Question Cleaning acrylic for flatbed printing

[ploiter]

Hey all

I have been having trouble getting acylic nice and clean for printing. Often there will be marks or adhesive or other imperfections that I try to clean off my acrylic before UV printing directly to acrylic. However, I have not found an effective way to clean it. When I print it always leaves light marks that can be seen in the final print. I have tried different products such as 95% alcohol, microfiber cloths and many others.

Does anyone have an effective way to clean acrylic, that leaves no marks in the print?

 

[Gino]

We use 91% Isopropyl alcohol with a paper towel. Wipe it down and go to town. For a 4' x 8' or 10' sheet, takes about 3 minutes to wipe down and make sure you wipe it til it dries. Don't let it air dry at all. That seems to be what creates streaks or other little problems.

 

[ChrisN]

Buy digital print acrylic (such as Optix DA or or Acrylite Digital) - that way you don't have to clean it. Plus, the ink adhesion is better as well.

 

[biggce55]

99% Isopropyl alcohol is what we use for adhesion promotion. We also use tack rags for removing dust and plastic kerf

 

[chinaski]

Dust removing roller works well for me. Also use isopropyl alcohol for better adhesion.

 

[chromira]

We use a very small amount of 91% isopropyl (a couple of shots from a spray bottle) and Prematex lint free cloths. We also no longer get plexi with the paper covering but plastic wrap instead. It made a huge difference.

 

[bowtievega]

Make sure you guys are careful using Isopropyl alcohol on acrylic as it can damage the surface if left in contact too long. It is not recommended by manufacturers as a cleaner for acrylic. With that being said it works well lol. We use a diluted mixture but more importantly as Gino said it is important to not let any cleaner dry on the material, just leaves streaks that will appear during printing. Best example we had of alcohol and acrylic is cleaning ADA signs we made with raster braille (acrylic spheres). Those little balls do not like alcohol and like to crack almost immediately lol.

 

[10sacer]

Buy and use actual acrylic cleaner from Novus. Oddly enough - it contains iso alcohol but has other stuff that gives you a longer time to work with it.
I second the opinion on buying Optix DA and/or acrylic that has plastic liner and not paper. I have thrown crap around my shop when the paper liner breaks off into a thousand small pieces instead of coming off as one big sheet.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

Buy and use actual acrylic cleaner from Novus. Oddly enough - it contains iso alcohol but has other stuff that gives you a longer time to work with it.
I second the opinion on buying Optix DA and/or acrylic that has plastic liner and not paper. I have thrown crap around my shop when the paper liner breaks off into a thousand small pieces instead of coming off as one big sheet.

The Novus plastic polishing compounds are pretty amazing too. I'm always shocked by what that stuff will fix.