Have you ever questioned how digital printing works? The term is thrown around a lot however do you know what it is? Are you wonder to learn more and how we can give you such high-quality work every single time.
Digital Printing is a term which defines how ink is printed straight onto a substrate. The approach of digital printing is an extremely comparable process to how your home colour printer works but on a bigger format. The printer typically prints in 4 colour process (CMYK), which is made up of C (Cyan), M (Magenta), Y (Yellow) and K (Black); the image is divided into these primary colours and prints as a set of patterns or portions of each colour to comprise the preferred image; for instance, if you print 100% Yellow and 100% Magenta, the colour will be Red. Our digital presses are also efficient in printing White. The inks we use are clear due to the fact that we need to blend them to develop the image so if we print onto clear substrates in CMYK only, the image will be translucent offering it a stained glass window impact however when we add White this assists to underpin the colour, decrease the translucency and make the image more nontransparent.
UV and UV LED Digital Printing
UV printing describes the curing procedure of the ink. On a standard home printer, you would be printing directly on to a paper or card which will absorb a few of the ink and give it time to dry by air. However, when printing on to a plastic substrate there is no absorption and the ink would just run the sheet so we require an extra drying service to assist dry the inks. This can be found in the form of UV ink that dries or cures utilizing a UV or UV LED light. The ink is still fired from the printer head in the same manner as above but the ink is then exposed to UV or UV LED light in very fast bursts to dry it. This all occurs in a matter of seconds providing the ink with a tough film which stops it from pooling on the plastic. This procedure really has fantastic benefit as it makes the inks long-lasting and robust and in addition to this, the curing has outstanding light quick residential or commercial properties which indicate the ink will not fade as quickly as basic inks would do in direct sunlight, necessary for window sticker labels.
Advantages and Downsides of Digital Printing
Digital printing innovation is constantly improving with the printer heads getting smaller, the print quality gets better and the speeds getting quicker, making Digital printing quickly, cost-effective and the future of printing. Digital printing has terrific benefits over other kinds of printing processes as there is no pre-press cost for plates or costly stencils which are used in litho and screen printing and there is no requirement for extra established material which is usually required in other kinds of printing thus conserving cash on costly materials. With these advantages in mind, digital printing truly lends itself to custom-made created or customised print options which would be very expensive on a litho or screen process. The Digital flatbed press can likewise print on to products up to 50mm thick which makes it versatile for a vast array of substrates where even a conventional screen or litho presses would have a hard time.
Is there another alternative if Digital Printing isn’t Suitable/Cost-Effective
Digital printing is generally limited to CMYK output and special Pantone colours are seldom utilized. This may be necessary to be familiar with if, for instance, you need to colour match precisely to a business logo design colour. In some instances, it is possible to print utilizing Pantone colours but it is an extremely pricey procedure to do Digitally. So if Pantone colours are needed, we can Evaluate or UV litho print instead as a more cost-effective option.
Digital printing is perfect for lower quantities and although the device speeds are getting much faster each year, there will be a specific amount reached where the faster print speeds of the UV litho and Screen devices provide a more cost-effective service.
With our online shop, we have actually currently exercised the most cost-effective methods to produce your work, however if you would like to understand how your task is being produced, please just ask, but no matter what procedure we utilize you remain in safe hands. With over 40 years of printing under our belts, we have the understanding and competence to produce high-quality printing for you.
