Which adhesion promoter for UV printers

[John Hughes]

Hi Dave
Mimaki do one … very small tin for £50.
We’ve had very little need in last couple of years to use it though.

John

[David McDonald]

Hi John

Thanks – think I’ll tray a few different brands to see which performs best.

Cheers
Dave

[John Hughes]

Hi Dave.
When we first started direct printing we tried loads of different materials from slate through to wood and whilst we still do print on various materials for bespoke jobs most of our printing is on correx & foamex without the need to prime. It just adds another process which involves time money and hassle so if you can remove the requirement to prime by sourcing the right/suitable material would be a better option.

John

[A.Kordowski]

I use Bonaid for my Jetrix Kx7 available from INCTEC……

[Mike Rawlings]

For our Arizona 350 GT we use Sericol UVIJET Adhesion Master ZE720. Its not the cheapest stuff but does the trick on correx.
Stinks a bit though…

[A.Kordowski]

Blimey you have to use an adhesion promoter on correx board is that normal for an Arizona?

[David McDonald]

Hi Andy

To be honest I’m not 100% sure that we will need to use this type of product on this specific Arizona !

I’ve just read loads of general comments that potentially you need need to keep some around as certain types of substrate can be more tricky than others, especially correx??

I’m going to order a bottle just in case.

Cheers
Dave

[Unknown Member]

I think what you will find is if anything does give you an issue it will be materials like glass and perspex

In 4 years of UV flatbed printing we have never used a primer.

[A.Kordowski]

James i agree the only time I’ve ever used adhesion promoters is on glass and perspex……… :thumbsup:

[Unknown Member]

I know the Oce Arizona were known for adhesion issues with the earlier models but I think you will find as soon as you start printing and testing different boards that the ink sticks to most things.

Try a wide variety of boards and see what works for you, don’t dismiss the cheaper boards either as certain brands are mad e with a UV coating that works ace on flatbed

Best of luck with it mate….Santa treated you well this year….lol

[David McDonald]

Cheers James

Yes been a busy old year !

[Warren Beard]

Hi David

We’re busy testing the Mimaki one and so far works really well on glass and metal.

As for correx we haven’t actually printed any yet but before we had our own printer we outsourced some correx prints and the ink did peel/scratch off quiet easily especially around the edges wher most of the handling takes place. I would say it’s probably partly process when printing in regards to contamination and then customer handling combined but could also be quality of correx or what UV ink was used. Correx is still something we need to test but don’t avtually do much correx signs so hasn’t been a priority.

The Mimaki primer however is worth a test if you’re going to print on glass, or metal, we don’t need it on acrylic as we get a good bond without it.

Cheers

Warren

[Robert Lambie]

I remember when we first got our UV flatbed about 7 years ago now. my biggest shock was even the suggestion of having to use a promoter. I walked around trade shows and done lots of research into these machines but never once did anyone tell me some materials required a promoter. the only one i was told had inconsistent results was glass.
Fair enough we have moved forward and developed so much in that time but my gripe then was, i now had to rely on staff coating sheets at 10 x 5 foot and if they missed bits using this "clear coat" then it could flake when flexed etc.

I would have thought with new UV flatbed machines these days this would be a standard feature, that the machine lays the primer coat ahead of the ink going down. similar to that of the new HP latex printers that lays down the Optimiser first. That way there is no risk of it being left to staff to coat manually. Or has this in fact changed the machine is doing it for you?

Another thing i was told to be careful with was how heavily printed sheets where stored in the first 24hrs due to the UV penetration taking that time to pass all the way through the ink because when its printed it is the surface only that has cured immediately. So stacking a 50 sheet pile of guillotined signs one on top of the next is not advised or they may stick together or whatever…

[Warren Beard]

Hi Rob

Having Primer as an option is totally available but in our case we have 8 slots available and 4 are 4 CMYK or can run 2x CMYK, then you have the option of white, clear and primer but can obviously only chose 2 of those 3 as each one takes 2 slots.

We chose white and clear as we would use it more and also it gives you the option to manually prime your material.

I haven’t heard about the drying/tacky issue although we have noticed that when we’ve stacked "fresh" prints they do seem to slightly tack together but never caused any damage. That’s only been sort of 10 sheets however so not sure if you had a lot of sheets and were pressing them down in a guillotine etc.

cheers

Warren

[A.Kordowski]

Some ink manufactures now put primers in there inks such as Inctec…..