Screen and Pad Printing News:
New Products and New Technology
New Product! The DirectJet Rotary - cylinder printer with white ink!
The DirectJet 1024 is one of the first bottle printers capable of printing in CMYK plus WHITE all in a single pass, significantly reducing total print time. Print an entire 360 degree wrap in only 3-4 minutes! This UV inkjet printer has only a 3pl droplet size, the smallest available on the market. The smaller the droplet size, the finer detailed the image can be.
The DirectJet 1024 UV inkjet printer can print at a maximum resolution of 5760 x 5760dpi for stunning photographic quality images. The DirectJet 1024 UV inkjet printer is capable of creating personalized wine bottles and drink ware. Plastic sports bottles, thermal bottles, drinking glasses, shot glasses or any cylindrical shaped object can be customized with any image or logo you wish to print, the possibilities are endless. As far as bottle printers go, the DirectJet 1024 is the best!
New Home! Inkcups Now is Moving and Expanding!!
We are excited to announce that Inkcups Now will start the new 2013 year in a new Home! On the left is the aerial view of the new building.
As of January 1st, ICN Headquarters, Main Production and Main Warehouse will be located at the gorgeous 26 000 square foot facility at 310 Andover Street in Danvers, Massachusetts. It's about a mile from our old place, and all contact information (except the street name) stays the same.
The production and warehousing area will be located on one level, allowing further improvement of collaboration and production efficiency. Stay tuned for housewarming pictures!
New Product! R280 - 2-Color Screen Printer
Looking for an industrial screen printer that can meet high demand yet is compact in size? Then look no further than the R280 2-color screen printer. The R280 is a great t-shirt printing machine as well as promotional products.
The features of the R280 include: 2 print heads, an 8-station tooling platform (that is adjustable depending on the part), 4 high output flash cure units, and the ability to print a maximum print size of 4.75” x 7.75”. Auto unload capabilities are also available!
The first of its kind! A UV LED printer capable of short-run inkjet printing and long-run industrial printing. The XJET UV inkjet printer is inexpensive to tool and quick to changeover, it is conveyorized for high throughput and automation capability.
Weighing 1550lbs, this industrial inkjet printer is built for high production printing. Featuring: six print heads (CMYKWW), UV LED curing, uni or bi-directional printing, and a programmable servo-controlled load station (patent pending.
The DirectJet UV inkjet printer is the most technologically advanced table top inkjet printer available today! The DirectJet is a UV LED printer capable of printing on a wide range of substrates such as plastic, wood, metal, glass and rubber. Printing on dark substrates poses no challenge because of the DirectJet's very opaque white ink.
This flatbed UV printer features a six color print head (C, M, Y, K, W, Cl) able to print on items up to six inches in height. The DirectJet also features a 13” x 25” tooling platform, automatic platform height-adjust and a DC controlled reciprocating platform.
The EdiJET edible ink printer is an extremely versatile inkjet system for flat or 3-dimensional items up to 4 inches high. This inkjet uses edible ink to print high quality edible images on promotional candy and bakery products such as cakes, cookies, mints, and frosted products.
Features include: DC driven tooling table (13" x 7"), onto which parts can be tooled easily for multi-part decoration. Specialized RIP software controls the color reproduction and the overall amount of ink lay on the product. The edible inkjet printer also features a maximum resolution of 2880 x 2880dpi.
The R-160 is a one of a kind screen printer that produces images up to 4.75 by 7.75 inches. This rotary printer features 6-part fixtures which enable rapid screen printing of up to 1800 prints per hour. The R-160 addresses the challenge of printing images that are too big for traditional pad printing equipment and enables better utilization of large textile screen printers, which are normally geared for larger images.
New Publication! Tag Printing Article - Published in Specialty Printing Worldwide
Inkcups Now published an Apparel Tag Printing Technology overview in the January edition ofSpecialist Printing Worldwide magazine (www.specialistprinting.com), which has the circulation in the US, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Here is an exerpt:
Apparel
Manufacturers Taking
the Route to Cost-reduction
Over the past few years, the so-called Label-free Apparel – T-shirts, jeans, underwear and other garments that do not have sewn-in care labels – are becoming the new standard in apparel manufacturing. Not only is this trend popular with the consumers (who are spared of the annoying tags and the urge to cut them out), but it also brings in a magnitude of cost savings to the producers. The following article describes and compares the most popular label-free techniques, these being heat transfer labelling, screen-printing and pad printing..."
New Product! ICN-2200PSx - Pad Printer with Pad Slide
The ICN-2200-PSx is a variant of ICN-2200-PS. The PSx is a 2-color pad printer with the Pad Slide mechanism and maximized printing speed. This pad printer is geared to accommodate the highest production speed requirements on the Apparel Tag Printing and Promotional Product market.
Faster speeds are achieved due to three features that distinguish the 2200-PSx from the 2200-PS:
Independent cup drive
Reduced stroke on the pad and the cups
Special programming for the timing of the second color print
The new ICN-B150 pad printer is the big brother to the B100 tabletop model. Like its brother, the B150 is a compact tabletop pad printer; the only difference is this is an industrial grade single-color pad printer for large images. The 150mm patented VersaCup ink cup assembly prints images of up to 140mm in size! The powerful compression capability of 779lbs allows for easy handling of large, hard print pads, which enables printing of highest quality images on tagless garments, drink ware, injection molded housing, bezels and other products up to 5.5" inches in height.
The SI Series ink is our newest innovation at Inkcups Now. The SI Series ink is designed to have superior adhesion quality to silicone materials. Items such as wristbands, iPod covers, and remote control buttons are all typical applications for the SI Series ink. The SI Series ink is available in all standard ink colors.
January 2011 Inkcups Now Celebrates 10th Anniversary!
The company started off 10 years ago in the basement of the Adners' household, with just one product - the VersaCup ink cup - that Ben Adner (the President and Chief Trendsetter) engineered and patented. Soon, Ben's enthusiasm and insight brought aboard Elaine Brown (the Smart Upbeat Operations Manager), then Bob Taylor (the Hardest Working Production Manager Ever), then Mike Bissel (the Omniscient VP, better know in the industry as The Legend), then Paul Strunk (the Unstoppable Sales Manager) - and then, one by one, all of us, proud members of the winning ICN Team.
True to its roots, Inkcups Now carries on with the core values of innovation, customer focus and teamwork. We want to thank all of our valued customers and partners who made this jorney possible! And we promise to continue the hard work for our mutual success and prosperity.
New Product! ICN-2200PS - Pad Printer with Pad Slide
The ICN-2200PS is a 2 color sealed cup pad printer with a heavy-duty dual position pneumatic pad slide mechanism. This setup, where the pad unit is moving and the printed part stays put, simplifies fixturing and provides extra assurance of flawless second color registration for heavy or large and flexible items, such as tagless garments or bulky promotional products.
The pad slide also provides an extremely time-efficient two color print cycle, which makes a difference when dealing with very high (industrial) production volumes and nearing the highest speed possible for the human operators.
New Product! PowerJet - Compact Solvent Inkjet Printer
The PowerJet solvent inkjet printer is one of the newest machines to join the Inkcups Now lineup of inkjets. The PowerJet inkjet printer is a small, yet powerful, promotional product printer, great for printing on flat or 3-dimensional objects up to 2 inches in height. The PowerJet features an integrated part heating system, automatic platform height adjust function and portable design. The PowerJet comes with 6 bottles of colored solvent ink, which dries almost instantly and prints at a resolution of 2400 x 2400dpi.
The revolutionary Mimaki UJF-3042 inkjet LED UV printer produces high quality images (1200 x 1400 dpi) at a fraction of the cost of comparable flatbed inkjet printers. Features include: a newly designed staggered print head that allows for printing white and colored ink in a single pass, a unique LED UV curable ink that cures by cool light and a space saving table-top design. The inkjet also consumes significantly less power than previous Mimaki UJF models, requiring only 100v (3.5A).
New Product! Mimaki UJF-706 Wide Format Inkjet Printer
The Mimaki UJF-706 wide format inkjet printer can print in 7 colors (including white) at a resolution of 1200 x 1200 dpi. Featuring: a staggered print head, multi-layered printing (can add a glossy finish), an automatic optical image mark recognition software that can keep a memory of where images are placed on the table. The UJF-706 inkjet printer has a larger bed than that of the older UJF model (UJF 605CII) and is perfect for use on promotional products, POP displays, golf balls, membrane switches and name plates, just to name a few.
New Page! Tagless Label Technology Comparison:
Pad Printing vs. Heat Transfer
When it comes to printing tagless labels there are two predominant methods that stand out: pad printing or heat transfer. Often people do not know the differences between the two and make the wrong decision. Pad printed tagless labels are the rising trend in the apparel industry, and heat transfer is on the decline. When it comes to consumer health, costs, durability, production speed and branding flexibility, pad printed tags have a number of crucial advantages.
In order to assist people in making the right decision, we have provided a tagless label comparison chart.
New Product! 120mm Ink Cup for Printex Pad Printers!
We designed a replacement 120mm ink cup for Printex machines. Unlike the original (on the left), the VersaCup for Printex (on the right) is easy to clean, has enclosed magnets that do not scratch the plate and comes with a double-sided ceramic ring.
New Product! ICN-2200L Automatic Pad Printer with Linear Conveyor
The ICN-2200L is a 2 color automatic pad printer equipped with a linear conveyor. The ICN-2200 is a heavy-duty sealed cup automatic pad printer. The linear conveyor features shot pin print station registration for very tight registration (+/-.001") and a micro-adjust system for moving the conveyor in and out for easy positioning of the graphic on your part.
New Product! ICN-150L Large Part Pad Printer with Linear Conveyor
The ICN-150 large part pad printer now can come equipped with a 12 station linear conveyor. The 12-station linear conveyor can be interfaced with automatic loading and unloading systems and is very convenient for printing high volumes of large parts. The ICN-150L can accommodate 150mm ink cups for printing significantly larger images.
The linear conveyor allows manufacturers of large parts to increase production speed without sacrificing quality. Such parts include injection molded housings, bezels, mugs, drink ware, beach balls, large promotional products and tagless garments.
New Public Appearance!
Mike Bissel, Inkcups Now VP, Spoke at SPE 2010 Topical Conference
Mike Bissel, Inkcups Now VP, gave a talk at SPE Decorating and Assembly Division 2010 Topical Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, about 3 dimensional plastic parts decoration methods such as pad printing, screen printing and inkjet printing.
The 2010 Topical Conference (TopCon) was held June 15-16, 2010 at the Marriott Franklin Cool Springs, just outside Nashville, TN. The conference was organized by the Society of Plastic Engineers’ (SPE) Decorating and Assembly Division and managed by Peterson Publications, publishers of Plastics Decorating Magazine.
Product Update! PromoJET Inkjet with Integrated Parts Heating System!
The PromoJET inkjet printer for 3-dimensional products now comes with an Integrated Part Heating System. Controlled by a rheostat, the heat can be turned on and off as well as set at a certain level. This heating system can not be retrofitted to the previous PromoJET models but it comes standard on all new PromoJETs.
The Heating System makes it quick and easy to achieve greater adhesion to such substrates as various plastics, metals, glass and more. The heat also prevents dot gain, thus making images even more crisp and vibrant.
New Product! Cobalt 300 Platemaking, Cutting & Engraving Laser
The highest speed CO2 laser engraver in its class, Cobalt 300 is an advanced machine for making pad printing cliches as well as engraving promotional products and cutting fixtures.
This laser engraver comes with the most user-friendly software package on the market and the best warranty.
Product Update! PromoJET Inkjet with Rotary Fixture for 360 Degree Prints!
ICN engineers designed a rotary fixture for the PromoJET inkjet. The fixture allows printing up to 360 degree images on cylinders such as water bottles (so popular this promotional season!), pens and flashlights.
The printer can be easily changed back to a flatbed inkjet within 5-10 minutes.
This is a unique offer on the digital printing market. Inquire today!
New Location - in South America!
Inkcups Now Opened New Location - ICN-Honduras
ICN-Honduras is run by Luís Gúnera and is focused on providing technical support and sales of Tagless Printing equipment and supplies as well as pad printing and laser plate making. Luís fluent in both Spanish and English and happy to help customers in Central and South America.
Ceramic Rings for all Kent ink cups are finally available at reasonable prices!
As usual, Inkcups Now engineers have improved the original product's design - the double bevel angle of our rings makes them far less susceptible to damage.
The rings are available for Kent ink cups of the following sizes: 70mm / 90mm / 130mm / 150mm.
Product Line Extension!
AccuLaze - Laserable Plates for YAG or CO2
AccuLaze is printing plate material designed to be etched with CO2 or YAG laser engravers. AccuLaze plates have fixed depth, which makes selecting your laser settings a no-brainer.
We also carry 4 other types of specialized laserable plate material.
New Location, New Hire!
ICN-Canada: Larger Warehouse and New Office Manager!
ICN-Canada has recently relocated to a larger warehouse and office space in Pickering, Ontario and hired a new Office Manager and Customer Service Representative, Adele Watson.
The expansion will help ICN excel in serving the needs of Canadian customers. The new location has a significantly larger warehousing capability as well as facilities for equipment demonstrations, customer training programs and product showrooms.
Ms. Watson's combined expertise in graphic design and specialty printing industry makes her a great addition to our company. In Adele's own words, "My expectations are to help expand the business in the Canadian market and to keep improving our customer service."
For more information please contact Adele:
at 905-426-5325 or AdeleW@inkcups.com
New ICN-Canada Address:
1035 Toy Ave, Unit 20, Pickering, ON L1W3N9, Canada
New Product!
Harmony Ink & Thinner Dispenser for Easy Ink Mixing
No more messy cans or dried ink particles! Only mix what you want!
The Harmony Dispenser can accommodate 12 color mixing systems plus a combination of up to 4 thinners or opaque colors. The 1.5 liter canisters are solvent resistant and seal hermetically so your inks and thinners will stay intact, ready for mixing whenever you are. Dual pump control over ink flow and precision digital scale enables easy matching or PMS colors.
The VersaCover hermetically seals nearly all ink and hardener cans available on the market.
Solvent resistant lids keep cans sealed up tight so you can:
• prolong the life of your ink and hardener,
• eliminate crooked lids, dried out hardener and chunks of ink,
• clean up your ink room,
• save supplies, time and money!
To order VersaCover call 978-646-8980: 20 covers - $15.00
50 covers - $35.00
Product Upgrade!
Imprint Cookies, Cakes & Candy with PromoJET Inkjet!
PromoJET solvent inkjet printer is now capable of imprinting not only regular promotional products (like pens and tins) but also edible ones!
All components of our edible inks are FDA approved.
You can print extremely high quality multicolor images & photos onto cookies, chocolates, candy, lollipops etc with a push of a button! The efficient PromoJET inkjet printer is very easy to use. See for yourself:
New Location, New Hire!
Inkcups Expands and... Speaks Spanish!
Victor Uzarraga is running the new Southwest Sales Office in Tucson, Arizona covering sales and customer support. The Southwest office is ICN's 5th direct sales location in North America. Victor contributes 15 years of experience running screen printing and pad printing production. He knows printing machines to the extent that he is able to build them himself! In addition, Victor and his crew speak both English and Spanish - so from now on Inkcups Now is offering customer support in both languages!
Product Upgrade!
Conveyor for Engraving Metal Pens now available with Cobalt 1000 Laser Engraver
Now you can automate laser engraving of various promotional products, including metal pens! Cobalt 1000 YAG laser etcher is available with a conveyor belt. The system is easily integrated with robotic loading and unloading equipment for fully automated engraving process.
This particular belt is tailored to pen engraving. However, we make custom belts for other products. The belts are durable, easily changed, inexpensive and quick to manufacture. For bigger objects we will be able to offer a machine with a taller opening shielded by protective brushes.
New Product!
ToughCup - the New Generation Ink Cup
ToughCup has a proprietary micro-surface coating designed to repel inks and solvents. This low-tension surface provides complete release of inks and drastically simplifies cleaning. It improves productivity by reducing changeover time when switching colors.
ToughCup is ideal for people who use 2-component inks as there is a good chance you will be able to clean the cup even if the ink and hardener mix is accidentally left in it for an extended period of time.
Because of the unique coating, this ink cup is also more resistant to attacks from solvents, to pigment abrasion and mechanical wear. It is Tough! The ink cup is also environmentally friendly: it significantly reduces the use of solvents needed for cleaning. It is green!
New Feature!
Revolutionary Printing Pad Search Engine
The Printing Pad Search is an absolutely unique tool for the pad printing industry! It has recently been redesigned, and it works really well!
You can find pads based on your image dimensions, preferred pad shapes and sizes, your pad printer capabilities etc. You can pick a cost-effective alternative to pads from other manufacturers or simply browse ICN's pad selection that is hundreds strong...
New Territory! The First and Only Blog for Specialty Decorators
This is the very first blog dedicated exclusively to the decoration of 3-D products,
in particular to pad printing and inkjet printing!
In our blog, we post pictures of various products decorated with ICN equipment and supplies, before sending the test samples back to our customers. You may find inspiration for your next project! Oh, and you can also see ICN's team at work and play!
We welcome your comments and posts. See you at ICN's blogground!
New Service!
Real-Time Technical Support on Your Computer Screen!
ICN has added a new great way to provide technical support and training to our globally dispersed customers – through highly efficient real-time online meetings. The system has already received numerous compliments. By establishing a secure connection between two computers, we can remotely administer live Cobalt software demonstrations, graphic art training, hands-on project discussions, equipment setup and troubleshooting...
Improved Packaging! 1000-H Hardener in 0.5 kg Re-closable Can!
In addition to the standard 1 kilo cans and 120 ml tubes, the 1000-H hardener is now offered in 0.5 kilo cans with convenient re-closable pour spout. The screw cap lets you save opened hardener for future use!
This popular material - distinguished by its blue color and excellent ink pickup and transfer capabilities - has been sold in the industry for many years.
All-Flex is a general purpose pad material with a quick break-in period and the ability to be used with many types of inks.
New Product! 3.5" Ceramic Rings for Imtran/Autotran Cups
Save on replacement rings for your Imtran and Autotran ink cups!
ICN offers 3.5" diameter dual-sided ceramic rings for all domestically manufactured ink cups.
Get this new, improved design ring at up to 20% discount compared to our rivals' prices!
Add automation and speed to your printing production! Check out ICN-2200 - a 2 color sealed cup pad printer with an 8-station carousel (conveyor). This is a robust and user-friendly machine with precision tooling registration and a set of programmable features.
New Product! Ink Cup Retrofit Kit for Inkwell Pad Printers
You can turn virtually any model of inkwell pad printer into a state-of-the-art
sealed cup printing machine for $355 plus the cost of the ink cup! The retrofit kit contains spring plunger, ink cup mount bracket and anti-rotate pin. It is easy to mount. Feel free to call us with any questions: 78-646-8980.
New Online Service! UPS Package Tracking with your P.O.
A P.O. number that you used when ordering from us, is all you need to track your UPS package.
If you don't use purchase order numbers... please consider using them! Meanwhile feel free to call us for tracking information.
Breakthrough Products! Two InkJet Systems for Promotional Items
No more hassles in pre-press or time consuming setup! Choose PromoJET or Mimaki UJF-605CII inkjet systems - and just print the digital file onto 3-dimensional or flat products!
New Product! “Diamond Etch” Ink for Glass and Stainless Steel Imitates Engraved Look
The new "Diamond Etch" Ink imitates a sand-blasted or laser-etched look on glass and stainless steel products - such as champagne or wine glasses, travel mugs and souvenirs. "Diamond Etch" ink can be used for both pad printing and screen printing. Now you can "laser etch" glass and stainless steel without a laser!
And if you have a laser, you can use printing for the long runs as it allows time savings over laser etching.
Several of our customers have already tested "Diamond Etch" ink on glasses and travel mugs with excellent results. The prints not only look just like etching but also are extremely durable.
The B-100 is a single-color pad printing machine that fits on your table! It is perfect for production start-up as well as tagless printing. This compact pad printer is amazingly reliable and easy to operate.
The M1-FP is a semiautomatic screen printer for flat parts up to 5" in height. M15 is equipped with 4 way micro-adjust screen clamp system, micro-adjust print head and vertical motion tooling table for easy operation.
With our complete line of inks, supplies and machines, you can easily customize and print tags on t-shirts, sweat-shirts and other garments - easily and cost-effectively!
ICN has developed the transparent CrystalFlex silicone featuring a time-release conditioning agent that keeps the pad durometer consistent for the life of the pad. Due to its high density molecular structure CrystalFlex does not absorb solvents, prolonging the life of the pad. And you can see right through it, which helps cleaning and... is just fun!
New Product & New Technology! Imperial & Cobalt Laser Engravable Plates
The specialized ICN laser plate material enables a powerful and easy upgrade for the plate-making process! Imperial and Cobalt plates can be etched using the Inkcups Now Cobalt laser system or any CO2 or YAG laser system with advanced software, small spot size and quality power control. The plates are ready within a few minutes, no film positives or chemicals needed. Call us and ask for details!
ICN-2506 is a versatile 6 color sealed cup pad print machine with a precision servo controlled indexing shuttle table. The pad print machine can be set up without the use of any tools. It is able to accommodate large, hard print pads.
ICN-150 handles 150mm ink cups, which enables printed images up to 140mm in diameter - significantly larger than the industry standard 130mm ink cups, which are only capable of 115mm images. Offered as a one- or two-color printer, it features an extended forward stroke, two-position pneumatic shuttle and XYR micro-adjust printing plate assemblies.
A breakthrough cleaning system for ink cups and small parts, ICN Autowash provides rapid cleaning cycles and efficient use of chemicals. This cleaning system incorporates an automatic time controlled washing cycle, unique “air pulse” solvent blow off, and separate clean solvent part rinse. Autowash drastically reduces cleanup times and minimizes solvent usage.
Product News! SAPPHIRE Ink Series are now Class 6 Certified
Sapphire pad and screen printing inks are medical grade screen and pad printing inks made in Italy under the finest production and quality controls standards. View J3 Class 6 certificate and MB Class 6 certificate.
Dr. Rite plate conditioner dramatically improves plate doctoring for ink cup and Dr. Blade machines by altering the surface tension on the printing plate and improving ink flow. Add a few drops of Dr. Rite solution to the ink mixture and plate ghosting and fogging immediately disappear. Improve image quality and printing performance today with this unique specialty product only available from Inkcups Now!
Designed to provide superior cleaning of print pad surfaces. Nu-Life pad cleaner contains proprietary components available only from Inkcups Now. Simply the finest pad cleaner available!
After two years of development, Inkcups is pleased to introduce its EverFlex printing pad material. This specialty silicone was formulated specifically for the rigors of the promotional products industry – with its ability to break in quickly, have extreme abrasion and cut resistance and provide flexibility for printing many different ink types (with or without hardener) without “pad burn in.”
Local Sales & Tech Support
We have direct sales people in the US (MA, NY, CA, IA, GA), Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras. We also have respresentatives in Colombia and Dominican Republic.
About Us
We are excited to announce that Inkcups Now will start the new 2013 year in a new Home! On the left is the aerial view of the new building.
Mike Bissel, Inkcups Now VP, gave a talk at SPE Decorating and Assembly Division 2010 Topical Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, about 3 dimensional plastic parts decoration methods such as pad printing, screen printing and inkjet printing.
AccuLaze is printing plate material designed to be etched with CO2 or YAG laser engravers. AccuLaze plates have fixed depth, which makes selecting your laser settings a no-brainer.
No more messy cans or dried ink particles! Only mix what you want!
The VersaCover hermetically seals nearly all ink and hardener cans available on the market.
Now you can automate laser engraving of various promotional products, including metal pens! Cobalt 1000 YAG laser etcher is available with a conveyor belt. The system is easily integrated with robotic loading and unloading equipment for fully automated engraving process.
Watch pen engraving demo!
