Series 660 Pad Printing Ink

Printcolor 660 is a two component multi purpose ink for printing synthetic and natural textiles and fabrics.

Upgrade to Printcolor high performance Series 660 if you are using Sericol Nylobag NB or Nylotex NX, Marabu Maraflor TK, or Proell Noripol.

The official technical stuff from Printcolor
Printcolor 660 is a highly opaque, two component multi purpose screen or pad printing printing ink for synthetic fabrics, natural textiles and soft surfaces. The high quality of raw materials used in the formulation of 660 makes it suitable where extreme mechanical, UV or chemical resistance is needed.  It is based on different polyester and acrylic-resins that give it the stable gloss finish essential for outdoor applications.

A highly opaque screen printing ink for industrial and graphic applications on a wide range of synthetics like polyamide (eg nylon), polyester materials (eg trevira), and blended fabrics with both synthetic and natural components, mostly cotton. Series 660 is suited to most common fabric articles (bags, ties, umbrellas, etc.), textiles (shirts, overalls, sportswear), sun blinds, flags, pennants and sails.  Printcolor 660 can also be effective on difficult materials such as synthetic rubbers, soft PVC and different urethanes  and the manufacturing of fabric labels in the thermo transfer process.  Refer to the Technical Information and Series 660 MSDS documents for more details.

What we say about Printcolor 660
Printcolor 660 is a versatile screen ink but it also performs well in pad printing applications.  Although textile products like umbrellas and tote bags are usually screen printed for maximum print size,  660 is excellent for pad printing small image applications on textiles such as; tagless T-shirt branding, nylon pencil cases and compendiums and linen serviettes.  It also produces excellent results on difficult materials such as synthetic rubbers, soft PVC and urethane coatings making it perfect for pad printing leather products (real and synthetic), stress toys and soft touch coatings often used on cosmetics, pens and wine accessories.

Hardener: addition ratio of 10:1 700-HDa hardener
Thinner: 700-017 thinner – addition ratio 10 – 15% by weight
Retarder: 700-018 thinner – addition ratio 10 – 15% by weight

The good oil from our trade print room

• Printcolor 660 is a little slower than most pad printing inks.  Its relatively easy to use but you sometimes have to run a little slower to achieve transfer when printing areas of solid ink or multi-colour images.
• We use it on compendiums a lot because it sticks to both real leather and synthetics so you don’t have to guess what the substrate is.
• An excellent ink for branding tagless T-shirts.  Transfers the image well down to the finest detail and drys quickly enough that set-off is not an issue when stacking printed tees.  It produces a flexible, highly durable print that’ll stand up to many washes.
• 660 regularly surprises us by sticking to rubbery, slick coatings that look and feel unprintable.  It’s a finish that is increasing used on designer consumer items which we are presented with more and more, so we keep a couple of 660 colours in the print room as back-up.

Mixing recipes available in the Printcolor Colour Mix Calculator – here

Series 382 Pad Printing Ink

Printcolor 382 is a one component screen printing ink for PVCs and plastics.

Upgrade to Printcolor high performance Series 382 if you are using Sericol “Sericard CD”, Marabu “Maraflex FX”, or Rucco 31 VC

The official technical stuff from Printcolor
Series 382 was developed specifically for printing on PVC substrates used in the plastic laminating (eg. credit cards) and welding manufacturing processes. It is also suitable for a wide range of substrates such as rigid and flexible PVC, PVC adhesion foils, coated polyester, papers and coated surfaces. Formulated as a single component ink, Series 382 can be used with Printcolor hardeners HDA or HDR where greater mechanical, chemical or UV resistance is required. Refer to the Technical Information and Series 382 MSDS documents for more details.

What we say about Printcolor 382
What’s a screen ink doing in the Pad Printing section?  As it turns out, 382 is an excellent fast drying ink for printing stress toys.  It runs well in a pad printer and is easy to work with, giving good ink coverage and colour even on dark substrates.  It’s ideal for customising ID and loyalty cards and produces a very durable print on many of the budget-price pen lines.

Hardener: 382 is a one component ink – can add 10:1 HDa hardener to increase mechanical/chemical/UV resistances. Hardener will reduce pot life.
Thinner: 017 thinner – addition ratio 10 – 20% by weight
Retarder: 018 thinner – addition ratio 10 – 20% by weight

The good oil from our trade print room

• We use Printcolor 382 for printing stress toys because it’s fuss free – no pretreatment, no hardener and easy to use.  It gives excellent adhesion and is fast drying so you can pretty much print and pack immediately.
• Printcolor 382 has a very thick, elastic-like consistency straight out of the can and will take a little more thinning than other inks to make it doctor correctly for pad printing.  Mix through small amounts of thinner at a time, it will reach print consistency reasonably quickly but will go watery if you over do it.
• It runs well with your standard medium pad printing thinner (700-017) and transfers easily off the pad.   A pretty straight forward to use but like all fast inks, it can develop static around the print if you run it too thick or have a deep plate.
• Its a single component ink which is convenient as it gives you unlimited pot life and you can return the ink to it’s can at the end of the job.

Mixing recipes available in the Printcolor Colour Mix Calculator – here

Series 792 Pad Printing Ink

Printcolor 792 is a two component, glossy and highly flexible pad printing ink for printing soft plastics, latex and rubberised materials..

Upgrade to Printcolor high performance inks; change to Series 792 if you are using Coates TP253.

The official technical stuff from Printcolor
Series 792 is a specialised ink system designed for pad printing flexible substrates while retaining the high chemical, UV and mechanical resistance usual in two component ink systems.   Printcolor 792 is a two component in (mix 4:1 with 700-HDA hardener) that gives exceptional adhesion on elastic and plasticized (soft) PVC materials such as soft-touch coatings and various thermo-set plastics, rigid PVC, latex, polyester coatings and many rubber, and natural or synthetic un-vulcanized materials.  A highly opaque, super glossy ink based on chemical and wear resistant resins. Printcolor 792 is suitable for indoor and outdoor applications. Refer to the Technical Information and Series 792 MSDS documents for more details.

What we say about Printcolor 792
We like to think of 792 as a get-out-of-jail ink.  It’s not an ink most printers would need every day but it’s a star performer on soft-touch coatings and rubbery stuff, often sticking when nothing else will!  Trade printers love 792 for its glossy finish on products like stress toys, genuine leather compendiums, golf gloves and the like, and those ‘designer’ soft touch coating popular on pens, bottle openers and cosmetics.

Printcolor 792 does a fantastic job on those tricky rubbery substrates, producing a sharp, glossy, attractive and durable print.  It’s a good ink to have up your sleeve.

Hardener: addition ratio of 4:1 700-HDA hardener or 700-HDS hardener
Thinner: 700-017 thinner – addition ratio 10 – 15% by weight for open well
Thinner: 700-019 thinner – addition ratio 10 – 15% by weight for closed cup
Retarder: 700-018 medium retarder – addition ratio 10 – 15% by weight

The good oil from our trade print room

• 792 can be a bit tricky to get up an running until you’ve got the hang of it. It’s a very slow ink so an air blast on to the pad is essential for good transfer if your printing anything other than text and lineart.
• Series 792 also screen prints really well.  It’s high pigment content produces exceptionally opaque prints.
• It takes up to 4 hours to touch dry, so you have to lay out your printed product quite carefully.
• We haven’t tried it, but some printers even use 792 on silicone materials – albeit with a bit of surface preparation and post treatment.
• We like to use it to print stress toys.  It produces such a thick, glossy ink layer that coverage and colour is never and issue even on dark colour toys.

Mixing recipes available in the Printcolor Colour Mix Calculator – here

Series 786 Pad Printing Ink

Printcolor 78s is a two component, high opacity, wear resistant, universal pad printing ink for a wide range of plastics and metals.

Upgrade to Printcolor high performance inks; change to Series 786 if you are using Marabu TPP or TPY, Rucco T-70.

The official technical stuff from Printcolor
Series 786 has become a very popular two component ink with commercial pad printers around Australia because of its high opacity, excellent colour matching, glossy finish and trouble-free printing.  Printcolor 786 is suitable for an extraordinarily wide range of substrates including (but not limited to); rigid PVC, acrylics, polycarbonate, pre-treated polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), ABS and SAN, many lacquered and coated surfaces, nylon, as well as chrome, metals, aluminium (raw, anodized and brushed), compound materials such as Alucobond, Dibond and Vekaplan AL, wood and other natural substances.  Refer to the Technical Information and Series 786 MSDS documents for more details.

What we say about Printcolor 786
Printcolor 786 is a very easy to use ink system.  It is reasonably fast curing for easy work-flow, has a good long pot life, and is easy to keep running in open well or ink cup machines without much maintenance.  The 13 base colours are very high in pigment.  This gives outstanding print opacity, vibrant colour and good PMS matching making it an excellent ink for printers servicing the advertising and promotional markets where corporate colour accuracy and consistency is so important.   Printcolor 786 was designed for demanding industrial applications in the automotive industry, formulated to achieve a very tough cured ink layer with extremely high chemical and abrasion resistance and UV stability.  Series 786 is compatible with several Printcolor hardeners and additives so you can further tailor the performance of your print to meet the demands and conditions of your particular application.

We’ve seen 786 used in many demanding applications; external car badges and dashboard buttons, outdoor scientific test tags, yearly race passes, control boards and cosmetic containers and it’s never failed to perform long term.  We use 786 every day and have no hesitation recommending it as a good all-rounder for tradies, or as part of a highly tailored ink system for extreme industrial applications.

Hardener: addition ratio of 4:1 700-HDa hardener or 700-HDi hardener
Thinner: 700-017 thinner – addition ratio 10 – 15% by weight for open well
Thinner: 700-019 thinner – addition ratio 10 – 15% by weight for closed cup
Retarder: 700-018 thinner – addition ratio 10 – 15% by weight

The good oil from our trade print room

• A super user-friendly ink that’s gives a consistent quality print even over long print runs.  It’salways on our shelf.
• An ink we instinctively reach for when printing long life consumer products and industrial components because of the high wear and chemical resistance of the print.
• 786 runs so well in ink cup and open well machines and, being a medium speed ink, doesn’t require a lot of thinners maintenance during a print run, nor is it prone to  spider-webbing problems like most fast-drying inks.
• Excellent pot life.  Officially 6-8 hours depending on ambient conditions, but we have run over 10 hours in an open ink-well press without too much bother.
• It’s inherent stability makes it good for multi colour work as it’s easier to keep the first and last colours printing well without having to fine tune each station with faster or slower thinner.
• Printcolor 786 also has excellent transfer qualities and will print images containing both fine detail and large areas of solid ink with relative ease.

Mixing recipes available in the Printcolor Colour Mix Calculator – here