Silkscreening

• Tell Me About Silkscreening

• Contrast between silkscreen and powder coat colors (PDF)

The clarity of silkscreen can be greatly affected by the texture of powder coat used. Generally, for best results, it is recommended you choose a smooth powdercoat finish. Silkscreen will work on various textures and colors but each situation is unique. This may require modifications to your silkscreen such as changing of fonts and thickening of fine lines.

For more information, please contact tech support at info@protocase.com.

Image files must be provided electronically. Faxed images will not provide sharp enough resolution for our process to replicate. If text-only screening is required, simply provide information such as font type, font size and font color when you submit your order. Our graphics team will be happy to produce the required text-only screens.

Minimum 9 pt font size required, with the exception of silkscreening over sandtex powdercoat, which requires a minimum 11 pt font size.

Vector graphic files are recommended for highest print quality and clarity:

• .AI - Adobe Illustrator

• .EPS - Encapsulated PostScript

• .SVG - Scalable Vector Graphics

• .PDF - Portable Document Format

• .DXF or .DWG - AutoCAD

We can accept the following raster image files (additional processing charges may apply):

• .PNG - Portable Network Graphic

• .JPG (.JPEG) - Joint Photographic Experts Group

• .TIF (.TIFF) - Tagged Image File

• .PSD - Photoshop

• .VDX, .VSD, or .VSDX - Visio

• .DOCX - Microsoft Word

• .PPTX - Microsoft PowerPoint

File formats we cannot accept:

• .CDR - Corel Draw File

We recommend any part or enclosure with digital print or silkscreen be cleaned using a mild soap/degreaser (for example: dish detergent), or water with a soft (non-abrasive) cloth or sponge.

Avoid using isopropyl alcohol, lysol wipes, acetone or hand sanitizer. For cloths, we do not recommend paper towel, as it is abrasive.

As with everything in the manufacturing process, there are always some variance between parts and images (spatial registration). We use an X,Y and angular micro-adjust, which allows for a respectable tolerance of 0.020" | 0.51mm, which is more than adequate for most applications.

However, there are certain situations that are much more sensitive to disparation. Please see diagrams below for examples.

Figure 1 - Eccentric Circles: Left 0.020" (0.50mm) eccentricity x & y, middle 0.002" (0.05mm) x & y, Right 0.010" (0.25mm) eccentricity x & y

NOTE: We strive for excellence with the goal of reducing Foreign Object Debris (FOD) and achieving consistency with all silkscreening. However, due to some constraints of our facility, there may be minor blemishes on parts. These blemishes are not distinguishable or seen from an arm's length away.