printing vinyl stickers...

[Free Man]

ok, thanks. Yea, I have probably 50 buckets and another 50 random bottles of stuff, powders, chems. etc., I think with the dates going back to '97 though, might haul to the dump. Do you think any of the Nazdar stuff will work for stickers, or are air dry, or is it something that needs the manufacturer direction.

[Catspit Productions]

You're welcome!

If you see any Nazdar inks that are vinyl then those should work on most “plastic” sticker backings. Most all of the Nazdar inks will be “air dry” inks unless you have some of their textile stuff or enamels for metals that need baking. They may also make some UV inks which you would need a UV dryer for.

But yes, when in doubt, call the manufacturer so you can get all the details straight from the maker. I myself wouldn’t know the usages of all of their inks as they have so many.

[themaeor]

Sorry for the long wait to reply....but iam trying to print simple text stickers.nothing fancy.I was working with a speedball kit and not sure the screens mesh count.as well I went to a local screenprint store and was given some ink to try.it was called permaprint premium.I now have got me some nazdar gv series gloss vinyl screen ink.they told me I would need to thin it down but didnt tell me what kind of thinner.so iam about to order some 200-230 mesh screens.hope my stickers come out right this time.if anyone can recommend the right thinner I should use it would be greatly appreciated.or recommend anything else I would need to print basic text stickers at a good quality.thanx

[Catspit Productions]

I’m not sure why they suggested thinning the vinyl ink form the get go. I would see how it prints straight first and then decide whether or not to thin it down. Solvent based and water based inks tend to be thinner and runny compared to plastisol inks. Unless you told them it was older and maybe thick. Then they may have said that in order to use an older ink that has lost some of its solvents through evaporation. But if it is new and you just got it then it should be pretty thin to start. Maybe they suggested thinning it out to extend the print volume as not much opacity is needed for paper or sticker printing. Most of these substrates will start out white or maybe clear for stickers.

The higher mesh counts are a good idea to have as when printing on nonabsorbent substrates like paper or vinyl you can easily flood out the design form too much ink.

But in the end I would ask Nazdar what thinner to use with the ink. They will make it and tell you where to get it.

[themaeor]

thanks for the reply.one last thing, I was looking online to order some emulsion and was wondering what the difference of blue emulsion and pink emulsion.
is there a specific one I should get for sticker printing?

[Catspit Productions]

You’re very welcome.

It’s not the color you need to be concerned with. Emulsions are dyed various colors but that normally has nothing to do with the emulsions applications unless the manufacturer has some sort of color coding.

What you have to do is get an emulsion that will be resistant to solvent and water based inks. There are some emulsions that are made for plastisol inks that when post cured they are good for pretty much any ink. But Saati makes dual cure emulsion that you can use with UV, plastisol, solvent based and water based inks. It’s called Graphic HU and you can get it at a 5% discount using the Catspit promo code at checkout on the Saati website:

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/sa ... icals.html

It is actually available in blue and red colors, don’t ask me why. It might be for graphic printing purposes because it is listed as a graphic emulsion but is often used for textiles as well.

[themaeor]

Cool.thanx.very helpful

[upperhandprinting]

I guess this is a question about printing anything flat, or not apparel. I'm looking in to printing vinyl stickers and paper posters. Do you need to have a vacuum pallet for this or is there another way to print these items? I saw the Catspit video on printing the vinyl yard signs, but those are much heavier than posters or stickers.

Thanks!

[Catspit Productions]

While a vacuum table is recommended it is not entirely necessary. You can create a jig using thin card board to line the sticker material up for registration on a standard shirt pallet. A very small amount of spray tack should keep it in place during printing without ruining the back of the sticker material.

Many people do it in some similar way to this without a vacuum pallet.

[ApeShirt]

I guess this is a question about printing anything flat, or not apparel. I'm looking in to printing vinyl stickers and paper posters. Do you need to have a vacuum pallet for this or is there another way to print these items? I saw the Catspit video on printing the vinyl yard signs, but those are much heavier than posters or stickers.

Thanks!

I just did my first plastisol ink transfers. They were 3 colors and I had to do 75 of them. I used spray adhesive and it worked great for me. I had to reapply the spray about every 15 transfers. I was surprised how well it worked for me. I'm pretty sure I'll get a vacuum platen eventual though.