Screen printing is a good, low cost way to add extra colors
to POLY_PRO twill designs. This is sometimes done to make
uniform plaques with sponsors’ names, low cost participation
awards, and the like.
Of the three screening systems available, we recommend
only catalytic 2-step producst by Naz-Dar or Colonial
for use on polyester twill. These cure chemically with
no heating, give true color and won’t come off.
It’s important that the ink dries at least 3 hours,
with overnight drying preferred.
“Paint systems” may be used successfully,
but the inks take up to four days to dry on polyester.
Plastisol inks are generally not recommended for polyester.
All plastisols have to be heat-dried for 5 minutes,
most of them at over 350°F. which will distort polyester
fabrics. So unless you’re absolutely certain the
plastisol ink can be dried at 300°F. or less, don’t
use it.
This is very important if you cut letters and designs.
Polyester twill is so strong that it can be hard to cut
unless the cutting is done with proper equipment. It can
be cut easily with scissors, clicker dies or steel roller
dies. But the cutting tools MUST BE SHARP. To sharpen
dies, use a die sharpener which is hand held.
Besides sharp dies, the mechanical clicker does require
a hard cutting surface. We use _ in. thick sheets of
stress-relieved polypropylene. (Hydraulic clicker dies
don’t require an additional cutting surface.)
With steel roller dies, insert 40# Kraft paper over
the twill to assure a clean cut. |
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