By Cassandra Balentine
Plastic is an excellent substrate for a myriad of applications across nearly all industries. With continued advancement for direct to object (DTO) printing, the range of possibilities extends.
The June issue of Industrial Print magazine looks into the latest developments, remaining limitations, and the future of DTO printing to plastics. Here we highlight products that handle this type of print.
Apex Machine Company offers a variety of printing systems from basic, manual machines all the way to high-speed, fully automated, turnkey solutions. The company designs systems to best meets a client’s goals, requirements, and objectives.
William J. White, VP of global sales, Apex Machine Company, says it makes a point to listen to its customers in order to design the machine that they want. “Besides the equipment, customer service is the number one priority at Apex and Desco. We constantly strive to better improve upon your experience when dealing with our team. White It starts with listening to our customers and what they want, then providing a system for their specific product. This is the greatest opportunity to become the best at what we do and to deliver continuous innovation around optimizing our offerings.”
INX International Ink Co. supplies a line of direct-to-shape JetINX components and software to allow machine builders and engineering groups to address the needs of printing directly on plastics. The company also supplies the ink and pretreatment options and works with the customer to create the recipe—including treatment, ink, printhead, print mode, curing, and varnishing needed to create a finished printed plastic piece.
“Print-on-plastic projects are as unique as the plastic containers can be. Every marketer wants their product to be unique in shape and other characteristics. INX has been involved in printing direct-to-plastic shapes since 2013. In conjunction with our partners, we have successfully deployed consumer products via direct-to-shape printers to produce millions of parts annually,” says Jay Larsen, GM/director of R&D, digital inkjet printing solutions, INX.
LogoJET provides an extensive selection of UV printers specialized for direct printing on plastics, catering to a broad spectrum of material types. Its offerings are engineered to produce durable, high quality, and vivid prints across a diverse range of plastic substrates.
To accommodate various production scales and object sizes, LogoJET printers feature versatile print areas ranging from 18×24 to an expansive 59×98 inches, along with capabilities to handle materials up to six inches in height for printing on taller objects.
The company’s lineup includes the UVx40R PLUS-SE, UVx90R-SE, LUNA, and TERRA flatbed models, each designed to meet different needs and production requirements, ensuring there’s a solution for every business size and application.
According to Susan Cox, CEO, LogoJET, says the company stands out in the DTO printing industry for several key reasons that differentiate its technology from competitors—advanced ink technology, versatility, integration and automation, reliability, and scalability.
It is a complete solution. “Each printer is complemented by custom trays or rotary attachments, facilitating printing on both flat and cylindrical products. This comprehensive approach provides our clients with a complete solution, from initial design to final product, enabling them to leverage DTO printing technology to its fullest potential,” adds Cox.
LogoJET also offers a trade in program for older equipment to upgrade to the latest model.
LSINC’s PeriOne, PeriQ, and Perivallo360m are all capable of printing on plastic media when combined with the requisite ink sets and pretreatments.
Its printers are highly versatile. “LSINC artists can help companies achieve the look, style, and feel they are looking to accomplish, whether it’s a raised, embossed look and feel, or it’s a simple, flat print. Our printers offer multi-layer printing, which can help eliminate the solid white background often seen on the back of opaque prints. Our printers also have the unique ability to print on clear media without the need for a barrier,” comments Maxie Gardner, communications specialist, LSINC.
LSINC offers a complete Innovation Solution for companies looking to get into digital DTO printing. The PeriQ360 offers mid-to- high-level volume printing with the ability to print four pieces of media. Meanwhile, the PeriOne, a single-tunnel decorator, can act as the proofing printer to perfect designs without stopping production on the PeriQ360.
Mimaki USA, Inc. offers a range of devices capable of printing to plastics, including JFX200-2513 EX: UV-LED large format flatbed printer; JFX200-2531 UV-LED extra-large format flatbed printer; JFX600-2513: UV-LED large format flatbed printer; JFX600-2531: UV-LED extra-large format flatbed printer; UJF-3042 MkII e: UV-LED tabletop flatbed printer; UJF-6042 MkII e: UV-LED small format flatbed printers; and UJF-7151 Plus II: UV-LED medium format flatbed printer.
To meet the uneven surface challenges, Hugo Gonzalez, senior segment specialist, industrial printing, Mimaki, points out that Mimaki has created the “LD” or long-distance profiles for the UJF Series of printers. Now in their third generation, these profiles provide high-quality printing on surfaces varying up to four millimeters from the high to the low point of the print surface. This means that a customer can print clearly on things like the inside of a clear phone cover.
“A related challenge was printing on tapered objects such as plastic cups. While Mimaki printers have been able to print on flat cylindrical objects for many years now, a tapered object with more than four millimeter end-to-end difference was challenging. Mimaki has just introduced the Kebab HS option for UJF Series printers that has the ability to print a full wrap on a cup up to 7.5 degree slope angle, and with faster print speeds than previous Kebab options,” shares Gonzalez.
Mutoh America, Inc.’s XPJ-461UF, XPJ-661UF, XPJ-1462, and PJ-2508UF are able to print direct to plastics.
Michael Litardo, marketing manager, Mutoh, says the company’s XPJ line of flatbed printers utilize proprietary technology to print layered prints faster than competitors. The company offers Local Dimming Control patented technology, which is able to produce glossy and matte vanish effects in one-pass printing.
Roland DGA Corporation offers a variety of flatbed UV printer models that are designed specifically for printing on a variety of materials and objects, including plastics. The different models available offer users a range of capabilities, allowing them to print on everything from items smaller than a coin, all the way up to objects that are eight feet long, eight inches thick, and weighing over 2,300 pounds. The options include “desktop” UV flatbeds, like its new VersaSTUDIO BD-8, which is ideal for start-ups or home office-based businesses, to bigger, incredibly productive machines, like its new EU-1000MF flatbed, which is ideal for larger, high-volume production environments.
Valloy is developing the SNAPJETTM single-pass UV LED inkjet printer module, which can be combined with multiple modules working seamlessly by software and installable on any kind of existing process for production factories.
Valloy’s solution features an advanced vision system with auto-correct of printing registration for rotated or misaligned objects, even in different heights.
Practical Plastic
These solutions and more lead the way when it comes to DTO printing to plastics. Read more on the subject in our June issue.
Jun2024, Industrial Print Magazine
