Water proofing

[stitches4815]

We have never printed on nylon nor waterproof materials.  We have a customer that is looking at some bags, and in the specs there is no mention of nylon but it does mention waterproof.  Do I need to use nylobond for this?

[Denis Kolar]

I do not think that you can print on that without removing the waterproof stuff from the material.
I did a few test prints for a local place that needed some stuff printed. It was a failure. You could basically peel of the ink from the material, and yes, I had nylobond mixed with ink.

You can try, but I believe it is a no-go.

[ScreenFoo]

I've printed an unusually large array of waterproofed, and just plain silly things using a nylobond catalyst and had the print stick, but done a few that didn't.

Just like anything else R&D, get a sample, print it, wash or scratch test it.  Doesn't matter what did or didn't work before--matters what works now.   



edit: Spell check never works the way you want it too with the wrong word. 

[mk162]

wipe them with 90% alcohol before printing..and use nylobond, you should be fine....but test, test test.

[Frog]

And keep in m ind that any solvent that you use that works to remove the waterproofing, removes the waterproofing. Make sure that your client understands this.

[stitches4815]

Thank you for all the input.  We convinced them to go with regular nylon.  Now I get to experience using nylobond.

[Inkworks]

It ain't that bad, just remember it thins the ink quite a bit, as soon as you stir it in the plastisol gets quite runny. If it's a long run you may have the ink start to set-up on the screen a bit, clean it all off and mix new if that happens. Also completely clean the ink off the screen when you're done, don't let it sit like regular plastisol.

[stitches4815]

I am ready to print this order.  One last question about nylobond, I will printing white first then two colors over the top.  It is kind of an underbase but I am also using the white as an outline to the colors on top.  Now for the question, do I need to mix nylobond into the colors that are going on top of the white ink or can I use regular unadulterated ink?

[3Deep]

Stitch have you check to see how much waterproofing is on the garments your printing? I would test that first and you can do this with a cup just put the garment over the cup and push the garment down in the cup a little and pour water in the garment and see how long it takes for the water to go thru.  I,m thinkning you might need to put nylobond in all the ink thats touches the garment...even with nylobond the ink might still flake off if garment is heavy coated with waterproofing..you can use alcohol to remove some waterproofing to help the ink stay on then respray with waterproofing.

Darryl

[stitches4815]

Darryl, thanks for the input.  We convinced the customer to stay away from the waterproof material.  I am printing on regular old nylon.  So basically what you are saying is if the ink touches the material then I need to use nylobond.  Then any ink that goes on top of the base coat doesn't need nylobond, since it isn't touching the material.  Like I have said this is my first time printing with nylobond and I appreciate all help.

[mk162]

Your first time is a multi-color print, have fun, those are a pain on nylon.  You should be fine with the ink on top, the only issue you might have is getting the garment too hot in order to cure the top colors.

[stitches4815]

Oh great, just what I wanted to hear. 

[ScreenFoo]

Make sure your platens are warmed up and your tack is good--the serious after flash tack with nylo is usually the main reason to me why these aren't fun to print. 


If you have scorching issues with an IR dryer it's one of the cases where forced air will make them easier to cure without damage.

[Inkworks]

Just solved an issue for a nice big company who supply equipment to ski-hills. They supply tubes for the toboggan runs and they are covered with a very water proofed cordura nylon, basically the material is slathered in polyurathane. Nothing was sticking. I tried a variety of inks including plastisol with nylon additive. Finally tried some solvent based vinyl ink and it worked. The tough part was it was a white print and we really needed a P.F.P. to get the ink opaque. The first print went on nice and looked good, but it really sunk into the weave as it dried. So we needed to really dial down the flash temp and try to skin over the solvent ink without shrinking the material, and lay another print down over top. It was a real balancing act to get it right but it worked.

The trouble is they have other ski hills that want a multi colour print and that just isn't going to fly with the process I used. They are basically just big donut shaped panels so they can't be re-jigged with any degree of accuracy or I would just do them like a graphic print, printing and allowing each colour to rack dry before laying a second coat or other colour over top.

On a whim I took a scrap and pressed on an old plastisol transfer wondering if the sugar glue would stick.... And what do you know it seems pretty darned good on there. I was having trouble holding detail with the runny solvent ink  on the rough weave cordura anyway, so this seems like a good plan all around.

It just may work for you too.....