# Do i need special ink to print on Acrylic?



## ffokazak (Feb 23, 2006)

I wan tto print on beanies. {Toques to us Canucks}
What do i need?
Special ink?
Could i use the bleach method as well/
Any experience?
Thanks guys!
Ski hills open this thurs!


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## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

I don't think that printing on acrylic is going to be as much of an issue as printing on the very stretchy, knit fabric that most beanies are made of.


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

You do use a different ink to print on plastic / acrylic material that is an air dry ink. Most plastic material will not handle the heat generated from a commercial dryer without distorting the form of the item.

As far as beenies, I did not know they were made out of acrylic. If this is the case, you are going to have a difficult printing on them because they are curved and will probably not sit flat. Might want to cut / sew them so you can deal with flat fabric.

I am not sure if you mean discharge by the word "bleaching". Discharge printing does require special fabric, so you might want to test this out with a sample before trying to set this up. If the fabric is not too pourous, you could try to contact someone with a Mimaki DTG printer and have them do the test. Not sure if this will work either. 

Good luck.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

I would suggest embroidery for beanies


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## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

DAGuide said:


> I did not know they were made out of acrylic. If this is the case, you are going to have a difficult printing on them because they are curved and will probably not sit flat.


This is when a HAT PRESS comes in handy, to print on curved items to wear on your head...  lol

for man made fibers like acrylics, spandex/lycra etc... in most cases you need to use lower temp. type heat transfers.


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## ffokazak (Feb 23, 2006)

Thanks Guys.
I was just at a snowboard shop, and saw beanies taht were acrylic, and printed with what felt, and looked like plastisol. 
I wouldn't print a HUGE image, therefore i could print on the touques half at a time, with a specialy made platten. 
theres no ink that feels like plastisol. { scratchy} that is air dry is there?

Thanks!
Off to the mountains!


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

ffokazak said:


> theres no ink that feels like plastisol. { scratchy} that is air dry is there?


Waterbased can be scratchy, especially opaque inks, and especially if it's badly printed. The only screenprinted beanie I've seen close up was done with waterbased inks and looked like utter crap (it was printed by someone I know... fortunately he realised it wasn't exactly an A1 print, so I didn't have to play along _too_ much). He was printing on a very ribbed beanie, and personally I think it was a fool's errand from the outset.

I'm a little dubious about screenprinting on headwear in general (especially beanies, hats not so much), but I'm sure it can be made to work.


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## amp267 (Oct 11, 2006)

just wanted to get an update about this subject. a customer brought a sample of a beanie that was screen printed or maybe plastisol transfer. it looked great. it has a thick coating of ink, almost looks like they might have put a small amount of puff additive. it has that rubber thick feel that some shirts in retail stores have (mervyns to name one). i tried to stretch it to see what would happen, and its like a tank, it holds very strong to the beanie, very hard to stretch the printed area. i have an 86 mesh screen marinating in my dark room. i coated it very thick to see if i can get a heavy deposit, my questions is has anybody tried printing them latley. any special ink, and or additive. the beanies he wants printed are 100% acrylic.


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## ffokazak (Feb 23, 2006)

Just be careful drying them. 

They do not like heat. 

I did the exact opposite of what you want to do. 

Faded, thin distressed artwork, and it worked. 

I would be wary of curing the thick ink......

Embroider them!

hahah


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## amp267 (Oct 11, 2006)

well i tried one, and it sucked. just does not stretch enough. the one i saw seems to be a different method of printing. i have seen this bullet proof ink stuff before, but it seems that no one here knows what or how to do it, maybe its a trade secret. you can tell me, i promise i wont tell anybody

the one i saw does not stretch at all. it holds tight, its super thick, i have seen it on shirts aswell, anybody have any ideas


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## mtroup (Aug 15, 2008)

could it be a high density print? you can get high density ink and use capillary film to create a very thick stencil


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## Zink (May 9, 2008)

I just tried using regular plastisol with some low temp additive and it didn't turn out too well. I could make the ink stick, but if it was cured enough to not crack, the hat lost its shape due to the heat.

I tried air dry solvent ink, which looked good at first, but by the time it was dry enough not to smell, (12 hours, compared to 30 minutes for stickers), it seemed to fade and lose its opacity. Back to embroidery for these ones for me.


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## mtroup (Aug 15, 2008)

Zink said:


> I just tried using regular plastisol with some low temp additive and it didn't turn out too well. I could make the ink stick, but if it was cured enough to not crack, the hat lost its shape due to the heat.
> 
> I tried air dry solvent ink, which looked good at first, but by the time it was dry enough not to smell, (12 hours, compared to 30 minutes for stickers), it seemed to fade and lose its opacity. Back to embroidery for these ones for me.


Another option you might want to try would be to print plastisol transfers and then heat press them on?


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