Question UV ink soften by water /moisture ?

[bakaichi]

Hi Guy
I got a Apex Jet 6090 running the soft/flexible type UV ink.

I know printing on glass dose not provide the best adhesion for UV ink.

But does Soft UV ink get soften when you let water sit on it for a few min?

Below is a image of a test square I printed, ...I than place a damp towel over it for about 10 min. and you can see the printed ink start to soften and work.

Just curious if any one else encounter this before too ?

 

[Caw]

UV ink on glass has trash adhesion..Sitting in water will almost certainly make it come off. When we first got our UV flatbed(Roland euv) I did a large glass job that looked fine...for the first week. Week later the ink started to roll, and I mean in sheets, off the glass. I will say it was printed in the correct conditions but it went into a humid shop to be installed and it sat in there for that week so I do think water/humidity does have a major effect. Glass is weird anyways, you have to print on the correct side and add one heck of an adhesion promoter that will stink you out of your shop...I only print on petg and plexi now. I can only hope the inks have gotten better, my machine is 4 years old now.

 

[dasigndr]

we have this issue with our HPFB750. when we print to 4mm white coroplast. We print a lot of real estate signs and we do get some signs come back with the ink starting to curld, bubble or krinkle off because of moisture and high temps. I was told it is possibly due to the UV lamps not being hot enough and we have monitored this with new lamps and even increasing lamp heat settings and still, on occasion, get the darn ink pealing issue.

It is frustrating because we have to redo the signs at our cost because they are NOT SUPPOSED TO PEAL LIKE THAT!!!

 

[Caw]

we have this issue with our HPFB750. when we print to 4mm white coroplast. We print a lot of real estate signs and we do get some signs come back with the ink starting to curld, bubble or krinkle off because of moisture and high temps. I was told it is possibly due to the UV lamps not being hot enough and we have monitored this with new lamps and even increasing lamp heat settings and still, on occasion, get the darn ink pealing issue.

It is frustrating because we have to redo the signs at our cost because they are NOT SUPPOSED TO PEAL LIKE THAT!!!

I feel your pain... I did find that if I print for outdoor I can laminate with a UV laminate and i've had some signs out for 2 years and they still look good..might help you out for the next run. I am in Wisconsin though, might not cut it in the south.

 

[bakaichi]

Thank you for the info.>>
Ya this is my first UV printer... so i dont really know the property for the ink..

i stumble this problem by accident place a damp towel on a print one day.

Kendra..
Ya the print on PETG sheet hold up a lot better...
I dip a test print sheet in water and it did not curl, but the ink still soften up to a point where is easily scratch up by nail.

 

[Caw]

I think there's really no solution other that a clear coat of some kind to protect it.