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Best Before Date Stamps Blog post. Read our Latest Rubber Stamps Case Study. Self Inking-Stamps Ltd is based in Auckland, New Zealand.
We make Trodat custom made stamps and multi-colour rubber stamps. Along with Shiny and traditional rubber stamps.
The phone rings.
Client – “Hi there. I bought a stamp and it isn’t working for me. Can you tell me why it won’t work? I have paid good money and don’t want to buy another one.”
Self-Inking Stamps – “Tell me what is going on?”
Client – “I bought this stamp which is a date stamp with Best Before on the top line and the bottom line is an interchangeable date. When I stamp it on my boxes the ink is smudging and wiping off”
Self-Inking Stamps – “Has the box got a glossy surface?”
Client –“Yes”
We get a few of these calls from time to time where someone has purchased a stamp on the internet and thought cool problem solved.
I have a stamp coming which I can mark my packaging, products, business cards or catalogues with. That will save a lot of time.
However there is one important difference between the stamp mark sticking and wiping off.
The standard ink for Trodat and Shiny brands of stamp is water based. This is great for matt paper or cardboard.
However when the surface is gloss paper or card, plastic, steel or glass the ink will wipe off.
Can we help this situation? They are a small manufacturer and don’t have a big budget for fancy marking systems.
They have spent good money on a stamp and it might be useless. Well, no, not completely.
The stamp itself is fine, no problem there. It is the ink that is the issue.Yes we do have a solution.
The ink pad in Trodat and Shiny brand stamps can be removed.
For this person the Trodat 4850 best before stamp has this removable ink pad. More importantly this model has what is known as a dry ink pad as one of the ink pads choices.
There is no ink in the pad. It is designed to have special ink added for the surface required. These inks are alcohol or solvent based stamp inks
Self-Inking Stamps can supply these special dry ink pads and special Noris inks for different surfaces.
There is Noris 119FP ink which is fantastic for food grade plastic bags. Great for fruit growers, manufactured foods and even boil in the bag items.
While Noris 007 ink works on most surfaces including most plastics, steel glass and rubber. This ink is quite surprising as to what it will stick to.
But not everything. It pays to check. You can send a sample of the item you want to stamp to Self-Inking Stamps and it can be stamped and checked that the ink will stay on before buying. That is a stress saver!
There is an issue that the ink dries out in the pad as the ink dries out not every part of the ink leaves the pad. The binding agents, dyestuff and other ingredients remain in the pad.
So if you re-ink the pad using the normal ink, you add those remains to the new ink. Over time this process changes the ink in the pad more and more. This will lead to a sticky problem.
To prevent it, Noris have created the refresher for the ink. As the pad dries out or is already dry, please use the refresher first. It will add to the pad those missing ingredients.
Please use a few drops of refresher on the pads and then rub the refresher in the pad using a small stick. Afterwards you can stamp again.
Please note that over time the imprint will get weaker, as the refresher doesn’t add any dyestuff or pigment to the pad. So when the imprint gets to weak, use the normal ink again for re-inking. Afterwards the cycle begins anew.
Also it pays to remove the ink pad from the stamp, replace the cap and store in an airtight container if not being used for more than two days at a time, another way is wrap it in plastic cling film excluding as much air as possible.
Given time we have found the rubber die can stick to the ink pad a bit, sometimes with the 007 ink ripping the rubber die off the stamp especially on the little ones.
The pad can also dry completely and no longer absorb ink, see above for the remedy.
We highly recommend using the refresher as well to keep the ink fluid. This can also bring a pad back from dry and unusable to usable again if stamping infrequently.
If using infrequently and having no refresher on hand means having an insurance policy of having a spare dry pad for that occasion when you need to get some work done and a useless pad for the stamp.
For this client we supplied a replacement ink pad in the dry type for his Trodat 4850 stamp, T4850D or 6/4850D, and a bottle of 119FP ink. As only on batch was necessary a refresher bottle wasn’t appropriate.
Yippee solution provided, stamp was still good and not wasted and their product boxes were marked nicely.
Do remember that these inks while special that they stick to all sorts of things drying time is not instant. This time will vary from surface to surface and the temperature and environment that they are being used in.
If it is critical that drying time is almost instant this may not be a solution for you.
Due to this being a common request Self-Inking Stamps has now created three products for these Best Before date stamps.
There is a range of ink colours
This ink does work on a good range of plastics other than freezer bags by the way.
We have added a bottle of Noris 119FP ink plus a bottle of Noris 191REF refresher for cleaning and refreshing the ink in the pad.
The only ink colour here is Black
You can use this on most surfaces.
For the 007 ink there is a colour choice
If you are unsure about your stamping situation contact us and we can identify just the right stamp and ink for your needs.
Finally contact Trent, if you have any questions or need further product information. Stay up to date with our latest news and promotions on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+.