Obviously, once this successful combination printing process is of high quality and easy to use, anyone will follow suit and the market will be flooded with a large number of similar products. Although this process has become very reliable, in fact, there are still some difficulties in mastering. For print operators, there are still a series of controversial issues, and there are quite a few variables that need to be effectively controlled, such as:
1. When purchasing a combination printer, the printer must ensure that the sequence between the printing units is sufficiently variable to accommodate the combination of printing processes required for various prints. In general, the hot stamping unit is always placed at the end of the printing unit. When the screen is used to print the color version, the screen printing unit is placed before or after the flexo printing unit or even in the middle. When it comes to printer configuration, consider whether each unit should be a fixed or variable decision.
2. The composition of the inks used in different printing processes is different. Different inks are not always compatible with each other because different technologies are supported by different chemical principles. This creates problems with overprinting and adhesion between inks used in two different systems. For example, non-silicon UV flexo inks often cause poor overprint performance on silicon-containing screen printing inks; inconsistencies between inks produced by different manufacturers often occur, even at the same manufacturing plant. Incompatibility issues can also occur between product lines. When such incompatibility is encountered, the ink can usually be adjusted by the operator on the printing machine. However, the best method is to test the ink compatibility before printing and obtain technical support from the ink supplier.
3. Ink is sometimes incompatible with other finishing processes such as: hot stamping, ink jet, and laser-printing graphics. Proper testing or technical support from the ink supplier is to overcome this. The key to failure.
4. When the same color is used for ink color matching with different printing processes, because the manufacturers often choose pigments from different substrates for preparation, this means that when using different process inks, such as silk screen printing ink and flexo printing ink, color matching will often occur. There is a problem. For those who have not undergone regular color matching training or lack of advanced color matching spectrophotometers, the error in color distribution is considerable.
5. The speed of printing on a combination printer is always tied to one of the slowest speeds, such as a hot stamping unit or a rotary screen printing unit. For example, a flexo printer can use UV inks at a speed of up to 300 feet per minute. If the speed of a continuous press is only 100 feet per minute, when the prints need to be stamped, they cannot run at 300 feet per minute. .
6. It is important for the factory to train operators on various printing processes because different processes require different types of operating skills. Many aspects of skill training are necessary measures to ensure that operators have a variety of process operations and fully understand the technical parameters of various processes.
7. When the printing plant first stepped into the combined printing process, another training goal was factory sales staff, not only to enable them to deal with the customer's supply department, but also to ask the designers and customers to create design staff. Communicate and work closely together in the final product design process.
Fourth, the future development trend
The latest developed inks have shown numerous improvements, especially in UV screen printing and UV flexo ink products. High-color, low-viscosity water-based inks have been introduced in UV flexo inks. They are suitable for high-cell-counting anilox rolls, resulting in excellent print reproduction, lower ink consumption, and more. High printing speed. Now even in circular screen printing, unadjusted flexo ink can be taken directly from the ink tank. This new pioneering development has made the combination printing company more variable and different, and made the printing process more stable and reliable.
On the relatively short prints, digital printing will begin to show a positive supportive attitude towards combination printing. Digital printing has long since entered the short-form sign market and has become an ideal tool for a large number of personalized prints. However, in the near future, it is possible to print a long version of the background pattern with a screen printing or flexo printing unit, and print the personalized content with a digital printing unit.
In the future, electron beam (EB) curing inks as another development direction will have a potentially increasing trend. This EB ink not only combines the advantages of UV technology, but also has a high hiding power. Today, the use of EB ink curing equipment in combination printing still appears to be too costly, but once the price of this technology is reduced, EB curing ink will be the next leap forward, it will make the ink layer hiding power and printer's Speed ​​is higher, adapting to good and fast processing requirements.
As technology continues to advance, and the ever-increasing trend of end-users' demands for differentiation is evident, the prospects for combined printing are bright. In fact, according to the prediction of the industrial market, by 2003, the proportion of the income from the processing of the composite printing process in the label printed matter is expected to reach 80%. After a few years of development, combined printing is no longer a mystical technique that has been mastered by a few people. It has become a reliable, repetitive, mainstream type of processing technology that will become more advanced in the future. With the introduction of crafts and materials, this development trend will continue.