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.

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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
  

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.
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