This blog post is the second of a series of three relating to successful color matching for screen printing. The author of this very informative article is Mike Ukena, and he is a part of the Union Ink Company.

COLOR

Color is the most subjective criteria we have to deal with as screen printers. Everyone seems to be an expert. Everyone sees things a little differently, and color varies depending on the light you are viewing it in. There are expensive machines available that will analyze a color sample and tell you exactly what it is so you can match it... the key word here being expensive.

Most people go by eye, and that is most likely what the customer is going to use to approve a sample, so it is still the overriding criteria in any matching system. Plus, some of the man made colors that we use in screen printing throw off the expensive measuring equipment. Fluorescent/neon colors are very difficult for most of the devices to measure, especially when they are a part of an ink mix.

The key in any shop is a system that works and meets your customer's needs. Whether it is an expensive measuring device or a good eye is not as important as being able to hit a color. And, once you have matched a color, can you do it again and again?

MATCHING SYSTEMS

Most of the major manufacturers have at least one Pantone ink matching system. The advantage to these systems is that they allow you to make exactly what you need for an order. With a little practice, most ink departments can cut their waste by over 50% by using a matching system.

Matching systems are not expensive for the printer to use. The base inks are about the same price and pre-mixed inks and the only extra equipment that is required is an accurate weighing scale and a mixer. A smaller printer can be up and running with a matching system starter kit, a scale, and a small mixer for under $1,000. Larger printers can expand upon the base concept by adding dispensing equipment to speed up the process and to allow for larger batches. These systems run as much as $50,000 but are often subsidized by the ink manufacturer in return for a commitment to their ink.

The disadvantage to these systems is they are either opaque or general purpose, but not both. A small shop can do just fine with an opaque system and the use of a soft hand extender base (a product which reduces the opacity of the ink and makes it more economical to use on lighter fabrics) when printing on light garments. A large shop can justify two systems.

Color matching systems are design to allow a printer to mix specific color shades from a group of basic colors. They are most commonly used to simulate specific Pantone Matching System (PMS) colors. The Pantone colors are the most common system used by advertising agencies, corporations, advertising specialty companies and clothing designers to designate the colors that they want to use on a screen printed product.

TWO DISTINCT MATCHING SYSTEM TYPES

There are two types of systems in use. The differ greatly in philosophy. The two types are generally referred to as "finished ink" systems and "base and pigment" systems.

A finished ink system relies on base inks that are in an RFU (ready to use) formulation. These inks can actually be used right out of the bucket as is. If you like the color, it is printable without mixing.

Base/pigment systems rely on ink bases into which the printer adds a series of pigment concentrates to achieve a color. These systems cannot be used right out of the bucket.

WHICH TYPE IS BETTER?

The usual "it depends" fits real nice right here. Both types have their advantages and disadvantages. Finished ink systems are much easier to use and in general, they are a little less expensive overall. They are easier because it is much more difficult to make a big mixing mistake. If you add too much of a specific color, it is not a huge deal to adjust the other colors to the corrected formula. On the other hand, a finished ink system is less flexible in terms of base formulation. You get the base that the ink is made in and that's it. You can adjust opacity downward, you can put in additives to make it into one of several specialty formulations, but overall, it is more restrictive in terms of different specialty inks that can be made from it.

Stay tuned for part three!

This blog post starts the first of a series of three relating to successful color matching for screen printing. The author of this very informative article is Mike Ukena, and he is a part of the Union Ink Company.

The various ink companies generally formulate screen printing inks in a series of standard colors. There is no effort by the ink companies to match their colors to each other. In fact, most colors are intentionally slightly different from company to company and any match is purely coincidental.

This lack of consistency from ink line to ink line does not help the printer to meet the demands of their customer. The customers, for the most part, do not care what the standard colors are. They know what they want and they specify it on every order.

Traditionally, screen printers have had to take standard colors and blend them together by eye, to try and match specific Pantone colors. The process can be very frustrating and the results disappointing.

Most finished screen inks contain several different pigment colors. These different pigments are necessary to manage the color and make sure it is the same from batch to batch. The ink company is, however, always trying to minimize the number of pigments in a particular color for several reasons. First, the more pigments required, the more time necessary to weigh them out each time a batch is made. Second, the more pigments that are present, the more difficult it is to minutely adjust one pigment and get the desired color.

For instance, the easiest way to make a bright red ink would be to use a single pigment that is that color. However, in practice that is not practical. Either the pigment does not exist in that shade or there is enough variation from batch to batch of the pigment that at least one other complimentary color is necessary to match the shade to the standard. The more various the pigments that are required, the more difficult the practice of matching becomes. When the printer then tries to make an ink color from several different colors of finished ink, the problem is compounded by the many pigment colors in the various inks they are blending.

The problem is even more acute when mixing opaque inks together. Opaque inks contain additional ingredients called opacifiers. These opacifiers help to make ink opaque while decreasing the amount of pigment that is required. The ink companies use these opacifiers to decrease their cost and be more competitive. The opacifiers can play havoc when attempting to match colors. Different inks contain different amounts of opacifiers, and combined with the multitude of pigments it can make matching almost impossible.

The results of many efforts to match colors with standard inks are that the printer ends up with more ink than he/she planned on. In practice, it is not unusual to begin mixing for a quart of a product and end up closer to a gallon before hitting the shade.

Another problem with using standard inks for color matching is the great deal of variation in white inks. White is a major part of many color matches and most white inks are intended to be printed alone and may have brighteners and other ingredients to enhance their coverage. These extra ingredients can play havoc in a color match, throwing it off completely.

The white inks that are a part of ink matching systems are formulated without extra brighteners and are generally referred to as "mixing whites". They have the advantage of not unduly shifting a color match and negatively affecting the other pigments.

Stay tuned for part two!

In this, and any, economy, a business has to keep a close eye on dollars going out. As a business owner, you do not want to spend money on things you can maybe skip or wait out. But, as with any automobile, skipping or waiting out the maintenance on an expensive UV-curing digital printer is asking for trouble and will most likely cost you a lot more than you expected.

When it comes to our UV-curing printers, a lot of redundant maintenance and automatic fail-safe procedures are built into most of the machines to ensure anything terrible does not happen. Some maintenance tasks are simple and some are complicated. Some, if not carried out in time, will simple cause the machine to turn itself off. The good news is that the more complicated the tasks are, the more the machines made these days do the maintenance automatically.

Something to remember: maintenance is not the same as repair! Instead, it just prevents a lot of very expensive repairs! Something else to remember: the first rule of printer maintenance is to always make sure the machine stays clean. Maintenance is not fun, and it's not exciting, but it is very necessary. UV-curing printers are exponentially more complicated than other printers. The water based printers are great workhorses that don't ever really break. Water based printer maintenance is simple: oil a couple of places, wipe off a couple of places and it runs forever. If something does need to be replaced, it's usually a matter of taking out the old part and plugging in the new one. With our UV machines, it's more complicated. There are moving parts, more electronics, UV-emitting light bulbs that must be monitored and in general, just more to keep up with. Maintenance is a critical part of performance and longevity, and the process is different for each individual model.

All things considered, the best strategy to ensure you get the most value from your UV-curing printer is to follow all manufacturer recommended maintenance procedures and schedules. The printer manual is a useful reference book. Most users will go through a period of training during which they learn the basics of how to operate a machine. The manual has recommended procedures and can be a digital printer owner's best friend. It may not be the most exciting reading, but it is filled with essential information you need to keep your printer in optimal working condition.

Running a business in a competitive economy means that you have got to be on your toes when it comes to market sharing. It is a basic survival rule! If you are running a business in the field of graphics, printing, and advertising, the idea of market sharing is even more important. Clients look for the easiest, most cost effective routes now, and in the printing industry, flatbed printers are a viable option to gaining expanded business!

The flatbed printer brings easy printing capabilities that can cut out, all together, the need for vinyl application onto substrates. Many local companies in South Carolina already come to MN Designs because of our flatbed capabilities, and it had expanded their markets greatly. The greatest capability of the flatbed printer is that it can print directly onto a substrate. As noted before, this eliminates the need for vinyl application which saves time, and ultimately saves money. Most flatbed printers use UV curable inks that when ran through the printer, are instantly cured. This shortens the amount of time a customer would have to wait to have their print installed. The type of substrates a flatbed can print on is really only restricted to the height at which the printer head can be raised. MN Designs can print on substrates up to 2" thick, and that has definitely been taken advantage of. From magnetics, to glass, and even to doors, flatbeds are a great tool to utilize for direct printing.

MN Designs offers wholesale digital flatbed printing on a wide number of substrates. More information on substrates can be viewed at the official MN Designs website.