JFX200-2513_Ink Scratching

[Blazing_Murph]

Hey Everyone,

We recently switched from Rasterlink 6 to Onyx 19 for our rip software. I ran into an issue of ink being really fragile while running steal blanks on the flatbed. We've run these hundreds of times on Rasterlink with no issue.

The problem is, I reverted back to Rasterlink to try and see if the issue would solve itself by running the jobs the way we always have but i still had the issue of the ink chipping and scratching very easily. Now that im sort of convinced its not a Profile issue, does anyone know what may be causing this? UV exposure not correct? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Adam Vreeke]

What type of ink are you using? Are you using any adhesion promoter? Does the metal have a digi coating on it? Personally I am running LH-100 ink and most things need an adhesion promoter for it.

 

[Blazing_Murph]

We're using LUS-150 inks, CMYKW. No white ink is being printed on this specific job.

We havent used any promoters since we got the printer 5 years ago or so but I have been looking into them now that this issue has randomly come up. Its really not something we've encountered on aluminum/steal until now which makes we wonder if the new set of substrate blanks we got may be defective in some way also

 

[Adam Vreeke]

As I said we use LH-100 so your experience may be different but for metal we use Kolorcure Metal and Glass. We also use some from Nazdar as well. I would ask to see if you can get some sample bottles to test out on as most places require a minimum bottle order (in my experience).

Kolorcure Primer https://www.kolorcure.com/products/additives-primers/ Works very well for us, does need to dry for 24 hours after printing to not chip off. We also do a lot of screen printing here so wee have big ovens for that, and if I run into problems I also bake them for 20 mins at 250 and that always does the trick.

It could be that something has changed on your metal. But it seems items like metal, glass, and acrylic usually do need some sort or promoter to stick on the material without chipping on most machines and ink sets.

 

[Zendavor Signs]

We have never used adhesion promoter on our machine (LUS-150 inks), and the ink adheres incredibly well. Maybe there is some kind of coating, try cleaning the blanks with degreaser or ISO alcohol.

 

[Gino]

Sounds like someone is using the wrong profiles, or didn't have them profiled in correctly when making the switch.

 

[Blazing_Murph]

I was curious if the blanks were missing some sort of promoter also since it was a new shipment of blanks that we got in that seems to be scratching no matter which Rip software I use. I always clean with ISO before print as well but trying some degreaser may help. Like a mentioned before, we never had this issue before with our profiles through Rasterlink so that shouldn't be the issue for this newer set - but I questioned if that was the issue when running the job through Onyx since its fairly new and we haven't been using it much on our flatbed printer.

thanks everyone for the speedy and helpful replies though, really appreciate the community!

 

[signheremd]

Odd problem. Don't have a solution for you, but rule of thumb is too much UV ink is cured to the point of brittleness, too little and ink is too soft. If you are using UV bulbs, hold old are they? If you have LED UVs, try changing the intensity settings

 

[Blazing_Murph]

Odd problem. Don't have a solution for you, but rule of thumb is too much UV ink is cured to the point of brittleness, too little and ink is too soft. If you are using UV bulbs, hold old are they? If you have LED UVs, try changing the intensity settings

Thats a good rule of thumb to know. I've not messed with the UV intensity on the machine yet. The ink is adhering to the substrate enough that a fingernail won't affect it but a hard edge will easily take the ink, so I'm wondering if the UV intensity is too low or diminishing. Its really stumping me as well since its a new issue for a material we've used hundreds of times, guess I'll try to troubleshoot it with all of the advice I've got and go from there. It could be as simple as a defective box of steal blanks. Thanks again everyone

 

[Adam Vreeke]

Thats a good rule of thumb to know. I've not messed with the UV intensity on the machine yet. The ink is adhering to the substrate enough that a fingernail won't affect it but a hard edge will easily take the ink, so I'm wondering if the UV intensity is too low or diminishing. Its really stumping me as well since its a new issue for a material we've used hundreds of times, guess I'll try to troubleshoot it with all of the advice I've got and go from there. It could be as simple as a defective box of steal blanks. Thanks again everyone

Are you letting this dry for 24 hours before using a hard edge? Often when I am doing adhesion tests I will do a fingernail and a hard edge or tape test directly after print. I will then let sit for about 24 hours and do the same tests again. It may surprise you how something as simple as time will affect adhesion (for UV inks).