Ink not adhering to panels

[signheremd]

Having trouble on flatbed printer, printing on a slick material such as aluminum composite or komacel and then laminating, the entire print (ink and laminate) wants to peel cleanly off the material. The panels are cleaned before printing as well. Wondering if it could be an issue with the ink or the panel or something else. Anyone experience this?

 

[Modern Ink Signs]

What type of printer?
What ink set?

Most likely, your substrate is not be UV print ready. You will need to use an adhesion promoter. There are different promoters, general, glass, plastic, etc.

I've only had to use promoters occasionally as we use UV print ready substrates to start.

 

[signheremd]

CET Color 500Q flatbed with Gen 4 Ricoh heads
Vanguard VDRG4 ink set

I was thinking an adhesion promoter would help.

 

[Django]

Adhesion promoter would definitely help, since the substrate may not be UV ready. I've seen some UV ready substrates needing adhesion promoter too. In your case it seems the bond of the laminate to ink, is stronger than the bond of the ink to substrate, thus allowing the ink to peel right off with the laminate. Another thing you could try is to let the ink cure for 24 hrs before applying the laminate.

 

[signheremd]

Thanks for the response. The ink should be cured instantly but it's worth a shot I guess just to see. Have you used any specific adhesion promoters that you could recommend? Specifically for aluminum and komacel PVC?

 

[Modern Ink Signs]

Checkout ITNH, Inc.

Purchased a sample pack of their promoters.

 

[ChrisN]

Try a digital print ACM such as MaxMetal DP from Grimco. I've had good success printing on that with our CET.

Also, Agfa/Pitman has several different ACM types available. I think Alumaboard Fast is the one that I had tried that had the same adhesion as MaxMetal DP.

 

[bowtievega]

We have had good luck with the AluForte brand. They have a material specifically for digital printing. Also depends on what you do with the panel after printing. Ink will stick pretty well if you are just printing and cutting the final product. We apply a lot of transfer tape to printed panels for backpainting and such. We use a primer for those applications as it makes a pretty big difference in adhesion strength.