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 proof approval?
A . There are several stages to the order process, and the time each one takes can vary depending on what is furnished to us with the order.
1. The first thing is deciding on the artwork. We will provide a die line and instructions if a customer does their artwork. When the artwork is submitted, it usually takes us 1 day to review and enter the order. We can make minor corrections or have the customer make them if they need to be made. 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. We produce a PDF proof with the barcode in place. This proof has a copy of the front and back of the card, as well as the starting and ending barcode. Along with the PDF proof, we send a customer sign-off sheet with everything detailed about the order. It usually takes 2 days from entering the order entry to get proof to the customer. If the customer feels comfortable with everything, they fill out the customer sign-off sheet, and the job goes into production and will ship within 1-2 weeks.
3. If the customer wants to see a press proof for final approval instead of the PDF, it usually takes 2 days to make a press proof and send it out. We typically send press proofs by regular mail, which generally takes 3 days to deliver. 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 on which the job will be produced. 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 calculated on how long it will take to produce the order, the cost of material, and profit 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 materials?
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 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 into a solid when it cools. The lamination film is mounted on a laminator with one roll on the top with the adhesive facing down and one on the bottom with the adhesive facing up. The core stock is fed into the laminator between the two lamination rolls, where the uncoated outside of the film goes over a heated roller that turns the solid adhesive back into a liquid. The lamination film on top, core stock, and lamination film on the bottom are run under a pressure roller on top and bottom, which 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 penetrating the core stock and what happens once it penetrates is the difference. For all practical purposes, synthetic paper 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 form a good bond. If the core stock does not absorb the adhesive when it cools, it sticks to it, creating a weak bond between the core stock and the lamination. This is why 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. Teslin’s chemical composition forms a physical and chemical bond with the adhesive. This is why Teslin lasts up to 10 times longer than other synthetics.
Q. Why do some manufacturers use other core stock instead of Teslin?
A. Cost: Teslin costs more, and most people do not understand the difference between sticking to a surface and bonding to a surface. If you make a less expensive card, you can sell it easier. Most people make a buying decision based on the initial cost, not the cost over a product’s life, and they don’t consider the cost of reissuing a product.
Q. Why not use paper, this is the way cards were originally made?
A. Cards were initially made by inserting a piece of paper into a lamination pouch; the paper was surrounded by a clear edge of lamination film 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 happens 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 for what they will be printed on for the 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 laminations the same?
A. No, there are many different ways to make lamination film; you start with a piece of poly film and add the adhesive; this film, to create a composite card, is usually two mils, four mils, or seven mils thick. The 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 two mils poly and eight mils adhesive, four mils poly and six mils adhesive or seven mils poly and three mils adhesive, they all come up to 10 mil. So your 30 mil card could have 2,4 or 7 mil poly. The adhesive is less expensive than the poly, so vendors can save money using a film with two mil poly and eight mil adhesive. We use 4/6 lamination, which has four mil poly (twice the thickness of the protection) and 6 mil adhesive. The six mils of adhesive give us enough adhesive to penetrate the Teslin core, forming a chemical and physical bond. The 30-mil card is made of 10-mil lamination on the front, 10-mile core stock, and 10-mile laminate, but they are not constructed the same way.
Q. What is Corona treating, and why is it important?
A. Corona treating increases the surface energy of films, foils, and paper to improve the wettability 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 treatment is one of the main reasons 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, and 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 called orientation, which can cause curl. Lamination films are manufactured in large rolls and then cut down into smaller rolls for production. Because the film is wrapped tightly in a roll, it can tend to curl or do potato chips, and the card does not lay flat. Mapping and matching is a process where the master roll has the opposite rolls matched up; let’s say a master roll will produce eight 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. You can use one roll for the top of the sheet and one roll for the bottom of the sheet. Because both rolls have the opposite curl, they counteract each other and eliminate the curl or potato chip effect. If your rolls are mapped and matched, they will lay flat. We carry the process one step further because we usually run the transparent film on the front and matte film on the back; our film has one 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 many manufacturers leave out to cut costs so they can sell their products for less, but they do not last as long.
Q. What is a waterproof barrier, and why is it important?
A. A waterproof barrier is a treatment 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-based adhesives, which are now water-based. If water penetrates through the poly and gets to the adhesive, it will break it down, and the card will delaminate. No all films have water proof barrier, some manufactures leave this step out to same money. You can’t look at a card and tell if it has a waterproof barrier, but you can tell when it comes apart.
Q. What is the difference between a PVC card and a composite card?
A. PVC is very rigid and can not be numbered in large sheets. A PVC card is printed multiple up, laminated, die cut, and then numbered on an individual card one at a time on the surface, leaving no protection to the barcode. Thermal transfer or inkjet printing is the most common way of numbering a PVC card.
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 in the Q&A above, Teslin is a brand name for synthetic material produced by PPG Industries that bonds up to 10 times stronger than other cheaper synthetic materials. Don’t be fooled by someone using the wrong terminology.
