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screen printing => Ink and Chemicals => Topic started by: blue moon on April 02, 2014, 09:15:36 AM
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We recently bought some lab equipment and will start some seriously geeky tests on the inks. Richard Greaves is the mastermind behind it, but I am keeping up with him (yes, holding on for dear life, but still with him for now). We are talking testing beyond even what the ink manufacturers can or do, waay beyond! As I expect to see some eye opening results it would be interesting to see what the current thoughts are on some of the subjects and how that relates to what we are about to find out.
With that in mind, what do ppl think is making the white ink so difficult to print with?
What does it take to make it print better?
What are the parameters that need to be controlled in order to get the best print?
How much are we falling short of what the inks can really deliver by either not following the manufacturer's recommendations or not putting in the time to figure how to print better? Is the difference in results negligible or is it significant?
please answer some or all of the questions!
pierre
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Negligible for us but then again we only use white plas when we have to which is rare ;)
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oh oh..... I need a lot more time to respond to that question Pierre.
Let's start with printing the ink at optimal temperatures. Remember all lab testing is done with the ink at 72-75 degrees. Also, right from the mixer. A retain is kept from every batch for at least a year. All ink will body up over time but it usually will follow a curve reaching max body within a few days to a few weeks. But the labs only test the retain if someone has a complaint about the ink. Of course long term testing is always done when a new ink is created.
So, one big issue is trying to print white ink is: Printing when it is not at optimal printing temperatures.
There are more and I will try to get to them later.
Good post to follow!
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We are talking testing beyond even what the ink manufacturers can or do, waay beyond!
After the awesome experience that the nice folk at Rutland gave me on the factory tour I can safely say you are going to be buying a lot of very expensive testing equipment! Make some room haha.
I would also say with regards to plastisol printing a lot of shops don't tension their mesh often as they should (or at all) or just use the wrong ink for the wrong application. Why read the date sheets? It's just white ink and the cheapest one. It will work!
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I think when it comes to printing white ink the most important factor besides the ink itself is the mesh count. Thinner thread equals better percentage open area and that leads to printing with very little pressure and high speed. Just test print the same image through a 156/64 and a 150/48 and you'll see the benefits to thin thread. We rarely print white through standard thread counts anymore. Squeegee blade can play a small role that will be noticeable to good eye and also will help with print speed.
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For me (manual printer):
1. Brand of Ink, I prefer Wilflex over Rutland.
2. Thread diameter. I find thin thread is easier to print as long as I can easily keep the tension above 25 N so the image can remain sharp. So I would prefer a 34 micron over a 31 micron of a 305mesh.
3. Emulsion thickness, if I feel a small step over the mesh. It is good enough for me.
4. Squeegee sharpness. I fill stroke, then I angle the squeegee so I can cut the ink.
Fabric: Fabric that are knitted by German machines are the best to print on.
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Trying to cover a colored surface with white ink breaks some unwritten law of nature. It should not be done. But we do it anyway.
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The only issues I have with white plastisol:
1. Gumming up and climbing the squeegee, even on the creamiest inks, more than any other color.
2. The way it reacts to static electricity and flings off little strings that pull away from the mesh.
The actual printing is pretty straightforward with the right variables.
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Proper mesh selection/tension+squeegee parameters+off contact+decent ink=no problem
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Trying to cover a colored surface with white ink breaks some unwritten law of nature. It should not be done. But we do it anyway.
This.
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1: Lack of understanding/control of variables.
2. Understanding and controlling ALL the variables which seriously impact labor and materials costs.
3. What's the most important variable when printing white ink? The same as any other ink--all of them.
4: I'd rephrase--how much are we falling short of what inks can deliver by not understanding and controlling the variables?
That depends--on what variables you understand and control. Tough to know what you don't know you don't know, however.
The tough thing about this is--Tony makes a great point that with decent ink you won't have problems--but what quantifies a bucket of white being 'decent', 'good', or 'crappy'? If you read the forums, it's quantified mostly by the user's understanding and control of variables, which is often poor, and leads people to say one ink is good and another is bad, when they are in reality both fine inks, and the problem is in the process, or in the users lack of understanding the process...
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I'm not sure about counting on the information and suggestions of the suppliers/tecnical support/manufacturers as they have no knowledge of the specifications of the tools used in your operations. (All shops have the same tools but all sepc/combination to build the pump are not identical from shop to shop)
What the ink manufacturers should be providing the printers is the Inks analysis data.. These test are done and then technical support sells the ink as- awsome, creamy, good coverage, nice hand, low flash and a bunch of other adjectives and platitudes..
An ink should be selected based on our constructed pump's ability or our pump should be constructed to match the inks personality.. In any case it must be orchestrated..
To understand the personality of the ink we need to Know it's properties:
Optical Sepcifications-
L, a, B
Delta E
Peak Spectral
Gloss percentage
Opacity Per Mil
Bleed Resist
xy Chromaticity Coordinates
Rheological Specifications-
Relative Viscosity
Yield Stress
Plastic Viscosity
Shortness Ratio
Thixotropic Index
Tack Percent
Servers Viscosity
Thermal Specifications-
Low Viscosity
Gel Point
Fusion
Remelt
Hot Tack (after flash)
Physical Properties-
Grind
Emissivity
Specific Gravity
Surface Tension
Critical Surface Tension
Percent Plasticizer
Shore A
Having this relatively short list of properties made available and technical support (job should be) making sure that printers understand what effect each spec have on the ink, then printers will not have a problem choosing the right ink to match their unique setup.
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Great points to understand if you are an ink chemist but will not necessarily make you a better printer. Maybe, maybe not. Some struggle with plastisol, others choose a few whites for different applications and move on. This indicates that the press and pre-press parameters are under control. I applaud Pierre for this undertaking, please don't take this the wrong way. BTW a lot of those properties do not apply to waterbased products. And that plastisol stuff is just too darn expensive!
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White ink prints like crap because it has high pigment loads. Why do people have such a hard time printing it? Its because inks are not designed to print 24 shirts. They are designed to print thousands of shirts at a time with out ink viscosity/opacity break down. That is why we add reducer to inks so they perform like they should at lower print runs. The chemical make up and testing of the properties of the ink is really a step in the wrong direction IMO. Unless your doing it to know what inks are closer to what you want to start with. You need to modify inks for your shop. Have short run inks and long run inks. Inks for whites and inks for darks. Being a small shop I modify inks by the job. I am no expert but I have got good at knowing how to modify them for my shop. Everyone wants to use inks straight out of the bucket but on small runs (24-100) that is not always the best ink for the job. Over 100 shirts ink out of the bucket work fine.
I have been using Quick white for a long time and I just got a few new whites and they all printed like crap. It took me about a week to figure out how to print them. Every white ink needs testing and modifications to your printing style. Now those crappy white inks print as well as quick. I didn't modify the inks (long run printing) just the way that I print them.
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That list of specs should be laid out just like the mesh manufacturers make their mesh specs partially available and you should not have to be a.. weaver to interpret thier values.. That's the technical support job.. They damn well do it for large operations and shock and jive the major portion of the industry small and medium shops.. It's called a Certificate of Analysis.. Exactly what Pierre is paying to acquire for his small shop.. We don't know better so we don't hold the hustlers feet to the fire.
If your white ink is not transferring but climbing and we know that the mesh specs has a high flow rate to support high squegee speeds and a low pressure drop- that allows the white whose tack percent is spec'd as low, then we need to know if the ink's shortness ratio is beyond say 3.5 and if that's the case then we need a temporary fix for the current press run but the issue should be addressed by the ink supplier or move on to the next ink that specs matches what you need for your print production setup.. Variables are never dialed in, with out known specifications for each part/tool used in the process they're more like hammered in-based on guesses and historical-experience/recorded info and will fall apart as soon as another unknown is switched out and or added to the setup.. There is a reason why one bangin supa dupa ink works for some and a horror for others.. Specs.. And we are all dialed in and variables controlled.. The thing is all variables have one thing in common- values..
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What do ppl think is making the white ink so difficult to print with?
Pigment load and the amount of time it takes to work up the ink
What does it take to make it print better?
Ink needs to be printed about 50 to 100 times to get the viscosity and temperature of the ink correct to have the right flow characteristic. You can use fixes for this like S-mesh, higher tension, lower mesh counts, reducer and even more pressure. What is the ideal way to print a white ink? It should print like every other color.
What are the parameters that need to be controlled in order to get the best print?
Ink needs to be worked up by printing or mixing. There is a point when ink will stabilize. At that point you have an ink that can print for hours at the same setting giving you the same results. When I print I am doing slight adjustments to the press on high end designs to keep the same coverage and opacity until about 100 prints. At that point the ink is stabilized and I am printing as soft as I can and still clearing the screens.
How much are we falling short of what the inks can really deliver by either not following the manufacturer's recommendations or not putting in the time to figure
Manufacturer make ink. They only state safe performance and use of the product guide lines. This way they don't get sued. It is our job to figure out how to use the product the best way. You don't ask ford to tell you how to win a race. Race teams push the cars way past what the manufactures think is possible.
how to print better? Is the difference in results negligible or is it significant?
The real question is why? Why do you need to get better? Are your clients asking for better? Will you get more money for this high level of printing? What is your goal? I personally think going after the unreachable is a waist of time and money if it does not have a equal pay off.
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many, many good points and a lot of it points in the right direction, so keep them coming!
As far as why do this, we did a little bit of testing and have figured out how to print the white ink at 4 times the speed we used to do with significantly better opacity and deposit control. So there will be a savings in the amount of ink used, increase in productivity by printing faster (and using less ink while at it), being able to deposit in one stroke what we needed two swipes for (equals even more production speed) and in many cases not needing the highlight white any more. Let me put down one real number here. Our max speed printing on top of an underbase was 450-500 shirts per hour (full front). In most cases we were at low 400's per hour. Right now we can run those at almost 900 per hour. That is a significant increase in production capability! So that's one of the reasons. . .
pierre
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If 50 - 100 prints are required to get the ink moving then that's a color shift in that many shirts compared to the remainder of the shirts in the run. In this case, the ink's Yield Stress (measured in dynes/cm) is high.. So a bodied ink, with a low yield stress value, that is just sitting in the mesh, will immediately become fluid by a gentle push by the squeegee blade. The low yield stress value tells you that the ink will flow with minimum squeegee angle, pressure and speed..
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oh oh..... I need a lot more time to respond to that question Pierre.
Let's start with printing the ink at optimal temperatures. Remember all lab testing is done with the ink at 72-75 degrees. Also, right from the mixer. A retain is kept from every batch for at least a year. All ink will body up over time but it usually will follow a curve reaching max body within a few days to a few weeks. But the labs only test the retain if someone has a complaint about the ink. Of course long term testing is always done when a new ink is created.
So, one big issue is trying to print white ink is: Printing when it is not at optimal printing temperatures.
There are more and I will try to get to them later.
Good post to follow!
how many of you out there print with ink at 72-72 degrees? White ink especially! (think hot/cold weather, hot platens while flashing)
pierre
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The only issues I have with white plastisol:
1. Gumming up and climbing the squeegee, even on the creamiest inks, more than any other color.
2. The way it reacts to static electricity and flings off little strings that pull away from the mesh.
The actual printing is pretty straightforward with the right variables.
why is it climbing? do we need the feature that causes it to do that? would you (everybody here, not just mimo) sacrifice printability for less climb, or would you rather there was a lot more to clean up but it printed better?
pierre
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1: Lack of understanding/control of variables.
2. Understanding and controlling ALL the variables which seriously impact labor and materials costs.
3. What's the most important variable when printing white ink? The same as any other ink--all of them.
4: I'd rephrase--how much are we falling short of what inks can deliver by not understanding and controlling the variables?
That depends--on what variables you understand and control. Tough to know what you don't know you don't know, however.
this has to be one of my favorite post in a very long time, thank you!
so what are the variables that we can control?
so what are some of the things that are preset in the ink and we have no control of?
again, these are questions for everybody, not just SF!
pierre
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I'm not sure about counting on the information and suggestions of the suppliers/tecnical support/manufacturers as they have no knowledge of the specifications of the tools used in your operations.
we actually talked to the lab ppl, so yes, we dug deep!
What the ink manufacturers should be providing the printers is the Inks analysis data.. These test are done and then technical support sells the ink as- awsome, creamy, good coverage, nice hand, low flash and a bunch of other adjectives and platitudes..
An ink should be selected based on our constructed pump's ability or our pump should be constructed to match the inks personality.. In any case it must be orchestrated..
printficient just called me with a similar comment just few days ago! So I am reading this as, "Damn it, give us some data so we can buy the right pump!!!"
To understand the personality of the ink we need to Know it's properties:
Optical Sepcifications-
L, a, B
Delta E
Peak Spectral
Gloss percentage
Opacity Per Mil
Bleed Resist
xy Chromaticity Coordinates
Rheological Specifications-
Relative Viscosity
Yield Stress
Plastic Viscosity
Shortness Ratio
Thixotropic Index
Tack Percent
Servers Viscosity
Thermal Specifications-
Low Viscosity
Gel Point
Fusion
Remelt
Hot Tack (after flash)
Physical Properties-
Grind
Emissivity
Specific Gravity
Surface Tension
Critical Surface Tension
Percent Plasticizer
Shore A
I have to admit, I only made it two lines in before I had to start googling stuff. Definitely gets me thinking on what we are to measure and why, thank you!
Having this relatively short list of properties made available and technical support (job should be) making sure that printers understand what effect each spec have on the ink, then printers will not have a problem choosing the right ink to match their unique setup.
don't see it coming from the ink manufacturers as many of them do not know what the actual measurements are for most of those numbers!!!!!!!!!!!!
pierre
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Great points to understand if you are an ink chemist but will not necessarily make you a better printer.
you are right, the press operator does not need to know this, he/she can be told how to set up the press. The decision maker (production manager or owner operator) should understand as much of this as possible if they want to make their lief easier.
pierre
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Joe Clarke you're needed at the front desk. Paging Joe Clarke - front desk.
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Dr. Pierre, do have any findings you are willing to share? what has changed where you can print 4x the speed?
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Dr. Pierre, do have any findings you are willing to share? what has changed where you can print 4x the speed?
we changed the mesh to the 150/48 (LX in this case but regular S should work just as well) and stood up the blades. With a little bit of tweaking, we got it to work. But wile this might be the final result, or something approximating one, reality is we just made our ink work in our shop by using something more appropriate to it.
The point here is that if we measure the inks performance, we can KNOW rather than guess what are the correct parameters and tools we need to use.
pierre
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The only issues I have with white plastisol:
1. Gumming up and climbing the squeegee, even on the creamiest inks, more than any other color.
2. The way it reacts to static electricity and flings off little strings that pull away from the mesh.
The actual printing is pretty straightforward with the right variables.
why is it climbing? do we need the feature that causes it to do that? would you (everybody here, not just mimo) sacrifice printability for less climb, or would you rather there was a lot more to clean up but it printed better?
pierre
I could give a crap about the cleanup in this regard, and am more concerned with consistency. I am probably more concerned with ink that performs consistently over time as I print on a manual and have plenty of other variables to account for on each stroke without worrying about adjusting over time for changing ink characteristics. My main concern is the ink losing viscosity over time instead of gaining it. My experience is likely different from most as I am printing on a manual, but I am still preheating metal platens and pre-mixing, etc. White ink when properly prepared prints like butter for a while, but tenses up over time, causing it to ride up the squeegee. It clears worse, and loses the sheering qualities that I want. This does not happen with any other color/brand/type of ink that I have used, only white (and every brand of white I have tried). I guess my original post described a byproduct of the problem, and not the problem itself. Using S mesh and a triple duro squeegee helps of course, but the ink is the issue.
The static electricity thing is something I am noticing more and more and probably deserves its own thread...
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My main concern is the ink losing viscosity over time instead of gaining it. White ink when properly prepared prints like butter for a while, but tenses up over time, causing it to ride up the squeegee. It clears worse, and loses the sheering qualities that I want.
That is strange. It is backwards. Ink breaks down when printing. It will become more fluid. I print manually about 30 to 50% of my week. What ink are you using. I just have a hard time understanding how an ink can get thicker over the course of a print job. I have always see them get less thick to the point when they stabilize. Water base and plasticharge inks will thicken up that is the only ones I have seen do that.
I used Union cotton white printing manually and that is the only ink that I saw the static charge making the ink dance on the screen. It would fling ink strands all over the place when the screen had non ink covered areas. That ink always had a good smell to me. It was a strange almost nut like smell.
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The only issues I have with white plastisol:
1. Gumming up and climbing the squeegee, even on the creamiest inks, more than any other color.
2. The way it reacts to static electricity and flings off little strings that pull away from the mesh.
The actual printing is pretty straightforward with the right variables.
why is it climbing? do we need the feature that causes it to do that? would you (everybody here, not just mimo) sacrifice printability for less climb, or would you rather there was a lot more to clean up but it printed better?
pierre
I could give a crap about the cleanup in this regard, and am more concerned with consistency. I am probably more concerned with ink that performs consistently over time as I print on a manual and have plenty of other variables to account for on each stroke without worrying about adjusting over time for changing ink characteristics. My main concern is the ink losing viscosity over time instead of gaining it. My experience is likely different from most as I am printing on a manual, but I am still preheating metal platens and pre-mixing, etc. White ink when properly prepared prints like butter for a while, but tenses up over time, causing it to ride up the squeegee. It clears worse, and loses the sheering qualities that I want. This does not happen with any other color/brand/type of ink that I have used, only white (and every brand of white I have tried). I guess my original post described a byproduct of the problem, and not the problem itself. Using S mesh and a triple duro squeegee helps of course, but the ink is the issue.
The static electricity thing is something I am noticing more and more and probably deserves its own thread...
mimo, sounds to me like your ink is actually cooling down, not necessarily getting thicker. I know when we print, there is a more consistent movement of the ink, between flood and print stroke so it stays up to temp. the ink is constantly moving and is at rest for only a few short seconds. I know you can print pretty quick on a manual but compared to an auto, I bet your ink isn't moving nearly as fast or often making it cool down....
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I'll never forget what an ink manufacturer told me in my younger days..
Ink doesn't think..
the dummy holding the bucket does.
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That's a Joe Clarkism
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most of the time the dummy holding the bucket is thinking about a)quittin' time or b)sex or c)both of the above.
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most of the time the dummy holding the bucket is thinking about a)quittin' time or b)sex or c)both of the above.
my new guy is thinking about his 4th kid on the way and smoke breaks...but I just broke him of that habit, quit or ....
we have a heated rolling ink cart....somebody turned the heat up a bit too much and fully cooked a brand new bucket of IC yellow gold...it was me.
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so what are the variables that we can control?
so what are some of the things that are preset in the ink and we have no control of?
I was hoping someone else would jump in, but here's my take on it:
I believe there are over 500 of them--the main reason I would pay attention more to those with a large impact on labor or materials.
The SPTF has a rather complete spread broken down by department of what all variables could affect a final print. Pretty interesting stuff.
IMHO, I don't think of everything as really pre-set in the ink as far as the printing end goes--you can change most of the important printing variables. Not to say the cheapest white on the market can necessarily print like the most expensive, but you can reduce tack and viscosity with a reducer, reduce tack and keep a similar viscosity with the right base, add opacity with pigment (or whatever other name the ink company gives their product) etc.
I suppose the things you can't change are the reasons by which you choose or do not choose to buy an ink--color, gloss, gel/cure temps, grind, types of plasticizers, etc.
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Pigment shape?
I can't find a micro image of white pigment or titanium dioxide for some reason but I was once told that the white pigment has a spiky shape that is not optimal for getting it to roll around and pass through little square holes.
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Pigment shape?
I can't find a micro image of white pigment or titanium dioxide for some reason but I was once told that the white pigment has a spiky shape that is not optimal for getting it to roll around and pass through little square holes.
Well whites are made up of a high pigment load which adds weight to it so it's heavy, it's also actually shaped like (tiny balls) but because of the weight they settle and clump together making (bigger balls). Both white's heavy balls and color's spiky needle like shape, will benefit from performance meshes..
The spiky colors benefit from wide open meshes along with higher squeege speeds (that aid in aligning the spikes in the direction of the opening)..
The heavy ballsy whites also benefit from wider open areas but that's due to the more open the area of the mesh, the lower the pressure drop will be, so the white experiences less resistance in its travel through the tunnel to get to the other side of the mesh..
Meshes with thinner threads will offer more open areas, as well as lower pressure drop values because of the smaller diameter of the thinner thread.
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it really makes me wonder how tiny the white particles in digital ink are. I know they use TO2 as a pigment, but getting that pigment smaller than a human hair is impressive.
I know Xenon came out with a white with a really small particle size. Prints well too.
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Pigment shape?
I can't find a micro image of white pigment or titanium dioxide for some reason but I was once told that the white pigment has a spiky shape that is not optimal for getting it to roll around and pass through little square holes.
Here you go.
(http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/538/cache/titanium-dioxide-used-geoengineering_53857_600x450.jpg)
The more a white ink is 'ground' the smaller the particles become.
The smaller the grind, the less opaque it becomes so the manufacturer has to find the balance with printability across a WIDE mesh range.
So to answer you question on what makes white so hard to print.. were trying to pass these shapes through a square hole shaped via filament thread that over time begins to fray and increases surface tension trapping those fine dioxide particels in the open mesh area.
(http://www.signindustry.com/screen/articles/images/2007-09-SGIA-3.jpg)
(http://www.signindustry.com/screen/articles/images/2007-09-SGIA-4.jpg)
Look at that.. printing a white comes down to the screen.. how about that.
Once again, what we do is the most important... SCREENprinting.
Keep your white screens newer and at decent tension for best performance.
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it really makes me wonder how tiny the white particles in digital ink are. I know they use TO2 as a pigment, but getting that pigment smaller than a human hair is impressive.
I know Xenon came out with a white with a really small particle size. Prints well too.
We now grind our own white and black pigments. This gives us more control and consistency. 8)
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the ink's Yield Stress (measured in dynes/cm) is high.
starchild.
How are you measuring the ink's Yield Stress?
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^^I think it IS time for a physics lecture. I'd love to read a more than a bit about that type of testing.
JS--Killer pics. Makes me wonder though, guideline I've gone by is that particle size should be less than a third of your mesh opening--the pic with the clogged opening makes it look as if the pigment particle is bigger than the opening--any background on the how/why?
Dilatant flow is next, right? Time to get some corn starch and make some oobleck. ;)
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the ink's Yield Stress (measured in dynes/cm) is high.
starchild.
How are you measuring the ink's Yield Stress?
Do you mean short of having my very own hi-tec lab? Well just like everyone else, the spatula pulled across the ink bucket technique.. The thing is I am able to identify and give name to what is being affected when I do this..
The point I am trying to make in these threads, is that the ink manufactures don't use a ladle and pot-stir, to mix inks like they're cooking moon shine nor do they do something hokey pokey to test it's performance.. Yet that is how it's sold.. well at least to the little guys..
The specs I pointed out, In my opinion, should be available to all and definitions applied to them so that printers can select their inks deliberately.. As soon as something goes contrary in production we start adjusting things with blind confusion and confidence.. The inks behavior is really a complete stranger to us..
But what if we can predict how the ink will behave before we even make the purchase? And what if when the ink does something contrary? we can pinpoint where the f up happened and report back to the manufacture with confidence and not frustration. The ink man wins as well because he can identify exactly where the week points are and fix the problems- making his product better.. And what if anyone of our forum members can ask- "I want a white that I can use as an underbase for a process print, so that I don't experience color shifts" and many can reply/recommend a particular ink of choice, just by reading off the xy chromaticity value to know where in the color spectrum the hue and saturation of a white ink leans?
Information (quality) is King.. We all make most of our selections based on it anyway..
Any manufacture/supplier that approaches his marketing this way will easily dominate the market..
Someone please tell me why you would not want an ink from a manufacture that offers a Certificate of Analysis?
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I'd love to have everything that an ink manufacturer could offer us printers that could help us. My problem is I wouldn't be able to understand most everything on a COA more than likely without Joe explaining it all to me.
I always pull the spatula through an ink to see how it performs and I know what I look for when performing that test but beyond that, the technical points to that test are way over my head. If the channel collapses right away does that mean "X"? If the channel stays for 3 seconds does it mean "Y"? If the spatula bends over backwards almost does it mean that "Y" needs to be adjusted by a certain amount? All those things I don't understand one bit. I wish I did though.
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I'm in agreement that it would be wonderful to have all parameters of the ink in hand. Personally, I have reps that can't tell me if I have blowing agent in my white, or what type of migration blocker they are using, and that makes it seem a little unrealistic to me. It's a bit out there to expect to pay what we do for ink, and for the ink companies to somehow afford to employ chemists for tech support... but it would be great, I agree.
I'd also point out that every ink I've ever printed puts the responsibility on the printer to test for fitness for a particular purpose before any print run. Just like any other industry, you can feel free to take a sample from your supplier to any independent lab and get whatever characteristics you want tested and quantified. If you can't or won't test the characteristics that are important don't cry foul to the manufacturer, they spell it out on just about every bucket that's out there. The thing that makes me wonder is that people seem to have issues with the SAME ink, which means unless their ink maker is putting out product of poor quality and they are not noticing, then they are having issues they need to look in the mirror to address.
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http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pEQAie8ABLE&feature=kp (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pEQAie8ABLE&feature=kp)