Deco Tech

Swiss precision Ink Viscosity Control System to properly mix your inks.

Maintaining the proper viscosity of the pad printing ink is of crucial importance and the VISCOMATIC™ from microPrint is the automated way to keep the inks viscosity always in range throughout the day/ shift.

With a normal ink cup system without ink viscosity control, the printing process had to be stopped every 30-40 minutes to manually dilute the ink again. This creates too much downtime and there is no assurance that the operator will add the right amount of thinner.  Improperly mixed inks; either too thin or too thick are a major cause of printing defects when pad printing. If you know the ins and outs pad printing already then you know that your operators can be frustrated when dealing with the ever changing viscosity of a pad printing ink.  If you are not yet well versed in pad printing, please understand this basic fact, your printing results will change if the ink is either mixed too wet or too dry and the so called 'magic' of the pad printing process only works when the ink is mixed just right. It is true that closed ink cups have reduced the frustration level for machine operators, but closed cups alone have not completely eliminated this ink mixing problem… until microPrint invented the VISCOMATIC™.

The VISCOMATIC™ ink viscosity control system will automatically mix and monitor the inks viscosity without any operator intelligence. The VISCOMATIC™ displays the viscosity values on the touchscreen where they can also be changed. If desired, the previous viscosity curve can be viewed as a bar chart on another touchscreen page. This is helpful when pressure disturbances need to be found.

Here's how the microPrint VISCOMATIC™ works. This fully integrated ink viscosity control system will constantly monitor and automatically adjust the inks viscosity throughout the production run. Inside the cup, there is a direct driven propeller that constantly mixes the ink. This is done with an ingenious & simple to maintain motor driven system that gives constant viscosity data (feedback) to the on-board PLC.

The VISCOMATIC™ has two other major advantages:

1. 1) By constantly stirring (inks are thixotropic) and keeping the viscosity consistent, the pot life can be increased by two fold. The pot life can be extended to 8 to 12 hours vs 4 to 6 hours without viscosity control.
2. 2) There are certain inks whose pigments will sink and separate in the ink cup (such as gold and silver colors). The VISCOMATIC™ prevents this separation and guarantees evenly mixed inks over the entire shift.