Silicone Ink

[Sbrem]

Steve what kind of rubber inks?  I've seen ones for latex but I need to print on some bike innertubes, butyl rubber.

Union Process...

[Frog]

Union Process (not to be confused with Union Inks) may still be a resource for Zoo and his Butyl rubber project, but it doesn't look promising.

Almost everything I read mentions either Latex as the substrate  or solvent. A call could verify if they would still work on butyl rubber, but I'm afraid that the solvent base is a deal breaker for him.

[Colin]

Yes Chris, the Silicone inks have a very low cure.  Been about a year since I looked at it, but I beleive it was as low as 220... maybe lower.  And that was for just the DOW version.  From what I know about the base formulation of what DOW built this product off of (the old VP at QCM used to manufacture silicone roofing products that competed with the DOW products) It should remain very low cure.  Perfect for very delicate fabrics.  With what Nazdar may be doing to it, it should not fluctuate to any level that would impact the fabrics you will print on.  And will be a product I pick up if/when I start my own shop. 

Thanks for the kind words Peter.  I'm having a great time with my "late life summer vacation" and am thinking about starting my own business... as it seems I am even more overqualified in the Pac. Norwest than I originally thought. 

Oh, Peter, Is there any improvement on being able to print these inks wet-on-wet?

[Denis Kolar]

Union Process (not to be confused with Union Inks) may still be a resource for Zoo and his Butyl rubber project, but it doesn't look promising.

Almost everything I read mentions either Latex as the substrate  or solvent. A call could verify if they would still work on butyl rubber, but I'm afraid that the solvent base is a deal breaker for him.

WOW, about 30 miles away from me (around 45 from Pierre).
It is nice to know that.

Thanks Andy

[ZooCity]

Agreed Frog.  I noticed that Union Process' rubber inks need thinned with mineral spirits so I may as well just rock TW 11000 series or a Nazdar equivalent if solvents must be involved.  I'm going to test our wb 5500 flat series on the tubes for adhesion early next week just to see if it can do the trick.  (these do have solvents in the water-bourne mix but they're of the mild, glycol variety).

Colin, if I owned a screen supply distro I would hire you in a heart beat.  Nobody I've bumped into in the industry has done a better job of giving actual, on the ground technical support for their products than you have.  The market's probably flooded for it in the region but you could run a little ink & supplies distro and a small shop that would double as a testing grounds when not in production.  I'd pay extra to buy our ink from you!  Also, I can say that we appear to have dearth of distributors dedicated to the Intermountain West which seems odd given that it feels like we have a crap load of screen shops per capita.  There's 2-3 bigger boys and about 7 or more smaller operations in my town alone.  I know for a fact many of them could use a little tech support.   Again, all the best to you. 

[pwalsh]

Oh, Peter, Is there any improvement on being able to print these inks wet-on-wet?

Colin:  Improving the pot life, developing a pigment concentrate mixing system, and getting the ink to where it could print multiple colors wet-on-wet have all been key design factors that Nazdar SourceOne and DOW have been working through these past 8 or 9 months.  As stated in an earlier post, we have made some great strides in these areas, and will know more when the beta testing is complete.  Although, I still need to throw out the following caution:  Silicone inks do not print the same, nor are they as production friendly as the regular plastisol that we are all used to working with. 

[brandon]

Hey Guys,
Wow, I missed all this because of work and moving for the past three days. But thank you everyone for all the info. And a special thank you to Dave Julo over at Nazdar. He has been great with ink samples and all around info. As soon as we go into heavy production with it I will post some updates. This weekend I will also put up some sample pics of the prints we are getting. Very cool stuff! Alright, back to work and then back to unpacking when I get home. Ugh...

[DouglasGrigar]

Oh, Peter, Is there any improvement on being able to print these inks wet-on-wet?

Colin:  Improving the pot life, developing a pigment concentrate mixing system, and getting the ink to where it could print multiple colors wet-on-wet have all been key design factors that Nazdar SourceOne and DOW have been working through these past 8 or 9 months.  As stated in an earlier post, we have made some great strides in these areas, and will know more when the beta testing is complete.  Although, I still need to throw out the following caution:  Silicone inks do not print the same, nor are they as production friendly as the regular plastisol that we are all used to working with.

I for one will be a cheerleader for this final product, I am so glad that DC finally decided to “do something” and you guys picked it up, the product has already proven to be a very promising addition to the printers toolbox. Trying to make plastisol work on everything has always been a downfall.

[brandon]

"Silicone inks do not print the same, nor are they as production friendly as the regular plastisol that we are all used to working with."

While not as friendly but with a little extra time on the stencil and backing off on pressure we have achieved some great results. I for one cannot wait to get the production rolling! And plastisol or water based inks are not the answer for everything, even though I wish water base was.

[brandon]

Here is a pic of one of our samples for a client. They are going after the high density thing for sure.

[Colin]

looks good Brandon!