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Printing Processes
Screen Printing Forcing liquid ink through a fine high grade polyester screen mesh with an instrument called a squeegee to deposit an image on a base material in the pattern exposed in the screen. This process originated as a fine art in the Orient utilizing silk for the mesh and is still often referred to as silk screen printing. The deposits of ink are commercially created of solvent based ink, ultra violet cured compounds, or water based ink systems. We use high temperature jet dry ovens, UV reactors, and Infra Red heating dryers to cure the ink on the sheet or product referred to as the substrate.
Pad Printing Utilizing an etched plate to flood and fill with quick drying ink systems which is lifted from the plate with a silicone treated pad. The pad carrying the ink is then pressed down upon the part, piece or shaped object. Pressure and release agents of the pad cause the free form ink to remain on the area intended to be printed. Post curing of the ink creates a very durable deposit that can be placed directly on very complex surfaces.
Hot Stamping A male image of the graphic required is etched into a special brass or aluminum plate. The plate is elevated in temperature, a ribbon carrying ink is passed between the plate and the object, sheet or piece to be decorated. With pressure, heat and dwell the ink is transferred to the object, sheet or piece to decorate or print an image in the color presented on the ribbon or foil. We perform this individually with single station presses, on roll stock to produce labels, decals and decorative trim.
Thermal Transfer Printing Much like Hot Stamping but the transfer is created digitally to eliminate the need for the hard plate. The image is created electronically in a print head which transfers via heat and pressure the ink from a ribbon of the requested color to the substrate. A family of materials have been created that create the image directly on a material utilizing only heat and pressure without the use of ribbon to create the print. This is referred to as Direct Thermal Printing. Our Gerber Edge Graphic Printer is a higher end Indirect Thermal Printer that will produce graphic images on several types of materials such as polyester, vinyl, lexan and special label stocks. The patented process includes special reference markings which targets a digitally driven cutter to stylus-plot the shape of an image created on a computer to finish or fabricate the shape of the part.
Inkjet Printing Large format and desktop printers operate on a piezo ink delivery system. We presently utilize Epson and Mimaki large format printers (up to 63 inch) which offer very high resolution output. The solvent inks with the Mimaki provide durability and longevity of the output which makes it a candidate for a manufactured product output device. The Epson can provide resolutions up to 2880 x 1440. HP Desktop printers are primarily used by us for proofing.
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