9 problems and their solutions for screen printing of squeeze cosmetic tubes

Ask any cosmetic tube manufacturer you want, manufacturing squeeze cosmetic tubes is a way harder job than it seems from the surface. There are a gazillion things that can go wrong. Screen printing is just a single part of the whole cosmetic tube production process and there are countless things that you need to be cautious of! And if you don’t have the much needed expertise and experience, you will overwhelm yourself in no time.

Thankfully, due to our years of experience as a cosmetic tube manufacturer, we have learned how to adapt and overcome all of these difficulties. We recommend you to take help of an experienced cosmetic tube manufacturer on your squeeze tube sourcing journey. Why? Because there will be many problems that you will face along the way! 9 of which we have given below with solutions to just give you a taste!

  1. The printing line is too deep or too shallow:

This problem occurs when the screen is not firmly fixed in the frame. It can also occur when the frame is not level or the frame is not perpendicular to the base plate.

Solution: Check that the printing line is correct and level before cosmetic tube container printing. If necessary, adjust the height of your screen printing table so that it matches with the height of your machine's baseplate. Make sure that all four corners of your baseplate are at right angles to each other and that they are equally positioned on a flat surface. If you have more than one press, make sure that all screens are aligned with each other using a ruler or straight edge as a guide.

 2. The ink is trapped in the mesh and can't be removed:

The most common cause for this problem is when there are folds or wrinkles in the mesh, which prevents it from being stretched tightly against a flat surface such as squeeze cosmetic tube.

Solution:If there are any folds or wrinkles in your mesh, remove them carefully by hand so that it will lie flat against your skin care tube surface without any obstructions preventing ink from flowing freely through it when printing with liquid.

3. Ink stains appear on the bulk cosmetic tube containers when the ink is dried:

In this case, the surface of the skin care tube is not flat, so the ink can’t be evenly printed on it.

Solution: Make sure that there are no defects on the surface of the cosmetic tube, and then use a better printing ink to print on it.

4. Too much waste ink appears on the skin care tube:

If there is too much waste ink on the surface of the cosmetic tube containers during printing, it can cause damage to both equipment and products.

Solution: Adjust pressure control parameters according to actual needs. Adjust nozzle position and angle. Check whether there are any blockages in the printing system. Clean up the cosmetic squeeze tube printing system regularly. Also, check whether there are any malfunctioning parts in the printing system etc.

5.Printing out of color:

This problem may be caused by too much ink on the screen, the screen mesh, or high temperature drying. There are many possible reasons for this phenomenon, such as poor quality inks and poor ink penetration into the surface, poor ink absorption etc.

Solution: The solution is to reduce the amount of ink on the screen and make sure that there are no thick spots. Use a suitable mesh for printing and do not dry it too fast in an oven.

6. The edge of the cosmetic tube printing is torn off during printing or drying;

This problem may be caused by too much ink on the screen, poor anti-blocking effect and insufficient blocking agent in the ink, etc.

Solution: To solve this problem, increase the number of anti-blocking steps and reduce the amount of ink on the screen, add a good blocking agent into the mixture of inks. After printing, use a suitable solvent to dissolve out all kinds of impurities on the surface of squeeze cosmetic tubes before packaging.

7. The printing speed is too fast or too slow:

The squeeze skin care tube can not be inked if the printing speed is too fast or too slow.

Solution: The reason for this situation is that there are some problems in the screen print of the screen printing machine.

1) The screen plate does not have enough tension on the screen plate.

2) The screen plate is not fixed on the screen plate holder correctly.

3) The ink is too thick, causing the ink to stick on the squeeze container surface.

4) When printing, there are bubbles in the ink chamber, which causes air bubbles in the printed area, resulting in incomplete ink deposition or non-ink deposition.

5) The nozzle position of a spray gun is not accurate, resulting in incomplete ink deposition or non-ink deposition.

6) The nozzle position of a spray gun is not accurate, resulting in incomplete ink deposition or non-ink deposition.

8. Difficulty in air drying of ink after bulk skin care tube printing:

This problem usually occurs when there is too little ink left on the screen after printing. It makes it difficult for air to pass through and dry out remaining ink inside the mesh openings. This may cause dark spots on skincare tube surfaces or even cause some parts of your design not to be printed at all due to lack of ink coming through mesh openings.

Solution: You must pay attention to whether there are any problems with your drying system. Then you can improve your drying methods according to actual conditions such as adjusting air temperature, humidity and time on drying. If necessary, you can improve your ink quality by adding certain additives (such as alcohol).

9. Mesh tearing;

Typically, for bulk cosmetic tube manufacture, mesh tearing is caused by the screen cloth being too old or worn out. The holes in the mesh are so large that they don't hold up under pressure, causing the mesh to tear apart at the seams.

Solution: If you feel that the mesh is too tight or too loose, change the mesh needle. Check the hole size of your needle and choose the right one. The smaller needle holes mean tighter meshes and vice versa.