DIY Solvent Print Drying Bucket

[Smolder]

Our clients want everything the next day! We worried that our prints were not drying enough before laminating. After doing researching on this forum, we decided to make a drying bucket out of 5gal buckets.

True credit goes to whoever made the first version, but here is a guide that we produced illustrating the proposed advantages of outgassing and how to build your own inexpensive drying bucket for solvent ink prints:
http://infinitegraphics.net/blog/en...bucket-for-large-format-solvent-printing.html

 

[jasonx]

Chris (prowraps) made the initial design.

 

[iSign]

This was my favorite excerpt from this blog post... spoken by a distressed adhesive molecule, subject to unhealthy amounts of solvents:

"this is why we can't have nice things"

 

[SignLogic]

Not really sure why I'd need this.... Never had a problem with any solvent printer's prints not being dry enough when they come off the machine. What type of printer is this? Might want to check your ink densities, might be using way too much ink and cutting into your profits.

 

[jasonx]

Not really sure why I'd need this.... Never had a problem with any solvent printer's prints not being dry enough when they come off the machine. What type of printer is this? Might want to check your ink densities, might be using way too much ink and cutting into your profits.

If your printing on most vehicle wrap materials most manufacturers prescribe a 24 hour out gassing period when dealing with solvent based printers.

 

[MikePro]

i just reverse-wind my prints and when i set to outgas, i lightly unwind (say 6inch diameter becomes 18inch) and put a couple pieces of tape on the roll to keep it from unwinding.
at this point, if its a smaller print, i'll lightly jiggle the core every hour to let the "gills breathe". for larger prints, i'll open the roll up a bit more and assume that it is stable enough to support my shop's box fan and i place it on top of the roll and let it force air through the gills to breathe better. (only after i've cleaned the room i'm attempting this in... dusty prints = bad for lamination)

i like the bucket idea but it seems like a lot of work for what its accomplishing.

 

[Mosh]

And I thought I was a red-neck! There is a hole in the bucket dear Smolder, dear smolder, there a hole in the bucket dear smolder a hole!!!!

 

[SignLogic]

If your printing on most vehicle wrap materials most manufacturers prescribe a 24 hour out gassing period when dealing with solvent based printers.

Right, pretty standard, but don't know many people that follow the 24hr "rule". Prints usually end up going right off the printer to the laminator, installed a few hours later. Speeding the process up with fans doesn't really help the gassing out period speed up....

 

[J Hill Designs]

 

[AUTO-FX]

I dont get it - Why would you want to intentionally confine your prints, rolled up in a bucket? Seems counter productive to drying. I hang 'em up with those clothes hangars that have the springy clip ends. There's a box fan in the corner of the room to produce air movement. Then again, what the heck do I know, I'm small potatoes here...

 

[FS-Keith]

we just hang ours on our old banner material rack and have the ceiling fans on high, I dont see how that is much help, looks like a good way to get your prints to stick to its self or the backing paper and blotch

 

[kffernandez]

i personally think that aside from outgassing, the more important effect of letting your vinyl's cure is so that you could allow your vinyl to contract as much as it needs to.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

One immediate shortcut came to mind... toilet roll holder..

 

[Fuzzbuster]

Right, pretty standard, but don't know many people that follow the 24hr "rule". Prints usually end up going right off the printer to the laminator, installed a few hours later. Speeding the process up with fans doesn't really help the gassing out period speed up....

This post doesnt have anything to do with "drying" prints but more outgassing..

I ve had a few that had to be outgassed for 2 days

Obviously someone who has attempted FULL wraps with SATURATED UNVENTED prints would know that....

 

[radiohead223]

one tip i would say is that the fan might work a little better blowing down and drawing air flow through the roll as the solvent gas is heavier than air.

 

[cdiesel]

Fans (air movement) and heat absolutely speed up the outgassing period. As solvent evaporates from the prints, it saturates the air. The more saturated the air around the prints, the slower the evaporation process will be.

Think of it as water vapor (humidity) instead of solvent gas.

We have a different setup using fans.

 

[radiohead223]

cdiesel what is room setup then.... i take it your saying that you need to move the air of the room as the air in the room fills with solvent or humidity as you say and needs to be vented.

i know our rooms here can fill with solvent smell at times and we use to have a system trying to vent it out the roof but as it was heavier than air it was useless. in the end vent through the floor improved things hugely for ourself....

but this is just worked for us... always good to hear other ideas

 

[jfiscus]

We are thinking about making one of these, but cannot find pictures of any online anymore. The link above is dead - can any of you with "homemade" solvent drying/outgassing contraptions share your pics and results?