Printing on 7" plastic sleeves

[Kotah]

Hey Guys,
I have a client who wants black lettering printed on plastic sleeves in which a book will slide into. I already have the sleeves wondering what problems I will run into. (i.e. plastic sticking to the screen, ink rubbing off, etc.)

Thanks in advance.

[crosshair]

I've done it with TW and the ink adhered just fine. I'm sure I could scratch it off if I went at it with my fingernail, but that would be silly. I wouldn't try it with speedball.
If you keep the underside of your screen dry and your emulsion isn't tacky, there is no reason you should have a sticking problem.
The thicker/heavier sleeves will be easier to print on.
Next time you print something, grab a plastic sleeve and do a test, see what happens.

[Kotah]

Cool. they are fairly thick so it should work.

[k8bit]

I did this on clear sleeves once, but they were pretty light ones so i had to use some narrow coverstock registration tabs on the table that i could slide the sleeve edge under to pin it down. but this was in the hobosham days of shitty ink and no vac table. I used speedball and it did rub off, so i krylon spray fixed them all,( not suggesting you do that, but it does make the ink indestructible if you don't have the proper type and it chips terribly)

[NeroInferno]

Print them rotated, so the squeegee "attack" side is the shortest side of the sleeves..in this way the screen won't create the sucker effect with the sleeves.

We need to print a tshirt "Avoid sucker effect!"

Fabio

[bongalong]

PLASTIC IS NOT JUST PLASTIC!!!

if you do not know what material you're printing on, and just guessing, be prepared to do the job again & pay for the new materials.

a couple of months ago i printed on A4 PVC menu cards, the same client came back with polypropylen covers a couple of months later.

being lazy and having a big screenprinter ego i assumed that i can print the covers with the same ink as the menu cards.

i printed the covers, 500 pieces, client comes back and the ink was flaking off, on all of them, it took a whole week for this type of ink to dry properly thats why i didn't notice.

i had to clean, flame the polypropylen, and reprint the whole run with the proper ink.

i'm never guessing again..................

by the way, this is the first time that it has happened to me, i've heard a lot of stories from screenprinters but i just got lazy.

[NeroInferno]

Same to me 2 days ago printing silicone swimming caps. I've called the ink producer who said me: try this ink but make an adhesion test.

Omitting the pain to print solvent ink at 30°C with a 100 threads/cm mesh, when I arrived to the 25th swimming cap I scratched a bit the ink and ops..all the print was basically a very thin film over the silicone. I used the adhesion promoter too..

MORAL: next time I'll take the time necessary to make the adhesion ink test