Silicone Ink from Source One

[Frog]

I'll be jumping on this as well. (Rob, I'll be contacting you)

I almost feel obligated, as I was talking to the Dow folks two or so years back about this stuff. They then put the brakes on it, as we heard, to fix some issues.

At the time though, it did appear that I may have had to look into taking out a second mortgage. They were talking $250 a gallon range. Is this still the case? (Of course, it could still be money well spent, and even passed along)
And is this going to be like Wilflex and cut out the small user with only gallons and larger?



*I just went back to my email from 2010, and it was mentioned that this was expected to be 10X the cost of plastisol.

[Rob Coleman]

Frog - yes contact me directly. The Standard Color line will be available in Quarts and gallons.

Catalyst is in 2 lb and 8 lb containers. So at 3-5% loading - enough to catalyze ~4-6 gals. We could consider a smaller catalyst size of the market needs it.


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[ScreenFoo]

Sounds like great stuff.


I don't know if the 2lb minimum would matter too much as long as it didn't expire in a short period of time, not mixed of course.  Is there a shelf life established on the separate components?   

[inkman996]

Seems no one wants to mention pricing.

[blue moon]

Seems no one wants to mention pricing.

$130-$180 per gallon is what I heard . . .

pierre

[Rob Coleman]

Seems no one wants to mention pricing.

No not at all. Just don't want to be premature. We are still determining. The most effective way to produce and this determine our cost on the RFU colors - certainly do not want to set expectations that aren't met!

With that being stated, Pierre is probably spot on for gallon pricing.  You can add another 30 bucks per gallon for catalyst addition to that gallon for a finished cost.

Really not that much of a difference among colors as the BASE and CATALYST are the expensive components - unlike in a plastisol or waterbase where pigments are the much more expensive components.

Obviously custom (non-standard) will be higher.  Base and pigments will be available for those that want to blend in house. Still working on formulas.

[Rob Coleman]

Sounds like great stuff.


I don't know if the 2lb minimum would matter too much as long as it didn't expire in a short period of time, not mixed of course.  Is there a shelf life established on the separate components?

12 months is the recommendation.

[Denis Kolar]

with 12 months shelf life for catalyst, a smaller package might be needed for a small manual printers.

[ScreenFoo]

Yep, even smaller auto shops may not go through six gallons in a year.  I'd be willing to bet we wouldn't go through a whole gallon the first year, although from the looks of what you can do with it, may be a lot more orders for that type of stuff once people get their hands on the finished product.

[inkman996]

Pricing sounds decent for what it is able to do, worth it to me.

I was just worried that if Andy's mention of ten times plastisol that would make it to expensive for most to be viable.

[ZooCity]

I remember calling D-C years ago about this and it's good to see it's finally going to be a reality. 

Pricing sounds a-ok to me.  That's close enough to be competitive with WFX Epic Performance which is what our polys get now.  And there ain't no one hits going on around here with Perf White.  I know there is waste involved though but...

...I think the novelty of this print method can justify a little extra in the pricing, it does sound superior on all fronts.  How's it wash?

[Frog]

I agree that a premium price for premium performance is certainly fair.
Fortunately, the premium does does not seem that it will be as great as I was lead to believe from the Dow Corning rep back in 2010.
and no, I did not pick that price point randomly

--- On Thu, 4/8/10, specialty.chemicals@dowcorning.com <specialty.chemicals@dowcorning.com> wrote:

From: specialty.chemicals@dowcorning.com <specialty.chemicals@dowcorning.com>
Subject: RE: Textiles Screen Printing Inks - United States
To: frog94596@yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, April 8, 2010, 11:57 AM

Andy,
 
The silicone inks are a very new product for Dow Corning and are currently going through a reformulation to extend the pot life. We have temporarily suspended sampling so that any efforts you put forth are not unrepresentative of the final formulation. I have captured your contact information and will respond again in early May when we are hoping to have the formulation work finalized. We appreciate your interest and look forward to working with you in the very new future as we are very excited about the possibilities these inks will bring to the printing industry. We are currently working with potential distributors for the inks. The inks will sell for somewhere around 10X of what you are paying for plastisols.
 
In the meantime I will be more than happy to assist you with what information I currently have but would like some information about your company and application.
 
1. Are you a printer and if so how do you currently print i.e. screen, flexo etc.
 
2. Are you an ink formulator?
 
3. Are you a retailer or contract printer?
 
4. What markets are you involved in?
 
5. On average how many prints are you doing monthly?
 
 
 
Regards,
Bob
R. T. Nelson
Prospecting Specialist,
Life Sciences and Advanced Interface Markets
North American Business Center,
Dow Corning Corporation
Mail Stop CO2100
Ph. (989) 496-7790
r.t.nelson@dowcorning.com

[ZooCity]

phhhh.. it probably is 10x the cost of plastisols in early 2010!  Cost on quality plasti has gone through the damn roof imo. 

[Denis Kolar]

WOW, WOW, WOW...........

Printed about 20 poly shirts with this ink. WOW
155 mesh about 30 N/cm, two swipes with medium pressure (no flash) and done. Manual machine.
Like the feel of 155 better than 110. I did the left chest with 110 mesh and full back with 155.

Cured them @ 270-280 degrees. I baked one by mistake @340 and I will see what will happen to id after a day or two.

Love it!!!!

[Denis Kolar]

More pics