Let’s see how to print T-shirts with plastisol ink so that good results are guaranteed.

The preparation of the design or logo

Firstly, we must have the design or logo to process. Besides, we must make sure that it is sectorized without pixels. It is also important that it does not have any stain so that the print has the best definition, color and elegance.

Then, the next step is to take the image out on a transparency. We can take it in a laser or injek printer. It should be clarified that if we use, for example, an injek transparency, we should not use a laser printer and vice versa. If we did this the transparency would be defective and the printer could be damaged.

Frame treatment

Up to this point the process happens in the office. Next, we go to production. Here we prepare a stretched frame which can be of wood or metal. To tighten the frame we have to use a mesh that goes according to the details of the logo.

That stretched frame goes to the dark room where it will be totally blocked to plug the pores of the mesh with a chemical called an emulsion. Later, it is completely dry and in the same dark room, it is put in for two or three minutes depending on the burner options.

After the time, we take it out of the dark room and take it to the wet wash for about 2 minutes. And then with a hose we proceed to open the pores that will form the image that we are going to print.

Here you have to be very careful to check against the light that the image has come out clearly. Otherwise any defect will be noticed on the print.

Final printing phase

We are already in the final stages to carry out the first impression. At this point, we put the dry frame in the module to print very carefully. It is not only to put the frame, but it must be tight to the machine and totally centralized with respect to the model that we are going to print.

For example, if the module is 12 inches wide and design 10, the latter should be one inch on both sides. Let’s make sure that the horizontal lines of the design are completely straight using a T ruler.

In general the frame should be larger than the module so that the mesh is perfectly flat and the ink passes smoothly.

• Printing and drying

Now comes the exciting. Once the frame is prepared, we put the ink with the color that we are going to print. For this we use a suitable spatula that covers the design area. Then we slide it two or three times firmly so that there is no ink when printing is finished.

If the garment is dark the first impression is passed, it is dried, the second impression is given. And immediately it is taken to the oven to dry and cure the ink. Now just look at the results. How beautiful the final image looks! Is not true? And is that if you carefully follow the procedure the results are guaranteed.