GOCCOclub News - Issue 15

NEWS
Air cure ink
Imagine an ink you can print and forget, no more heat setting
PAGE 2

HINTS
Fluro Purple is back
Mixing ink colours
PAGE 4

SPECIALS
110Volt MG-11’s
No more Print Lamps? Special last offer to Members
PAGE 3

MEMBERS INFO
Survey results
What members had to say
PAGE 4

CONTACT US
Postal
PO Box 175
Narrabeen NSW 2101
Australia
Phone/ Fax
Ph: (02) 9979-9700
International: +61-2-9979-9700
Fax: (02) 9979-9201
International: +61-2-9979-9201

RISO Ends an era
The RISO Educational Foundation Managing Director, Mr Shuichi Yoshida, has issued a sudden and unexpected announcement after completion of judging entries from the 25th annual competition, the annual RISO Handmade Card Competition has finished after 25 years of operation!

Letter to NEHOC Australia Pty Ltd

‘The aims of the contest are to nurture creativity of children and students by creating hand-made picture postcards with stencilled printing, and to foster effective communication by sending and receiving these postcards. With these goals in mind, the contest has served to cultivate communication skills and a stronger sense of community.

Nevertheless, for several reasons, we have decided to discontinue the contest after the 25th one is held this year.

Through our activities over the past quarter of a century, we believe that the form of communication through hand-made picture postcards has been firmly established as a custom in our culture.

We are convinced that the Hand-Made Card Contest has been able to achieve its major social mission: to demonstrate caring communication, as well as to play a certain role in creativity education. Having accomplished these goals, we hereby announce that we will be discontinuing the contest..

Last but not least, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for your longstanding support and cooperation in carrying out the contest, particularly through advertising, and organizing the postcards for the contest, and in following up the prizewinners.’

Shuichi Yoshida, Managing Director

RISO Educational Foundation

New competition in 2003
We don’t want to stop having competitions - the GOCCOclub loves giving away prizes to people using their machine!

The GOCCOclub will be starting it’s own competition in 2003 with a broader range of categories for entries - not just postcards:

Fabrics/ T-shirts and materials
PRINT GOCCO - Cards, Wedding Stationery, Hand Stamping
Fine Art Prints with PRINT GOCCO (multiple layer prints and artworks)
Open Category - Ceramics, Glass, Metals, Plastics, Wood, etc.

We also understand that sometimes an entry is a piece or work/ job that can not actually be entered - so you will be able to submit photo’s of the entry instead!

The new competition will be launched Mid 2003 - full details will be outlined in GOCCOclub News.

Screen printing with RISO

Air Cure Ink
Quick, run to the window and have a look outside - see the pigs flying?

After decades of being told it would not happen a NEW PRODUCT from REPROGRAPHICS finally gives the screen printing community a professional fabric screen printing ink that does NOT require heat setting.

Print and forget - AIR CURE ELASTIC WHITE is designed for high quality textile printing especially for knitted textiles. REPRO WHITE ink offers excellent elongation and elasticity - the film of ink is also tough and recoverable without cracking during stretching of cloths.

It gives the prints a leather-like look, high gloss and is non-tacky after complete drying!

Hy-cover inks are prone a cracked look after being washed a few times - you know when you stretch the fabric and the fabric shows through the ink.

This ink limits the problem occurring by incorporating stretch capabilities!

The ink is currently available in only one colour - White - but a Clear is available to which you must add fabric screen printing ink pigments to mix your desired colour.

Designed for cotton textiles, the ink is also suitable for neoprene (wetsuits & mouse pads) and chloroban (the latest swimming costume material suitable for chlorine pools).

This ink expands the printing applications without having to use difficult and costly inks! There is only limited quantities of this ink currently available in Australia with supply available from your RISO supplier.

How to . .

An air drying ink should cause problems of drying in the RISO screen, however the solution is to add a special RETARDER to the ink

The RETARDER is added to the REPRO WHITE at a 5%-7% volume, and stops the ink drying in the screens.

Normally the ink takes about 30 seconds to air dry, with the RETARDER this is slightly extended but still quicker than Hydrotech fabric screen printing Inks.

Coming in 2003 . .
The original ink developer for Hydrotech Inks, Phil Reynolds has started a new company, Dynamic Coatings and has developed an ALL NEW fabric screen printing ink called - AQUATEX.
The GOCCOclub has just tested samples of both the standard and Opaque inks and the results are VERY positive, with the inks to be included in the NEHOC product range next year.

On the Web . .
Following the survey we have been updating much of the ‘back end’ html code and other features to speed pages and to make finding things easier!
The top menus now include a SEARCH FORM for the GOCCOclub, FAQ’s & Training.
A new Warranty section has been added with online warranty registration and claims now available.
www.nehoc.com.au/GOCCOclub/warranty

NEWS BITS

New #1 system in Australia . .
The RISO Screen Printing Kit is now confirmed as the number 1 RISO system currently sold in Australia, overtaking the PG-11 Australian Model, with more people than ever taking advantage of the RISO’s low cost and simple screen printing screens.

Decal Printing - a new technique
Our previously published information on decal printing has been built upon and updated, with great assistance from Lisa Mostyn.
Details of the process have been modified to reflect a more suitable ink and also covercoat method.
Details of this process are available online now in Information Sheet #29
Log on or contact the GOCCOclub for a copy of the updated information.

FREE upgrade for Training CD
Register your NEHOC Training CD-ROM and be the first to receive the FREE upgrade - sent to you FREE!
Simply open your Training CD and click the REGISTER button.

With the new version in its final stages, you will have access to ALL NEW training videos for screen printing and PRINT GOCCO, plus much, more.

Details of the new version will be in the next edition of GOCCOclub news in the new year.
Meantime, register your copy online today and be the first to receive the new version.

How to use PG 65 Photo Dot Screens

How does a Dot Screen work?
By filtering the content of a design through a printed film with an array of tiny dots, a dot screen can be used to reduce the visible area of the design without distorting the overall shape/ view of the design.

What is a Photo Dot Screen?
Most Dot Screens use larger dots to break down the solid areas of the design, however a Photo Dot Screen uses small dots to keep more details in the design.

These dots 'filter' the design and provide a much needed screen over the design for printing.

The effect is the same as that used for printing in newspapers and also process colour printing (CMYK). The flow of ink is essentially limited by the design, not the equipment (which is much harder to set up and maintain at correct levels - near impossible for manual screen printing.)

Example: The ink flow in PRINT GOCCO is determined by the pressure and length of the print time - instead of finding the correct pressure and time for each design (which would take about 5 minutes, but would produce about a 25% miss prints), we change the level of ink flowing into the design - making printing the same as for all other designs.

Let's leave this here before it gets too technical, the point to remember is the Photo Dot Screen works for all photographs!

When should I use a Photo Dot Screen?
With ALL photographs. The Photo Dot Screen provides your artwork with depth and grey scales.

Without the Photo Dot Screen, your print will appear dark and you will not be able to tell the difference between foreground and background.

If you have access to a computer, professional laser printer (not ink jet) and professional design program (i.e. Adobe PhotoShop) then you can also manipulate the print by overlaying a 'screen' on the design when printing. This process is not supported on these pages - pleas refer to your programs 'Help files' for further details.

What photographs work best?
As you will generally be printing in single colour, a photograph that is also single colour is the best place to start - this being a black/ white photo.

If you photo is colour - don't worry it will still work out fine, but set the contrast on the photocopier one place higher to lighten the design slightly.

How do I use the RISO Photo Dot Screen?
A dot screen is laid over the stage glass of the photocopier (or computer scanner), UNDER the artwork/ design.

Place a piece of clean white paper over the back of the design to mask of the outside areas.

Lower the lis of the photocopier and start your copy

NOTE: When making a photocopy, set the copier to the lightest setting BEFORE the design begins to fade/ distort. Even the lightest setting of the photocopier STILL has too much carbon to create a screen (hence why the Blue Filter or Artwork Clean-Up process is used).

When the copy is made, the dot screen is then 'laid' over the design and the copy you receive is the fusion of the two elements.

Prepare your artwork properly and then image your screen.

How to make Fluro Purple
‘With Fluro purple no longer available from RISO, I have to improvise by mixing the new Purple (S-5179) with Fluro Pink (S-471).
It works great and you don’t have to mix forever to get the colour!!’
Internet (Italy)

Screen printing with Hy-cover ink
I print dark t-shirts all the time and when I use the hy-cover ink (which are really thick sometimes), I place another 2 plastic frames under my screen. My screens were always clogging up with the ink and the designs were not printing properly. I know you should raise the screen for plastics but it works a treat for fabric too.
My t-shirts now get the ink right through the screen and the prints are great!
Mrs T. Hundry (Australia)

Printing pictures on ceramics
The 70Mesh (blue stuff) just does not print my designs fine enough, so I tried the B5 Print Masters after an e-mail to you explaining my problem. The quality is MUCH better than the 70Mesh - which lets too much ink through.
Others doing photos onto ceramics should try this - it’s much better.
I did find that if you remove the plastic flap from the B5 screen AFTER you image the print it makes knowing what side to put the artwork against easier - I can’t read Japanese!
Also dont let the ink sit too long in the screen without printing - the B5 mesh tends to dry quicker, but you can rinse with water - carefully so as the cardboard does not get wet! :-)
Internet (US)
ED: The If anyone is interested or needs more information, simply e-mail us and we’ll forward you the details - e-mail GOCCOclub@nehoc.com.au

Online videos for GOCCOclub
These are FANTASTIC, but I only have a slow Internet connection, so I actually download the video and play this off my hard drive - Am I allowed to do this?????????
Internet (Canada)
ED: As long as you don’t edit the video or remove the copyright information we are happy to let you download the video from the GOCCOclub video section.

Warranty information
I lost my warranty form and information - and didn’t know what was covered. I found that the GOCCOclub actually has a warranty section on the Internet - others may be interested.
Go to the GOCCOclub section and then in the top menu select ‘Warranty Registration and claims’ in the right one.
Love the new search function too!!
Internet (Australia)

GOCCOclub Survey Results

The amazing response to our 2002 survey will ensure our service to you continues to improve with our newsletter and Internet Service.
Did you know the GOCCOclub gave away over $2,500 of prizes for this years survey??
The survey is not about gathering customer information, but more how members are using their systems - and how the GOCCOclub can best support you. Here’s a few of the interesting facts that came out of this years survey:

Total replies to 2002 survey:
Postal - 318 (314 from Australia)
Internet - 6,458

How often do you use your machine?
In a business (2+ per week) 6.3%
1-2 times per week 3.1%
2-3 times per month 25%
A few times per year 53.1%
Once or twice per year 3.1%
Have not used in 12 months 12.5%

What machine/s do you own?

Surveys were received from 27 different countries, including Norway, Italy, Greece, Saudi Arabia & Holland!
81.3% of members are interested in Specials/ discounts for Members Only
84.4% are interested in new products
91% of all replies told us what they wish to see developed (now you know why we have been busy!)

What members requested:
By far the biggest response was for a FAQ section on the web site that provided more detailed support for both products and applications.
NB: This section has already been opened and is now operating - www.nehoc.com.au/training/faq
More online videos for GOCCOclub Members
Stories/ Examples on professional users
Detailed descriptions of available products - what they are and how to use them (see page 3)
How to print promotional items for sale
What can go wrong and how to fix it!

With so much fantastic feedback, it’s taking us time to put your requests into place, however be assured we are working hard to help you. As always if you have a comment or suggestion for us - please send it in, we love hearing from you.