I have a customer who wants a one color reflective ink design --- can anyone recomend a reflective ink? If so, are there any special printing issues with reflective ink?
I would recommend International Coatings Optilux. Has the best reflective properties of any plastisol reflective I have seen and is also avaiable as a "foil" transfer. Print adhesive and transfered material only stick to adhesive.
I had a fire department order screen printed tees but weren't happy with them. I asked to see a sample of what they had done in the past and they showed me a nylon jacket that had been heat transferred. They are convinced it was screen print even tho' the printer left some transfer adhesive outlining the image but sold it as screen printing. I don't understand why this is happening. Ahh but I digress. I have used the Optilux 505. I use a pretty coarse screen mesh and make sure my design isn't too finely detailed. This ink isn't supposed to be base coated or struck twice due to loss of reflectivity but it's thin enough to flow through well. It's expensive and it's two parts, a curing agent bottled separately to be mixed just before use but it goes a long way.
Well I know with ic optilux 505 ink they say to use between 160 and 230 screen mesh. I just ordered a quart from ryonet to try it out. My question is anyone know how many prints I can do with a quart with the 3 standard stripes on front and back??
i have done both, reflective ink and vinyl. the vinyl blows ink away by a mile (you can literally see vinyl a mile). vinyl is more money but worth the money if you want reflective.
IMO, the optiux is better used on light garments or as a highlight on darks. It doesn't cover well, but it's very reflective. Most FD's and government orgs require 3M.
I know its been a minute since anyone has posted on this thread but i used some of my quart of the optilux 505 at first doign 3 solid stripes and the ink wasnt going far at all i used 1/4 of my quart and only got 12 shirts printing through a 230 mesh. then about a month ago i switch to the common high vis you see construction guys wearing with the white underbase and mixed up the remainder of my ink thinking i could easily finish the 75 shirts i had on hand and printing it with a white underbase and a 160 screen, well the ink went alot further and i had about 1/3 of my wuart left so i start to play around with it on some custom designs i had and actually found that the ink prints alot better and more consistent through a 110 mesh but you do have to be quick and not let the ink sit over the artwork on the screen or youll get a drip on the bottom of your screen. and the reflective was alot better due to having more ink on the shirt vs a 160 or 230 mesh
Reflective Ink advice 
