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Metallic printer Decal printer Q&A

2009-07-28

1. The different butween Micro-dry printer, laserjet printer and inkjet printer.

Dot diameter compare. ( Mico-dry / laserjet / inkjet)

The Micro dry printer use the micro dry ink so the dot will not be spread


Inkjet print use the liquid ink so ink will be spread after print and cause the low resolution.



Sunscreen compare

(Under the sunshine two weeks after printing)

                                                     Micro-dry printed              Inkjet printed



Waterproof compare

Samples melt water.

                                                       Micro-dry printed              Inkjet printed



The printer use special Micro dry printing technology can asurm you the original color rip printing and make the details alive, the solid ink make the ink more fastness and colorful.

2. What are metallic inks?
Metallic inks are basically tinted varnishes with metallic particles. As the ink dries, the metallic particles rise to the surface and start to reflect light. But beware: Depending on the substrate, the shine can cause rub-off. As a rule, the smoother the surface, the less rub-off will occur.

A textured paper, for example, is an unstable surface. Just imagine two pages on the inside of a brochure that are printed with metallic inks and now rub against each other¡ªthe textured surface reacts like sandpaper.

3. Can I print metallic inks on uncoated paper?
It¡¯s a given that you¡¯ll get great results when printing metallic inks on a coated stock: a smooth surface with very little rub-off. But don¡¯t dismiss printing metallic inks on uncoated stock. The printing requirements are only slightly different, but you can get some wonderful results.

"When printing metallic inks on an uncoated stock, run to as high a density as possible and keep the water content to a minimum," says Scott Gasch of Fey Publishing (Wisconsin Rapids, WI). Gasch should know¡ªFey Publishing specializes in the printing and production of swatchbooks and mill promotions, and mills are picky when it comes to showcasing what their papers can do. As the ink dries, the metal flakes rise to the surface, increasing metallic shine up to 25 percent¡ªespecially on uncoated sheets.

4. How can I get the best shine on uncoated paper?
We¡¯ve heard about printers that put a varnish under the metallic area to boost the shiny effect. But when we spoke to some experts who run metallic inks on a daily basis, none of them remembered the last time they under-printed. Dry trapping is their secret. After the sheet has dried overnight, the metallic surface shows its best side and any other inks can be run over the top.

5. Will printing a double hit give me better results?
Even though most print jobs show great results with one hit of metallic ink, when it comes to an increased coverage on darker colors (blues and blacks) you will get a better result with two hits. Run the first pass with light coverage and go heavy on the second one. Don¡¯t forget, the secret is dry trapping between the print runs.

6. Can I run sheets with metallic inks through a laser printer?
Always ask your clients how they intend to use a printed piece. Even if letterheads and other printed pieces have dried for more than the recommended 72 hours, the heat of the laser printer can reactivate the metallic ink and easily cause streaking on the sheet as well as on the rollers. Your ink manufacturer can provide you with metallic inks that are less heat-sensitive and will run through desktop printers with no problems. You might have to special-order those inks, so allow for extra time.

7. What can I do to prevent metallic ink rub-off?
Metallic inks rub off equally on coated or smooth uncoated sheets. On textured uncoated sheets, the rub-off might be increased due to the previously mentioned "sandpaper effect."

As always, a varnish will protect your printed piece, but in the case of metallic inks, it also will take away some of its shine. To make up for this, you can add five to 10 percent of metallic ink to the varnish. This will look great on a larger coverage, but will dim back other colors on the sheet. Your rich black will not look as rich and handsome anymore.

In most cases, rub-off will be so minor that a varnish won¡¯t be necessary. When it comes to uncoated textured sheets, you will have to pick what is most important to your client¡ªzero rub-off or incredible shine.

8. Is there an easy way to include metallics at the prepress or electronic file stage?
Good question! If you don¡¯t want to create your own spot-color channels, take a look at a new Photoshop plug-in for creating metallic effects on photographs or illustrations.

Ink manufacturer Wolstenholme Intl. has developed the WISE design and print tool. Based on Adobe¡¯s Photoshop, it enhances printed images by integrating metallic inks with the four-color printing process. (The free software is available via download or on a CD for Mac and PC users at www.wolstenholme-int.com.)

Traditionally, most designs have incorporated metallics as the final, decorative element in a printed piece. An integrated metallic printing process, on the other hand, encourages the introduction of metallic inks much earlier into the print sequence (gold or silver normally is the first color down in the print sequence) to achieve an extremely unusual, eye-catching and high-quality metallic effect.

WISE offers three ways to add metallic effects to any image:

1. Preset duotone curves for gold and silver additions.

2. Use a "free range" action that looks at your chosen image and selects the equivalent gold and silver areas that will benefit most from being enhanced by a metallic ink.

3. Enhance user-selected areas.

Metallic spot colors also are gaining popularity. These inks are made by mixing given percentages of metallic ink¡ªgenerally gold or silver¡ªwith some process or other spot colors. To use multiple metallic spot colors on a page, different inks would have to be formulated and run for each color.

This integrated metallic printing process emulates metallic colors by mixing screen tints of metallic and process colors in the same way that spot colors are emulated with process tint combinations today.

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