Looking for some way to speed ink drying on canvas

[dgberg]

I am printing on canvas with my 7900 and with 1 day for ink drying another 1/2 day for the GlamorII drying it takes a full 2 days turn time. Is their any process that will  speed the k3 ink drying so I can move this to a 1 day job? (Such as laying it out in the sun?)
I talked with Lexjet as they were advertising a quick dry canvas. I was told the ink drys faster on it for handling but it is still a 1 day recommended dry. I could move from Glamor II to a laquer based coating which drys fast. Anyone using laquer based material and then stretching within an hour or two?

[Ernst Dinkla]

I am printing on canvas with my 7900 and with 1 day for ink drying another 1/2 day for the GlamorII drying it takes a full 2 days turn time. Is their any process that will  speed the k3 ink drying so I can move this to a 1 day job? (Such as laying it out in the sun?)
I talked with Lexjet as they were advertising a quick dry canvas. I was told the ink drys faster on it for handling but it is still a 1 day recommended dry. I could move from Glamor II to a laquer based coating which drys fast. Anyone using laquer based material and then stretching within an hour or two?

An old silkscreen dryer like I have dries both water based inks and varnish faster. But it is 7 meters long, 1.65 meters wide and 1.5 meters high :-)


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

Dinkla Gallery Canvas Wrap Actions for Photoshop
http://www.pigment-print.com/dinklacanvaswraps/index.html

[bill t.]

In this nice warm weather I tape prints up on the same piece of foamcore I will use for spraying support, and put them on a front porch.  At 85F they pass the "sniff test" after about 8 hours.  A fan might help on a windless day.

You can also tape them on a sunlighted window, print side facing in.

For a while I had a piece of sheet metal that could be laid up along the wall in the gas heater closet.  A print binder-clipped thereon would dry pretty good in just a couple hours, assuming the heater was in use.

Clothes lines are also an option.

Have also tried heat guns on both canvas and RC.  For some reason even 1/2 hour this doesn't seem to help much.

For the winter I just bought a steel storage shed with no insulation on the walls.  In clear sunlight those can get very warm inside for several hours on a cold day.  Will be a good spraying/drying room.

Or you could buy a cheap storage closet at Home Depot, print hangars at the top (binder clips), light bulbs at the bottom, wire mesh above the bulbs in case a print falls.  Drill a few ventilation holes top & bottom.  Just like the good old days.

[dgberg]

Bill,
So if I get what you are saying , 8 hours is about the best you can expect from force drying. If I tape the canvas on foamcore and lay out in the sun do you see any issues with that? How fast after varnishing do you stretch? Time for some more testing.

[bill t.]

Yes, I do on rare occasion lay the foamcore+print in the direct sun.  The big gotcha with this is that foamcore is a kite and over a period of hours it is likely to blow away or flip over or come into aggravated contact with something else.  Punch holes in the corners and wire it down to immovable objects.   Maybe 2 or 3 hours does it, depends on the weather.  I use the porch because it is protected from wind and direct sunlight, but still is very warm and I can get four, 4x8 sheets in there at the same time.  

With stretching you're OK out to about 3 days to a week, methinks.  Haven't stretched in a while as I greatly prefer gluing to a substrate which solves a whole bunch of problems and is much faster and never sags.

[Bruce Watson]

This has been discussed many times before. You could try searching the archives for the Yahoo group EpsonWideFormat.

What it comes down to is driving off the glycols and the glycerols from the ink carrier. The water evaporates very quickly so isn't the problem. To accelerate the evaporation of the non-water parts of the ink carrier, you need heat and air movement. It's really that simple. So think hand held hair dryer, space heater, etc.

Have you ever seen an anti-freeze spill? Just sits there day after day, even in the summer? Anti-freeze is largely ethylene glycol. That's what you are up against.

[dct123]

I am printing on canvas with my 7900 and with 1 day for ink drying another 1/2 day for the GlamorII drying it takes a full 2 days turn time. Is their any process that will  speed the k3 ink drying so I can move this to a 1 day job? (Such as laying it out in the sun?)
I talked with Lexjet as they were advertising a quick dry canvas. I was told the ink drys faster on it for handling but it is still a 1 day recommended dry. I could move from Glamor II to a laquer based coating which drys fast. Anyone using laquer based material and then stretching within an hour or two?

Dan...bite the bullet and tell your clients that the process takes a week. If you try to hurry the process you're just asking for problems to crop up later. I use a drying rack consisting of a lightweight plywood box open at both ends and 36x48" window screens spaced about two inches apart horizontally with wood door stops tacked to the sides supporting the screens so they can slide in and out for easy loading. I place a fan at one end of the box and let the prints dry and cure for 2 days before coating or packaging. I also use the racks for drying and curing coated canvas, again two days before stretching or packaging. Use heavyweight Nylon screens.