Lancer Plastex series ink for poster printing, ever used it? vs TW water based

[attndef]

Traditionally I've used Speedball inks. After reading about TW inks on Gigposters and talking with the guys over a Burlesque I really want to give them a try. The trouble being that in Minneapolis and many other places you have to order them, wait and pay for shipping, not a huge deal but I'd rather be able to swing up to my local supplier and pick up ink up when I need.

So this morning I was up at Northwest Graphic Supply, one Minneapolis's main screen printing supply shops and my former employer. I was talking with the main sales guy and manger up there and asked him "hey are you guys ever going to carry TW water based?" He said they used to carry it but probably not in the future. Then he said that Lancer Plastex is essentially a very similar base as the TW and in his opinion the pigments and base were a bit better for poster printing than TW. So my question is has anyone had any experience with Lancer Plastex or Aquatex? Andymac? Crosshairs? It is a water based system just like TW and looks very promising to me.

Here is a link:
Plastisol Inks for Textile Screen Printing - LancerGroup.com

I am going to give the black ink a go and post a review of it soon...

[vrooooom]

There's a TW Plastisol, which is probably what your friend was thinking about.

This is still a plastisol, not-truly-waterbased ink from what I can read. Yes you can use it on paper, but you need a dryer to cure the sheets. WB TW Ink dries by evaporation/absorption.

Ordering from TW direct is a quick affair, and in a pinch you can mix with speedball, which should be available in your town. It's extremely rare for suppliers to carry TW WB, probably because without a regular buyer in town it would be difficult to turn over stock at $50-60 per gallon of base and $90-150 gallon of base colors. I know I asked my supplier about it, and he said they had tried to carry it before, but TW wouldn't give permission/wholesale prices on it.

[attndef]

From what I see and talked with Northwest about the plastex it is not plastisol at all (although the name is somewhat confusing) and a is pure water based like TW and can be mixed with speedball. It is under the plastisol category on their website but looks like a water based option.

[vrooooom]

According to the website:

"Plastex Water Based Inks will stretch and retract easily. Plastex Inks have excellent adhesion to a wide variety of substances such as spandex, leather, lycra, cotton/poly blends, and porous nylons. "

Nothing about paper. This in itself isn't so bad, but then there's a requirement to cure the ink:

"Curing: To provide maximum washability it is recommended that prints be cured through a conveyorized dryer with forced air for at least 1½ minutes at 350°F (177°C). Plastex can be air dried followed by hand ironing from the underside for 20 to 30 seconds at high setting."

Also, it's continually referenced as a textile ink, with relatively low mesh count recommendations:

"Screen Mesh: 60-160/inch (24-64cm). Glitters require a coarse mesh of 25-30/inch (10-12cm). Pearls require a 60-80/inch (24-32cm) mesh." (In common terms, a mesh count of 60-160. TW Ink is fine with 230-305, which gives you better detail when working on paper with halftones, dithers, etc.)

Do what you want, but for printing on paper everything about this product make it sound like its less suitable for printing on paper than speedball acrylic. Some people use plastisol and whatnot to print posters, but you will need to cure it to fix the ink from what I understand.

[crosshair]

Never heard of it.

There's no local outlet for TW in Chicago either; I've always just had it shipped from TW in CA. It's not a big deal and they ship quickly.
TW is a known quantity with lots of users and good support from the manufacturer... for all I know the plastex is great, but obviously it would be a good idea to talk to someone who has experience doing what you plan to do with it, before investing a bunch of $$.

My local supplier pitches products to me all the time, but only rarely are they something that I want or need.
Every time I bring up TW they get a blank look and say something like, "hey, have you ever thought of getting into UV? We've got blah blah blah"

[attndef]

I agree with you about getting pitched a sorts of products from suppliers, just wanted to put the word to see if anyone had tried this ink. Like I said i'm going to give the black a try first and let everyone know how it goes. I'm glad to find options aside from speedball, I always thought there was something better out there.

[Andymac]

Sounds like WB textile to me, but hey, what do I know.

My supplier carries TW. They also have a TW waterbase textile - TAL. It's OK on shirts, but is way too thin and runny and transparent for proper paper prints. In screenprinting, most things 'work'. It's a question of how well, and what your standards are.

[paul204]

Aquatex is the worst waterbased ink I have ever experienced. stay away. I live in the city Lancer's headquartered in. Aquatex is is the stuff they give out for free at classes at the local open print studio—speedball is the "premium" stuff.

[attndef]

Aquatex is the worst waterbased ink I have ever experienced. stay away. I live in the city Lancer's headquartered in. Aquatex is is the stuff they give out for free at classes at the local open print studio—speedball is the "premium" stuff.

That doesn't sound good at all ha, what about it was terrible?

[paul204]

The consistency is awful, it's really tricky to print anything large with it because it's not very creamy. To complicate that, it doesn't mix super well with water, so misting your screen to facilitate large floods doesn't really work.

It doesn't have very vivid colour, it's tricky to mix. Dries really quickly in the screen... Warps paper worse than other inks I've tried... Mould grows on it. Pretty much anything that could be bad about an ink is bad.