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How a Wide Format Printer Can Increase Print Shop Profitability
As a distributor and fan of wide format printers like the Legend 72HUV UV curable printer/a>, I can’t help but be excited about all the different things this printer can do.
For one thing, it can make a print shop more profitable. Not just because it’s a new piece of equipment with some great benefits and cool features, like printing with ultraviolet curable ink, or specialty sign printing.
We’re actually seeing a lot of cut sheet/sheet-fed printers switch to wide format printing, because they can offer their customers so much more.
For one thing, you can run small signs on the Legend 72HUV. Rather than turning away large print formats, you can now accept poster print jobs for theaters and bands, signs for special events, and even specialty projects like 11×17 brochures.
We have a customer in Ohio who said that as a sheet-fed printer, he has to run $10,000 of sheet fed paper just to make $1,000 in profit. That’s because his margins are already so low, and he’s losing a lot of profit in labor and production costs.
But if he were to switch over to a wide format printer, he would only need to do $2,000 in printing to make $1,000 profit.
Because the wide format printer is so new, and is very inexpensive compared to other printing equipment, if you can add a 20% – 30% margin, you can pay for the machine in a year. (And 40% margins are not unheard of with this printer either.)
If you’re interested in more information on the Legend 72HUV wide format printer, visit us at WideFormatRevolution.com, or call us at (877) 626-6848.
UV Printing in Plain English
UV curable screen printing is still a relatively new technology and some print and sign shop owners are just starting to investigate what we think will be the future of large-scale printing. To answer many of the questions we’ve received here at Lloyds of Indiana, here’s a short list of common answers on UV printing.
UV curable ink is not solvent-based, so no VOCs.
UV curable screen printing is a solid system, meaning there are no solvents involved in the process. Instead, a strong ultraviolet (UV) light source interacts with the ink ingredients in what is called a “UV cure reactor” to create the printed image.
The lack of solvents means there are no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), making curable inks more environmentally-friendly than traditional solvent-based printing methods. This means you spend less time and money dealing with the safety requirements and equipment to handle solvents. That means higher profit margins, fewer risks and accidents, and more time spent on growing your business, not cleaning up.
UV cure reactors run very quickly.
UV cure reactors can mass-produce print jobs very quickly thanks to their rapid curing speeds. Essentially, the ink reaction process takes between 1 and 3 seconds and doesn’t require a lengthy drying time.
The best part is that colors can be printed in succession without having to stop for dry time – a major labor and time savings for a screen and print shop. Instead of keeping a constant eye on your job, you can be working on other print jobs and helping your clients.
UV ink won’t clog the screen.
Because UV ink won’t dry in the screen, it won’t clog the mesh. That means less time spent changing or cleaning the screen throughout a print job.
UV ink has great color value and range.
If you’re doing a lot of four-color process graphic printing, UV curable ink is the way to go. The inks range in opacity from transparent to translucent, giving you an incredible color gamut and range. This, combined with the fact that the ink won’t dry in the screen, means you can do UV ink printing through screens with incredibly high mesh counts, often as high as 420 threads per inch.
UV printing greatly reduces sign printing costs.
Most sign printers who use thermal methods or stick-on vinyl to make vinyl banners can’t do double-sided signs. The only way to print a double-sided sign is to print two pieces of vinyl, and then sew them back-to-back. With UV printing, it’s possible to print one side of a sign, flip it over, and run it through again. Material costs are cut in half, labor costs are reduced, and you’re left with a beautiful full-color sign that’s resistant to outdoor elements.
UV ink does have its drawbacks.
Solvents tend to be more flexible (you can print on more substrates) and more durable when exposed to the elements (although UV is more durable than vinyl). But, if you’re doing predominantly sign, poster and banner printing, you’ll find that UV curable printing is the best way to go for graphic screen printing. It’s cleaner, safer, cheaper and faster.
Photo: evoo73
What are the Environmental Benefits of Printing With UV Ink?
Now that green printing is becoming a bigger issue in the printing industry, you should see what ultraviolet (UV) technology is doing.
UV allows green printers to use ink without toxins, unlike solvent-based ink. Because there are no solvents, UV inks can be successfully applied to both flexible and hard surfaces. As a result, more equipment manufacturers are introducing inkjet printers that use UV inks. Finally, because they’re UV inks, they’re actually weather resistant, which makes them ideal for long term outdoor use, unlike some vinyls and laminates.
With UV printing, you don’t have to mess with release liners, solvents, and lamination. Most traditional solvent-based inks have 60 – 70 percent solvents, which contain VOC toxins that have to evaporate off. In other words, 60 – 70 percent of the ink is being “wasted” in the printing process. Needless to say, having these solvents evaporating into the air isn’t good for your employees or the environment.
UV inks are environmentally friendly, because unlike solvent-based inks, 100 percent of the ink is used. UV ink is a two-part acrylic epoxy, the A part is the ink itself with recepters to be activated by the B part which is UV light. The UV rays from a light source quickly activate and start a cure process to harden the ink, rather than bieng evaporated like solvent based ink. UV ink is an instant cure (dry) process, which means no dry time, that means no wasted time. Some forget about that resource.
What about the quality?
In the Lloyds of Indiana shop, we have a wide format (sign) UV printer. It’s basically a giant inkjet printer. They’re great for printing photos and complex graphics to create signs and banners. Realtors can have their photo and large images of the on a sign to visualize the real estate, event organizers can create large outdoor exhibits and tradeshow displays.
Green technology isn’t just for the printing industry. Many business owners and executives are starting to ask themselves how they can make their products and services greener. With new advancements in technology, like UV ink, it’s becoming a question of when, not if, they can make it happen.