Panda Spin Dryer
If you watch very many of my videos, you may have heard me refer to my Panda Spin Dryer. It is truly one of my favorite tie dye tools. Here is a link to the one that I purchased if you would like to check it out: https://amzn.to/2Z1b5ZZ
For years I’ve wrung my shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies out by hand. However, as you probably know - that can be a task sometimes. T-shirts aren’t too bad, but sweatshirts and hoodies are pretty tough to wring out by hand. So, I started searching for a solution.
My washing machine is a newer washer that adds water during the spin cycle. Therefore, using my washing machine to spin the soda ash solution out of the shirts wasn’t an option. At least not an option that was going to be an easy one, or one that I was willing to pursue.
I hit the tie dye forums and I was amazed at some of the clever ideas that people have come up with to wring their shirts out (salad spinners, mop buckets, wringer washers, etc…). I saw a suggestion for a spin dryer and started doing some research. Quite frankly, I hadn’t ever heard of a spin dryer before.
Basically a spin dryer spins at a high rate of speed (mine spins at 3200 rpm), and is intended to get your clothing almost dry without using heat - just a fast spin. There are a lot of spin dryers on the market, but I finally settled on a Panda Spin Dryer. I chose the white stainless steel option in the hopes that the dried soda ash solution wouldn’t show up as badly on the white exterior as it might on the gray option. Because let’s be honest - soda ash is notorious for leaving a film.
The Panda Spin Dryer is portable (it weighs less than 30 pounds) and easy to move. I store mine inside, but I prefer to use it outside to wring out shirts. All I need is an electrical outlet to plug it in.
I can wring out quite a few shirts at a time. I’ve never counted them, but the description from Amazon says it will hold 22 pounds of clothing. I know I’ve put at least 7 shirts in mine at one time. I usually don’t put more than 2 or 3 hoodies or sweatshirts in at one time though since they are so bulky.
I use it to spin out all my items that I’ve soaked in soda ash - even the ones that are already tied. When I reverse dye shirts I normally wash them after the color removal step. However, most of the time I leave the shirts tied and wash them followed by a soda ash soak. After the soak, I continue to leave them tied and wring them out in my Panda Spin Dryer.
As the items are spinning in the spin dryer, the soda ash solution is being drained from a spout on the front at the bottom of the machine. The spout is just far enough off of the ground to place a small pitcher underneath to catch the soda ash solution. I can then pour the soda ash solution back inside my main soda ash bucket to be reused.
I’ve noticed that my soda ash solution last a lot longer since purchasing the spin dryer. I was wasting a lot of soda ash solution before because I couldn’t wring as much out of the shirts by hand as I can using the spin dryer. That’s a great bonus that I wasn’t expecting!
I normally watch the drain spout and when the soda ash solution barely starts to trickle, I will stop the machine. The spin dryer has an automatic stop, but I normally stop it a little sooner. I found that if I let them spin until the end of the cycle, they are almost too dry for my liking. I like them to be barely damp when I tie them.
A few months ago I was just making a single shirt and decided to skip using my Panda Spin Dyer and wring it by hand. I thought I got a lot of the soda ash solution wrung from the shirt and began tying it. I quickly realized how much soda ash solution was left in the shirt compared to shirts spun out in the Panda.
When I am finished using my Panda Spin Dryer I rinse the inside stainless steel drum with some plain water, and I wipe down the outside with plain water as well. I allow it to dry and then take it back inside to store it until I am ready to use it the next time.
Shortly after receiving my spin dryer, I made a short video that shows the Panda spin dryer. Here is a link to that video: https://youtu.be/ivA7RFIc9UU
Some of the links above are for Amazon items, and I am an Amazon Associate. Therefore, if you click or purchase through these links I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.