Just about everyone is familiar with printers that use a roll feeding system to feed paper and other print mediums into the printer. These type printers are most commonly purchased at big box stores and used for office, school, and home printing needs. There is, however, another type of printer that uses flat panels to feed print mediums into the printer. The print medium is placed on a flat panel and the panel is then placed on a solid form inside of the printer. This type of printer is known as a flatbed printer.
The popularity of flatbed printers is growing in the printer services industry because the use of these printers has opened up expansion opportunities for their businesses. Unlike their roller fed counterparts that only use paper and textiles, flatbed printers have the capability to print on a variety of non-traditional materials like glass, metal, leather, ceramics and wood. Even more impressive is that a flatbed printer can print on 3D objects, opening up a world of possibilities for printing projects in thousands of different ways.
Technologies
Flatbed printers work using various kinds of technologies. Many rely on inkjet technology, the same as other common desktop and wide format printers use. Others use solvent inks, but as users become more aware of environmental concerns caused by solvent ink, print service providers are beginning to look at the possibility of other alternatives. One popular alternative is using UV curable inks. Although wide-format printers that use solvent inks are still widely used, the demand of UV ink printing is rapidly growing in popularity. This is due to the fact that UV curable inks offer several advantages over more traditional solvent inks. Printers that use this ink require less maintenance because the ink dries quickly and easily, preventing clogged printer heads. They are also much more resistant to fading and can be safely used to print on a much wider variety of print mediums. UV curable inks also help increase productivity by reducing or eliminating excess labor and materials needed for print processing.
Applications
The emergence of flatbed printers has changed the way businesses view printing because this type of printer has created endless printing possibilities in areas where other roller-fed printers lack the ability to accommodate certain mediums. Printers now have the ability to customize just about anything that is flat or slightly curved like mint tins, bathroom tiles, hand sanitizer bottles, phone and laptop cases, notebooks, picture frames and edible items. The question you should really be asking is “what can a flatbed printer NOT print?” These printers easily handle all of your wide format printing needs as well, and opens up a lot of possibilities in the wide format printing arena while allowing them to still produce wide format print jobs like banners, posters, real estate signs, etc.
Flatbed printers are also making their mark on the fine art world. Artists now have the ability to print one layer after another on varying forms of mediums. This gives artists the ability to create stunning artwork loaded with texture.
With a solid history of manufacturing quality inks and pigments, including UV curable wide format printer ink and wide format latex ink,STSInks has established itself as a proven leader in the field of Inkjet inks manufacturing and technology. STS is widely recognized for applying cost-effective and cutting-edge technologies in the creation of processes and procedures that streamline ideas into reality. Check out their wide selection of printer inks today!
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