Wide Format UV Printers Offer Big Potential to Grow Your Business

Wide Format ultraviolet-curing (UV-curing) Flatbed Printing is creating quite a buzz in the industry. One highly reputable market forecast shows the Wide Format Printer market is projected to reach $7.2 billion by 2022.

What’s the buzz about?

Mostly, it’s proving to expand print house capabilities. Customers in advertising, entertainment, healthcare, education, events and the retail market have a huge appetite for wide format printed materials like banners, posters, signage, wall coverings, POP displays and vehicle graphics.

Quick turnaround and cost effective print possibilities for the UV Flatbed appear limitless and allow for printing directly onto acrylic, metal, wood, PVC, glass, and many other rigid and flexible substrates—eliminating the need for mounting and laminating.

How does it work?

A true flatbed printer holds the substrate stationary on a vacuum table while the printing system, including the printhead carriage and gantry, moves over and across it for the print cycle. Print quality is at its best because the media is held stationary through physical registration.

Productivity is maximized with:

• Accurate, repeatable, bidirectional alignment of the piezoelectric greyscale printheads.
• Edge to edge full bleed printing that reduces the need for cutting and trimming.
• Double-sided prints handled with sufficient registration.
• Large displays tiled across several boards in perfect alignment.
• UV-curable inks that turn from liquid to solid by high-intensity UV light, all in less than a second.  (Most flatbed printers use mercury vapor lamps as their light source, which offers a very broad spectral range and complete ink curing.)

 UV-Curable inks produce stunning and affordable quality.

There is a common misconception that UV-Curable inks are more expensive than other wide format printing technologies such as solvent, latex or aqueous.  Although the UV inks do cost more on a volume basis, they provide a significantly greater yield per liter, resulting in an affordable, low cost per square foot operation.

Greyscale printheads achieve sharp images with smooth gradients by jetting ink droplets in variable sizes—allowing the UV Printing technology to digitally print images that approach photographic quality.

Expanded capabilities of white ink technology allow UV Flatbeds to offer true three-layer white printing that is taking on a whole new range of applications including:

• Second surface reverse printing on clear materials.
• Over-printing for day/night backlit applications on transparent media.
• Printing white as a spot color.

Wide Format UV Flatbed Printing is all about growing business.

When making the equipment decision there are two important points to consider. Choose a partner you can trust to:

1. Help pick the best printer for your needs.
2. Provide the support services required to keep your equipment in top condition. A good vendor should provide responsive on-site service, as well as expertise and assistance with all aspects of related machine production, file setup, workflow software, color management, substrate selection.

Customization is bigger than ever and sought after by almost every industry. Complementing your existing capabilities with Wide Format UV Flatbed Printing can be the revenue lift you’re seeking to expand existing services and bring new customers through your doors.