Advantages of UV printing

Apache Coaster Printing example

Written By apacheadmin

March 19, 2022

Printers and printing technology have improved by leaps and bounds. Earlier it would take days to complete a print order, it now takes a few hours. This improvement in printing technology is a result of the large demand for printing. Just look around and you will find multiple things with prints or labels on them, you cannot spend one day without interacting with products that do not have any prints on them.

Labels and prints serve two purposes; to add a design element to the product or for the purpose of branding. Both combined create powerful imagery for the product and make it stand out from the ocean of products available in the market. For a brand to have an impact, it needs a good design and a way to show it off. Labels were the way to put branding or design on a product but now, with the help of Ultraviolet (UV) printing, you can print directly on the surface of the product.

Let’s look at a few advantages of UV printing over traditional printing methods.

Advantages of UV printing

  • High productivity: fast drying
    When working with colors and paints the main issue is the drying of the paints. UV printing addresses this issue as the inks used are Ultraviolet inks. This ink takes seconds to dry when cured under UV light. By drastically reducing the time to dry the ink, the overall productivity of the printing process increases multi-fold. Put yourselves in the shoes of a client who needs the prints at the last minute, this is possible with UV printing.The productivity in this method of printing is high due to another reason too. In many traditional printing processes, the surface is coated with a pre-process chemical to allow the paint to stick to the surface. In UV printing, there is no pre-printing process on a lot of materials which saves a lot of time.
  • Prints on a wide range of materials
    When thinking of prints, we usually consider Paper or materials which can absorb the ink but in UV printing, you can print on almost any material. Different substances like metal, glass, wood, ceramic, paper, plastic, and fabric are some of the material types which are regularly printed on using UV printing. With such a wide range of materials to print on, you can let your imagination go wild while designing products.
Digital UV Printed with use of Flatbed printer  using UV printer from Apache Printers
Coaster Printed with Apache Flatbed Printers
  • Sharp and Bright print: Instant drying without absorbing inks into the materials.
    In many printing methods, the ink gets absorbed into the paper or the material it is being printed on. This reduces the vividness and the sharpness of the design. In UV printing, the ink is dried immediately therefore ink does not get absorbed into the material, keeping the brightness and sharpness intact.
  • Incredible print effects: 
    The beauty of a store is the availability of items from different brands. If you want people to notice your product, you need to make it stand out from the competition. Labels work well but they do not engage other senses besides the eyes. With UV printing, you can feel the design from the raised paint on the surface. The layers of colours make the design pop out of the surface which can give it a 3-dimensional effect.

    If you really want to make your design pop out, then use UV coating on certain areas of the design. Depending on the desired result you want, you can add dimensions to your print that will enhance a certain part of the design. This process is known as Spot varnish/coating, and it is a tactile effect that you can feel when you touch the printed surface. Using UV printing you can create other printing effects such as embossing.
Example of 3D effect with Apache printing.
  • Environmentally friendly
    printing requires ink and there are several types of inks used in different methods of printing. Many solvent inks dry by evaporation, they contain chemicals which when released into the air can cause harm to the environment. Whereas UV inks dry in an instant without releasing harmful chemicals into the air thus making them an environmentally friendly option.
    In some printing methods, transfer paper is used to transfer ink onto the surface. This type of printing generates a lot of paper as wastage. UV printing, on the other hand, is more environmentally friendly as it does not require a paper to transfer ink.

Final thoughts

There has been a huge increase in the demand for customization, this has made UV printing very popular. With UV printing, even printing small batch quantities is feasible and hassle-free. With Apache UV printers, there are added advantages as we use the best technology available in the market. The Ricoh print heads are designed to reduce the mixing of colours, improve precision, and save on ink. Dual UV lamps save time as they dry the UV ink instantaneously. If you’re looking to switch to UV printers for your printing needs, contact us using the link below.

Click here and let’s see how we can help you out today!

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