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UV LED,THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY

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                                                                                                                          UV LED,THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY FOR PROMO ITEMS                                                  AND MORE

 

For a long time the standard for printing on promotional items and flat products has been done via, pad printing, sublimation or solvent Digital. All of these applications have been tried and true for years. Over the last few years the industry has started to see a change over to UV LED. This new technology is now starting to be seen as the way to go because of its range of color, ease and print longevity. Like all new breakthroughs in technology it takes some time to prove itself and to change the mindset of how things are currently done.

What is UV LED?

UV inks are developed to cure when exposed to UV light. The more UV light the ink is exposed to the faster the ink is going to cure. To achieve a fast cure a UV LED lamp is attached to the print head carriage. The lamp travels alongside the print head so the moment the ink had reached the print surface it is bombarded with UV light and cured instantly. When the printer has finished printing the design onto the surface that print is now complete and ready for sale, no extra time is spent on heat, transferring the design or waiting to ink to dry.

What are UV LED Printers used to print on?

The great thing about UV LED printers is the fact you can print on almost any surface. The most common items used are promotional items like phone cases, pens and bottle openers. But any flat surface like wood, glass, metal and plastic can be printed on with a long lasting durable print. Single items are placed onto a vacuum table or sticky matt to hold them in place. Items like pens that need to be printed in multiples at once can use a jig that holds the pens and a template is used to add the printable image in the specific print areas.

Can you print on Light and Dark Surfaces?

Depending on the printer in most cases you can print on light and dark surfaces. The FreeJet 330UV printer comes with CMYK inks for color and white ink for printing on dark surfaces. When you print on a dark surface like black plastic, a white ink under base must first be printed followed by the CMYK color pass for the color. This adds white ink to the image and also give the colors a base to print on that gives them more pop. The FreeJet 330UV also comes with clear as a color. This allows you to print a final pass of clear to help protect and enhance the print.

What Makes the FreeJet 330UV Different?

  • BI Directional Printing: The FreeJet 330UV is the only printer in its class to use Dual UV LED Lamps. All other printers use a single lamp so this means the printer only prints in one direction known as uni directional. Using dual lamps allows the printer to print in bi directional so the printer is printing during the right and left motion of the printing pass. This speeds the print time up to almost double the speed. Faster printing is a huge factor when it comes to production time. When you are printing 100’s of items like pens it’s all about quantity, the faster you can print them the more print jobs you can fulfill in an average print day.
  • White Ink Circulation: With all white ink printers white ink is a heavy pigment that starts to separate over time. The ink must be moved through the system to keep the ink solid. This in most cases relates to white ink being wasted to keep it moving. The FreeJet 330UV uses a circulation system that keeps the ink moving without waste.
  • Gantry System: Print registration is a huge factor when you are printing in general. A large amount of images printed on promotional products are very small so print registration is vital. With a gantry printing system the product being printed on stays in one spot and the printer’s carriage moves over the print. This way you are printing onto a stationary surface. Many other machines use a print table that moves into the printer and then out slowly while the print head moves back and forth. This action creates essentially a moving target during the print process, it can also cause alignment issues from time to time.
  • Standard and Custom Product Jigs: When you need to print as many products as you can at once the best way to do this is with a jig that holds the optimal amount. OmniPrint International offers multiple stock jigs for products like pens, cell phone cases and bottle openers. If you have your own product and need the ability to print on them in a high production capability then custom jigs can be made to help you. Send in your product and a custom jig will be made around it and also set up for the maximum amount that can fit for printing. Each jig with also come with a custom template file to make set up and graphic placement easy.
  • Multiple UV Ink Choices: Depending on your product line you are not limited to just hard flat surface items. The FreeJet 330TX has both a ridged and a flexible ink solution, if you need to print on plastic bags or rubber it is no problem. The inks are available in Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, White and Clear if you want added protection and color enhancement.
  • Powerful RIP Printing Program: The program used for printing is a vital part of the printing process. The Direct RIP for UV has ultimate control over how you want your print to come out. The most important part is the color match, hours of color profiling is done to make sure that you get the best match of color every time. Ink can also be controlled to print in multiple layers to create a 3D or textured feel to the print.
  • Wet Capping: The most important part on any printer is the Print Head, if it gets clogged then you are no longer printing. When the printer sits without use it can become more and more susceptible to clogging the longer it sits. All FreeJet printers use the tried and true “Wet Capping” system, when the printer is not in use the print head sits soaking in a cleaning solution. Not only does this system allow up to 30 days of trouble free down time, it also drastically reduces maintenance and wasted ink. No matter if the printer has been sitting for 5, 10 or even 30 days, you will be up and printings within about 5 minutes of start up.

 

 

 

The post UV LED,THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY appeared first on Direct to Garment Printer | The DTG Experts | Omniprint International.


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