The R-160 T-shirt screen printing machine from Inkcups Now can now print on gloves! This screen printing press features six part stations that rotate 360 degrees around the machine and two heat lamps for fast curing of the ink. The R160 screen printing press is a self-contained machine that allows the rapid printing and curing of garments and promotional products in a single machine cycle eliminating multiple handling steps.
These gloves were inserted onto each fixture and then they were screen printed and cured in less than 30 seconds! This machine has the ability to print about 1800 pieces per hour! Hows that for high production? Just take a look at that picture! With the R160, you will get the same high quality print every time. Only available from Inkcups Now!
Printer used in this project:
Type: Screen Printing Machine
Brand: ICN
Model: R-160
Standard applications: koozies, bags, notebooks, gloves, garment neck labels (tags), sleeves, accessories, etc…
Inkcups Now is proud to introduce the R 160 Screen Printer! The R 160 is a 6 station rotary indexing screen printer with dual curing stations. The R 160 was created to meet the challenges of printing image sizes that fall between the traditional application ranges of screen printing and pad printing.
This high speed automated screen printer is ideal for screen printing shops who always wanted to begin pad printing, yet didn’t want to learn a whole new method of printing. This machine easily allows for tag label printing which was popularized by pad printing machines.
Pad printers will also feel right at home with the R 160 because of its ease of use. The R 160 is a self-contained unit that not only prints automatically, but cures the ink as well. The only thing the operator has to do is remove and attach new parts. The R 160 is a great new addition to the ICN team and is the perfect machine for those looking to enhance their print shop.
Printer used in this project:
Type: Automatic Screen Printer
Brand: ICN
Model: R160
Standard applications: Garment tag printing, promotional products, etc….
More info: T-Shirt Screen Printing Machine – R160 page
Silicone ink printed on wristbands (click to enlarge!)
Inkcups Now strives to provide consumers all over with the highest quality inks available. We take pride in our lineup of pad and screen printing inks. Maintaining that standard, Inkcups Now introduces our new line of silicone inks.
Silicone is typically a difficult material for conventional inks to adhere to. The only way to print on silicone is with a silicone based ink. The SI Series silicone ink ensures excellent adhesion to all silicone products. Whether it is a remote control or a wristband, the silicone ink will adhere. The SI Series ink can be applied by either screen printing or pad printing.
The addition of the silicone ink is just another example of Inkcups Now’s ability to meet and exceed customer needs.
Inkcups Now’s Si Series silicone ink comes in a wide variety of colors and can be color matched to any pantone color.
Are you struggling with keeping opened pad or screen printing ink and hardener fresh?
We have a convenient solution: the VersaCover! Don’t miss our commercial to air at the Super Bowl. Here is a sneak preview, just for you:
The VersaCover hermetically seals nearly all ink and hardener cans available on the market. READ MORE
This inkjet printed glass was done in two parts; printing the colored logo first, then overprinting with white in order to make the artwork more opaque. We also printed the solid white stripe as an example of how the lines would look.
Since the impact of the basketball would eventually wear out an imprint we decided to print on the back on the board were the glass gives the impression that the print is on the front.
Before printing, Paul our Mimaki expert, started off by wiping the glass backboard down with our Glass Activator (Specially developed in our ICN Laboratory…) to get extra adhesion to the glass.
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.
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!
Have you ever experienced problems while pad printing such as repeated misprints or voided prints? If so, your initial reaction was most likely that it was caused by the ink. However, many times it is due to the fact that the printing pad needs replacing. If your pad looks anything like those on the picture, it’s about time you get a new one!
By the way, for a limited time, we have a Buy 5 Pads Get 1 Free offer for you. Search our pad selection and call in for more details at 978-646-8981.
Common Issues Caused by Old Pad
• All silicone pads have oil in them to pick up and transfer ink properly. If the pad dries out you may experience voids in the prints.
• If the image is burnt into the pad that means it has dried out. This can be caused by using a high ratio of hardeners or thinners in your ink - hardeners and some thinners are aggressive to the silicone surface. This is normal and doesn’t necessarily mean that there is something wrong with your ink mix – but you will have to change your pad more often. (The life of the pad also depends on what substrates you print on, for instance, softer plastic materials is gentler to print on then hard metal objects.)
• Pads can also get saturated with thinners, leading to poor ink pick-up. If the saturation happens, the pad will dry out quicker than it should.
• When the pad durometer changes (due to dryness) softer pads get softer and harder pads get harder, which will also affect the outcome of the artwork.
We’ve seen a lot pads and done a lot of pad printing here at Inkcups. Our conclusion is: if you are continuing to use a deteriorated pad instead of getting a new one, you are wasting much more than you are saving because of all the misprints and aggravation.
How to Take Care of Your Printing Pad
Even the best pads won’t last forever. However, you can prolong their life by regular maintenance. Read On
Hi! A few tips on using Sapphire inks for screen print process:
• When using Sapphire inks for screen printing, you need a slower thinner than that you use for pad printing and you need it in lesser quantities. You want to add 3-5% of thinner to start and then see if you need more. For instance blue colors will most likely be fine but some red colors will require more thinner. High density colors will always require more thinner.
• Use S3 screen thinner, it will prevent your screen from “locking.”
• To increase ink opacity use the widest mesh appropriate for your artwork. Read more
Does this image not look laser engraved? Yet it is printed, with all its fine lines. Not only the ink looks great, you can save money with it!
Click on the image to view it closer. Read more
