Get Brighter White Pad Printing Ink!

Update: As of 2022 Inkcups has added an additional white ink for tagless applications. Check out SB Brite Opaque Garment Printer Ink in Brite White. Sadly SuperWhite Ink is no longer available, but we Brite White is a great substitution. 

Printing on dark substrates with white pad printing ink can be challenging. The tagless label is simply not opaque enough, thus the darkness of the garment shows through the ink. At Inkcups, we understand your frustration and have provided some great tips for you to get that white bright!

How to Get a Brighter White with Pad Printing Ink

• Reduce the solvent mixture by 5%.
  

Common ink mixing formula:

50 grams White
7.5 grams SBM solvent (15%)
2.5 grams 1000HNX hardener (5%)

• Add a 1 second delay before pickup and a 1 second delay before print. Also, adjust the front and back delay to see if results improve.
• Increase the pad compression on the garment to “over-compresses” the pad. Alternatively, nearly stall the pad during the printing cycle.
• Check the pad to ensure it is not worn.
• Use enough ink in the cup. Using too little pad printing ink is a common problem, particularly with white ink because the pigment is heavier than standard ink colors. As a rule of thumb, no less than 50 grams of white ink should be used.
• Adjust the artwork to use all capital letters for garment size and country of origin.
• It is common to frequently add solvent to white ink because it has more pigment than other colors. Solvent helps keep the pigment in the solution.
• Use another ink than standard white. Alternatively, Inkcups has developed a SuperWhite Ink with pigment specifically formulated for garment printing.

Contact Inkcups for more information about tagless printing and SuperWhite Ink.

Ink used in this project:
Type: SuperWhite Ink
Brand: SB Series Ink
More info: SB Series SuperWhite Ink page