Inca FAQs
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Inca FAQs
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General Questions |
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Onset FAQs |
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Turbo Plus FAQS |
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Spyder FAQS |
General questions for all sections
UV inkjet printing
Ultra violet curing of coatings is a widely used process that we encounter in everyday life.
UV coatings are used in diverse applications ranging from the manufacture of furniture, to fibre optic cables and optical lenses. It is a technology that is in everyday use and it continues to find new applications.
Q How long has UV technology been around?
A The technology that underpins UV inks used in display graphics was pioneered during the 1940’s and 1950’s (the first patent for ‘UV’ curable ink was granted in 1946). The rapid growth and interest in UV-inkjet printing over the past 2-3 years has been prompted by the desire for increased productivity and print quality together with the need to reduce the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere. The first commercially viable UV curable inkjet system launched by Sericol Imaging in 1999 was Uvijet.
Q What are UV curing Inkjet inks?
A UV curing inkjet inks contain a mixture of reactive monomers, oligomers, photoinitiators, pigments and other additives. When exposed to UV light the photoinitiators react and cross link (polymerise) to form a dry film.
Q Why is UV curing inks becoming more popular for inkjet printing?
A The main benefit when using a UV curable ink is increased efficiency.
Uvijet inks once jetted set instantly, which improves not only the print quality but also production speeds. Also, as Uvijet inks do not dry until exposed to UV light there is no risk of the ink drying during printing increasing the life of the print head and greatly reducing downtime.
Q Are there hazards associated with the cured ink?
A Once the ink has been cured with the correct dose of UV the ingredients are ‘locked together’ and there are no hazards associated with handling the prints thereafter. However, materials printed with these inks cannot be recommended for direct food contact, nor should they be used to decorate items that may be sucked or chewed by children.
Q Are these inks safe to use?
A Uvijet inks, developed by FUJIFILM Sericol for inkjet digital applications, have a low hazard rating and can be handled with the minimum of precautions. The selected compounds have low irritancy. Like any other chemical it is recommended to wear gloves and safety glasses when handling Uvijet inks. For specific hazard and handling details please refer to FUJIFILM Sericol’s material safety data sheet.
Q Why do UV curing inks have a different odour?
A UV curing inks have a distinct odour; this is a result of the compounds used and the different drying method involved.
Q What benefits does a UV Inkjet flatbed offer the screen and solvent based digita printer?
A. UV Inkjet has been designed to complement both screen and the more traditional solvent based digital printing. Its key benefit is the ability to print direct to rigid media removing the need to mounting which carries extra costs. For the screen printer UV flatbed technology provides the most cost effective method of producing short/medium run work.
Q What type of applications is UV inkjet most suitable for?
A. Any application that involves the decorating of rigid and flexible media currently produced from screen printing or sign makers. The latest greyscale print head technology also provides the image quality that satisfies the commercial print and photo lab markets.
Q. What is the difference between “actual” and “apparent” DPI?
A. DPI is a measurement of resolution of a printer based on its ability to produce dots and is an indication of the number of dots per sq inch that a printer is capable of achieving to form text or graphics. For UV inkjet printer the most common print heads used for graphic printing is 360DPI (actual resolution). However, by adding additional print heads and or staggering them then the DPI can be increased further e.g. 2x360= 720 (apparent resolution).
Therefore, a high resolution quoted may not be a true reflection of print quality achievable from a binary print-head. By far the best measure is “drop size and drop placement accuracy”, which is the ability of the printer to jet droplets of ink accurately and by the use of dithering or interlacing, through which the print quality can be enhanced whilst eliminating the effects of banding.
Q. What is the difference (strengths & weaknesses) between Grayscale and Binary print heads?
A. Up till now UV inkjet printers have all used Binary print-heads. Binary print heads deliver a single drop of ink normally which ranges from 28 pico-litres to 80 pico-litres. The real benefit of a binary system is the size of the droplets makes it ideal for multiple pass technology as these droplets are big enough not to be deflected by air turbulence created as the print carriage or print bed move from side to side / in and out.
Grayscale print head deliver a much smaller droplet which can join together in flight before hitting the substrate. Up till now these print heads have been used primarily for single pass processes, where the smaller drops produce finer text, smoother graduations, more vivid colours and better image quality.
The main limitation is cost which limits the number of grayscale print-heads which can be economically used to produce a single pass wide format printer. Therefore, a multiple pass process is required and as these smaller droplets can be easily deflected by the air turbulence,
the print speed achievable is much lower than for a binary print head.
When will the production claims of OEMs digital printers reflect the true capability of saleable output speeds?
A. Digital printer’s de-skills print production allowing many competitors to enter the market. In this crowded market place, OEMs look to gain sales by advertising the jetting capability of their products. These high end speeds often relate to the printers ability to physically move media through the printer whilst jetting but do not reflect the (downtime) taken for set up, cleaning, ripping, start up etc.
Output quality is also a key factor. It is therefore very important that customers evaluate printers comparing there own files; materials etc and establish the true downtime that they will experience in the day to day use of the printer. As a guide:
Print Speed – also called headline speed refers to the fastest print mode of the press
Production speed – Production speed refers to the “real” print speed that is achieved in actual production. It is a measure of the print mode of the equipment that will deliver the necessary quality that is commercially acceptable for that application.
The colours for UV inks are not as ‘bright’ as other ink systems will this change?
Yes - UV curing inkjet is still an emerging technology and the development focus remains with improving the application range to maximise the productivity enhancements UV curing provides. Until now one of the limiting factors is finding pigments that have the required exterior durability with the stability and particle size required.
FUJIFILM Sericol's latest Uvijet “Ultratone” range increases the colour gamut significantly and can for the first time provide both vivid images and accurate spot colour accuracy. For now these inks are only available on the Inca platforms.
Q Does the substrate requires any special coatings to enable them to be printed with Uvijet UV curing inks?
A Uvijet inks have been designed to print on a variety of industry standard media without the need for any special primers and coatings. Where there is a need to improve mechanical abrasion resistance, Uvijet Fusion Primers can be used to increase the adhesion of Uvijet digital ink systems further onto a wider range of substrates such as: Acrylic, PVC, Polycarbonate, Fluted Polypropylene and PETG.
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Q. Can the Onset really be more cost effective compared to screen for mid to long print runs?
A. The screen process provides the user with many benefits, but is by its nature a very complex and labour intensive. By contrast UV inkjet is a very simple process but until now most printers are too slow to replace screen.
The throughput and image quality provided by the Onset allows the larger graphic printer to replace screen with an inkjet alternative for run lengths from 300 – 600 prints (depending on format size) whilst still allowing the versatility of printing short runs upwards of one off.
Q. The productivity claims of most UV inkjet printers do not match quoted output speed. What evidence is there that backs up the claim of 500m/hr in the Onset brochure?
A. The development of the Onset was to deliver a printer that can image 100 sheets per hour. The output from the installations using the fully auto handling system are producing high quality commercial prints in excess of 500mtrs/hr (100+ sheets). In fact for certain images/media type throughput has reached an amazing 140 sheets per hr or 700mtrs/hr.
Q. Inkjet technology is not renowned for its longevity, but rather it versatility, why then should I invest over £1mn in a printer that may become redundant in 3 years?
A Firstly, the Onset is truly an industrial printer; it weighs over 12000kgs and it occupies 20x12mtrs. At its heart are 576 Dimatix peizo printheads arranged into 144 print modules firing three billion droplets of ink per second. Secondly, Inca understanding and experience of a moving bed architecture gathered during the past 10 years should assure anyone that the Onset is built to last. And finally, experience suggests that like previous Inca platforms (Columbia Turbo/Spyder320) the productivity of the Onset will lead the WF graphics market for at least three years before any other OEMs to come close to matching its performance.
Q. The Onset has a material handling system but doesn’t this restrict its versatility?
A, No, unlike other material handling systems the automation is located at the rear leaving the front open to operation as per the Columbia Turbo thus maximising its versatility and productivity.
Q The Onset has a material handling system but how often is it really used?
A. There should be no doubt that the HTB system fitted to the Onset can handle media as efficiently on the Onset as it does on a Thieme screen MCM. However, like screen printing it performance is directly related to the types and sizes of the media and the experience of the operator. Because of these variables which are outside of Inca and HTB control, it’s been decided that FUJIFILM Sericol will assist with operator training for all new Onset installations.
Q Can I buy an Onset without the fully auto-handling system?
A Yes, the Onset comes with a variety of manual or semi auto material options to match more closely customers individual material and handling needs.
Q Why is there two finish modes?
A The two modes have been developed to satisfy the POP needs for both a low glare satin (in store high level displays) and high impact gloss finish ( low level displays and signage)
Q Can the Onset have a white option?
A No this option will not be added to this platform. The target market for the Onset requires high productivity and competitive costs. Adding white would reduce the productivity of the printer as the output speed would have to be reduced to ensure the UV white ink received sufficient UV dose to cure.
Q What is the maximum material thickness that the Onset can decorate?
A. The printer can decorate materials up to 10mm in height. When the Onset is used in the manual mode the printer can print sheets up to 40kg in weight. When using the feeder, the maximum individual sheet weight reduces to 10kg.
Q. Can I print double-sided production on the Onset?
A. Yes- but your material has to be square as the Onset justifies currently to a right lay pin. A left lay pin is been considered by Inca as a future upgrade.
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Q What is the key difference between the existing Columbia Turbo & Turbo Plus?
A Following the success of the Columbia Turbo which was launched in 2004, Inca Digital have launched the Turbo Plus which offers 6 colour printing with a bed of 3.2 x 1.6m.
The Turbo Plus incorporates two additional print modules, which increase the total number of print heads to 96 compared to 64 on a four colour Columbia Turbo. The extra printheads enable the Turbo Plus to incorporate white or two extra colours. Turbo Plus will consistently produce at a throughput of up to 23 full bed sheets per hour (depending on handling time) or at speeds of up to 157 sq m/hr. Production capacity can be increased even further for any Turbo specification, in fact by up to a third, with the application of the AutoSpeed handling system.
Q. What is the maximum sheet weight the Turbo can hold?
A. The maximum substrate weight the Turbo can print is 40kg. This upper weight is set for safety as the Turbo operates using a fast moving bed system. Higher substrate weights could lead to damage of the printer if the vacuum system failed to hold the substrate firmly in place.
Q Is there a nozzle fault tolerance function?
A. Inca have developed a very sophisticated software system that allows end users to enter details of any missing nozzles that any head on the printer may have. The software than instructs alternative nozzles to jet in place of these missing nozzles maintaining print quality.
Q. How does the Turbo Plus cope with heat sensitive materials?
A. The UV lamps use a water cooling system which greatly reduces radiant heat. The printer also has 12 power settings for the UV lamps which gives a high level of flexibility when managing heat for sensitive substrates.
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Q What benefits does the Ultratone ink system offer?
A Because of its technology, UV inkjet is accepted as having a limited colour gamut. In fact a great deal of time is spent by OEM’s in choosing the right type of images that have little or no spot colour for demonstrating printers at exhibitions.
By adding three additional colours (Orange, Violet and Green) to the CYMK range FUJIFILM Sericol have extended the colour gamut to that similar to screen. The benefit is far more accurate reproduction of Pantone PRMS spot colours as well as more vibrant, brighter images.
Q Can an existing Spyder 320 be upgraded to work with the Ultratone system?
A Yes, customers who have bought a six colour Spyder 320 can convert the printer to use the Ultratone system with minimal disruption and cost or alternatively, additional ink channels can be purchased from Inca.
Q. What is the maximum substrate weight that the Spyder 320 can print
A. The maximum substrate weight is 80kg.
Q. What electrical supply is required for the Spyder 320
A. All the printer variations in the Spyder 320 range will run on a single phase supply. Many competitor printers in this segment require a 3 phase supply which can be very costly to install.
Q. Why does the Inca Spyder 320 not have an automatic material measuring system fitted which is onboard the Inca Turbo Plus?
A. The automated material measurement system on the turbo has to be very efficient so press print throughput is not compromised. This system is expensive. The Spyder 320 price point & productivity cannot justify this level of automotive cost. Lower cost systems though effective greatly eat into the productivity of the printer and so are deemed inappropriate.
Q. Is Static an issue with the Inca Spyder 320Q Fine?
A. All digital printers can be affected by static. The small drop mass of the ejected ink from the print heads can be charged by the environment causing it to deflect. Inca will arrange a site survey prior to any install to ensure that any remedial work to condition the local environment is completed prior to installation.
Q Is there any intention to add a roll option to the Spyder320?
A No, Inca’s strength is with flatbed technology and it not the intention to add a roll option to the Spyder 320.
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