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screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: Shawn (EIP) on March 14, 2012, 04:12:50 PM

Title: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Shawn (EIP) on March 14, 2012, 04:12:50 PM
Thinking about changing my black and looking for a good matte black ink that prints super soft out of the bucket. Does it exist?
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Socalfmf on March 14, 2012, 04:14:23 PM
we use wilflex..

Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: ebscreen on March 14, 2012, 04:19:03 PM
CCI Baja Black.
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: JayzTeez on March 14, 2012, 04:22:00 PM
Black Cream by W.M. Plastics

The name says it all.

Black Cream has a super smooth body for easy printing.
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: brandon on March 14, 2012, 04:24:13 PM
Yup, Matsui Jet Black water base. Nothing as matte, black, or as soft
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Homer on March 14, 2012, 05:42:34 PM
I tried cci baja based on your love for it,...it was ok. . . .IF we could get it out of the bucket, it's like scooping water. we use triangle batman black. . .nothing like a matte black. . .not a fan of gloss, but sometimes in a design I will use both for a cool tonal effect. . .pretty jazzy . .plus batman is dirt cheap.
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: alan802 on March 14, 2012, 06:15:27 PM
I used batman for a while but the squeegee liked to vibrate and jump on every print stroke.  It didn't really affect the print but it always bothered me.  I'm using some really cheap generic stuff with about 30% reducer in it so it will print.  My favorite black of all time was QCM WOW.  I never could get the stuff without waiting a few weeks so I gave up on it.  I might try to get a supplier to stock it specifically for me.
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Printficient on March 14, 2012, 06:23:56 PM
We have a nice black.
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Shawn (EIP) on March 14, 2012, 07:29:42 PM
I ordered a 5 gallon of IC 718LF black  but I just found out about this new stuff called 3818 Sentri from IC that is sopposed to look and feel like waterbase black. 3818 Sentri also comes an additive.

Homer, where are you getting that super cheap batman black? I found it for 210.00 , I used to get 5 gallons of IC standard 716 for 140.00 but no longer...
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Shawn (EIP) on March 14, 2012, 07:32:45 PM
I used batman for a while but the squeegee liked to vibrate and jump on every print stroke.  It didn't really affect the print but it always bothered me.  I'm using some really cheap generic stuff with about 30% reducer in it so it will print.  My favorite black of all time was QCM WOW.  I never could get the stuff without waiting a few weeks so I gave up on it.  I might try to get a supplier to stock it specifically for me.

That happens to me too when I over thin my inks down, it's enough to rattle your nerves.
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Colin on March 14, 2012, 09:03:32 PM
The Sentri series is International Coatings version of Wilflex's fashion base, Union's ultrasoft, Rutland's Chino, QCM's Softee, etc...

It will not matte the fibers.  Any super soft black will not matte the fibers.

You get a Matte finish either by adding a little puff to the ink, which breaks up the smooth surface.

or

By having a very specific additive in the ink.  Wilflex is the only one I have seen with that additive.

Alan, that QCM WOW black was my favorite black to print of all time as well.  Sorry to see you can't get the stock when you wanted it.  Is that true now of all the QCM products?
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: ZooCity on March 14, 2012, 09:12:41 PM
Hey Colin what's that additive you speak of in the WFX?  Or, what does it do?

I've noticed their Matte Black is very matte and has excellent matt down as well.  It's kind of my favorite I guess. 

I do still keep it in the five straight and add soft hand base at 30% or so in another bucket. It seems quite thick straight but once it's moving it's a different story.  I used to do the same and had a similar experience with QCM 911 though the WFX has a much different hand to the finished print. 
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: alan802 on March 14, 2012, 09:51:54 PM
The Sentri series is International Coatings version of Wilflex's fashion base, Union's ultrasoft, Rutland's Chino, QCM's Softee, etc...

It will not matte the fibers.  Any super soft black will not matte the fibers.

You get a Matte finish either by adding a little puff to the ink, which breaks up the smooth surface.

or

By having a very specific additive in the ink.  Wilflex is the only one I have seen with that additive.

Alan, that QCM WOW black was my favorite black to print of all time as well.  Sorry to see you can't get the stock when you wanted it.  Is that true now of all the QCM products?

I stopped using that supplier over a year ago.  One of the reasons I left them was because I ordered 3 different gallons of some XOLB inks and 2 of them came in within a few days and one of them took a month to get to come in.  I was never given an explanation and I always wondered if QCM was the reason or the supplier so I basically stopped using both.  There is another supplier that carries QCM that I'm using for various products but they aren't stocking the WOW black or hardly any of the WOW series.
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: brandon on March 14, 2012, 10:10:02 PM
Yeah, we just switched from one Distro to another for our QCM and they have everything, I mean everything we need to us the next day. 5 gallon buckets of this, that, and gallons of the QMX for mixing or whatever we need. So I am feeling lucky with the horror stories I hear these days. But we are exploring other ink options as I am afraid of what is most likely going to happen to that line sooner or later.
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Prosperi-Tees on March 14, 2012, 10:16:40 PM
Who is that Distro Brandon? I need to find QCM at a reasonable price. The last place I ordered from took foorever to ship and when it arrived a qt was broke in the box, what a mess.
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: brandon on March 14, 2012, 10:24:09 PM
westarsolutions.com

Give them a call tomorrow. While they are only about an hour north of us that is not a problem. But since you are in CA it will be three/four days shipping time
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Prosperi-Tees on March 14, 2012, 10:29:35 PM
I'll check them. Bestscreenprinting supplies down in L.A. Is cheap but like I said. And their website sucks.
Thanks.
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: alan802 on March 14, 2012, 10:47:05 PM

That happens to me too when I over thin my inks down, it's enough to rattle your nerves.

What worries me about the issue I was having is the ink that was doing this was straight out of the bucket with no reducer.  Do you think my supplier was reducing the ink prior to selling to me or does the batman black do this as part of its original formula?  Has anyone else had this happen with the batman?
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Homer on March 15, 2012, 08:28:39 AM
I know what your speaking of Alan. . .but we have never had this happen with the batman. kinda strange. . .holy crap my BS guy is quitting on my right now. . YESSSS!!!!
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Colin on March 15, 2012, 12:08:43 PM
Lol, thanks for the very polite way of pointing out my typing mistakes Chris ;)  The chemical additive Wilflex has... I have no idea what it actually is.  It's something they have in (at least) their Genesis series and standard mixing base.  It creates a grey-ish effect that does double duty for increasing their opacity and taking out all the shine from their inks.  Unfortunately, it also muddies up their colors.

Prosperi-Tees: Contact Melissa Cambra at Rutland about any isues you are having with a distributor and ink availability.  I know Best Supply pretty well and I know Ronnie Delgado will man up about stuff going wrong really quick... is he your contact there?
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: mk162 on March 15, 2012, 01:18:31 PM
is that additive from Wilflex a powder?
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Colin on March 15, 2012, 02:08:04 PM
It's a component in their formulas.  We couldn't figure out exactly what it was.
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: ebscreen on March 15, 2012, 02:12:52 PM
Ink companies reverse engineering on eachother?

Awesome.

Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: Colin on March 15, 2012, 05:14:05 PM
Happens all the time.

High Density, Plastisol that feels like waterbase, the crackle inks that fall off the shirt, pretty much all the specialty inks were started by someone and then duplicated by another when their customers asked for their version...
Title: Re: What's your favorite "BLACK" ink?
Post by: ZooCity on March 15, 2012, 07:45:26 PM
Lol, thanks for the very polite way of pointing out my typing mistakes Chris ;)  The chemical additive Wilflex has... I have no idea what it actually is.  It's something they have in (at least) their Genesis series and standard mixing base.  It creates a grey-ish effect that does double duty for increasing their opacity and taking out all the shine from their inks.  Unfortunately, it also muddies up their colors.

Prosperi-Tees: Contact Melissa Cambra at Rutland about any isues you are having with a distributor and ink availability.  I know Best Supply pretty well and I know Ronnie Delgado will man up about stuff going wrong really quick... is he your contact there?

Ha, I didn't even realize the spelling.  Surprised I got it right.  I used to have excellent written grammar before the dawn of computers and the abbreviated communication style of the email/internet and now it's all gone to hell. 

I have noticed that on WFX, I love the matte look, not as jazzed about some of the colors compared to QCM but I can fix that up with my PCs easily. And besides if you take away refraction from the film of ink then off course that's going to change the way you perceive it to the eye, nature of the beast. 

But whatever that component is, I does mostly excellent things to the finished print I'd say.

Westar Solutions rules, use them!  I wish they carried more product we use nowadays as they are my all time favorite supplier.