Wilsonart Laminate

[AncientOne]

Anyone have any experience with printing tactile on Wilsonart laminates? We've used several different primers and methods to prep the material before printing but haven't had much success with getting the ink to adhere consistently.

 

[mcallister]

Anyone have any experience with printing tactile on Wilsonart laminates? We've used several different primers and methods to prep the material before printing but haven't had much success with getting the ink to adhere consistently.

Not sure if you’re talking about doing it with a digital flatbed or screen printing. We used to screen a lot of Wilsonart (Formica) many years ago & the only ink we could find that would adhere was epoxy (NazDar ADE series)

 

[pro-UP]

My experience is that it's not usually ideal. Whenever we are at the start of a project, we do not recommend laminates and will encourage them to not use them. We have seen long term issues with the letters falling off (especially if they get cold). Applique material can have the same issue as well. It's really not enough surface area for good adhesion.

 

[AncientOne]

Not sure if you’re talking about doing it with a digital flatbed or screen printing. We used to screen a lot of Wilsonart (Formica) many years ago & the only ink we could find that would adhere was epoxy (NazDar ADE series)

Yeah we're using digital UV cured ink printer. A DCS unfortunately. We're really having an issue with the ink just falling off the material.

 

[AncientOne]

My experience is that it's not usually ideal. Whenever we are at the start of a project, we do not recommend laminates and will encourage them to not use them. We have seen long term issues with the letters falling off (especially if they get cold). Applique material can have the same issue as well. It's really not enough surface area for good adhesion.

Yeah that's kind of where I'm at. It seems hit or miss if the ink stays on. We've seen half a word just get wiped off a sign with the other half staying on. I really just wanted to check and see if anyone had any success with something we haven't tried yet.

 

[StarSign]

Have you tried putting a clearcoat on the laminate to give the ink something different to adhere to?

 

[AncientOne]

Have you tried putting a clearcoat on the laminate to give the ink something different to adhere to?

we tried printing over a clear coat of paint and it didn't really help too much unfortunately.

 

[mcallister]

I believe Formica has a slip agent added during the manufacturing process which is your problem.

 

[nastewart0521]

We've had luck printing on pretty much any laminates with our flatbed. What are you printing?

 

[AncientOne]

We

We've had luck printing on pretty much any laminates with our flatbed. What are you printing?

We're printing ADA tactile with a DCS uv84dts gen2.

 

[nastewart0521]

That's what I assumed you were printing. We print braille directly onto laminates with our Canon Arizona flatbed with no issues. We sometimes do have issues on acrylic and acm though. For these two materials it really depends on what brand the material is.

 

[DanaMarie1973]

We are in the same boat with our DCS Printers as well.
Looking into converting one of our Canon Arizona Flatbeds for printing ADA/Raised Text hoping it will be better

 

[GaSouthpaw]

I'd say the problem lies with the brand of printer, but that's based on my own history with them.