# Printing Onto Aluminum..... Any Info?



## ffokazak (Feb 23, 2006)

Im wondering what it would take to print onto alumiunum? Plain black ink. I understand this might be in the wrong forum, but if you have any resources, that would be greatly appreciated. { dont worry, im not trying to market a rigid aluminum Tee!}


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## Korri79 (Mar 7, 2006)

http://www.dyesubinks.com/ this is a great site for that. fill out the form to get samples and they'll send you samples of aluminum pieces that they printed on. you can use any color you want, and pictures too. use white aluminum that's polymer coated. hope this helps a little 

Korri


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

Nazdar makes some good inks. When printing on metals, I usually use the Nazdar 59000 series. It's an enamel ink and works rather well.

The inks are thinner, so you need a finer mesh. You also need to flood your screen. Not the same kind of flooding that you do in screen printing, where the ink is laying on top, but the kind where you pull the squeegee with ink over the image with medium to firm pressure. This way there is not too much ink in the image. This ink is air dry ink, so you need to work quickly and flooding the screen helps. Be sure to flood coat it as soon as you are done printing to keep the screen from clogging or drying out.

When you flood the ink, just so someone who may not undertand what I mean, keep the screen up and away from the substrate and pull your squeegee over as if you were printing. This leaves ink in the printable area but not the other areas. Then you would bring your screen down and print.

I would also use a medium to firm durometer squeegee. The softer it is, the more ink that is going to push through. Don't use a lot of angle on your squeegee but keep it probably about 70% from vertical. This will give you enough angle but not too much. Keep a good firm stroke.

As for screen mesh, I'd probably use a 220 mesh. Sometimes the ink is a little thick, so you want to thin it down using the appropriate thinner recommended by Nazdar. The consistency should be that of molasses. Not too heavy, but thin enough to work with.

Hope this helps.

www.nazdar.com


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## ffokazak (Feb 23, 2006)

Thanks to DTG.
That sounds pretty good. So the enamel ink would be air dryed. Does this provide a solid bond? The ink is going to be permanent, correct? 
Also, what do you use to clean it up? Is there special chemicals to wash out the screens? Thanks again, great info!


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

ffokazak said:


> Thanks to DTG.
> That sounds pretty good. So the enamel ink would be air dryed. Does this provide a solid bond? The ink is going to be permanent, correct?
> Also, what do you use to clean it up? Is there special chemicals to wash out the screens? Thanks again, great info!


The enamel inks are air dry. If you want even a tougher bond, for indoor use, you can purchase the ade inks with a catalyst. It's a 2 part system that gives extremely durable inks. Again, this is for indoor use only. The enamel inks are for indoor or outdoor and it gives a great permanent bond.

For cleanup, they do have a new chemical that is not as harsh as their prior chemicals. It's also non-hazardous and very aggressive towards the ink. Although cleanup needs to be done immediately, it still isn't too bad.


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