While ROQ presses work great with any type of screen printing ink, they work especially well for water based printing. ROQ Presses are designed and built in Portugal for the international screen printing market, which uses a lot of water based inks in the production process. While many factors make ROQ presses advantageous for water based ink, we are going to touch on the top three that matter most to Your operation.
You can learn more about water based printing on press at our partner MADE Lab’s third annual WB/Week this July in Fort Worth, Texas.
1. Screen Lift
Unlike most of the automatic screen printing presses on the market, ROQ presses print arms lift up and keep the ink off of the warm platens while not printing. On the ROQ E, ROQ YOU, and ROQ FIT press models that use a single lifting cylinder, print heads come down and then lift up during each print sequence. On the ROQ NEXT, ROQ ECO, and ROQ OVAL press models that run on independent lifting cylinders, print heads stay in the up position until the print is needed. Both configurations allow for inks to stay cooler, which helps them avoid drying on press.
2. Platen Temp
ROQ’s iconic honeycomb aluminum platens are optimal for platen temp control. With most water based inks, You want to get your platens warm, but not hot. Honeycomb heats up and cools down quickly, allowing ROQ’s EVO Smart Probe FLASHes to maintain the optimal platen temperature, which is typically set between 105-115 Celsius (for water based printing).
3. Winged Floodbars
Water based inks are thinner than plastisol inks and typically more ink is needed in the screen to keep things flowing. All ROQ presses come standard with winged floodbars, which keep the ink in the center of the image area, making it much easier to maintain on press.
Learn more advantages of ROQ presses for water based inks in this video from our distribution partner Ryonet.
Get hands on with ROQ equipment and learn how You can start or expand water based printing to offer retail-quality printing at MADE Lab’s WB Basics or WB Camp Advanced Water Based Workshops in July! Click below to learn more and register Your spot today! ROQ on!
