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screen printing => Ink and Chemicals => Topic started by: alan802 on March 02, 2015, 05:34:58 PM
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I'm having some trouble with a contract customer in picking out a bright green ink. I've used our old flouro/neon green which is lacking in opacity (of course it is...this is nothing new) but it looks ok. Bought a new gallon of neon green today and did a sample print for them and they didn't like it either. The customer has a pic of some guy in a casino wearing a black shirt with a very bright neon green print (probably a vinyl transfer due to the opacity) but without having the shirt in my hands I can't really say whether it's a direct print or a transfer. I've got color charts from Union, QCM, Rutland, Wilflex but nothing is any brighter than the 2 inks I've already printed.
Does anyone have a specific color and brand they could recommend for this? The inks I have in stock closely resemble Union's traffic green and QCM's signal green just to give you an idea of what I've tried.
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Are you using a white underbase?
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To add to Andy, are you printing two underbases? We've found it pretty much necessary for bright neons with
large coverage.
Wilflex Blacklight Green is my favorite.
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CCI discharge fluro colors are pretty bright.
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To add to Andy, are you printing two underbases? We've found it pretty much necessary for bright neons with
large coverage.
Wilflex Blacklight Green is my favorite.
this right here... print, flash, print, flash then neon or other FL colors... at least on black.
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Yep..double white!
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Sericol Fluoro Green DC is our go to.
For non dischargeables it's either 2x UB (it needs to not only be super white but super duper smooth)
or
you can try an HO Fluoro plastisol. They have white in them and lose some of the crazy neon punch but might cover over a single, smooth UB.
You need to drop a lot of ink on top that perfect, smooth white base to get a really loud fluoro. It needs the perfect base and it needs enough thickness to refract light through the ink film. I learned this part from Colin years ago. In some cases it can take so much plastisol ink that I'm not sure there's much advantage to the hand of the print over just using a neon cad transfer, but again depends on the situation.
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Like Chris said..... the print will be truly Bullet proof.
Fluorescent green is Fluorescent green. If you want it opaque... you add some white. You want it REALLY BRIGHT? 3-5 LAYERS THICK! AND NO WHITE ADDED.
yay joy and happiness..... printing flo color sucks. Period. Well, maybe not sucks.... but it is labor intensive.
You know how it goes Alan. When you have a PIGMENT that is that translucent, you have to lay down several layers in order to get the color you see in the bucket. No way around it.
Otherwise, try the discharge flo colors.
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Unions Maxopaque neon traffic green almost glows user certin lighting. You can also mix the neon traffic green and orbit yellow for a reallly bright neon green. I just printed a very picky customers stuff and they liked the mixture I used with the neon orbit and neon traffic green.
Edit they where both from the maxopake line.
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go 230 on all 3 screens. that is the only way we got a good neon here...on triblends.
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another vote for the DC fluos here. . .
pierre
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Ive done alot of crazy stuff to got opacities and colors right, but what mesh count are you guys using with double ub. Bulletproof is an understatement. You could measure thickness with a ruler.
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Yeah, used to double base flouros and neons and still might do that if I have a very translucent ink but if the top colors have even a little opacity to them we don't need to as often due to some of the specialized mesh counts we use. The customer has that pic of the "print" and wants us to hit that color
That maxopaque traffic green sounds interesting. I mixed up a small batch of bright green using flouro yellow and dallas green that turned out great and I'm waiting on word back from the customer on whether they like it or not.
Brad, that's interesting that you're getting a bright neon with that high of a mesh count. Are you single stroking or doubling the 230 base?
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double on the 230 base to get it through. it puts down a really thin base so the prints aren't crazy thick.
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what about going with One Strokes Neons? aren't they pretty opaque?
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I'm ashamed to admit this, but I don't REALLY know the difference between NEON, FLUOROESCENT, and BLACKLIGHT inks.
I don't really want to jack this thread, but is it easy to clear up?
I print shirts for a blacklighted sporting environment, and I just buy what I always buy. And I try to print a really solid, smooth white base. Then I check them with a blacklight for performance. They work, but its the terminology that trips me up.
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Backlight Green is made with a high opacity Base like most standard inks, and they use regular green pigments. Florescent inks are used with a high opacity base as well, but use neon pigments which are very transparent by nature which is why it is very difficult to achieve good coverage. The neon series is similar to the fluorescent ink, but they mix in some white with the ink to give it more opacity.
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Backlight Green is made with a high opacity Base like most standard inks, and they use regular green pigments. Florescent inks are used with a high opacity base as well, but use neon pigments which are very transparent by nature which is why it is very difficult to achieve good coverage. The neon series is similar to the fluorescent ink, but they mix in some white with the ink to give it more opacity.
You are where I've bought Triflex Fluorescent the last couple of times. What is THAT exactly? It's all I've used for this customer, but I didn't use you at first. Is there anything new that performs BETTER under blacklight?
This guy needs consistency and he's happy...so I'd be hard pressed to change his specs. Unless something really special comes along.
Thanks Kevin!
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I have yet to try any One Stroke neons.
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I HATE fluorescents. They have horrid opacity and require basically a 100% white base AND double hitting or a low mesh to look "right" in my experience. Neons seem to perform much better, and many of them are basically identical in color. The one stroke neons KICK. MAJOR. ASS. Great opacity and print like a dream. Kevin's neons are also good and I've been printing those more and more, and they are priced better, but I have to say I liked the comparable One Stroke inks better.
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Backlight Green is made with a high opacity Base like most standard inks, and they use regular green pigments. Florescent inks are used with a high opacity base as well, but use neon pigments which are very transparent by nature which is why it is very difficult to achieve good coverage. The neon series is similar to the fluorescent ink, but they mix in some white with the ink to give it more opacity.
You are where I've bought Triflex Fluorescent the last couple of times. What is THAT exactly? It's all I've used for this customer, but I didn't use you at first. Is there anything new that performs BETTER under blacklight?
This guy needs consistency and he's happy...so I'd be hard pressed to change his specs. Unless something really special comes along.
Thanks Kevin!
Triangle Tri-flex are their regular fluorescent inks. This would be their fluorescent green.
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Sericol DC examples
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Tested the sericol flo DC's last year. They are indeed awesome.
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I HATE fluorescents. They have horrid opacity and require basically a 100% white base AND double hitting or a low mesh to look "right" in my experience. Neons seem to perform much better, and many of them are basically identical in color. The one stroke neons KICK. MAJOR. ASS. Great opacity and print like a dream. Kevin's neons are also good and I've been printing those more and more, and they are priced better, but I have to say I liked the comparable One Stroke inks better.
Which series are you using Mimosa?
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I believe the One Stroke neons were their EZ FLO series.
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Thanks!
FYI, their 357 poly ink is AMAZING! Expensive, but amazing!