screen printing > Ink and Chemicals

Optilux ink by ICC (reflective)

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blue moon:
Had an opportunity to check out the Optilux ink by ICC at the ISS Columbus.

http://www.iccink.com/optilux/505.htm

It looks good and even though it was hard to judge on location, it seems pretty reflective. Not sure if it is twice as good as anything else, but it certainly works.

The main point is that it will print through a 230 screen and you can do some very slight adjustments to the color. This lends itself to using it in the simulated process designs as metallic silver or gray. Keith (from ICC) had a sim process shirt printed with three different gray/silver reflective inks. It was a very nice print with an added bonus of being reflective.

The ink was pretty thin (it was actually a little to thin) and was very easy to print. Nice and soft hand. Little grainy, but nice thin and flexible.

Now the bad parts, high price and very short shelf life. Over $50 for a quart and I think he said over $150 for the gallon. It is  a two part system and you have to mix in the coupler (like diazo/dual cure emulsion) and once you do, the shelf life is 8-12 hours! So better mix only what you are going to use!

I'll post some pix when I take them.

pierre

Clark:
I used the stuff monthly for a food service company...been using it for about 3 years.  I make them buy the gallon of ink up front, so I don't worry about waste too much.  It is extremely reflective.  The most reflective I have seen.

The image we run regularly is a 50lpi halftone image that fades to about 10%.  It feels like you are working with waterbased..very soft.  Bad thing is, it doesn't cover well, and loses some reflective properties if you underbase.  The foodservice companyrecently was purchased by a competitior, so they won't be needing me anymore...and I've got a brand new gallon sitting on the shelf!

blue moon:

--- Quote from: Clark on April 09, 2011, 02:08:17 PM ---I used the stuff monthly for a food service company...been using it for about 3 years.  I make them buy the gallon of ink up front, so I don't worry about waste too much.  It is extremely reflective.  The most reflective I have seen.

The image we run regularly is a 50lpi halftone image that fades to about 10%.  It feels like you are working with waterbased..very soft.  Bad thing is, it doesn't cover well, and loses some reflective properties if you underbase.  The foodservice companyrecently was purchased by a competitior, so they won't be needing me anymore...and I've got a brand new gallon sitting on the shelf!

--- End quote ---



Keith said not to underbase it even on dark garments. The idea is to push hard and drive the ink into the garment. He said that the glass beads end up filtering out and staying on top. Printing an undesrbase prevents the separation of the ink from the beads.

I'll keep your gallon in mind. 'not sure what the shelf life is though, so by the time I get an order it might be too late . . . 

Clark:
I ran this strike-off for a possible new customer in Florida.  He just wanted a sample of how the Optilux compared to 3M or some of the others.  I usually run the Optilux through a 160 or 200, but his artwork requires quite a bit of coverage,so I wanted to see what it would do through a 137/64.  Very pleased with the results. It seem to cover better, and there was no noticeable change in the reflective properties.

Check it out:

blue moon:
Keith joined and pointed out that this was the new version of the ink called 507. not sure what the differences are, I was hoping he'd explain . . .

pierre

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