Scratch-off printing.

B

Brer

Active member
We are looking for a way to do scratch off printing. Somewhat like a Lotto ticket. We only have normal sheet fed presses. No coaters. Is there a way to do this? From what I have seen, it looks like a screen printing process.

Is there someone in the Denver or Albuquerque area that can do this? We would consider sub-ing this out. Either the whole job or we could print then ship out to be "coated".

Thanks for any help.
 
From what I remember you have to UV coat (or was it press varnish?) the printed sheets first, and then have the scratch ink applied with screen printing. Could be wrong... it's been a while since i have printed them.
 
I just realized you can do scratch-off tabs. I think it might be a good solution for this project.

thank you.
 
We are going to get some of the tabs from the same supplier we get our normal mail tabs from. They will hopefully run on our tabber.

Our letterpress doesn't have foil capabilities. Not sure what would be required. Might look into it if this becomes a more normal request.
 
We apply it on our Kluge letterpress. Make sure to print the "prize" with a 50% screen or less. Use just enough ink to make prize readable. Wax-free ink is a must. Thick coated stocks works best, as they will require less pressure to adhere. We prefer Great Westerrn Foils' scratch off foil, it comes off the roll very easy, allowing for easy coverage.
 
I produced many door hangers that had a scratch off area. a release coating (aq) was needed which use to be a special formulation. Last few years our standard w/t aq. worked well. The process to apply the scratch was screened. This was the most cost effective, I have seen scratch off applied inline on an older Didde but required modifications. I have also seen some produced on litho presses but required multiple passes or a double coater set up.
 
Brer said:
We are going to get some of the tabs from the same supplier we get our normal mail tabs from. They will hopefully run on our tabber.

Our letterpress doesn't have foil capabilities. Not sure what would be required. Might look into it if this becomes a more normal request.
Click to expand...


This is the easiest way to do it. Buy the scratch-off tabs from your normal mail tab supplier. Apply over your offset printed prize area on a high-speed tabber (like a Kirk-Rudy, MCS, etc.) while you are ink jetting the address and postal information. Piece of cake.
 
I was in silk screen for over 20 years before moving to the "Dark (Digiital) Side" and printing scratch off silver used to give me nightmares, not because it is a hard process but you always have that fear that the ink isn't dry because when you rub it it comes off.
As one of the poster above said it was on UV coated print and all our work was overprint for the Litho trade. I can't remember the name of the ink but it was made by Sericol and you had to use a special thinner otherwise it wouldn't sit on the UV properly.

Ah better days.
 
Just saw this topic, we do the scratch off tabs from Whittier, they have a good selection of different sizes and colors. The only drawback I have with them is how much force it takes to get the coating to scratch off, but they do survive the mailstream well when applied to postcards, if that coating was less the postal sorters would "pre-scratch" them.
 
productionchef said:
Use an MGI to do spot UV, dimensional UV and apply scratch-off heat set foil. Much better to scratch than using tabs which require a lot of effort normally. Happy to provide more info if needed. [email protected]
Click to expand...


That's a rather expensive solution to just apply scratch offs. What's an MGI Spot UV/Dim UV/Foil system run? I'd estimate it at about $300,000 +/- (USD). And, at what speed? Most Tabbers run/apply at about 20,000 per hour and brand new they are only around $15,000 USD. You can usually find them used for less than $5,000 (USD). The last MGI Spot UV system I saw runs less than 100 sheets per hour.
 
It is totally doable to do it totally offset. However, these are semi-ancient and sometimes, protected secrets that will cost you.

A little up front for ya; it will require multiple passes through the press with heavy emphasis on the underprint sizes (varnishes). It is much better done lithographically than the silk screen or other attempted lay on paper methods.

Just better cheese..

D Ink Man
 
kerstenp said:
We apply it on our Kluge letterpress. Make sure to print the "prize" with a 50% screen or less. Use just enough ink to make prize readable. Wax-free ink is a must. Thick coated stocks works best, as they will require less pressure to adhere. We prefer Great Westerrn Foils' scratch off foil, it comes off the roll very easy, allowing for easy coverage.
Click to expand...

+1. I've been using a local letterpress shop for my scratch-off work, and their Kluge method is of very good quality at a very inexpensive cost.
 
Stickman42 said:
+1. I've been using a local letterpress shop for my scratch-off work, and their Kluge method is of very good quality at a very inexpensive cost.
Click to expand...

What is the end use of this one, if you can divulge? I am very glad that it is working for you in any event..

D
 
D Ink Man said:
It is totally doable to do it totally offset. However, these are semi-ancient and sometimes, protected secrets that will cost you.

A little up front for ya; it will require multiple passes through the press with heavy emphasis on the underprint sizes (varnishes). It is much better done lithographically than the silk screen or other attempted lay on paper methods.

Just better cheese..

D Ink Man
Click to expand...
People didn't seem to be very helpful. My father said our shop had printed scratch off back in the 70s, but couldn't remember much of the details.

We ended up using screen scratch off ink and printing it with letterpress. As it was a short run job, we ran it digitally with clear toner under the scratch off ink. Worked like a charm.
 
kdw75 said:
People didn't seem to be very helpful. My father said our shop had printed scratch off back in the 70s, but couldn't remember much of the details.

We ended up using screen scratch off ink and printing it with letterpress. As it was a short run job, we ran it digitally with clear toner under the scratch off ink. Worked like a charm.
Click to expand...
The client was very happy but it ended up turning into a much larger job that is done twice a month. We ended up buying a KR tabber and using it to apply scratch off stickers. Very quick without drying time and no need for expert ink formulating.
 
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