Are you ready to experience increased output, faster production, and consistent cures? It’s time for a conveyor dryer. Conveyor dryers are more efficient at curing than flash dryers or heat presses because they provide less guesswork and output at higher volumes. But how do you get it all set up and dialed in to work best for your shop? Let’s jump in.
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Conveyor dryers can run multiple shirts through at a time which helps speed up production. Think of it as a souped-up flash unit with a conveyor belt underneath. The dryer provides a covered area for the shirts to cure evenly.
Depending on the garments being printed and the ink used, the conveyor dryer setting may need some adjustment. Think of curing a shirt like throwing a dart at a dartboard. The longer the dryer tunnel, the larger the bullseye is. It’s easier to hit the bullseye when the target is bigger. Shorter tunnel dryers can be more difficult to dial in, but there are plenty of settings to adjust to get everything working just right.
All conveyor dryers come with basic controls: on/off switches for the belt and heating element. All conveyors also have a belt speed control, which comes in handy (more on this later). Larger dryers like the RileyCure 245 also include temperature control while compact dryers do not have this feature.
All these settings mean you can adjust your conveyor to work best for you. Let’s take the garment type as an example. Not all jobs are printed on stable cotton fabric. To get the best cure on any garment, you’ll need to adjust dryer settings.
The garment you’re printing and curing on will make a difference in the dryer. Cotton garments, for example, will absorb and hold moisture from the environment. When the garment goes through the dryer, the moisture evaporates and turns into steam. This steam will actually cool down the dryer a bit, making it more difficult to get both the garment and the ink up to cure temp.
Cotton garments take the most effort to reach cure temperatures. Other garments like Triblend or 50/50 garments have some cotton, but some polyester or other fabric. These won’t take as long to reach cure temperature as a 100% cotton shirt would. Shirts made from 100% Polyester will be very quick to heat up since there’s no cotton to absorb moisture from the atmosphere.
Now let’s talk about hoodies for a second. This fabric is typically very airy, meaning that even though the hoody can be half cotton, the fabric is low density and can heat up fairly fast. Since hoodies are thick, the print will typically be up above the belt and closer to the heat panels. This proximity allows the ink to heat up fairly fast.
Having a conveyor dryer allows printers to adjust settings for not only garment type, but ink type and ink deposit thickness as well.
The thickness of the ink deposited on a shirt will determine how long it takes to reach full cure. Think of curing ink like cooking steak. A thinner cut of meat like carne asada will heat up very quickly and cook through to the proper temperature within a minute or two at most. A thicker cut of meat like a New York strip will take 5-10 minutes or more depending on the level of doneness desired.
Now that we’re all hungry, let’s take a look at curing different types of inks. Ink with FN-INK™ Puff additive, for example, will need to be cured at a lower temperature so the puff doesn’t activate and deflate in the dryer. Low-bleed inks need more delicate heat controls. The threads in polyester shirts can’t get too hot, because it will cause dye migration.
The more advanced a conveyor dryer is, the more control printers have over these settings. Large dryers like the RileyCure Forced Air Conveyor have a long tunnel with two separate zones: one for spiking the temperature of the ink and another for controlling the final ink temperature and ensuring proper cure without overheating the ink. Printers using water-based and discharge ink will benefit from this type of dryer.
There’s a perfect conveyor dryer for every shop. Here’s a guide to choosing the best one.
The conveyor dryer you choose in your shop depends on your needs, power availability, and shop space. For shops with limited shop space, a small conveyor like the RileyCure Tabletop works great. Printers can place the dryer on a press cart or workbench to maximize usable space. It’s a perfect entry-level conveyor dryer that will increase output without taking up a ton of space.
Remember the dartboard analogy? The longer the dryer tunnel, the bigger the bullseye. A larger dryer like the RileyCure 245 or 248 is a great, versatile option. The 245 and 248 have longer tunnels and a larger heating element to cure garments with virtually no worries.
Printing with water-based inks? You’ll want to pick up a RileyCure Forced Air Conveyor to cure those inks with confidence. The first zone is a flash zone where it heats up rapidly, becoming 50% hotter than the rest of the dryer. It’ll evaporate water from water-based inks quickly, then dwell for an extended period of time in the second zone at its cure temperature. Combined with the forced air technology, the dryer achieves great results.
Make sure your plugins have the correct voltage and amps for the conveyor dryer. The RileyCure 245 requires a dedicated 240 Volt, 20 Amp circuit. The RileyCure 248 requires a 208/240 Volt, 30 Amp circuit. Choosing a conveyor dryer is only half the process. Once your dryer is all set up, run a heat test to ensure your dryer is functioning properly.
Here’s how to run a heating test:
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Proper conveyor speed can be determined by placing a small item, like a coin, on the conveyor belt and recording the time it takes to travel through the chamber. Start a stopwatch once the coin enters the entrance to the dryer chamber. Keep the stopwatch going until the leading edge of the coin exits the dryer. The coin should stay in the chamber for a minimum of 30 seconds (recommended 40-45 seconds).
Once you know the dryer is working, adjust the settings for a production run. Panel temperatures in the conveyor dryer should stay consistent throughout production. You’ll need to make small adjustments to the temperature when printing different garments as mentioned above. Remember: the thicker an ink deposit is, the longer it’ll take to reach full cure.
Take Puff ink vs. metallic ink for example. Metallic inks need a longer dwell time to reach full cure because it reflects heat. Puff, on the other hand, needs low heat to keep the maximum loft in the ink. If you’re printing these inks back-to-back, adjust dryer settings to get the best cure possible on both inks.
Once garments have been cured, perform a wash test to make sure the garments have been cured. There’s always more to know about curing: stopping dye migration, printing with specialty inks, setting up an efficient production schedule, and more. A conveyor dryer upgrade is a game-changer in a print shop. Start testing, dial it in, and get those jobs out the door faster.
A conveyor dryer is one of the most important things for your shop no matter whether you are a screen printer or do direct-to-garment (DTG) printing. There are several different things to consider when purchasing your first conveyor dryer or upgrading the current first. Here is a list of the top ten (10) questions to ask yourself when looking at a new (or used) conveyor dryer.
1. How much space do you have? There are a variety of different dryer options that come in different standard size options. Before you are able to choose what will work best for you, you’ll need to measure the space you have available. Think about your floor space in terms of width and length of your conveyor dryer. The longer the belt, the more shirts per hour it can dry. The most common dryer lengths are 8 feet, 12 feet and 16 feet long. Any reputable manufacturer can also add custom in- and out-feed to a dryer. Extending these helps perfect the dryer to your process. For example, extra long in-feed helps accommodate more printers and you can stage them around your dryer. Longer out-feed is useful if you do a lot of printing on polyester so the garments can cool before being stacked. This helps prevent ghosting. Similarly, the wider the belt, the more shirts can go through. This is because a wider belt can accommodate shirts side by side. Popular belt widths are 36 inches and 48 inches wide. Consider rearranging your floor plan to accommodate a larger conveyor dryer so you can maximize your space.
2. What type of ink are you drying? Are you a screen printer using plastisol ink, or do you use water-based and discharge inks? The two dry differently. Plastisol ink requires the ink to reach a certain temperature (typically 320 degrees or 280 for low-cure inks), whereas water-based inks dry by removing moisture. Even if you print plastisol, there is a chance are you will print on heat sensitive garments, like polyester or polypropylene bags. All of these require a conveyor dryer with air flow to dry properly. This means choosing a conveyor dryer with strong air flow.
DTG and pretreat solution drying require a conveyor dryer with a lot of air movement, as measured by CFM. Simply producing a lot of heat without a lot of air will scorch or burn a shirt.
3. What kind of electricity is in your building? Is it single-phase (also called 1-phase) or three-phase (3-phase)? Electric dryers require less money to purchase compared to gas dryers. Running a dryer on three-phase power draws less amps compared to 1-phase but is more expensive to install because the wire gauge (thickness) is bigger. Most buildings are set up for 1-Phase. Any quality screen printing dryer manufacturer should be able to offer the dryer in a 1-Phase or 3-Phase option.
4. How much sophistication do you want? Electric dryers that utilize true SCR electronic controls are the best conveyor dryers you can get. This is because an SCR controlled electric dryer regulates electric current flow for absolute temperature control in the most precise manner. Having an SCR controlled dryer means there is no “dead time” when heating panels are turning on and off, leading to reduced power consumption. Other garment dryers without SCR controls have heat fluctuations and spikes inside their heating chamber, a primary reason sensitive garments like polyester might scorch and burn products.
5. How do you want to control the dryer? The best t-shirt dryers are those that are WiFi enabled so you get the most control over the dryer and your production, no matter where you are. The latest technology allows you to visually monitor the status of the dryer, including chamber temperature, belt speed and the actual time garments are inside the chamber.
Do you want to be able to monitor your conveyor dryer’s operation and change dryer settings remotely from your I-phone, Android, I-pad or tablet? If so, a WiFi enabled control system is what you want. These systems also provide an ability to store dryer settings so you can easily switch between different belt and heat chamber settings if you print with different types of inks, like plastisol, water-based and direct-to-garment (DTG).
6. Is it cheaper to run gas versus electric where you are? Gas dryers can save you money if running gas is less expensive than electricity. Compare the rates you have from the gas company versus the electric company to see the savings. Keep in mind that gas dryers require a larger up front investment and typically more space. However, there are some small footprint gas dryer options, such as the Lawson Omega Gas Express screen printing dryer.
7. How many t-shirt printing presses are you going to be running? If you are currently running multiple manual machines, one or more automatics, or a combination of manuals and automatics, make sure the dryer you are looking at can keep up with production. Extending your infeed is one solution, allowing for enough room to lay shirts on both sides of the belt. Think about whether this dryer will keep up with your expansion plans.
8. What growth do you anticipate in the next 1-2 years? If you are expecting to see growth in the near future, such that you will need an equipment upgrade within a couple years, think about choosing a dryer with expansion capabilities. Options like the Lawson Blazer are able to expand. Another excellent option to consider is a manufacturer trade-in program, like Lawson’s Trade-In Trade-Up program.
9. What’s your budget? Consider your business’s financial shape in the immediate and the longer term. Cheap dryers are typically cheap for a reason, either through inferior parts or poor service. The only time you fret over price is when you write the check as a quality dryer will last you a lifetime.
10. What is your goal in garments per hour? If space, power requirements, price, and other factors allow, the smartest thing to do is pick out a dryer that has a little more space than you think you need. That way your dryer won’t bottleneck your production, and any time you get an unusual run, you won’t be resigned to wait around.
Using these top 10 questions when looking for a conveyor dryer will assist you in choosing the one that is the best fit for your business.
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