Print detach themselves from the film after curing

[ketox]

Hi!, Anyone know why the print after being hover cured at 150c for 15sec.

some parts detach themselves or with little effort from the film?

[johnson4]

7 minutes ago, ketox said:

Hi!, Anyone know why the print after being hover cured at 150c for 15sec.

some parts detach themselves or with little effort from the film?

Hover curing isn’t good enough. The powder needs to melt. Once it’s melted it’s also dry, giving the print a solid backing so it doesn’t do that.

 

heat gun, flash dryer, belt dryer, etc. your heat press isn’t going to get hot enough, unless you want to hover press it for several minutes or more. It has to hit over 320 degrees or so, dry the ink, then melt the powder. A 1500 degree heat gun takes at least 30 seconds to do the whole print. 

Edited December 16, 2020 by johnson4

[ketox]

My mistake ,  was Hovering for 5 Minutes not 15 Sec.

The Hovering melts very good the powder, all the granules or crystals are melted well and the print gets a glossy finish, 

but the small the prints when handling or cleaning with a soft brush, parts of the print fall off the film very easy

[ketox]

10 minutes ago, johnson4 said:

Hover curing isn’t good enough. The powder needs to melt. Once it’s melted it’s also dry, giving the print a solid backing so it doesn’t do that.

 

heat gun, flash dryer, belt dryer, etc. your heat press isn’t going to get hot enough, unless you want to hover press it for several minutes or more. It has to hit over 320 degrees or so, dry the ink, then melt the powder. A 1500 degree heat gun takes at least 30 seconds to do the whole print. 

Thanks @johnson4, 

i am going to do a test with a heat gun, i am having the detach problem with small prints like clothing care labels

[johnson4]

11 minutes ago, ketox said:

Thanks @johnson4, 

i am going to do a test with a heat gun, i am having the detach problem with small prints like clothing care labels

I see what your saying, the tiny detail flakes off, not the larger stuff. In reality you shouldn’t need to touch it after it has printed, powered and cured. It does come off the film very easily if you were to scratch it or something, the only thing holding that tiny detail on is the ink at that point. Being cured it should be hard, but if your rubbing specs of print I’m sure that will come off easily.

Edited December 16, 2020 by johnson4

[ketox]

Not only the printed details,  Small typefaces also fall off easily with handling when cutting labels.,

it could be the film, I buy it from china

Edited December 16, 2020 by ketox

[ketox]

I did a test by melting the powder grains with a heat gun and other using an oven as well, but the problem remains ... the small letters come off the film very easily when cutting the labels or handling it. I think the problem is over-temperature,  over cured...so it peels off the film easily before putting it on the shirt... Have to do more tests..

[johnson4]

It will come off the film easy, but I don’t think mine have ever just fallen off, over cured or not. I would have to rub, or scratch it to come off. Have you tried just laying it flat on cardboard and using a rotary cutter or something? 
 

I bought my film from Andy, wherever he gets it. I do have some “ China film” also, but haven’t ran it yet. It’s definitely different than his, at least the roll I bought. I will say that you could try undercuring it, might help. Sounds like that film “ peels like butter” lol. 
 

good luck, updates will help others, including me if I ever run into the issue myself.

[ketox]

Yes, I am going to buy Andy's film and see if this is corrected, I have no problem with large and medium prints only with small ones and with care labels.

I am doing tests with a temperature of 200c for 2 min, to rule out if the low temperature of 140c prolonged by 5 minutes is what causes this.

[ketox]

Long time low temperature was the cause of the problem.