Pad Printing Help

I wonder if anyone can help me in solving a pad printing problem.

Here is the scenario.

I am doing a two colour logo, silver and blue. Think of the Dallas Cowboys logo. It is for a football team called the Cowboys. The start is blue and the name silver.

The imprint is going on water bottles, polyethelene.

I have pretreated the bottles with something similar to the adhesive wipe on. I am using W ink with BH hardener and VD thinner.

The silver Cowboys goes on and looks great.

However, the blue star is not putting enough ink done. The white bottle still shows through.

I have tried the following.

Made a new plate with a deeper burn.
Used more thinner to make sure the image is clear.
Changed pads / cleaned pads.
Made another plate making sure the laser transparency has been covered three times with Ultimate Black and put the dot screen at an angle.
Added more ink to make sure there is enough ink.
Change the squegee.
Held the pad on the bottle for a three count to make sure the ink is released.

After all this, the image is still very poor.

Any assistance would be appreciated as I have to have this job finished by tomorrow morning.

Did you put the dot screen facing "dull side down"? or Shiney side up?

For one plate to work well and the other not is a bit of a mystery. Sounds like you've done everything correct.

If you have had your polymer plates for any length of time they could be starting to go bad and you are at that point of the pack that they are going bad. If the plate turns a gold is color (assuming you have the green plates) that is a sure sign the plates are heading south.....south to the trash can, not south of the border.

I know this suggestion could be messy... but try using the blue ink on the silver image for testing and vice versa to just examine results. You don't have to mix an inkwell full of blue. Just reduce the portions equally, mix it all up in a dixie cup and then drizzle enough ink onto the plate to transfer the image.


Adam Blath