UV Curable Printers
UV curable printers use UV curable ink. UV curable ink is different from traditional ink in that it’s not dye mixed with a solvent (to keep it liquid) that dries leaving behind just the dye. UV curable printers instead use a chemical compound that reacts under UV light to cure and leave the dye dry behind. This means that there are less volatile organic compounds at use. For personal printing this isn’t an issue, UV curable printers, or printers using solvent based inks are used more for volume printing. This means that the advantage of using UV curable printers over ones that use VOCs or Volatile Organic Compounds comes to liability, insurance, safety and reporting necessary for a company using solvent based inks.
Solvent based inks are cheaper, that is by far and away their biggest advantage over UV curable printers. The issue of price cannot be under estimated, and for small uses is probably insurmountable. However, when one analyzes price, it’s important to keep an eye on risk and liability as well as they factor in as potential prices, so even if the cost of the traditional printer is cheaper, the UV curable printers come with lower liability and risk which reduces their comparative cost. UV curable printers do have some advantages that can outweigh the issue of cost. The first of which is that the ink dries much quicker which reduces the likelihood of smudges and smears of the ink. Since the ink won’t dry in the screen it means that less cleaning is necessary in the machines.
UV curable printers come with lower non-monetary prices; they need less maintenance and fewer safety precautions. They are also capable of very high color fidelity. All told, it’s not that UV curable printers are necessarily better printers than ones that use solvent based inks, but that instead they have some sets of advantages. They’re not as good on a wide array of mediums, and not as good for things that are going outside.
However, UV curable printers can produce a good quality of printing with high color fidelity, at lower risk to safety or financial liability than solvent based inks. Solvent based inks are potentially hazardous to health, and to the environment, so the factors involved are worth considering. If the only thing your company does is print onto plastic signs to be placed outside then UV curable printers might not be the wisest investment. If printing is not a major operation, it might be worth going with the lower cost printers, however, for groups concerned with liability and environmental damage UV curable printers can produce a high quality, high volume product.
UV Curable Printers – aren’t for everyone but they definitely have a role. If you have a need for UV curable printers then you should look ingot what’s offered by Cal Comp Graphic Solutions. They can be found online at: http://www.calcompgs.com/.
