Terrance the Deuce
New Member
Hey all,
We have been using the same polyester material for printing popup tents for a few years. Recently we ordered more of the same material, with the only difference being we opted to add the fire resistant coating because the original stuff barely didn't pass the burn test. We had been printing direct to fabric on this material.
On the new batch, with the same profile and heat press settings, I cannot get the ink to set properly in the fabric. The prints look great, but if you rub the print, it leaves a mark. I tried reprofiling and backing off on the ink limits. We tried our transfer paper profile which didn't work, and then I reprofiled that and backed way off on the ink limits. Nothing worked. Next I raised the temp on the heat press to the max (220c) and dropped the speed to the lowest setting and transferred with my new profiles which still didn't work. The prints look great coming off the press, but I can still rub the print with my finger and leave marks behind, which is not something that should happen on dye sub or direct disperse fabric. What's really weird about this whole thing is that you can see the marks on the print after you rub it, but if you rub it with another piece of white fabric, you don't see ink on the fabric you rubbed it with. I have tried different printers as well.
At this point my assumption is the fire restistant coating is keeping the ink from properly setting in the fabric. My only recourse at the moment is to try to reduce the ink limits and restrictions on the profile even more, but I'm already at the point where my gamut will start to suck if I go much lower.
Has anyone encountered anything like this before? Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. This is my first post. Apologies if I messed something up.
Thank you.
We have been using the same polyester material for printing popup tents for a few years. Recently we ordered more of the same material, with the only difference being we opted to add the fire resistant coating because the original stuff barely didn't pass the burn test. We had been printing direct to fabric on this material.
On the new batch, with the same profile and heat press settings, I cannot get the ink to set properly in the fabric. The prints look great, but if you rub the print, it leaves a mark. I tried reprofiling and backing off on the ink limits. We tried our transfer paper profile which didn't work, and then I reprofiled that and backed way off on the ink limits. Nothing worked. Next I raised the temp on the heat press to the max (220c) and dropped the speed to the lowest setting and transferred with my new profiles which still didn't work. The prints look great coming off the press, but I can still rub the print with my finger and leave marks behind, which is not something that should happen on dye sub or direct disperse fabric. What's really weird about this whole thing is that you can see the marks on the print after you rub it, but if you rub it with another piece of white fabric, you don't see ink on the fabric you rubbed it with. I have tried different printers as well.
At this point my assumption is the fire restistant coating is keeping the ink from properly setting in the fabric. My only recourse at the moment is to try to reduce the ink limits and restrictions on the profile even more, but I'm already at the point where my gamut will start to suck if I go much lower.
Has anyone encountered anything like this before? Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. This is my first post. Apologies if I messed something up.
Thank you.
