flatbed printers ink adhesion question

[gabagoo]

For those of you that have a flatbed printer I want to ask this.

If you were to print on 1/4" acrylic with your machine and then applied a white vinyl to the ink side as a backup, would the vinyl be able to pull the ink off the acrylic with little effort? In other words although the vinyl is adhered to the ink is the ink strong enough to stay adhered to the acrylic?

 

[Biker Scout]

Short answer no... Nearly all UV flatbed printers suffer from ink adhesion issues. ESPECIALLY on Acrylic. Some printer manufacturers have a "Pre-Wipe" solution that they will sell you to wipe down "Low Energy Surfaces"

I have two sample prints right here in my shop that were both printed on with a UV Flatbed Printer, and back printed with white ink as the backing. While they look stunningly awesome, a little nick in the edge has allowed the ink to start to pull up. Was informed, that because they were "Sample Prints" for my shop, no one wiped the acrylic down with this pre-treatment chemical.

In any case, what I can do is pull the entire print off the acrylic and have a piece of flexible UV cured ink film thingy that I can hold in my hands. While it's neat, I can't sell that to a client.

On the flip side, if you have or know a printer that has a Solvent based flatbed printer, instead of UV, then by all means, print away! It will stick just fine, as the solvents will etch into the acrylic just slightly.

But if you still want to print onto a clear substrate with a UV printer, print on Polycarbonate... that does not require a pre-treatment. However, you might want to inform the people printing that you are supplying polycarbonate instead of acrylic. If they even know the difference, they might have a slightly different lamp setting that is necessary for the cure.

 

[gabagoo]

Thanks for that info as that is exactly what has happened. The good thing is that I dont have a flatbed and this job will now be coming back my way...lol

 

[mobilwraps]

I just had my agfa put in this week i will try this and see what results it has

 

[Gino]

I'm not sure why you want to print to clear, apply vinyl and then pull it back off ??

I just put a piece of vinyl on a piece of acrylic we printed quite a few months ago as a sample and it didn't pull any ink off when removing the vinyl. We have dilli 6 color..... which is also an Agfa in the states.

We've printed to clear substrate in reverse and then used 1/8" sigh white substrate as a back up and it's gives a fantastic appearance.

 

[HaroldDesign]

I have no adhesion problems on acrylic. I have several different adhesion promoters on hand, and they're all unopened.

 

[Kaiser]

Short answer no... Nearly all UV flatbed printers suffer from ink adhesion issues. ESPECIALLY on Acrylic. Some printer manufacturers have a "Pre-Wipe" solution that they will sell you to wipe down "Low Energy Surfaces"

I have two sample prints right here in my shop that were both printed on with a UV Flatbed Printer, and back printed with white ink as the backing. While they look stunningly awesome, a little nick in the edge has allowed the ink to start to pull up. Was informed, that because they were "Sample Prints" for my shop, no one wiped the acrylic down with this pre-treatment chemical.

In any case, what I can do is pull the entire print off the acrylic and have a piece of flexible UV cured ink film thingy that I can hold in my hands. While it's neat, I can't sell that to a client.

On the flip side, if you have or know a printer that has a Solvent based flatbed printer, instead of UV, then by all means, print away! It will stick just fine, as the solvents will etch into the acrylic just slightly.

But if you still want to print onto a clear substrate with a UV printer, print on Polycarbonate... that does not require a pre-treatment. However, you might want to inform the people printing that you are supplying polycarbonate instead of acrylic. If they even know the difference, they might have a slightly different lamp setting that is necessary for the cure.

I have the exact opposite as a problem. Whereas printing on Acrylic, ABSPMMA I have no problems with adhesion. I do have the lamps set to perfectly cure ABS as a priority but I am printing on 3 different substrates at once. PolyProp or poly carb usually doesnt give me the best adhesion results in this case. Try tweak your lead lamps a little higher. That might help but from my experience it just ends up warping the polycarb.

Ive also noticed that most adhesion promotors or primers are great for glass and metals but when it comes to plastics youre just going to have to play around with curing settings. We're in the process of testing different varnishes to overcoat our prints for heavy duty purposes.