Custom Ink

[Zachbell09]

Hello,

I am looking for nay information about mixing custom UV Ink. Our printers are oversized flatbed ink jet printer. We currently purchase our ink but I would like to look into mixing our own custom pigments and using them instead of the presets that we purchase.

Does anyone have any information about UV Ink formulations not looking for somebodies proprietary information just looking for what I can gather.


And, because I am sure that it will be brought up, no I am not a chemist, and no I do not want to hire one for this application.

Thank you for anything that you can give me.

 

[jonprintz]

A tremendous amount of R&D (and cost) goes into making the custom ink that you ask about. Without knowing the starting formulation of ingredients in the inks you currently use no one will be able to just "swap" pigments and meet your needs. Even a pigment change isn't necessarily a 1:1 ratio change in an energy-cured ink.

Starting from scratch will require intimate knowledge of your machine, print heads, curing lamps, substrates along with having the expertise & equipment to R&D, manufacture, Quality Check, and test the many formulations. required to get to a working formula that doesn't ruin your print heads.

The development time will be many months and very costly. Few ink manufacturers who are equipped to make ink in custom pigmentations will be willing to do so without the commitment of a large volume of annual ink purchases to justify the spend.