2011 was another monumental year for Inkcups Now! We grew as a company, introduced new products and updates to the market, expanded our presence in the garment tag printing (aka Inkcup Print) market. We have compiled a list of what we accomplished in the past year:

1. WE TURNED 10!
Inkcups Now celebrated its 10th year as a company! Starting out selling ink cups out of his basement, Ben Adner (President and founder) quickly turned this small company into a market leader in 10 short years! Even receiving the honor of being named entrepreneur of the year!

2. INKCUPS NOW EXPANDS THEIR FACILITY
In early 2011 Inkcups Now decided that we needed more space! We were expanding our inventory and simply could not house it all in a single place. We moved our entire ink, thinner and auxiliary line to a state of the art facility. We now have a larger inventory and faster than ever turnaround!

3. INCREASED WORK FORCE
Throughout the year Inkcups Now has obtained new employees in all departments of the company. We expanded our production department, our corporate sector and our sales department. We also have more international sales representatives in Central and South America.

4. INTRODUCED THE ICN-2200PS
The ICN-2200PS revolutionized 2 color pad printing. The reason why this machine is so effective in printing 2 colors is the fact that the parts do not move, only the pads, ensuring flawless 2nd color registration. The ICN-2200PS is also much faster than typical 2 color pad printing machines. The 2200PS is the most advanced 2 color pad printer on the market.

5. INTRODUCED THE ICN-B150
The ICN-B150, also known as the big brother to the ICN-B100, was an excellent addition to the ICN line of pad printers. This pad printer is a bench top model that now allows users to place in smaller work cells, yet can accommodate images up to 150mm in diameter. A great addition to any print shop!

6. INTRODUCED THE ICN-2200PSx
The ICN-2200PS was a great achievement for Inkcups Now and the printing industry as a whole. However, we managed to increase the speed of the machine by giving it an independent cup drive. The 2200PSx managed to increase the overall speed of the machine by 40%. This is now the fastest pad printer on the market today.

7. CREATED A ROTARY MODULE FOR THE MIMAKI UJF-3042
We built the first and only proprietary head lift system and rotary module for the Mimaki UJF-3042. The head lift system raises the print head to allow it to print on items up to 5 inches in height instead of the standard 2 inches. The rotary module gives the machine the ability to print on cylindrical objects, 360 degrees around.

8. NEW PLATE MATERIALS
We introduced new plate materials to the market for pad printing. Our premium orange laser plates are perfect for garment tag printing. Our gold plate material is great for doctoring because it has such a smooth glossy finish.

9. NEW TOUGHCUP
We redeveloped our ToughCup coating for the VersaCup Inkcup to be as tough as ever! The new coating even resists ink. The ink can literally sit over 48hours and harden inside the cup, no matter what the ink can be removed with just a single paper towel. A lot of companies have tried to introduce “green” products this year, Inkcups Now, however was the only one to truly succeed because there is no need to use chemicals and there is nothing to throw away.

10. SILICONE INK
Inkcups Now had begun selling a silicone ink that will adhere to any silicone material. The ink is available for pad printing and screen printing. The silicone ink can withstand extreme temperatures and will not crack or peel when bent.

What’s to come????
We plan on having another stellar year! We are going to continue to grow as a company. We are going to introduce a whole line of new machines, modifications to old machines, and continue to provide the best customer service in the industry.

What do you most want to see from Inkcups Now in 2012?

Tag label printing is not just for t-shirts anymore! Here at Inkcups Now, we printed on intimate apparel, bras and panties to be exact. The labels came out great on the intimate apparel!

Tag label printing offers numerous benefits to the intimate apparel industry. Intimate apparel is often tight and form fitting. A tight space is not the best place to put a tag, the person wearing the garment will constantly feel the tag. Printed tag labels are pad printed on to the garment, the ink is absorbed into the material, thus no raised surface of the tag and no feeling of the tag whatsoever. Also, intimate apparel is typically made of a light material. A tag tucked away under the material would show through and become visible. Tag printed labels will not show through the material.

If you have not tried tag printed labels on your garments, your missing out!

Want more information? Click here to send us a message.

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What’s your opinion of Tag Printed Labels?

Post your answers below!

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Printer used in this project:
Type: Semi-Automatic Pad Printer
Brand: ICN-B100
Model: One Color Benchtop
Standard applications: apparel tag printing, pens, stress balls, other metal and plastic parts…
Unconventional applications: cookies, contact lenses
More info: ICN-B100 Benchtop Pad Printer page

Technorati tags: Apparel Tag Printing, Pad Printing, Intimate Apparel

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

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.

Contact Inkcups Now for additional information!

Ink used in this project:
Type: SI Series
Brand: Sapphire Pad & Screen Printing Ink
More info: SI Series Silicone Ink page

Technorati tags: Silicone Inks, Print on Silicone, Pad and screen printing ink” target=”_blank”>Pad Shuttle, Apparel Labels

The ICN Sapphire brand ink has been called many things in the past. “Screen printing ink“, “pad printing ink”, even “gunk”. Just don’t call it PAINT!

Pad printing ink is not suitable for coating walls, chairs or landscapes. Which is exactly why pad printing ink is not called “paint.” Ink contains coloring molecules that are dissolved in a liquid. Paints will have pigments, that is coloring molecules that are in suspension in a liquid (but not dissolved.) You must work harder in order to keep paint mixed together.

Pad printing ink is formulated to transfer images from an etched plate to 3-dimensional, irregularly shaped or flat objects. Among the various applications of pad printing inks are the following: printing on promotional products (pens, travel mugs, golf balls), medical devices, car components and tagless t-shirts.

Sapphire series screen and pad printing inks are triple milled to micron level pigment sizes yielding one of the industry’s most opaque and brilliant color palettes. You can literally see the difference as soon as you open a can of ink.

To the many experienced people in the printing industry and the many more just starting out: You know the difference, you see the difference. So please do not call ink, paint!

Are you not getting the results you want from your ink? Click here and find out how to make the best prints possible.