Each year, Colormaker Industries commissions the design and printing of a line of 100% linen tea towels. These are printed with PERMASET AQUA® screen printing inks and, as well as being great Christmas gifts, showcase the brilliant colour, special effects and soft hand of these eco-friendly water-based inks. The tea towels are packaged in a Buffalo board wrap that has been printed with PERMAPRINT® Premium.
In keeping with the strong eco credentials of PERMASET water-based inks, PERMAPRINT® Premium screen printing ink for paper and other substrates is water-based and like PERMASET inks, contains no toxic chemicals, CFCs, HCFCs nor heavy metals. The Buffalo board is PEFC certified, using fibres sourced from responsibly managed forests and contains a minimum 18% clean, recycled content. It is also made carbon neutral. To facilitate further recycling, the wrap has been designed to work without the use of adhesive, tape or glue.
5 TIPS to mastering printing with PERMAPRINT Premium screen printing ink on an automatic screen printer:
The artwork for the wraps were printed four up on Buffalo board using a 100T screen on an ATMA screen printing machine by Pete, an experienced printer at Morris Graphics. The operating conditions were close to ideal at 70% RH and 25°C. Pete and David from PERMASET Inks, gave the following tips for getting the best out of water-based PERMAPRINT Premium Inks on an automatic machine:
Pete at Morris Graphics setup the print run on the ATMA automatic screen-printing machine with a 100T screen
Tip 1: Particularly if working in low humidity conditions it helps to condition the screen with a fine mist of water over the image area on the ink side of the screen. Allow to soak in for about 10 minutes, then wipe off excess surface moisture with a lint free cloth or sponge.
Bleeding ink around the letter forms on the above test print indicates too much water on the screen.
A few test prints later, the excess moisture on the screen had cleared
Tip 2: Use a wide squeegee to ensure consistent print detail across the artwork. The ATMA automatic screen printer was set up with a SEFAR MONO H75 squeegee blade.
Uneven print detail can be corrected with a wide squeegee and even squeegee pressure
Tip 3: Adjust squeegee pressure. The squeegee pressure needs to be monitored throughout the print run to compensate for possible changes in ink viscosity.
Pete adjusting squeegee pressure
Tip 4: Adjust the snap or off-contact (distance between the screen and substrate). Increased snap can improve print quality by avoiding problems such as the substrate sticking to the screen. This allows for a faster print stroke increasing work-flow and output. Pete increased off-contact from 8 mm to 10 mm.
Pete increasing the snap
Tip 5: Attain an even squeegee tilt (side to side pressure) to avoid uneven print density across the artwork.
Pete making final adjustments to the ATMA automatic
With final adjustments made, printing on the Buffalo board proceeded very quickly
As the system settled down, print frequency increased and the print run was quickly completed without the need for Print Retarder.
Fine detail can be achieved with attention to these 5 tips for printing with PERMAPRINT Premium on paper and other substrates
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