learning from fails: ink washing out of tees

[rustyjoshy]

hey noob here from eugene ore.have a four screen one station press and a heatgun haha. this site will help alot seeing as how im unlucky enough to miss out on someone mentoring me in screen printing.
so i guess ill start off with a question;
been printing for almost three years, and recently people complaining ink is washing out of shirts.
any idea of most likely cause? i dry the whole image with the gun on high for 3 to 5 minutes depending on size of image and throw in dryer on high heat for about thirty. take it easy on me guys everything ive learned is from books and trial and error.

thanks so much for any help!

[SidelineKiller]

are you running the shirts threw a commercial dryer? or are you heat pressing them to cure them?

[jim55912]

Plastisol ink does not dry, it cures. The dryer could be the most important piece of equipment in the shop. Ink that is cured incorrectly will crack and peel over time. Ink that is cured correctly will outlast the shirt.

Large driers that move a ton of air are best.

[tompaine]

Sounds like under-curing.
Is it the larger designs that have this problem?

[ROADSIDE]

HEAT GUN = BAD IDEA

I think you could find an inexpensive belt dryer or even FLASH Dryer.

Putting them in your tumble dryer is not a good idea either....