Adhesion Promoters

[Ditchmiester]

We are going to be looking at small format UV printers. Mimaki, Graphics One and CET are on our list.

I was wondering if anyone can shine some light on adhesion promoters for metals. Stainless Steel and aluminum?

Thanks

 

[DougWestwood]

Adhesion promoter?

We are going to be looking at small format UV printers. Mimaki, Graphics One and CET are on our list.

I was wondering if anyone can shine some light on adhesion promoters for metals. Stainless Steel and aluminum?

Thanks

Hey Ditchmiester,

Have not used a metal-specific AP before. Have used coro/poly AP.
Lotsa mess and added time, but important with previous versions of the inks.

That said, I have used the newer inks and did a test.

With NO adhesion promoter, I printed a piece of coroplast.
Took a sample and put it in our employee freezer. After a few days
I took it out, and FOLDED the coroplast like a playing card.
The ink did not crack or flake one bit.

So make sure your machine will run the latest formula of inks.
I think it's a number such as 256 or 258. I could not find that notation
on the ink bags I have here. Ask your sales rep.

I have printed UV ink onto both metal and aluminum. Have not seen a need
for AP on either material. Good Luck!
- Doug
Vancouver

 

[DougWestwood]

liner removal?

Hey Doug, you are running 256 series ink right?

What have you found is the best way to prep aluminum composite sheets? I've been playing around with different brands (nudo polymetal, epanel, dibond etc) and the liners all leave a different type of residue when you remove them. Prepping with 50/50 iso alcohol/water, then just water, then just dry cloth seems to work the best but I'm still not 100% happy with the results.

Not prepping at all (which we can get away with on coro and most substrates as long as they don't have a liner and have never been handled without gloves) results in having tension lines in the print from when the liner is removed. Every time the liner stops or skips when being removed you can clearly see a line on the surface.

Any thoughts?

Hi Pat White;

Oh yes, I know your pain. Those lines which are left behind by the plastic protective sheet.
I have found that 90% alcohol is good, with a strong wiping. Also, you just have to
get one corner up, and then rip it off all at once. Tough to do with a full sheet, but it's the best way.
Fast, like band-aid.

Further, doing a double strike or overprint can cover up the stripes.
Not always possible with every color or design.
Using the Fuji/OCE print mode of "Quality-Matte" can help hide them, too.

Haven't used alupanel in a while, but there was a version of that material which
was awesome and did not have that problem. I think it was UV treated or something.

BTW, using the general OCE adhesion promoter on polystyrene would change the color
to a more yellow shade. We had a HORRIBLE job trying to match a grey, and it turned out that
it was the adhesion promoter. FYI. Save your sanity.

- Doug
Vancouver

 

[H&H Group]

We found dibond to work best with ink adhesion. Also, we stopped messing with adhesion promoters as they are messy, toxic, and don't leave a clean smooth surface (from what I've found).
Our solution is to use clear shield liquid lam after we print jobs for long term/outdoor to make the entire job more durable.

 

[Ditchmiester]

When you are talking about the two different ink types what printers are you guys running?

 

[Ditchmiester]

Oce/Canon. I'm not sure if Fuji uses the exact same inksets but I would imagine they do, with the exception of the LED models.

And there is actually a third and fourth inkset available for Canon/Oce. 255 is the highest gamut but lowest adhesion, meant mainly for indoor paper based applications.

Last I heard they were beta testing a new 257 series which would have the color gamut of the 256 and the adhesion of the 258. If it comes out and works well we may consider this option, although I've been pretty happy with 256 for the most part.

I believe CET also has different inksets available depending on what you're looking for. When options are available there is usually a sacrifice in either adhesion or gamut.

I'm not familiar with the other printers but the manufacturers should be able to go over the different inksets available and their pro's/cons.

I haven't played with a ton of metals although we just started printing on anodized aluminum and Octolux. Prep is tricky and I'm still trying to experiment with different chemicals to remove 100% of contaminants.

I know Artbot has lots of experience in this department hopefully he can shed some light on prepping metals.

Thanks For the info Pat. I'm going to be traveling to some of the vendors i'm looking at to do a demo of each of them and knowing as much as possible about the ink types will make my demos even more informational. Is your Oce a 4x8 machine? If so what kind of foot print does it take up for floor space?

 

[DougWestwood]

printer/inks

When you are talking about the two different ink types what printers are you guys running?

I'm running two FUJI Acuity 4x8 UV flatbeds.
Same inks as OCE.

 

[tgrinds]

Just a thought. I've never tried, but I heard wiping aluminum with mineral spirits after ipa removes all streaks.

 

[Signman001]

We are going to be looking at small format UV printers. Mimaki, Graphics One and CET are on our list.

I was wondering if anyone can shine some light on adhesion promoters for metals. Stainless Steel and aluminum?

Thanks

Use M87 UV adhesion promoter from Boston Industrial Solutions. It works well on all raw metals (stainless steel, aluminum, copper, etc.) as well as coated metals and acrylics.