A UV Coating machine is a great tool for helping you provide customers with high quality printed
material for their direct mail or marketing campaigns. The challenge is to make sure you are properly maintaining them to ensure the operate when you need them. We have seen customers destroy their machine ignoring the important tips for proper maintenance.
What to consider?
Remember, a UV coating machine is a fancy paint roller. You add fluid to the machine for it to roll fluid onto documents for the fluid to be activated by a UV curing lamp. If you do not properly rinse the rollers, they can damage your machine and its moving parts.
1. Always clean after use
When you purchase your machine, it should come with a UV Coating Wash. This should be used after each use to wash all the moving parts in your machine. Remember, if you do not wash it, the fluid will harden in your UV coating machine and cause issues with application and finish. It could simply break your machine.
2. Use Static Free Rags
We had one customer who had us come out and replace a $450 roller for them because they were not cleaning it properly. On one of our visits, we noticed they were using simple shop rags to clean up after themselves. Static can also damage your machine. it is recommended you use static free rags. Nubtex makes rags for UV coating clean up.
3. Operate at room temperature
We have touched on this before. Make sure your UV coating fluid has been shaken properly and is at room temperature. Uv coating fluid will flow better at room temperature. If it is kept in a cold place, the fluid may be too thick and unevenly cover your documents.
4. Keep it clean
If you do the first 3 tips, your UV coating machine should be a workhorse for you. You try to cut corners, it could cost you $450 or more for replacement parts. Make sure you keep it clean.
As Woody told Sid in Toy Story, “Take care of your toys!” In this case, take care of the machine that helps you make money, it will take care of you.
