Screen printing and pad printing consumables
Inks, pads, clichés, frames and every wear part of the printing line.
Technical guide
What a screen printing or pad printing line consumes
The consumables of a printing line fall into two areas: what gets printed and what wears out while printing. The first is obvious; the second is the one that usually explains why a machine that was running well has stopped running well.
Inks, thinners and hardeners
The ink is chosen by substrate and by the resistance required, and it brings with it its own thinner and, for two-component inks, its specific hardener. Mixing thinners from different families alters rheology and drying, so each series has its own, indicated in the technical sheet. In pad printing, the evaporation rate of the thinner also has to be matched to the speed of the machine and the temperature of the workshop.
Wear parts
Pads, clichés, ink cup doctor blades, meshes, frames, squeegee blades and clamping bars. All of them degrade with use by design, and their condition translates directly into print quality: a tired pad loses fine detail, a blunt doctor blade leaves haze, a rounded squeegee blade deposits too much ink and a slack mesh throws registration out.
Prepress chemicals
Photosensitive emulsions, developers, reclaimers and degreasers for the screen preparation and reclaiming cycle, plus the cleaners for the line itself. It is the least visible area and the one that most affects the repeatability of exposure.
Leading brands and own manufacture
IBPRINT distributes inks and consumables from leading brands in the sector and manufactures some of the wear parts itself. Recommendations are always made by substrate and by the resistance required, not by brand.
Frequently asked questions
About consumables
What consumables does a printing line use?
On the one hand ink, solvents, thinners and hardeners. On the other, wear parts: pads, clichés, ink cup doctor blades, meshes and frames, squeegee blades and clamping bars. The second group is the one most often neglected and the first to show in print quality.
Do you work with specific brands?
IBPRINT distributes inks and consumables from leading brands in the sector, and manufactures some of the wear parts itself. The specific choice is made by substrate and by the resistance the part requires, not by brand.
Can you recommend which ink to use?
Yes, it is part of the service. With the material of the part, the colour to be matched and the conditions the print will have to withstand, the ink family can be narrowed down and it can be decided whether a hardener or surface pretreatment is needed.