Ashtrays?

[ericheartsu]

Anyone ever have ashtrays printed before? i'm about to dive head first into my Sage directory to try and find them, but figured i'd ask here first!

[printguy]

What are they made of? Plastic or glass?

[ericheartsu]

usually plastic or ceramics or glass.

I'm assuming pad printing or etching is the way to go

[Inkworks]

Pad printing with glass inks works pretty good, I usually try to print on the bottom side of glass ashtrays as, if they get a lot of use, nothing less than kiln-fired ceramic inks will stand up for very long.

If the bottom side is flat enough I'll silkscreen with pad printing ink loaded up with retarder as it gives a more opaque print without double or triple hitting.....Unless I can talk them into my pad-print etch ink, which is 90% of what we do, particularly on wineglasses.

[printguy]

I cut my teeth on glass & ceramic decorating some time ago - screen printed on substrate specific machinary using ceramic pastes & then firing in large kilns. I have limited knowledge in regards to pad printing; I don't believe that plastic would be an issue, but you might possibly run into ink adhesion problems with glass or ceramic.

[Inkworks]

Pad print glass inks work just fine, dishwasher safe, perfect for promotional or everyday use on cups, mugs, glass, ceramic etc. They need a heat cure cycle, but well below kiln temps (250F for 1/2 an hour, or hotter, shorter, down to 3 minutes cures etc.) Humidity in the air helps as they use a cyanoacrylate based hardener.

They do fall short of kiln fired frit or thermoplastic inks, cured pad print glass inks can be removed with a hard blade etc.