# Printing on to plastic frisbee



## shatteredsoul (Oct 11, 2012)

Hey guys 

Dunno if this is a odd question but I'm trying to see if its possible to print a design onto a plastic frisbee for our team. Already have the ability to screen print but no idea on inks or if the process is different.

Any help would be great

Thanks


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## jgabby (Mar 29, 2007)

Yes it is possible, Solvent ink will do the job.

Have a look to nazdar ink. Based on the exact composition, they will tell you what serie of ink you have to use


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## shatteredsoul (Oct 11, 2012)

Thanks for the reply

Would i then print it in the same way as I would a shirt, with off contact etc ?

Thanks


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

I actually did this a couple of years ago. A guy I knew had a box of frisbees and asked if I could print them. I used 230 mesh and Nazdar (9000, I think...) I made a little pallet that the frisbees would sit on and the frisbees I had had a little plastic bump in the middle so I drilled a hole in the pallet to get them to lie flat on the surface... and printed away. (I used double stick tape rather than pallet adhesive.) They came out very nice but I found that you could flake off the ink if you tried hard enough, so maybe there is a better ink to use. I'd call Nazdar and ask.

One thing I learned is only put enough ink in the screen for about 5 at a time, and keep adding ink throughout the run. And print continuously until you're done, because the ink dries lightning fast and can clog the mesh if you take a break.


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## shatteredsoul (Oct 11, 2012)

Thanks for the help guys. I've been trying to look at how they print then in mass for orders. 

Can't help but wanna give it a go lol


Cheers


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

You might check out some of the promotional item companies. Often they can do jobs like this cheaper than we can, and you'll still make a decent profit without doing any work.


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## Omni (Mar 28, 2012)

If you don't mind longer drying time.....NazDar 59000 series Enamel is gonna be your easiest entry in printing plastics, with the most predictable results.....Plastics, especially polyethlene, are difficult substrates. Treated poly is the easiest to adhere to, however it is difficult, sometimes to obtain that information as to what kind of materials are used in the frisbees you are working with....Many distributors simply do not know......Enamel would probably be the least risk to experiment with to start.....However it takes a long time to dry......Upside to that is that it will be less prone to drying in your screens during your printing process production run....Just keep your screen flooded between prints, while handling your frisbees on and off the press......NazDar also makes a 9700 Series ink, good for Treated plastics, but subject it to Testing before your full run.....Extremely expensive......I also saw on NazDars' website a mention of 5100 Series, but cannot speak to that......I would start out with the 59000 Series to begin with......If you really want to try something on the cheap....you may try experimenting with some Rustoleum Enamel paint or other oil based Enamel paint.....You may surprise yourself!.....In addition, there are Retarder additives that may be incorporated into Enamel inks which slow down the drying even further, for purposes of keeping the ink from drying in your screens, however they do add more time to the drying process on your printed substrates.......


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

There are several videos on YouTube...The place I uses, uses a 2 part ink that is UV cured...They use a automatic flat bed graphic press......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOsPphx9iU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkJZovs8960


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## shatteredsoul (Oct 11, 2012)

Thanks for the replies guys the only ink my supplier seems to have of the Nazdar inks is this one

NAZDAR ADE Series Epoxy Screen Ink

reckon its worth a shot? the main problem is getting hold of blank discs from America at the moment lol

Cheers


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## Omni (Mar 28, 2012)

shatteredsoul said:


> Thanks for the replies guys the only ink my supplier seems to have of the Nazdar inks is this one
> 
> NAZDAR ADE Series Epoxy Screen Ink
> 
> ...


At $200.00 per gallon US Quarts will be more per unit cost....I have worked with NazDars' Epoxy.....Good product, expensive, difficult to work with.....Seriously prone to blemish in static electric environment.....Plastics exhibit static environment by nature.....Addition of epoxy thickens ink and during printing process, the ink will stiffen up on you quickly, so you need to have your s**t together prior to and during print run.....Although, then you can add retarder to the ink which will increase your ink costs along with solvents and everything you will need for clean up etc.....You may experience a high bill for all those goods by the time UPS drops off those goods, especially if you don't mind paying HAZMAT charges in addition......If I were to go the Epoxy route, I would simply buy a quart of Rustoleum Enamel for plastics, and/or maybe simply add a little 2 part epoxy glue that you can find in the paint dept. for 1/10th of the cost and experiment.....In the case of the NazDar ink, they will recommend their screen/wash at high cost to you.....Xylene alone or blended with a small amount of Acetone might be a reasonable substitute......But if you have a huge run of 1 color frisbees to print, maybe you will be able to absorb the extra cost of working with NazDar products.......Me, I would simply use the Enamel Route, and accept a little longer drying time, as it will also be a more predictable approach in the screen......What kind of art and screen mesh are you considering?.....Is it a 1 color or multicolor gig?


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

www.primeproducts.com sells blanks and can assist in telling you how to print them....


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Prime Products, Inc. sells blanks and can assist in telling you how to print them....


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## shatteredsoul (Oct 11, 2012)

Thanks again for the advice guys. So your surgesting the root of a standard paint for plastic rather than a screen print ink. Ill have a look at some of the paints I can get around here. Would work out cheaper for sure. 

Once the discs are shipped the UK we are looking at £8 a disc for a 2 colour print if i use the nazdar ink. That's for 30 discs. On the plus side if we were to order 30 from the main people that print frisbee for comp teams: a) there min order is 50 and b) it was something lik £10 or something I was told.


When you print do you print with off contact on plastic like you would a shirt ?


Thanks again guys


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## Omni (Mar 28, 2012)

shatteredsoul said:


> Thanks again for the advice guys. So your surgesting the root of a standard paint for plastic rather than a screen print ink. Ill have a look at some of the paints I can get around here. Would work out cheaper for sure.
> 
> Once the discs are shipped the UK we are looking at £8 a disc for a 2 colour print if i use the nazdar ink. That's for 30 discs. On the plus side if we were to order 30 from the main people that print frisbee for comp teams: a) there min order is 50 and b) it was something lik £10 or something I was told.
> 
> ...


I am not suggesting that you need to use standard paint instead of a screen printing ink, necessarily.....However, I am suggesting that it may be a good place to start experimenting, especially since you have no experience printing on substrates such as plastic. It would provide you the cheapest way to get started, and if your prints did work out to your specs, could be a viable alternative, and if not, then you have spent very little money upfront to get that experience before investing the big bucks in screen printing inks.....If I could spend $10.00 to $25.00 US for experimentation purposes as compared to $100.00 to $150.00 US, I believe this would be a wise investment for me.....Then if I got good results from the printing standpoint by using paint, I would test for durability and color satisfaction of the paint prints. If that met my standards, cool, move forward......if not, then I would venture into screen printing inks....Starting with NazDars 59000 series Enamel, which by the way, is the closest thing to Rustoleum paint....But going to the expense of NazDars' Epoxy system to start out (having no experience) could be a big waste of cash, especially if your inexperienced printing methods failed.....Now that you mentioned 2 colors, you just doubled your cost in ink, along with the already expensive costs of the solvents, etc that would go along with that system.....Even the NazDar 9700 ink system would be a cheaper alternative to the Epoxy system......Once you get experience printing frisbees and become proficient, then maybe venturing into more expensive ink systems would be wise.....You are only talking 30 to 50 frisbees here and that is not a very large number.......You would almost be smarter to obtain those from a supplier already printed with your art, as some of these suppliers will sell you printed frisbees cheaper than they would sell them to you blank.....As far as printing technique is concerned, the answer to your question about off contact is YES.....You will require your screens to be off contact, and that off contact distance is going to be dictated by the nature of your art, the colors you are printing, the color of the frisbee, the type of inks used, along with the screen mesh count used and your squeege durometer/sharpness level......And remember, unlike Plastisol for T-shirts (which does not have the added hassle of drying in your screens) the flooding of the screen between printing and handling frisbees is going to be extremely important, along with monitoring the condition of your inks during the print run, as I indicated in an earlier post that plastics printing inks will often thicken during your print run.


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## Cooper588 (Oct 18, 2020)

You can see the idea for Frisbee stickers for your team here Top 5 Best Frisbees [2020 Review] - Jenga Game, draw in Photoshop to your liking. All this is not difficult to do, it takes time and patience.


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