Signs of the Times - October 2013 - (Page 16)

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE Darek Johnson is ST’s Senior Technology Editor/Analyst. Email him at darek.johnson@stmediagroup.com By Darek Johnson New Trends for Inkjet Inks For signage ink – it’s a digital explosion What do ink and a politician have in common? – To flourish, they both need media support. Sanwas asked to cover inkjet inks in this comment T issue and, as introduction, I asked Vince Cahill to on recent ink trends. Vince is the president of VCE Solutions, a consultancy that provides technical and marketing consulting and planning services for digital/ analog printing and imaging, digital manufacturing OEMs and user companies. He’s also on ST’s Editorial Advisory Board. My question: “Vince, what’s going on with inks?” Vince said: “The glib, accurate, but barely informative answer is they’re going in many directions concurrently. For signage ink, it’s a digital explosion, so see it like flying shrapnel streaming from an unguarded blast.” Here’s his summary: Inks blended for analog printing methods, such as screenprinting, have evolved to meet environmental and application requirements, but inks formulated for digital-print processes are advancing more rapidly. Also, many signmakers have witnessed the market growth of soft signage and digital images applied to woven, non-woven and knit-textile materials – in addition to various, new, rigid sign substrates. All such surfaces require firmly adhering inks that won’t fade, scratch, peel, chip, melt or dissolve while in use for their intended applications and environments. For ink to adhere to print surfaces, the ink’s surface tension should be less than the substrate’s wetting tension. Early on, robust solvent inks (and electrostatic toners) proved most effective for digitally printed billboard and sign applications, but today’s printmakers prefer milder, eco-solvent or UV-curable inks and, more recently, LED-initiated, UV-cure and latex inks have captured market share. Generally, solvent-based inks offer surface-tension ratings that would adhere to numerous synthetic sign substrates, but environmental and worker-safety concerns and restrictions have caused ink manufacturers to formulate such alternatives as water-based, alcoholbased, UV-curable monomer and hybrid inks, or other combinations. Few modern printers know that ultraviolet-radiation (UV) curing revolutionized the screenprint ink business Inkjet Makers and their Products 3M Commercial Graphics 3M (St. Paul, MN) offers a line of films, overlaminates, inks, toners, clear coats and application tools. It also offers the 3M™ MCS™ Warranty on any 3M accepted inks, when applied onto 3M media and installed using 3M guidelines. (800) 328-3908; www.3Mgraphics.com Aeromatrix Inc./ Infiniti Digital Equipment Aeromatrix (Miami, FL) offers inks for its Fina brand of roll-fed, solvent-ink, digital printers, plus the Infiniti brand of UV-cure digital printers. (877) 398-6466; www.infiniti-dt.com Agfa Graphics Agfa Graphics (Ridgefield Park, NJ) offers inkjet systems, inks, consumables, hardware, software and services for production workflow, project and color management. (800) 526-5441; www.agfa.com Budget Inks Budget Inks (Toledo, OH) offers its Sam inks that are guaranteed to match the OEM colors, quality and durability for HP, Seiko, Roland and Mimaki printers. (877) 636-4657; www.budget-inks.com Conde Systems, Inc. Conde (East Mobile, AL) dye-sublimation transfer systems help signmakers expand their current product offerings to include full-color, photographic-quality gifts and awards. (800) 826-6332; www.conde.com Bordeaux Inc. Bordeaux (Santa Clara, CA) provides solvent, eco-solvent, mild-solvent, UV-cure- and UV-cure-/LED-curable inks for such largeand super-wide-format printers as Roland, Mimaki, Mutoh, HP, Vutek, Agfa and Dilli. (408) 247-2205; www.c-m-y-k.com Canon USA Canon USA’s (Melville, NY) imagePROGRAF line of large-format, 12-color printers applies the company’s Lucia EX inks that, Canon says, provide optimum image quality and consistency between devices. The inks feature a wide color gamut, scratch resistance and color stability. (631) 330-5000; www.usa.canon.com Collins Ink Corp. Collins Ink Corp. (Cincinnati) has changed its name to Collins Inkjet Corp., to reflect its expansion into printer upgrades, parts and customer support. In addition to its ink portfolio and OEM partnerships, Collins offers numerous, comprehensive, customerservice solutions. (513) 948-9000; www.collinsink.com 16 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / OCTOBER 2013 / www.signweb.com CET Color CET Color (Atlanta, GA) builds large-format, vacuum-table, flatbed and hybrid, roll-toroll/flatbed UV-cure printers that utilize state-of-the-art, UV-cure ink sets that are VOC-free and eco-friendly. (404) 505-800; www.cetcolor.com http://www.budget-inks.com http://www.conde.com http://www.3Mgraphics.com http://www.c-m-y-k.com http://www.infiniti-dt.com http://www.usa.canon.com http://www.collinsink.com http://www.agfa.com http://www.cetcolor.com http://www.signweb.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - October 2013

Signs of the Times - October 2013
Contents
ST Update
Technology Update
Vinyl Apps
Strictly Electric
LED Update
Software Update
Technology Review - Mimaki’s JFX500-2131 flatbed and UJV500-160 UV printers
Technology Review - Seiko’s UV Jetrix 1212FK and KX5/KX5R flatbed printers
New Products
Rollin’ for the Lucky Seven!
The Inaugural Readers’ Choice Awards
Smart Lighting
The SGIA Preview
Industry News
Enter the ST Intl. Sign Contest!
Advertising index
Editorially speaking

Signs of the Times - October 2013