Consumables

 

Spandex has broadened its growing accessories range with the addition of a convenient and cost-effective starter-sized fluid kit comprising four refillable one litre spray bottles of its popular ImagePerfect-branded cleaning and material preparatory fluids. Featuring ImagePerfect Surface Cleaner, Magic Apply application fluid, Adhesive Remover and Vinyl & Banner Cleaner, the new entry level ImagePerfect Fluid Kit offers sign and large format customers an easy and effective means of introducing themselves to some of the company’s best-selling, environmentally-friendly cleaners.

 

Each of the four ImagePerfect fluids will continue to be available separately in its standard size, five litre refill bottle, enabling customers to retain and refill the new entry-size bottles. This capability for re-use differentiates the ImagePerfect Fluid Kit from certain competitor offerings and delivers cost-savings, as well as environmental benefits.

The ImagePerfect Fluid Kit consists of:

ImagePerfect Surface Cleaner, a highly-engineered substrate cleaner that is extremely effective and accurate. IP Surface Cleaner enables sign and large format print users to ensure surfaces are professionally cl eaned and free of dirt or dust prior to the application of self-adhesive materials, thereby resulting in optimised bonding. It is suitable for use on sensitive materials such as foam boards and acrylics and covers a broad range of end-user requirements, including car bodies, signboxes, glass substrates, dry-wipe substrates, anodised aluminium and PVC banners.

ImagePerfect Magic Apply a bespoke application fluid that enables optimum working conditions on all surfaces, especially those considered difficult, such as glass, mirrors and flexible substrates like PVC banners. IP Magic Apply, which contains no oil-based ingredients, makes wet application faster and easier, whether applying vinyl letters and logos, large surface coverage, vehicle graphics or digital prints.

ImagePerfect Adhesive Remover Pro, a professional, ready-to-use and very powerful product for removing adhesive residue from a wide variety of surfaces. Its versatility and effectiveness is proven on substrates including car bodies, signboxes, windows, glass surfaces, plastic substrates, whiteboards, anodised aluminium and PVC banners.

ImagePerfect Vinyl & Banner Cleaner, an advanced and dependable cleaning product that completely and safely removes dust and dirt from any soft and semi-rigid vinyl, thereby restoring the original lustre of its surface. IP Vinyl & Banner Cleaner contains no harsh chemicals or phosphates and is completely solvent-free. Importantly, it will not damage or discolour the surface of either the vinyl itself or any solvent, eco-solvent or UV prints on the vinyl, thereby affording complete peace-of-mind. It is suitable for use on all types of vinyl, including outdoor signage, car-wraps, banners, tarpaulins, semi-rigid sheets, illuminated light boxes, etc.

“Our new entry-sized fluid kit offers the perfect means for signmaking professionals to facilitate their first use of some of Spandex’s most popular cleaning liquids and to see for themselves the terrific results they deliver”, says Roland Keller, Executive Director Aftermarket Product Management, Spandex. “This fluid kit represents just a fraction of Spandex’s extensive accessories range which is continually developed to ensure customers have the right tools to enable easier production of their sign and large format printed projects.”

 

 

Amari Plastics has entered in to partnership with an Italian manufacturer, Imballaggi Protettivi, to distribute its range of eco friendly polypropylene sheets for the print, signage, fabrication and industrial markets. Marketed under the name of Bubble Print Board, the product comes in several different formats – however the essential core of the product is Polypropylene shaped as bubbles. The product is neither a solid sheet nor a fluted sheet but has a super smooth printing surface and is rigid and strong at thin gauges such as 3mm, 5mm and 8mm.

 

The product is manufactured by a lamination process that brings together the core of the product – the bubble shaped Polypropylene- and 2 solid surfaces of Polypropylene to form a sheet. The cell structure of the bubble allows the sheet to be manufactured at lower weights than other Polypropylene sheets and still retain a strength and rigidity which outperforms its natural competition. The surface is matt white but can be made with other colours or finishes: It is also corona treated to ensure maximum ink adhesion when printed and is suitable for both external and internal applications.

Due to the versatility of the production process and the durability of the Bubble Print Board sheets it is also used in industrial applications such as vehicle lining and noise reduction. It is available as standard in 3mm, 5mm and 8mm in white in 2440 x 1220 and 3050 x 1550mm. The market applications for the product include short to medium term signage, election campaign poster boards, stadia advertising boards, general external print and Industrial estate agent boards.

Because of its structure and being a Polypropylene sheet it is 100% recyclable; furthermore it contains a % of side trim and reworked material from the factory waste output making it even more friendly to the environment. The product can also be purchased in a flame retardant version and an enhanced UV resistant version. Amari Plastics, with its sister company, Recycled Plastics, will be happy to help you recycle the product after its usage.

 

 

 

INX Digital International Co. officials expected to draw attention to their booth during the ISA International Sign Expo, an d they did. Attendance for the event was up and so was the attitude of booth visitors who were looking for new ink products. Visitors to the April 8-10, 2010 show left the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL impressed by what they learned of the new Silver ink, as well as BIOe technology, the alternative ink market and the new Fiber-Frame poster system.

 

“Attendance at ISA 2010 showed a dramatic increase and the enthusiasm carried over all three days of the show,” said Ken Kisner, president of INX Digital Americas. “We experienced a significant amount of interest from people again interested in purchasing new pieces of machinery. It was a welcome rebound from a year ago where the interest was significantly less.

“Customers also visited our booth to look for solutions with our inks. The launch of our T81 and T83 water based products, the Color Compatible MLD Magenta inks, and the newly formulated HPS series for HP and Seiko printers was very successful. We also had a very good response to our new partner program from our dealers in North America where we formalized 60 new dealer locations. Overall, it was a strong show where we received immediate feedback on our new ink product launches, our parts program and technology showcase items that have since resulted in new customer orders.”

The metallic Silver inkjet ink impressed attendees who saw it demonstrated on a Mimaki JV3 printer. INX Digital has partnered with Eckert and will expand the opportunity for Silver into the UV curable market this year. Mr. Kisner expects this product to make a drastic impact on the label and tag market as well as the folding carton segments of packaging.

BIOe is a new formulation from the BioINX line of sustainable ink products. It uses renewable resource content, which Mr. Kisner says is in line with INX Digital’s multi-year strategic commitment to developing more sustainable products. BIOe produces vibrant colors, high gloss, and has the ability to print at fast speeds for use with Epson print head technologies.

Mr. Kisner said the alternative market section of the booth was very active with visitors eager to learn about how the Triangle product line will include more bio renewable type products such as BIOe. INX Digital also introduced the Fiber-Frame system at ISA. This cost effective poster system replaces sagging and drooping banners with sturdy, easy-to-assemble aluminum framing. The low maintenance design is available in three sizes.

 

Agfa Graphics today announced the launch of the new :Agora ink product family, designed and manufactured by Agfa Graphics. It consists of two new ink lines that are ideal for the next generation single pass "piezo" print heads offering photo-quality resolution at record-breaking speeds. These inks are compatible with major inkjet head suppliers such as the Kyocera KJ4A. The :Agora D ink family is utilised for document printing including transactional, transpromotional and newspaper printing. The :Agora G ink family is designed for general purpose printing: flexible packaging, labels, folding carton applications, shelf ready packaging, POS and specialty printing applications. These new inks are commercially available starting at IPEX 2010.

The :Agora inks are the only inks on the market that feature low viscosity, high reactivity, low evaporation rates with improved dot placement for small drop sizes (<5 pico liter). As such, these new inks are ideal for reliable printing with next-generation high-speed UV print heads on a wide variety of substrates for a numerous range of UV inkjet applications.

"Our new :Agora UV inks are designed to cure immediately, for excellent outdoor resistance and guaranteed high productivity and convertibility. They produce vibrant colours with a large colour gamut, feature excellent chemical and abrasion resistance and are low-odour. We target sales to inkjet head system integrators and their end users. Thanks to the outstanding image quality and the high speed, combined with the excellent jetting performance, the Agora ink family will open exciting innovative opportunities for our target markets. With this combination, Agfa Graphics aims at narrowing the gap between conventional and digital printing technologies", said Stefaan De Meutter, head of Ink R&D, Agfa Graphics, Industrial Inkjet Single Pass.

Demo samples will be shown on the Agfa stand at IPEX in Birmingham, UK, 18-25 May 2010.

Neschen will reveal some exciting new additions to its range of digitally-printable textiles - all with the Color Alliance (CA) coating - at this year's Fespa.

Principal among them is 'multitex' - a polyester fabric that may be printed using dye-sub, pigmented water-based, UV-cured or latex inks.

The standardised CA coating provides production safety in large-format inkjet printing.  It significantly reduces the number of colour profiles needed, which simplifies production flows and increases productivity whilst minimising ink usage.  Furthermore, a comprehensive CA workflow guarantees the colour accuracy of the inkjet printing, so that printing service providers, retailers, print buyers and end users get maximum process reliability.

An integral part of Neschen's participation at the show will be to demonstrate the ease with which the latest range of digital wallpapers may be printed, then hung using standard wallpaper adhesives.  Included will be the 'Erfut wallpaper CA' which took the Innovation award at last year's Viscom.  This non-woven wallpaper is free of PVC and softeners.

Demonstrations of  the range of wallpapers will take place within the Demo-Centre on the stand which will also contain a large selection of the company's print media ranging from laminates for UV printing to floor graphics applications to two new films: 'solvoprint easy dot 100' and 'gudy window'.

"The main approach this year is to give visitors a hands-on opportunity to try things out", says Frank Seemann, marketing and communications director of Neschen AG in Bückeburg.  "That is why complete printing processes, which range from selecting the print medium via printing itself to finishing, are the focus.  We set a high value on practically orientated applications."

Repositionable mounting film offers clean removability with no adhesive transfer

At a time when some major suppliers are reducing their range of mounting adhesives, UK-based Madico Graphic Films has once again increased the revenue enhancing opportunities for printers by extending its line of double-sided optically clear mounting films.  Featuring a permanent adhesive on one side and an ‘easy-peel’ adhesive on the other, the latest addition to Madico’s growing portfolio of permanent/removable, optically clear, polyester mounting adhesives brings new benefits to temporary or short-term graphic applications thanks to very low adhesion levels.

As a result of its low-tack attributes, Madico’s new easy-peel offering (product code E-338R C) can be applied and re-applied until correctly positioned, while still ensuring superior optical clarity and perfectly clean removability with no adhesive transfer. This makes the new mounting film perfectly suited to promotional and branded messaging applications, such as exhibition and point-of-sale graphics, window graphics for short-term retail/advertising, and in-house corporate communication or manifestation requirements. In addition, its easy-peel, clean removability makes it ideal for back-lit light box projects and lenticular 3D screens, where use of an inappropriate transfer would make removal impossible and potentially ruin the display surface.

For short-term, temporary applications involving thicker graphics, Madico also supplies a permanent/removable option (product code E-337RC) that offers a stronger level of adhesion.

“Marketers continue to target their audiences with short-term, time-critical messages, be it for special offers, price reductions or other announcements”, says Gary Dixon, International Business Manager at Madico Graphic Films Ltd. “As a result, there is a growing requirement for temporary/removable graphics that uphold brand integrity and image by offering perfect see-through vision and high quality printability.

“Like all of Madico’s permanent/removable mounting films, our latest offering has been designed with simplicity in mind; rather than requiring installation and removal by a qualified team, it can quickly and effortlessly be applied, repositioned and eventually removed by the customer’s own staff”, adds Dixon.

Clean-room manufacturing for optimum, defect-free see-through vision

As with its entire range of substrates, Madico’s latest double-sided permanent/removable mounting film benefits from clean-room manufacture – a key differentiator over some other products on the market. This process delivers defect-free, optical mounting clarity, by ensuring optimal light transmission, low haze and minimal distortion.

Madico’s new E-338RC Permanent/Removable Optically Clear Mounting Adhesive is available in roll widths of 1250mm.