By Melissa Donovan
Part 2 of 2
The first part of this series on embellishment discussed the benefits of inkjet-driven devices utilizing various components to create realistic effects, from layered embossing that achieves the look of wood flooring to enhancements on labels and packaging that evoke tactile responses from the potential buyer.
Inkjet printing has significantly made these processes more affordable. Its attractiveness is paramount in the ability to cut time to market as well as open up more options for artistic creativity.
Options for You
Here we’ve included various print technologies that offer embellishment capabilities in some capacity.
Agfa’s Jeti Mira LED UV wide format flatbed printer offers a host of embellishment opportunities for interested users. The Jeti Mira has the ability to print multiple layers of ink continuously with a single click. A new feature is the auto-increment setting where the press progressively moves the shuttle up to a higher printhead gap height when printing any kind of multiple print layers, which is important for enhancing the overall dot placement accuracy and print quality.
Barberan offers a range of embellishment options on its Jetmaster series of printers, which includes high gloss, super matte, or varnish on register for flat printed surfaces like wood panels, plastic sheets, and metal sheets. This generates realistic textures on flat surfaces as well as haptic effects for a new experience.
HP Inc. offers silver ElectroInk for its HP Indigo printers, which enable mid-brilliance effects without any requirement for foil. Using metalized media is also a common method to achieve flat high-brilliance effects.
For further high-brilliance embellishment, as well as spot varnish techniques, HP Indigo partners with ABG and Kurz. The ABG DigiJet is a module added to the ABG Digicon platform for end-to-end converting, including die cut, matrix removal, and slitting. Used on a wide variety of substrates, the DigiJet offers spot varnish, tactile varnish, and cold foil, all using digital print technology. The Kurz DM-JETLINER offers a digital foil and high-brilliance metallic effect. In order to achieve this, it is connected inline to the HP Indigo press before the Indigo print engine. The DM-JETLINER jets glue directly to the foil and transfers it accurately to the media, supporting very small features at high registration accuracy.
Hymmen Digital Lacquer Embossing yields a surface that can hardly be distinguished from real material, for example wood. It can be used in the production of laminate and luxury vinyl tile flooring, furniture, kitchen worktops, doors, gates, and building materials like facade claddings. The substrates are MDF, HDF, wood, glass, and fiber cement.
A unique design implemented by Koenig & Bauer Kammann (US) Inc. allows for a special fluid manufactured by Marabu GmbH & Co. KG to be jetted on to the surface of a glass or plastic article, this process utilizes special software and hardware along with the special fluid as well as other consumables. The artwork is loaded into the system, which prints the embossing on the article using a single-pass multi-layer process.
The palis Décorator series with four to six colors is tested for the production of high and low pressure laminate with water-based inks. With digital printing and finishing capabilities, new unique designs can be created that either imitate natural materials or even create different material structures for new trends. These can also be produced as small orders cost effectively thanks to the printing of various orders on a single roll. This also allows the iterative sampling of décor during production. Ideally, this iterative sampling is done by a proofing system, for example by pre-inking to save time on the production machine.
DIMENSE technology from Veika makes it possible to print unique embossing at the same time as the item is digitally printed at virtually any size and without repeating the embossing pattern. So structure and motif can be perfectly matched to each other, or the structure may be completely different than the picture itself—it all depends on the designer’s creativity. In order to achieve this result, Veika offers a complete solution—the Dimensor S printer, media, and water-based latex inks. Dimensor S allows simultaneous printing with embossing in a continuous way. It is made of two major components—the inkjet printer and calender.
Print Embellishments
Print embellishments enhance with metallic colors, glitter, spot UV coating, and embossing. When done correctly, they successfully replicate a material at a fraction of the cost—which is ideal for any manufacturer in an industrial setting considering digital print.
Read part one, Realism in Spades
Feb2022, DPS Magazine
