Screen Printing Inks

Everyone in the pad printing and screen printing industry could do with some useful ink tips now and then to freshen up the memory and maybe learn something new! That’s why we want to bring up some common ink issues and how to go about solving them.

• Add a touch of blue to make your white ink brighter

We happen to get calls from customers sometimes asking about how to brighten white screen printing or pad printing ink. To do so you can actually just add a touch of blue color to it. More specifically, #32 from any of our ink series would be the best option.

• How to handle misprints

Removing misprints from plastics is also a issue for some people. The best way to handle it is to use our Ink-Away Remover to clean the substrate and then overprint the shadow before removing the object from the nesting fixture. However, if the ink attacks the plastic it may be impossible to re-claim the item.

Read more

Imprinted plastic part

Take a look at this! Would you ever think this is a part of a very expensive tool used for measurement applications?

As a matter of fact, this object is part of an extremely sophisticated measuring device called FARO Laser Tracker. We wanted to make sure the imprinted plastic artwork came out just perfect! In the matter of 4 days, Paul had pad printed enough parts to assemble $2.5 million worth of laser trackers. And as Paul nicely put it when I went to take pictures of it; “You better not drop this…!”

Our customer responsible for the markings realized that using stickers was no longer cost-efficient and that plastic pad printing was the best way to go. So for this job we used the ICN-150 pad printing machine. Paul was in charge of training our customer and making sure that the printing process was running smoothly.

The ICN-150 is a 2 color pad printer but we had five different colors and symbols to work with so it had to be done in turns; starting off with red and silver, followed by yellow and black, and finally green.

Read more

Personalized Luggage Tag

The PromoJET is known for being an extremely versatile printer, capable of printing on objects of different sizes and shapes. But let’s not forget that a small flat objects such as luggage tags is another great application for the PromoJET Inkjet Printer.

They came out looking very shiny and the resolution of the artwork in really outstanding. See for yourself by clicking on the picture to see a larger image!

Greg simply followed 3 easy steps to go from plain white tags to colorful personalized luggage tags.

• First thing he needed to do was to wipe down the tags with alcohol to get all those sticky fingerprints off!
• Secondly, he pre-treated them using a heat gun which is a pretty common procedure in order to get the best ink adhesion possible.
• Lastly, all he did was placing the luggage tags on the printer table and off it goes!

Read more

"Thank You" note

As part of Inkcups Now ongoing community involvement we were pleased to donate some of our time and effort for the Appleton Farm’s Fundraiser Event, which took place in June ‘09 in Ipswich, MA. Please visit their website at www.thetrustees.org

“Appleton Farms” Laser etching on Hammers
We were approached by Mrs. Hoffman from Appleton Farms who came up with the idea of etching on hammers. She asked if we could do it in a way which would preserve the old fashion look of the hammers. That’s why we decided to simply engrave “Appleton Farms” on the wooden handle.

Next step was to put our innovative minds together to come up with the design and we used one of our CO2 lasers etcher to engrave the handle of the hammers. Supposedly it was the most popular item; all 50 hammers sold out in a matter of minutes!

Read more

NPE - World's Largest Plastics Showcase

Times are tough, we know, but here at Inkcups Now we are committed to staying positive and optimistic about the future of the economy and our industry.

The last trade show we participated in - International Plastic Showcase in Chicago, IL - was definitely an eye opener. There were quite a few people in disbelief about the future due to the growth recession. But even though the economic climate is getting tougher out there, we choose to stay ahead of the game and look forward by creating new opportunities and innovative ideas every day. The second half of 2009 has just started!

Click to get VIP pass to SGIA

We are also very excited to be participating in this upcoming trade show in October! It is the annual SGIA EXPO in New Orleans, LA from Oct 7-9. Please come and see us if you are in the area. Actually, we’ll make it easy for you; just click on the link to get a free SGIA pass today! No excuses!

Technorati tags: NPE 2009, SGIA EXPO, Free SGIA Pass

Harmony Ink Dispenser

To continue on our subject of tips and guidelines like the posts about printing pads and ceramic rings, we now want to raise awareness about pad and screen printing inks and ink mixing!

There are basically two ways to go about ink mixing; you can either pour the ink by hand or use our Harmony Ink Dispenser. The difference is that with the Dispenser, you have fine control over the amount of ink/thinners you mix (because of calibrated pumps) and ink does not get spilled around (even if your hands are shaking a little after yesterday ). Also the unmixed portions are preserved in Dispenser’s canisters instead of drying out all over the open cans. The ICN 1501 Digital Scale gives you (+/-) 0.01 gram accuracy, needed for precise measurement.

Follow these steps to achieve best possible ink mix:

• • Make sure you use unlined mixing cups (no wax) and wooden or metal mixing sticks! If you use plastic, your ink may get contaminated with plasticizers.
• • Zero the scale out and make sure its on a leveled surface. Read more