Primer – 10-PP Wipe Primer for Polypropylene

Printcolor 10-PP chemical wipe primer to promote pad and screen ink adhesion on untreated Polypropylene.

The official technical stuff from Printcolor
Printcolor Series 10-PP is a chemical wipe primer for use on polypropylene (PP) to achieve adhesion of pad and screen printing inks.  It is an effective and inexpensive method of treating short run jobs, or items that are difficult to pretreat by corona or flame.  10-PP primer can be used in combination with Printcolor screen printing ink Series 630, Series 640, Series 650 and Series 665 and with pad printing ink Series 750, Series 752, Series 754 and Series 784.  Ink should be mixed with the thinner and hardener ratio described in the relevant technical data sheets.

Printcolor 10-PP chemical primer is receptive to printing for days, months and years after application provided the dried primer film is stable.  While it will not loose its priming effect over time, it is recommended that parts are printed within a few days of treatment in order to avoid damage to the primer film by chemicals or mechanical abrasion.  The primed plastic can be printed as soon as the solvent carrier has evaporated from the primer, leaving a dry film.  10-PP is formulated with a fast solvent so your part can be printed within seconds of being primed.  Refer to the Technical Information and 10-PP MSDS documents for more details.

What we say about Printcolor 10-PP
Printcolor 10-PP is a convenient method of treating short run PP jobs, pre-filled product containers, bulky items or those with irregular surfaces that make flame and corona treatment difficult.  It is also an excellent option for high gloss dark plastics that tend to mark or cloud from corona and flame treatment.  10-PP is simply wiped on to the product surface and allowed to dry before printing.  10-PP primer does not alter the plastic or the ink, but leaves a thin film of chlorinated resin on the surface with which the ink can chemically bond, creating an adhesion bridge between the PP surface and ink.

Other brands of primers are based on volatile solvents that evaporate quickly, forcing you to soak your priming cloth frequently during application.  This not only creates fumes an slows production but uses a lot of solution, and that cost you money.  Printcolor 10-PP is formulated on milder solvents with a moderate rate of evaporation making it easy to use, while allowing a rapid prime and print cycle.

Printcolor 10-PP will not change the appearance of the cured ink, nor is the primer visible on the surface of the product once it has dried.  Printcolor 700-PP does not work with polyethylene (PE) and may produce varied results on plastics containing high quantities of fillers and/or recycled content, or slip agents.  We recommend testing prior to production to confirm adhesion performance on your product.

The good oil from our trade print room

• We always carry out and ink test on new products before print production, even those with the recycle symbol ‘5 PP’.
• 10-PP should be applied as a thin film using a soft cloth soaked with primer and wiped across the print area.
• If you clean a misprint from the product, you will need to re-apply 10-PP to the plastic.
• We are happy to carry out ink tests on your product for you so you can sure 10-PP works before you buy it!

Retarder – 700-018 Medium

Printcolor 700-018 is a medium retarder for pad print inks.

The official technical stuff from Printcolor
Printcolor 700-018 is medium retarder suitable for use in all Printcolor pad printing inks running in closed cup or open ink well machines.  Evaporation time of the whole system can be slowed by adding 700-018 retarder.  Retarder slows drying of ink layer, lengthening transfer time where print cycles are slow, or operate under extreme operational conditions (elevated heat or humidity for example).  Printcolor 700-018 is formulated from solvents chosen to minimise chemical attack on printing pads.  Its gentle wear on pad surfaces will extend pad life and performance.

The evaporation rates of solvents in 700-018 medium retarder are combined to retain print pick-up and transfer without necessitating blow-drying / hot air ventilation of the print.  Retarding evaporation slows print transfer and lengthens touch-dry time on the substrate, for this reason adding more than 10% of 700-018 (by weight) is not advisable under normal printing conditions.   In such cases a combined use of thinners and retarders is the best way to optimise ink flow and transfer.  Refer to the Technical Information and 700-018 MSDS documents for more details.

What we say about Printcolor 700-018
It is not a paint thinner, nor is it a generic slow thinner.  Printcolor 700-018 is specifically formulated to retard ink used for pad and screen printing applications.  700-018 retarder is Quality Assured to ISO 9002 Standards and offers the best value for money on the market.

Printcolor 700-018 is a universal retarder for pad and screen printing inks used to slow drying of the ink layer where more working time required.  A maximum addition of 10% by weight is recommended, over dosing with retarder may cause transfer problems and inhibit hardener curing.  700-018 is best combined with 700-017 to achieve correct ink consistency for printing.

Available in 1L cans.

The good oil from our trade print room

• Adding small amounts of 700-018 is useful where the ink drys too quickly on the pad and fails to transfer. This can be an issue in process colour screens and multi colour prints, images with very fine detail or when using a shallow etch plate.
• Used in combination with 700-017 thinner, small additions of 700-018 will help control the transfer speed of faster ink types without having to thin them to a watery consistency.

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 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