Hydrographic Printing - 101

Hydrographic printing is known by several names. It is also called water transfer printing, cubic printing and fluid imaging. This technology is a water-soluble film, upon which patterns of ink are applied. Similar to some of the new medicines and breath mint sheets on the market that dissolve in your mouth, the film in this technology dissolves in water, leaving the ink floating. When the item is submersed into the water, the ink then adheres to the item “dipped” three-dimensionally.

What Does Hydrographic Printing Look Like?

This process can look like almost anything you want. There are innumerable patterns that can be applied using the hydrographic printing process that make things “look like”. There are wood grains, carbon fiber, diamond plating, tiger stripes and a host of images that when combined with various base coat colors, provide endless possibilities. You can view a library of patterns available here.

Is Hydrographic Printing right for me?

Not all items can be printed hydrographically.

Some substances do not print well – either for geometric shape reasons or because of the type of material the item is constructed.

Items contaminated by greasy residue from manufacturing.

Items that cannot be immersed in water.

However, most solid items respond very well to this printing process. To find out for sure, contact us, let our Team assess your needs and possibly arrange for a sample to be sent to us.

A Brief Overview of the Process

Great care is taken throughout. This is not always a simple and fast process. Depending upon the item it can be very time consuming.

Preparation

1. The item to be printed is washed, cleaned and sometimes sanded to make the surface amenable to the process.
2. Depending upon the item, pattern choices and color factors the item will be spray coated with primer – just like in the auto body business.
3. After drying, and again dependent upon choices, the item is again painted with a base coat color. The base coat colors may also be specific to the ink pattern to be applied.
4. Now, the item is ready to be printed.

Printing

1. The film with the selected pattern is cut to size and laid on the surface of a water bath system.
2. The printed film is sprayed with an assistive spray, to help the film dissolve leaving the ink pattern floating on the water.
3. The item to be printed is then “dipped” through the ink pattern into the water, and immediately removed.

Washing

The item is thoroughly washed in warm water to remove film residue and the assistive spray.

Top Coating

The item is then dried again before being coated with a protective finish, that could be high gloss, semi-gloss or matte.

As you can see, the process of hydrographic printing is not a ‘simple’ process. It has been called a black art by some. Not all decorators take the care and pride in this process that we do at Decota Finishes.