Vinyl tape printing

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motoman
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Vinyl tape printing

Post by motoman »

Hi,
a little concerned about my topsheet printing. I have no white inks and I really need them. I would like to print on some white thin film. I have heard about vinyl film but have never printed on it and the only one I have found on the market is called Oracal. Probably it is just a brand name. One side of this film is for printing and another one is for gluing to some surface. I'm not sure about protective properties of this film, may be is has to be covered with some transparent plastic from the pop.
Has anybody tried to print on such type of film?
chrislandy
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Re: Vinyl tape printing

Post by chrislandy »

motoman wrote:Hi,
a little concerned about my topsheet printing. I have no white inks and I really need them. I would like to print on some white thin film. I have heard about vinyl film but have never printed on it and the only one I have found on the market is called Oracal. Probably it is just a brand name. One side of this film is for printing and another one is for gluing to some surface. I'm not sure about protective properties of this film, may be is has to be covered with some transparent plastic from the pop.
Has anybody tried to print on such type of film?
Sounds like standard digital printing, solvent/UV/latex all require a protective layer laminated over the print to protect against rubbing etc, it can be quite soft too.

You may also have issues with delam of the graphic from the board. I'm doing a few bits and bobs like this essentially wrapping the board so it's a post applied topsheet.

message me and we may be able to sort something out
motoman
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Location: Ukraine

Post by motoman »

We used to print on our topsheet plastic via UV printing, but price is a bit high and not all companies have primer. Also we tried solvent and ecosolvent inks but those inks don't have white color at all. We can't apply sublimation to our topsheet plastic since temperature of material melting is to low for it.

In our case we did printing on the bonding side. In case of UV printing with primer it is very good, there is no delamination. Also solvent inks are really perfect in our case (really cheep) since butadien the plastic reacts very good with solvents.
But absence of white color makes this type of printing useless. I don't know may be it is somehow possible to attach vinyl film to the topsheet plastic (make some kind of lamination).
pmg
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Post by pmg »

Hi, I am also using transparent topsheet, and the white color comes from the resin below: I color the resin white, and thats it.
motoman
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Post by motoman »

pmg wrote:Hi, I am also using transparent topsheet, and the white color comes from the resin below: I color the resin white, and thats it.
Sounds like a solution of my problem. The only thing, I have never experimented with epoxy pigmentation. Probably I have to ask my supplier weather it is possible to use admixtures of different colors in order not to harm bonding properties of epoxy.
I will really think about this way of solution.
motoman
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Post by motoman »

Is white color epoxy is enough white and not transparent? I mean that after press very thin layer of epoxy remains between fiberglass and topsheet.
pmg
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Post by pmg »

If you press the fibreglass with whitened epoxy, it also turns white. So its not just the thin layer of epoxy between the topsheet and the fibreglass, but the whole layer of FG that is white.

Regarding coloring the epoxy: Most epoxy suppliers offer colors to color their epoxy. If you are able to get liquid color, take that instead of pigments. Pigments are quite hard to mix in so well that no lumps remain.
My supplier has quite some different liquid colors:
http://shop1.r-g.de/cat/Harze/Farbpasten

I didn't have bonding issues so far, just stuck to the ratio the supplier said, in my case max. 5% color.
motoman
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Post by motoman »

You are right, liquid colors are definitely better. Anyway I have to ask my supplier. Unfortunately they will give me answer after Christmas holidays.
I think 2-5% limit might be standard ratio for most of epoxies.
It is said that you color paste is universal)) May be it will be good for my epoxy also)))
Thank you for good advice.
MadRussian
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Post by MadRussian »

places who sell two parts paint ....like automotive paint store will have liquid colors you need. doesn't have to be anything special
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
Thomas A. Edison
motoman
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Location: Ukraine

Post by motoman »

Have already bought Gravicolor blank 9200 today. I was told that this paste is good enough for my epoxy.
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