Teslin Card Printing Service Frequently Asked Questions
Q How long does it take to make a product?.
A. We usually ship the order 1 to 2 weeks after proof approval.
Q. What is involved in getting to proof approval.
A . There are several stages to the order process and the time each one takes can vary on what is furnished to us with the order.
1. The first thing is deciding on the artwork. If a customer does their own artwork, we will provide a die line and instructions. When the artwork is submitted, it usually takes us 1 day to review and enter the order. If minor correction need to be made, we can make the corrections or have the customer make them. If we produce the artwork from scratch, it usually takes 2-3 days to get the first draft back to the customer, the more information we are given with the order about what you want, the faster it goes.
2. Next we produce a PDF proof with the barcode in place. This proof has the copy for the front and back of the card, the starting and ending barcode. Along with the PDF proof we send a customer sign off sheet that has everything detailed about the order. It usually takes 2 days from entering the order entry to get a proof to the customer. If the customer feels comfortable with everything at this point, they fill out the customer sign off sheet and the job goes into production and will ship between 1-2 weeks.
3. If customer wants to see a press proof for final approval instead of the PDF, it usually takes 2 day to make a press proof and send it out. We usually send press proofs regular mail which usually takes 3 days to delivery. Once the press proof is approved and sign off sheet returned, we will ship between 1-2 weeks. This process can vary depending on the size of the order and the work we have ahead of the job.
Q. What is a press proof and why would I want one.
A. A press proof is a live sheet of your job printed on the press that the job will be produced on. The press proof is printed on Teslin, just like the regular job but is not laminated. Most libraries have a laminator and can laminate the press proof. If you do not have a laminator, we will produce a finished item for an additional charge.
Q. What determines the price of an order?
A. The price is determined by several factors, the most important is the quantity, the higher the quantity the lower the price. The price is calculate on how long it will take to produce the order, the cost of material , profit and divided by the quantity.
Q. What is Teslin?
A: Teslin is the brand name of a synthetic material produced by PPG industries that bonds physically and chemically with hot lamination.
Q. Why is Teslin better than other synthetic material?
A. The key to making a composite card or any other composite product is how well the adhesive from the lamination penetrates the core material, this is called porosity. Teslin has the best porosity of any synthetic on the market.
Q. How is the lamination applied to the core stock?
A. Lamination film, commonly called PET starts off with a roll of polyester film and then an adhesive is added to one side of the polyester. The adhesive goes on as a liquid when it is hot and turns to a solid when it cools. The lamination film is mounted on a laminator with one roll on the top that has the adhesive facing down and one roll on the bottom with the adhesive facing up. The core stock is fed into the laminator between the two rolls of lamination where the uncoated outside of the film goes over a heated roller that turns the solid adhesive back to a liquid. The lamination film on top, core stock and lamination film on the bottom is run under a pressure roller on top and bottom and pushes the liquid adhesive into the core stock. The adhesive cools and turns back to a solid.
Q. What makes one synthetic better than another.
A. The amount of adhesive that penetrates the core stock and what happens once it penetrates is the difference. For all practical purposes a synthetic is a piece of paper that is made of plastic instead of wood. The plastic does not absorb moisture as paper does but it needs to absorb the hot melt adhesive to make a good bond. If the core stock does not absorb the adhesive when it cools it just sticks to the core stock, making a weak bond between the core stock and the lamination. This is the main reason you see lamination peeling off a card or key tag. When Teslin is used as the core stock,the porosity of the core stock absorbs the hot melt adhesive deep into the sheet. The chemical composition of Teslin forms both a physical and chemical bond with the adhesive. This is why Teslin last up to 10 time longer than other synthetics.
Q. Why do some manufactures use other core stock instead of Teslin?
A. Cost, Teslin cost more and most people do not understand the difference between sticking to a surface and bonding to a surface. If you make a card that cost less, you have a better chance to sell it. Most people make a buying decision on initial cost, not the cost over the life of a product and they don’t consider the cost to reissue a product.
Q. Why not use paper, this is the way cards were originally made?
A. Cards were originally made by inserting a piece of paper into a lamination pouch, the paper was surrounded by a clear edge of lamination film that was bonded to itself, forming an edge seal. This product worked very well but had two main drawbacks, the first was each card had to be laminated one at a time, making the unit cost high to produce and second, for esthetics, people wanted the design to go to the edge of the card and bleed off.
Q. What happen if I laminate paper and do not edge seal it.
A. Without an edge seal, the edge of the paper will be exposed. Since paper absorbs moisture, the moisture will wick into the paper, it will expand and separate.
Q. Does it matter what type of ink I use to print?
A. Yes, most standard printing inks contain wax to make them harder and add a shine. The lamination film will NOT bond to the wax, making the card delaminate, inks need to be formulated to what they will be printed on for best results. If you put too much ink on the core stock, the adhesive can not penetrate the ink and will bond to the ink instead of the core stock. This is a common problem with cards delaminating.
Q. Are all lamination’s the same?
A. No, there are many different way to make lamination film, you start off with a piece of poly film and add the adhesive, this film for the purpose of making a composite card is usually 2 mil, 4 mil or 7 mil thick. Adhesive is added to the poly to make the combination of poly and adhesive come up to 10 mils. Let say you are making a 30 mil card, which is pretty much industry standard, you can use a lamination that has 2 mils poly and 8 mils adhesive, 4 mils poly and 6 mils adhesive or 7 mils poly and 3 mils adhesive, they all come up to 10 mil. So your 30 mil card could have 2,4, or 7 mils poly. The adhesive is less expensive that the poly so vendors can save money by using a film with 2 mil poly and 8 mils adhesive. We use 4/6 lamination which has 4 mil poly (twice the thickness of the protection) and 6 mil adhesive. The 6 mil of adhesive give us enough adhesive to penetrate into the Teslin core forming a chemical and physical bond. The 30 mil card is made of 10 mil lamination on front, 10 mil core stock and 10 mil lamination but they are not constructed the same.
Q. What is Corona treating and why is it important?
A. Corona treating increase the surface energy of films, foils, and paper to improve wetability and adhesion of inks, coatings and adhesives. The poly film does not have much surface energy so the poly is Corona treated to make the hot melt adhesives bond better. No or bad Corona treating is one the main reason for failure in composite cards. A card is only as strong as the weakest link. As you have seen, the most common weak link is between the core stock and the adhesive, the second most common is between the adhesive and the poly. The better job the laminator coater does the longer the card will last. Not all films are treated the same, some cut corners to make a film they can sell for less but it does not last.
Q. What is mapped and matching?
A. Laminating film has what is call orientation that can cause curl. Lamination films are manufactured in large rolls and then cut down into smaller rolls to be used in production. Because the film is wrapped tight in a roll, it can have a tendency to curl or do what is called potato chip, the card does not lay flat. Mapping and matching is a process where the master roll has the opposite rolls matched up, let say a master roll will produce 8 production rolls. The process of mapping and matching takes the outside roll from the right end and the outside from the left end and matches them up in the same box for you use 1 roll for the top of the sheet and 1 roll for the bottom of the sheet. Because both of the rolls have exactly the opposite curl, they counter act each other and eliminate the curl or potato chip affect. If you rolls are mapped and matched, they will lay flat. We carry the process one step further, because we usually run clear film on the front and matte film on the back, our film has 1 roll of the mapped and match set removed, it is coated with a matte finish, rewound and put back in the original box so we have a clear roll and a matte roll mapped and matched. This is another step a lot of manufactures leave out to cut cost so they can sell their products for less but they do not last as long.
Q. What is a water proof barrier and why is it important?
A. A water proof barrier is a treating that is applied between the adhesive and the poly film. This is very important because poly film is not waterproof but water resistant. The government (EPA) has eliminated oil base adhesives and now they are all water based. if water penetrated through the poly and gets to the adhesive, it will break the adhesive down and the card will delaminate. No all films have water proof barrier, some manufactures leave this step out to same money. You can n to look at a card and tell if it has a water proof barrier but you can sure tell when they come apart.
Q. What is the difference between a PVC card and a composite card?
A. PVC is a very rigid material and can not be numbered in large sheets. A PVC card is printed multiple up, laminated, die cut and then is number on a individual card one at a time on the surface, leaving no protection to the barcode. The most common was are numbering a PVC card is by thermal transfer or ink jet printing.
A composite card is produced on a flexible synthetic material, the barcode number is printed on the core stock, laminated and then die cut. With a composite card, the barcode is under the lamination and protected by the poly, the thicker the poly the more protection you have. Teslin was developed so the barcode could be printed directly on the core material and a lot of vendors say they have Teslin cards because the barcode is printed on the core stock, what they should be saying is they have a composite card printed on a synthetic core. As you have seen of the Q & A above Teslin is a brand name of the synthetic material that is produce by PPG Industries that bond up to 10 time stronger than other cheaper synthetic material. Don’t be fooled by someone using the wrong terminology.
