My flatbed is to slow, so looking for tips on screen printing coroplast campaign signs with uv ink

[Bradley Bedwell CPA]

All righty and thank you for reading and replying in advance.
Have roughly 7000 campaign signs ordered from me right now, with a ton more coming. I tried a sub and the quality was terrible. So push comes to shove, considering I cannot keep up with my Mimaki JFX 200, I have purchased 3 AWT micro 2538, the semi automatic flatbed and a uv accucure dryer, without a clue of how to use them. (I know, I know). So I got roughly 15k sheets of coroplast and a pretty sizable dumpster for the learning curve, but any advice would be greatly appreciated. We are talking UV screen printed coroplast signs.
I am going to take one step at a time and use a screen burning service to make my initial screens, until I get a handle on the rest of it. Do you have any suggestions? What size mesh do I need for UV ink. Planning on using Nazdar
Which Nazdar or other supplier you would recommend ink number would you use for a standard simple 2 color campaign signs? What other additives, or while in process screen cleaners do I need to buy.
Then any other suggestions you may have? There is only one way to learn, I imagine, so any help would be great lol.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

I can't help you with input, but from a business perspective I just have to know... Why would you want to risk everything on campaign signs? There is no margin or room for error unless you have some good paying candidates and they are paying up front?

 

[Bradley Bedwell CPA]

Pretty much my niche, if I can figure it out. I have seven statewide campaigns right now. I am a cost accountant, while I am not doing CPA work and have my costs pretty dang low. What you said is true, that is the reason I will do what it takes to learn it. You have to get control of your production and your quality, because the subs that will do it and leave you a little margin, the quality is not there. So if I break even on some jobs, or even lose 5k or 10k in the learning curve, the upside hopefully later will be ridiculous. I cleared roughly 26k last month dealing with subs, so now I have the cushion to learn it lol.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Pretty much my niche, if I can figure it out. I have seven statewide campaigns right now. I am a cost accountant, while I am not doing CPA work and have my costs pretty dang low. What you said is true, that is the reason I will do what it takes to learn it. You have to get control of your production and your quality, because the subs that will do it and leave you a little margin, the quality is not there. So if I break even on some jobs, or even lose 5k or 10k in the learning curve, the upside hopefully later will be ridiculous. I cleared roughly 26k last month dealing with subs, so now I have the cushion to learn it lol.

I guess that's good for you, but it seems like a mountain of effort for low return. I hope you get the answers you need, but know the companies that do well in Political are running million plus dollar machines pumping out 2500+ boards an hour.

 

[Bradley Bedwell CPA]

I guess that's good for you, but it seems like a mountain of effort for low return. I hope you get the answers you need, but know the companies that do well in Political are running million plus dollar machines pumping out 2500+ boards an hour.

All depends what you sell the job at, 50% margin doing 2500 a day is pretty decent.

 

[Mosh]

Have FireSprint print them. They are a merch member on here. They won't let you down.

 

[White Haus]

Good luck. Don't be too surprised if you don't get too many people willing to help an accountant cut out real sign companies...

 

[Mosh]

So you bought a hammer and are going to start building houses?

 

[Gino]

Okay, so you want us.... or at least me, to believe that an accountant went out, bought the wrong equipment for upcoming jobs, then bought more equipment, not knowing how to use it and then you want help to do something so silly ?? C'mon..... are you really this naive.... or are you letting half the story out ?? Why do you need a dryer for screen printing flat stock ?? None of this makes any real sense.... not yet.

 

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Headache... stinky headache, and expect a mess.

 

[icex]

Spider webs are fun

 

[d fleming]

Your best bet at this point is to hire an experienced screen printer to run your shop. Not sure I would have went uv, but that's because I've always been an air dry with racks guy. You will still need flatbed for those who want photos on their signs, so it might be in your best interest to headhunt someone with digital, art, and screen experience in one package. The learning curve for screenprinting is steep if you've never done it and at that volume mistakes will shut you down.

 

[shoresigns]

There is no margin or room for error unless you have some good paying candidates and they are paying up front?

This is literally the only advice you need for doing election signs. NEVER NEVER NEVER start production until you have 100% payment.

 

[uvgerard]

All righty and thank you for reading and replying in advance.
Have roughly 7000 campaign signs ordered from me right now, with a ton more coming. I tried a sub and the quality was terrible. So push comes to shove, considering I cannot keep up with my Mimaki JFX 200, I have purchased 3 AWT micro 2538, the semi automatic flatbed and a uv accucure dryer, without a clue of how to use them. (I know, I know). So I got roughly 15k sheets of coroplast and a pretty sizable dumpster for the learning curve, but any advice would be greatly appreciated. We are talking UV screen printed coroplast signs.
I am going to take one step at a time and use a screen burning service to make my initial screens, until I get a handle on the rest of it. Do you have any suggestions? What size mesh do I need for UV ink. Planning on using Nazdar
Which Nazdar or other supplier you would recommend ink number would you use for a standard simple 2 color campaign signs? What other additives, or while in process screen cleaners do I need to buy.
Then any other suggestions you may have? There is only one way to learn, I imagine, so any help would be great lol.

Geared mostly toward inkjet printers, we have tips for printing on corrugated plastic. Might be useful. Here is a link

http://www.tcsuv.com/tips-for-printing-on-corrugated-plastic/

The main problem printing on corrugated plastic is ADHESION. There is nothing more frustrating than printing a job that looks great out of the printer only to have the ink tear, flake off or pull away from the finished product.

Eliminate static. Corrugated plastic is notorious for static issues. Dust sticks to it, hence when you print, your ink “adheres” to the charged particles rather than the material surface itself. If sufficient charge is present one could re-direct ink droplets and you end up with an off-target ink ghosting. When attempting to reduce static you must eliminate charge on BOTH SIDES of the substrate. There are anti-static wands and other methods available but the easiest is to pre-wash (wipe-down) the substrate using isopropyl alcohol or an alcohol and water solution. Again if you do not treat both sides your problem will never go away

Consider adhesion promoters. As stated above, cleaning substrate with alcohol or an alcohol and water solution may improve adhesion. To achieve a strong bond on non-porous substrate consider an adhesion promoter. Consult you ink supplier for recommendations

Adjust UV lamp output. Most inkjet printers estimate UV lamp life around 500 hours (idol time plus print time). In the case of corrugated plastic, lamp life is significantly reduced. Most jobs cannot be run other than at high power. At TCS Technologies we have developed a lamp specifically for use on corrugated plastic. UV penetration is increased with about 25% reduction in life. The good news is our lamps cost 30% to 40% less than the OEM lamp so this is not as painful as it sounds. If your adhesion problems are UV intensity related, then increasing lamp power will increase the ink’s bond with the substrate. This is especially true when printing more than one coat. In this case the first printed layer must be fully cured before subsequent coats are applied. Adjust combination of lamp power and print speed. In a perfect world, ink and media bond is improved at high lamp power and slow print speed.

I am not familiar with your AccuCure dryer. If it is a small print width, we might be able to change lamp to one designed for use with corrugated plastics.

Hope this helps

 

[Haw]

This is literally the only advice you need for doing election signs. NEVER NEVER NEVER start production until you have 100% payment.

I guess this is standard, worldwide advice when dealing with politicians, hehe.

 

[player]

I would not want to be in your predicament.

 

[MikePatterson]

Maybe we can open an accounting service.... We all have calculators on our computers.. Cant be that hard its just numbers and money..

 

[Gino]

Maybe we can open an accounting service.... We all have calculators on our computers.. Cant be that hard its just numbers and money..

Hahaa..... yeah, and it's always somebody else's money.

 

[TomNJ]

All righty and thank you for reading and replying in advance.
Have roughly 7000 campaign signs ordered from me right now, with a ton more coming. I tried a sub and the quality was terrible. So push comes to shove, considering I cannot keep up with my Mimaki JFX 200, I have purchased 3 AWT micro 2538, the semi automatic flatbed and a uv accucure dryer, without a clue of how to use them. (I know, I know). So I got roughly 15k sheets of coroplast and a pretty sizable dumpster for the learning curve, but any advice would be greatly appreciated. We are talking UV screen printed coroplast signs.
I am going to take one step at a time and use a screen burning service to make my initial screens, until I get a handle on the rest of it. Do you have any suggestions? What size mesh do I need for UV ink. Planning on using Nazdar
Which Nazdar or other supplier you would recommend ink number would you use for a standard simple 2 color campaign signs? What other additives, or while in process screen cleaners do I need to buy.
Then any other suggestions you may have? There is only one way to learn, I imagine, so any help would be great lol.

Job it out. Yard Sign Ninjas is a great company, Wholesaleyardsigns.com

You are just yanking your chain with that quantity of work and the equipment you have.

The people that do that type of work have million dollar machines that spit out 4x8 sheets at the rate of 60 per minute. That's 1 second per sheet.

A 2 color, 2 sided 24 x 18 coro sign will cost you somewhere between $1.25 & $1.50 for that quantity. Simply doesn't make sense to try to sumble through it in house. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Johnny Best]

When I started to read the post and your flatbed was slow and you want to get involved in screenprinting to do them!
And UV printing to add to the mix, your like the flatbed printer.