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Specialty Printing Inks - Pad Printing Ink, Screen Printing Ink, Solvent & UV Inkjet Ink
Inkcups Now offers several lines of inks for specialty printing on 3-dimensional and flat items (such as promotional products, tagless garments, medical and automotive parts, electronic devices) using pad printing machines, screen printing machines, flatbed and rotary inkjet printers:
Within those general types of ink, we also have more specialized, unique ink products:
Compliance
All Sapphire ink series, including SB-Tagless and BLink311, as well as Opal and Candymark inks are non-toxic and compliant with current US regulations such as CPSIA'08 and California Prop 65. Also, depending on ink series' purpose, the inks meet NAFTA standards, medical grade standards, FDA standards (see details on individual ink series pages). In addition, the Sapphire ink series have European toy safety certification. Corresponding compliance documents are available here.
Ink Adhesion Testing
Not sure which ink and printing process is going to work best for particular applications? - Request a no-charge consultation from ICN printing gurus.
Looking to try some supreme quality inks to improve print adhesion and opacity? - Request a complementary ink adhesion test on your sample parts.
Solvent Ink, Water-based Ink, UV Ink... What's the Difference?
- Here are some Ink Curing Facts:
- Pad printing inks and screen printing inks are solvent-based, they cure as the solvent evaporates. It means that the prints cure by mere exposure to air. (It also means, ink cans must be hermetically closed to preserve the ink.) Initial curing of a print takes a few seconds, depending on the thinner used in the ink mix, thickness of ink layer, substrate being printed, air temperature and humidity etc. Complete curing, after which the part is ready for heavy-duty handling, may take from 20 minutes to several hours, depending on the same factors.
- Exposure to heat increases the adhesion of pad printing and screen printing ink. For example, placing the printed parts under direct sunlight (provided the atmosphere is not highly humid) will decrease the time for complete curing and improve ink adhesion.
- When extra strong adhesion is needed (for instance, for dishwasher resistance), pad printed or screen printed parts can be cured in an oven (at up to 180° F).
- High quality pad printing inks (such as our Sapphire pad printing ink series) have small enough pigment particles and are perfectly suited for screen printing. The only adjustment of ink for screen printing is using a different (slower) thinner, which slows down ink curing process a little bit so that the ink does not dry in the screens before it's transferred to the part.
- Inkjet printing inks that are solvent-based cure by air. Initial curing normally takes several seconds, largely depending on the substrate printed and also on the thickness of the ink layer, air temperature and humidity. Complete curing takes from 20 minutes to several hours, depending on the same factors. To speed up complete curing while improving adhesion printed parts can be "post-baked" - exposed to heat in a low temperature oven (at up to 200° F).
- Edible inkjet printing inks are normally water-based and cure by air. Because edible items are sensitive to heat, post-baking is normally not used. Curing times largely depends on how absorbent/porous the items are.
- Mimaki UV inkjet inks cure by a UV lamp that comes standard on Mimaki UV inkjet printers.
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VersaCover - Seals All Cans!
The VersaCover seals nearly all cans available on the market. Prolong the life of your ink and hardener!
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