plastic printing

[ADP]

Hi all, Ive had a meeting yesterday which could possibly lead to allot of work, At the moment the samples he received are sublimated direct onto plastic with no coating so when the plastics cooled down the paper just peels of and image is left on but when he puts the backing on the image in my opinion looked sh*te because you were loosing colours, I then suggested printing direct onto the plastic and he liked that idea, Today he called me as he managed somehow to get a sample with the image printed direct and it looked great, i also noticed it printed white. My question is does any one know what type of printer this would be as he said if the cost isnt to much he would buy one or could you please advise on a few printers what would do this this sort of thing, smallest size media he would be happy with is around A3 size.

Many Thanks

Adam

[John G]

Is it one colour, full colour etc.
What type and colour of plastic.
How big is the print.


It could be screen printed, pad printed or even printed direct on a flat bed digital printer - the possibilities are pretty much endless. The more info the better.

[ADP]

Is it one colour, full colour etc.
What type and colour of plastic.
How big is the print.


It could be screen printed, pad printed or even printed direct on a flat bed digital printer - the possibilities are pretty much
endless. The more info the better.

Its clear plastic around 4mm thick what would be used and full colour images, the max size of each item is around 8"x10"

[WorthDoingRight]

The pertinent information here is what he considers to be a reasonable cost to purchase the setup. From what you are saying he has a printed front on the material and then sticks some background on the rear face of the plastic also? or does he stick the backing over the printed image? It sounds to me a lot like working with acrylic blocks. If so TMT do special papers that you print that is heatpressed to 'stick' to acrylic blocks and then there is also the method whereby you encapsulate your standard glossy photogrpahic paper image in a glue layer and then stick this to acrylic using pressure from a cold laminator. Not sure if these methods are suitable as having difficulty visualising the item you are describing.

[Ian M]

Adam & John, When I worked in screen printing we had a company who sent us large clear plastic/PVC 2mm thick sheets that had a colour picture that had been litho printed. We then screen printed matt white onto the back to seal the print which also added the white background colour too. The matt white also stopped the litho print from being damaged as the ink was never stable on the material. What I'm saying is it sealed the photo in.

[socialgiraffe]

Sounds like it was printed on a flat bed UV which for a decent one with white start at about 30k I think. My Roland prints white but a) you have to double hit to get a decent white, b) I suspect the unit cost would be far too high and c) it could not print 4mm thick I think.

It may be possible for the new TMT white laser printer to do this but it would be a question for Alan who is TMT technical and on this forum.

[ADP]

Thanks for all your replies, i dont think he would stretch to 30k for a printer lol although it would be nice :), I think i will message or call Alan and see if the new printer would be suitable for what needs to be done.

Would be nice to get sorted as it could be loads of work

[carter2]

One of the first steps in printing on plastic is to determine the dyne level—or surface energy—of the substrate on which you'll be printing. "In conventional printing, inks bond to the substrate by surface-tension potential.