Some time ago, Simon Clifford, president of Tekmar Technical Marketing of Santa Barbara, told a story about aerosol adhesive residue on the floor around a press in a textile print shop that he was visiting. It was so bad that the shop’s resident Golden Lab lay down to rest under the press and then could not get up because he was stuck to the floor.
We don’t know if Simon developed Tekmar’s TEKBOND line of water-based, non-aerosol pallet adhesives because of the dog-sticks-to-floor experience, but we do know that it is a cost-effective, non-messy, “greener” alternative to aerosol pallet adhesives. And we say that in spite of the fact that, as a supplier, we can make much more money from aerosol adhesives because they cost more and more is needed to do the same job.
Water-based pallet adhesives have some big fans. Printers who like them, really like them. They like the fact that water-based pallet adhesives are much more economical than aerosol adhesives. They also often mention that because water-based adhesives are non-hazardous and non-flammable, they are healthier to use. Many of the water-based pallet adhesive users have mentioned to us that they don’t care for the airborne particles of aerosol sprays that always seem to end up as sticky overspray on the floor.
Some water-based adhesives are applied sparingly to the pallet with a small squeegee. One printer told us that he printed 1200 tee-shirts without re-applying the adhesive once during the print run. That is why it is said that a 1-quart container of water-based adhesive can replace at least 3 dozen cans of aerosol adhesive. The cost saving in product price alone is significant (we calculate it at 85% to 90% saving) but it gets even better when you factor in clean-up time of the pallets, press and floor.
In addition to the squeegee-application adhesives, there are water-based adhesives that are applied by use of a spray system. These are most frequently used in automated shops. The difference between them and aerosol sprays though is that the better water-based spray systems can be controlled to spray sparingly on the pallet without over-spraying all over the equipment and floor.
So, do something good for your shop, your budget and for the environment and try water-based pallet adhesives. If you need to know more about water-based pallet adhesives feel free to give us a call at 1-800-661-7766 or email us at info@screenflex.ca or you can find more information at www.screenflex.ca
