Hot Buys at Customark Oxford

From all of our many investments this year, the flaming machine at our Oxford branch is one of the most interesting yet.

Why is Flaming important? What does it do?

Flaming is a process that changes the surface tension of an item for better ink adhesion – like sanding down wood before painting it!

Polypropylene, Polyethylene, Derlin, Epoxy Resins and many more need pre-treatments before printing. Acetyl needs flame treating after the printing process, as well as many others.

This process enables even the most curved and uneven surfaces to be treated – this is done by using a mixture of air 20 – 50 p.s.i. (Pounds per square inch (pressure)) and gas at a low pressure 0.25 p.s.i. This gas can be Bultane, Propane, Methane and Coral Gas. For the flame to be effective it needs to be blue. It’s a quick blast of heat!

Click here for a video of the flaming process!

Flaming is a flexible and reliable process, if carefully done and controlled. A basic flamer will do basic work but for regular use and long production runs it is always recommended to use specifically designed flame control systems that are filled with gas and air controls aswell as safety features. Over-flaming will damage the surface of the product and under-flaming means the ink will not stick.

Investing in this machine means more precision and quality is a given and we are able to increase our capabilities as a whole.