The Inkcups.com site has an amazing new upgrade!!!!! Live Chat! Featured on each of our web pages, the live chat button sits on the right hand side of the screen. It is available Monday through Friday 9am – 5pm EST. Visitors have the option to talk to a live expert and get advice instantly! When you see those ICN colors just click to start your chat! Inkcups Now believes in continued innovation for their products and the same can be said about the way in which the company operates. Anything that can be done to bridge the gap between company and customer relationships is a win-win for everybody.

Question about our pad printing equipment or about a particular ink series? We will have a solution for you. The live chat function serves as an excellent medium for communication between Inkcups Now and visitors to the website. We are very excited to have this chat technology be apart of our webpage! We are continually striving to provide the industry’s best customer service from technical experts. Our chat service is not outsourced, you will be chatting with REAL Inkcups Now employees from our headquarters location.

Try out the Chat today! Just visit: Inkcups.com and click on the green and blue chat icon.

“Can I Etch Laser Plates with my CO2 Laser?” – This is a very common question we get from pad printing companies. Indeed, if a company already has a robust laser engraver, it may be able to enjoy the benefits of fully digitized pad printing plate-making – simply by purchasing the laser plate material and getting some instruction.

The short answer is as follows: you are likely to get the best results with laser plates if the wattage of your CO2 laser engraver is between 10Watt and 20Watt, and no more than 30Watt.

The longer answer is this:

1. If your laser has more than 30Watt, you may still get excellent results with the Acculaze plate material, which is designed to handle fine-line graphics only (does not work for bold fonts or open etch areas). To etch Acculaze with a 30+Watt laser engraver, use the lowest power setting and make 2 passes.
2. For the Imperial and Laser Orange plate material (both of which can handle any type of graphics) you do need the laser wattage to be no more than 30Watts; 10Watt – 20Watt is usually best. With a more powerful laser, the beam diameter (spot size) of the laser is too large to achieve fine etch and sharp prints.
3. The other major factor that comes into play is your CO2 laser’s software: it will determine how well you can manipulate your graphic files.
4. Test your laser! We offer laser plate samples and etching guides.
5. Consult with Inkcups Now specialist to determine if investing in one of our specialized laser engravers and plate-makers is the right solution for you.

Photopolymer Plates in Exposure Unit While garment tag printing, most users prefer making their own plates. Typically the most inexpensive way to etch your own plates is by using photopolymer plates with an exposure unit. Etching an image into photopolymer plates requires more attention than laser etching the plates, exposure times will vary depending upon the image size, even if the same plate material is used for both large and small images. Inkcups Now has done extensive testing with our water wash orange plate material, our most popular for garment tag printing. Larger images need more time to develop during the washout process to provide the depth necessary for garment tag printing.
	B100 (small image)	150 (Large image)
Film Exposure	1:00	0:55
200 Line Screen Exposure	0:20	0:10
Washout	1:00	1:30
Bake Time @ 170°F	20:00	20:00
Post Cure	20:00	20:00
New to photopolymer plate-making? Click here to check out a complete photopolymer plate-making training video. Plates used in this project: Type: Photopolymer Plates Brand: ICN Model: Water Wash Orange Standard applications: Promotional products, Garment Tag Printing Photopolymer plate alternative: Laser Plate Making.

Inkcups Now takes pride in offering the best technical support in the industry. If you own a pad printing machine, weather you use it for printing on promotional products or garment tag printing, proper loading of the plates and cups into the machine is key to getting a great print. The following is a 5 step procedure that will ensure proper plate and cup installation.

1. Thoroughly clean the magnetic sub-plate and back of print plate.

2. Make sure the plate is laying flat on top of the sub-plate. While applying pressure to the center on the plate, finger tighten the hold-down knobs on one end, then repeat on the other end. DO NOT OVER-TIGHTEN or you may distort the plate and cause doctoring problems

3. Putting the cup and plate together:

• Clean the ring edge before putting on plate (every time.)
• Always place the ink cup gently on the plate at the end opposite to the image area.
• OPEN THE VENT PLUG BY TURNING COUNTER-CLOCKWISE – let it sit for a minute, then re-tighten. This lets air out of the ink cup and enables the ring to set properly on the plate.

4. Putting the locking pin into the ink cup

• Slide the locking pin up and down several times and move the cup manually (rotate the cup, do not push) to make sure there is no interference between cup and pin.
• Make sure the pin is not seated directly on the bottom of the hole.

5. After the machine sits idle

• Before turning on the machine, manually break free the cup from its location on the plate. This is done in case the ring has settled into the plate material which would result in damaged plates when the machine cycle is initiated

Contact Inkcups Now for additional information!

Printer used in this project:
Type: Pad Printer
Brand: ICN
Model: B100, B150, 2200(PS, PSx)
Standard applications: Bottles, Garment Tag Labels, Cups, Mugs…
More info: ICN’s Pad Printer page

Here is a new video of the ICN-2200-PSx high speed pad printer with a heavy duty pad slide. In this video we show off this pad printers 2 color printing capability. As you can see, the pad slide simplifies positioning of your garment. The slide allows your part to remain stationary therefore assuring a flawless second color print. The ICN-2200-PSx is the fastest 2 color garment tag printer on the market! The increased speed is attributed to an independent cup drive system and a shorter plate length. It can print up to 1800 impressions per hour for 2 colors and 2600 impressions per hour for 1 color. The speed can be completely controlled and adjusted to the speed of your liking. This machine saves time and money by increasing production speed and lowering operating costs.

Contact Inkcups Now for more information about the ICN-2200-PSx Pad Printer. Printer used in this project: Type: Semi-Automatic Pad Printer Brand: ICN 2200-PSx Model: 2 Color High Speed Pad Slide Standard applications: garment tag printing, pens, stress balls, other metal and plastic parts… Unconventional applications: cookies, contact lenses More info: ICN 2200-PSx Pad Printer page

Ever found yourself in middle of a production run only to discover that your printing pad suddenly split in two? Most people would think there is something wrong with the pad itself, hoping that a new pad will do the trick. When the same problem occurs over and over, its time to find out what’s really going on.

Looks familiar? This picture was sent in by a customer who had no idea why his pad printing pads kept splitting. It was not the ink, not the surface of the substrate he was printing on or poor handling of the pad – Eventually we found out that it was the settings of his machines that led to a serious case of over-compression of the pad.

Read more

Here at Inkcups Now we have many customers that make their own photopolymer plates for apparel tag printing. While there are many variations of exposure and baking times, we have tested many methods of photopolymer plate making with our water wash orange plates in order to determine the best method.

PLEASE NOTE: We are using our BPL1220 exposure unit. Exposure times may vary depending upon the power of your exposure unit.

Step 1 – 1 minute exposure with film positive (customer image)
Step 2 – 20 second exposure with 200 line screen
Step 3 – Washout with water for 1 minute
Step 4 – Blot dry with lint free towel
Step 5 – Bake plate in the oven at 170F for 10 minutes
Step 6 – Post cure in BPL 1220 for 20 minutes

This combination produced a deep plate that works well for apparel tag printing. The plate was hard, doctored well, and the cup rode smoothly across with no bowing. Water wash orange plates are the best photopolymer plates to use for apparel tag printing because the plate is harder than other photopolymer plates when fully cured. This reduces the risk of problems that may arise due to soft plates.

Contact Inkcups Now for additional information!

Plates used in this project:
Type: Water Wash Orange Photopolymer
Brand: Inkcups Now
More info: Photopolymer Plates page

Technorati tags: Photopolymer Plate Making, Pad Printing, Pad and screen printing ink, Apparel Tag Label

Printing on dark garments with a white ink can be difficult. Sometimes the tagless label is simply not bright enough and the darkness of the garment shows through. Here at Inkcups Now, we understand your frustration and have provided some great tips for you to get that white bright!

To get a brighter white:

try reducing your thinner mixture by 5%.
The mixture commonly use is:

50 grams White
7.5 grams SBM thinner (15%)
2.5 grams 1000HNX hardener (5%)

Add a 1 second delay before pickup and 1 second before print. Adjust front and back delay to see if you get improved results.

Make sure you increase the pad compression on the garment so the pad “over-compresses” or nearly stalls during the printing cycle

Make sure your pads are not worn

Make sure you used enough ink in the cup – it is a common problem to put too little ink into the cup with white because its pigments are so heavy. 50 gram of white ink is a minimum mixture

If you have artwork flexibility, go to all capital letters for size and country of origin

It is common to have to add thinner more frequently to white ink because it has more pigment than all the other colors. The thinner helps keep the pigment in solution.

Try using inks other than standard white ink – Inkcups Now has developed a new product called SuperWhite Ink with pigments especially designed for garment printing.

If you have any questions or are interested in tagless printing or SuperWhite ink, please click here.

Ink used in this project:
Type: SuperWhite Ink
Brand: SB Series Ink
More info: SB Series SuperWhite Ink page

Technorati tags: Tagless Printing, Bright Ink, Pad and screen printing ink” target=”_blank”>Pad Shuttle, Apparel Labels

Photopolymer plates work hard to hold ink for pad printing machines. However before the plates get to that point, they need a little rest and relaxation. How do photopolymer printing plates relax? They go tanning.

Photopolymer plates like to get a nice tan. They enjoy spending time in their UV tanning beds (exposure units) until they achieve the perfect tan. If the printing plates are taken out of the exposure units too early they will not do their job properly. The plates will hold too much ink, resulting in too much ink pick up on the pad. The image will come out bold and poorly defined.

On the other side of things, if our friends are left in the exposure unit too long, they will come out tired. The plates will be too weak to hold the proper amounts of ink. The plates will be shallow resulting in not enough ink pressed down on the part.

The best solution for too much or too little ink pick up is to keep your polymer plates happy. Treat them with care. Keep a close eye on them and time the exposure. Give them a great tan and they will give you great prints.

Find out the proper exposure time for your plate by clicking HERE.
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Technorati tags: Photopolymer Plates, Photopolymer Printing Plates, Printing Plate

Recently here at Inkcups Now we received a phone call from a customer in distress. When the customer placed ink in their ink cup, it would spill out of a small hole on the bottom of the ring. The customer had chipped one of their ceramic rings on his ink cup. The customer did not know what to do next. They didn’t have a replacement ring or a ring removal tool and they had a high production demand. The customer could not wait two or three days for a new ring and ring removal tool.

Our technicians had a fast and easy solution for the customer. Place the ink cup in the freezer. Yes, the freezer. Now this seems a little odd, however it certainly does work. When metal gets cold it shrinks, the colder it gets the more it shrinks. The ring is ceramic, thus the cold will have no effect on it and it will remain the same size. Once the metal shrinks enough (usually after about 2-3 hours), the ring can be removed. BE CAUTIOUS the edges of the ring are extremely sharp and can cut if not handled properly.

Now you must be asking yourself, what about the replacement ring? If the customer didn’t have one on hand how is he supposed to replace the damaged ring? The answer is simple. Flip the ring over. All Inkcups Now ceramic rings are double-sided. Just flip it over and it works as good as new!

Remember, keep the ink cup cold while removing and installing the ring, do not let it warm in between. If the ink cup gets warm it will expand again and the ring will not fit. Also, once you change the ring, let the ink cup sit out at room temperature for about an hour or two in order to allow the metal expand to its original form. Just place the ink cup back into the pad printer and continue printing!

Contact us for more information and other helpful hints.

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Technorati tags: Ink Cup, Ceramic Rings, Pad Printer