Ink Wash - Need Help!

[asplundh]

My business (not printing) has always helped high school and college students with their projects.
We have a shop with equipment for plastic, wood, or metal.  A student asked if I could cut and
rehape 5-gallon buckets for his project.  It seemed like a fairly simple job, until I tried to remove
the screened print from the buckets.  Mild solvents do nothing.  Strong solvents damage the plastic.

I was unfamiliar with Ink Wash, until a read a "how to" blog on the web.  The author recommended
a petroleum based Ink Wash, not "environmentally friendly."  I downloaded the pdf for SaatiChem
Remove IR4.  It has esters and hydrocarbons (see attached pdf).

I sent an email to a supplier for SaatiChem Remove IR4, asking if this product would dissolve the
screened print on 5-gallon buckets.  No reply.

I don't make a dime from these student projects.  The fact is, my business is grueling.  The only
fun I have is helping these students. 

I don't want to waste money placing an order for Ink Wash if it doesn't work.  I'd rather give the
students fifty bucks.

I need your help.  If you have a $3.00 Home Depot bucket (Homer's orange color), please let me
know if Ink Wash removes the print without damaging the plastic.  The toughest print is usually black
ink, like the drowning hazard warning label.  If it really works, please provide the Ink Wash brand
name, so I can order the same stuff.

Thanks guys.

[Frog]

I may be wrong, but I would not think that ink wash (especially the ones most of us use for plastisol and waterbased textile inks) should do a thing to dry or cured ink used to decorate buckets (that I thought were polyethylene, but really have no idea)
In fact, I don't even know for sure that they are screen printed.
Thing is, back when I did print on plastic, I used inks that had a solvent "bite" to them for durability. this ink was not merely sitting on top, tbut rather, truly bonded with the surface.

Begs the question, can't you find blank buckets?

btw, you may have better luck (or at least more responses) finding a site or forum that caters more to non-textile printers, like flat stock or ad-specialties. Though we have sections for that, and members who indeed play that part of the game, our emphasis is on textiles.

[asplundh]

Frog, you're 100% correct.

I tried to remove the print with Methyl Ethyl Ketone and Xylene.  Didn't work. 

I contacted a colleague in the plastic container business.  He used words like "etch" and "fuse" which
means the print cannot be removed.  Heat and chemicals bond the ink permanently to most large buckets.

I remember other student projects where they removed the print on small food containers with acetone.
That's why I thought the ink could be removed from 5-gallon buckets.

There are no blank 5-gallon buckets sold in the USA.  All large buckets have a warning label about children
drowning.  It may seem impossible, but small children have fallen head first into large buckets.

I'm not sure what to suggest as a substitute for large buckets.  I'll try to think of something.

Thanks again.

[Atownsend]

Maybe try some bugspray with a high concentration with DEET.  It doesn't work on all plastics, but it does melt the surface a bit on some. Just used it to clear some fogged lenses on air regulators. Can also be used on fogged car headlights. Worth a shot, esp if yo have some sitting around.

[Northland]

Maybe try some bugspray with a high concentration with DEET.  It doesn't work on all plastics, but it does melt the surface a bit on some. Just used it to clear some fogged lenses on air regulators. Can also be used on fogged car headlights. Worth a shot, esp if yo have some sitting around.

Here's a Chinese bucket, on Amazon, and a couple people asked if it had any printing on it (the answer was "no printing")

https://www.amazon.com/Encore-Plastics-50640-Industrial-5-Gallon/dp/B0088HVTUM/ref=pd_sbs_60_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0088HVTUM&pd_rd_r=C8EPHF57SEAYMXF98P1P&pd_rd_w=I6MlT&pd_rd_wg=jPszu&psc=1&refRID=C8EPHF57SEAYMXF98P1P#Ask

[Croft]

or just order some from ULINE if they have to be that clean

[Frog]

or just order some from ULINE if they have to be that clean

The OP says all sold in this country have the warning printed.

[mk162]

I just tested all of the chems we have back there and nothing worked.  The only thing i didn't test was 92% isopropyl alcohol.

Thanks!
Brad