[splathead]

Would wb cope with getting wet?

No, but neither would the box.

 

[20vK]

If the box got damp and I have wb ink printed inside the box, that was more of my concern, (ink bleeding), rather than a sopping wet box, which is problem on a whole other level!

 

[splathead]

some plastisol transfer have an adhesive layer and apply quite well to paper and cardboard....

Wow, excellent tip. I just tried this with a 15 cent F&M transfer (they all have adhesive powder) on some craft paper and it worked flawlessly. Thanks! Shipping box printing solved.

 

[splathead]

If the box got damp and I have wb ink printed inside the box, that was more of my concern, (ink bleeding), rather than a sopping wet box, which is problem on a whole other level!

The wb printing is on your box or in your box? If you are asking about wb printed paper inside a shipping box, I would enclose it in plastic to protect it from getting wet.

 

[20vK]

It's both inside and outside. Perhaps I should look towards a different direct screen print ink. I was just hoping to avoid smelly ink.

Looks like I'll have to print boxes on a night shift when noone's around!

 

[binkspot]

Use regular acrylic craft ink, it air drys in a few minutes or run through the dryer real quick with a low temp setting. Print it like regular water base ink. When ever we have a slow day we will set up the screens and print a hundred or so.

 

[tpitman]

With all due respect to the others posting suggestions, the workarounds seem to be far more complicated than necessary, particularly regarding printing on boxes.
Speedball poster ink is acrylic, much like artists acrylic paints. Once the water has evaporated, it is dry. It is relatively waterproof,not unlike latex wall paint. It might not survive repeated washings in a washing machine, or a deluge from a hose or a flooded basement, but it was never meant to be, nor was the box or flat stock on which it was printed.
There are other inks which are more "professional", such as the solvent offerings from Nazdar or TW Graphics, or even Jacquard inks, which are similar to Speedball, but a little pricier. Nevertheless, for average poster work or cardboard box imprinting not subject to acts of God, cheap, pedestrian Speedball poster ink is sufficient, and readily available just about everywhere.
Their fabric "paint" is another story altogether, and needs heat setting to be wash fast, but then, so does plastisol and water based fabric inks such as Matsui, which can also be used for flat stock printing with nothing more than air-drying. That's the critical difference between printing on paper and printing on fabric that's meant to be washed.

 

[vandykes22]

I usually print the shirt design on regular poster board and hang them on my table and tent when I'm doing events or festivals. Works well.

Sent from my XT1080 using T-Shirt Forums

 

[20vK]

Use regular acrylic craft ink, it air drys in a few minutes or run through the dryer real quick with a low temp setting. Print it like regular water base ink. When ever we have a slow day we will set up the screens and print a hundred or so.

Acrylic sounds good. I'd be happy with prints like those. Can I ask what you use for emulsion and cleanup? How about mesh count?

 

[binkspot]

I have a set dedicated 18x20 Newman's with 160 mesh coated with CCI WR-25. This set is going on over a year and somewhere around 500 prints on them so far. When we used Satti PV they would last one round of 60-75 boxes. Just like WB printing keep image flooded and a spray bottle of water handy to keep everything moving and wet. On hot days you may have to clean the screen a few times depending how fast you are printing.

Clean up is just plain water. I never let stuff set, as soon as I'm done everything gets washed.

The key with the acrylic is art that colors do not touch and more then two colors the ink starts to dry in the screen by the time you get back to the first. Also fix any reg marks or pin holes with emulsion or other water proof block out, between the paint and the water tape does not stick.

 

[20vK]

Perfect! Thanks very much. Some really useful pointers.

 

[MaximRecoil]

I know this is an old thread, but I just read it for the first time before trying this myself, and it worked beautifully. At first I tried Speedball water-based ink, which worked fine, but I didn't like that it wasn't truly black; not really any blacker than toner from a B&W laser printer. Also, I wanted the ink to have a sheen and sit on top of the paper so that you could see a slightly raised edge to it, which didn't happen with the Speedball stuff because it soaked into the paper like an inkjet print, but I figured I could get that effect with plastisol:

I cured it the same as I'd cure plastisol on a T-shirt; ~320 degrees, and it didn't scorch the paper at all. The paper was originally bright white matte photo or presentation paper intended for use in an inkjet printer, and to get it to a similar color as an original 1950s dial card, after curing the plastisol, I dunked it in tea and let it air dry. I then put the "6950" on there with a rubber stamp, the same as was done with the originals.

There's no problems with adhesion whatsoever. You couldn't get that print off the paper if you tried (and I did try, by rubbing my finger hard across the print to see if it would peel up, and it doesn't budge), except by scraping it off with a knife or something.

The ink is Union Ultrasoft, the screen was a 230-mesh coated 1/1, and I printed with one flood and one print stroke. The paper was just Scotch taped on the corners to the platen.