Ink

InkTec, based in South Korea and Sawgrass Technologies, Inc.,  today announced that they have entered into a license agreement under which InkTec, as an authorised Sawgrass licensee, will begin selling InkTec’s sublimation inks to worldwide market.

InkTec is a professional inkjet inks and material manufacturer. Sawgrass is an industry leading developer of innovative printing technologies.
 
Dr. Kwang-Choon Chung, CEO of InkTec said “InkTec is a public company in Korea and has been pioneering a variety of inkjet inks for different market applications.  We are glad to license this technology so we can sell our products in various Asian, American and European markets.”

Dr. Mickael Mheidle, President of Sawgrass Technologies Industrial Division, said, “Sawgrass is dedicated to the fast growing digital sublimation market which it has pioneered into a global business opportunity.   We are very pleased that Sawgrass has reached agreement with InkTec for them sell licensed sublimation ink into worldwide markets.  It provides business customers with more choices.”

InkTec joins a group of Sawgrass sublimation licensees including, BASF, Hilord Chemical, Huntsman (formerly Ciba Specialty Chemical), J-Teck, Kiian Group, Kiwa Chemical Industry Co., Mimaki Engineering Company, Nazdar, and Sensient Technologies.

 

Firehouse Image Center, a leading printing business with operations in the USA and Europe, has switched from OEM inks to third party inks for its Vutek QS-series UV flatbed printer.  The switchover has enabled the company to achieve better quality colour on its output, reduce downtime relating to purges and ultimately make cost savings of between 25% and 40% on ink and has been described by Firehouse as being almost “too good to be true.”
 
Firehouse Image Center celebrates its 40th year in business on 1st September 2011.  With one printing facility in Indianapolis, the USA, and another in the Netherlands, the organisation serves the commercial sector and offers photo prints and backlits, POP and trade show graphics, banners and finishing and fulfilment services.  It also has an inventory of printing and mounting materials in stock available for purchase and serves markets throughout the USA and Europe.
 
Spread across its two printing facilities, Firehouse has five Lambda photo printers, a Durst 350 roll-to-roll printer, 3 large Vutek UV-curing printers (including one flatbed), six HP wide format printers and over 30 Epson large format printers.
 
In February 2011, Firehouse became convinced that there were savings to be made by adopting third party inks for its Vutek QS-series flatbed UV printer.  Terry Corman, CEO of Firehouse, had become convinced that third party ink manufacturers would take an enormous share of the UV curable ink business.  When UV curable inks were initially introduced, printing businesses were concerned that sacrifices would have to be made in terms of colour vibrancy and print quality.  However, this has not proved to be the case and a new generation of UV-curable inks that offers a true alternative to solvent inks – whilst minimising negative effects – is now available.
 
He comments, “The price of solvent inks dropped to a very low multiple of their original selling prices and I knew that the same would happen to UV inks.  I went looking for the best third party ink manufacturer I could find.  On the recommendation of a customer of mine, I met up with Stephen Mills from Ink Mill.  Following discussions and demonstrations, we selected the company’s UV curable inks as they were able to offer the best coverage, required the fewest purges and created the most saturated colours of any of the inks I reviewed.”
 
Ink Mill Corporation, based in New Hampshire, USA, offers best-in-class ink solutions for inkjet applications including solvent, UV curable and bio-solvent based inks.  The company also offers a range of pre- and post-coatings for digital ink applications.
 
He adds, “To my mind, this switch was more of an upgrade since the colour was so much better and the problems with the machine far fewer – I believe Ink Mill makes the best ink product on the market for Vutek UV printers.”
 
Stephen J. Mills, President of Ink Mill Corp., assured Firehouse that the transition from OEM to third party inks would be straightforward and painless and indeed it proved to be so.  Ink Mill’s technicians did an analysis of Firehouse’s machines and worked with the company on the switchover until the results were – in Terry Corman’s own  words - “too good to be true.”
 
“We get much better coverage and use far less ink than previously. Our machines suffer much less downtime and the third party ink prices are lower,” says Terry Corman.  “We are in the middle of a very extensive and exacting costing of Ink Mill ink versus our OEM supplier and we are seeing preliminary results showing cost savings of between 25 to 40 percent, depending on the job.”
 
Stephen Mills adds, “Terry and his team at Firehouse Image Center have put tons of effort into calculating true ink costs.  Not only is the Ink Mill QS ink able to achieve better colour and better performance, it is also more stable and able to run with less purging and ink wastage."

Terry Corman concludes, "We will be talking to Ink Mill about switching over our Durst 350 printer to the Ink Mill inks in the near future as well.”
 
Firehouse’s business is thriving.  It plans to add a Durst 900 flatbed UV curing printer to its US facility in the next few months along with a Vutek 3200 flatbed UV curing printer and a second Lambda photo printer to the arsenal of printers at its European operation.
 

NAZDAR (www.nazdar.com) will be exhibiting two new exciting waterbased inks at Fespa Hamburg, 24-27 May 2011.

The Lyson TX650 series, a new digital water-based dye-sublimation ink for transfer applications onto suitable substrates. Designed to deliver excellent color vibrancy and unparalleled durability, TX650 series ink is ideal for a variety of transfer applications including sportswear garments, soft signage and home textiles. Lyson TX650 series ink is formulated for use on an array of wide-format digital printers incorporating the Epson DX4 and DX5 print-head technologies including wide-format printers manufactured by Roland™, Mimaki™ and Mutoh™.

Nazdar will also be previewing a new outdoor ink developed using state of the art development techniques and Hydro Color Technology. This exciting new product is VOC free, has ultra-low odor and excellent colour gamut, specifically designed for printer system integrators enabling them to offer a true alternative solution to solvent and UV technologies for outdoor applications.

Want to know more? Come and visit the Nazdar stand at FESPA Digital show in Hamburg. Hall A, Booth B42.

 

Colorific, a leading alternative ink supplier, and Tech8, the technical support and spares provider for the wide format printing industry, today announced that they will be co-exhibiting at FESPA in Hall A3 on stand C70.  This is the first time that the companies have co-hosted a stand at the event and underlines the close links the companies have developed to ensure that switching to alternative inks is made easy.

Both companies recently exhibited at Sign & Digital UK where Tech8 secured over twenty new maintenance contracts on machines using Colorific inks.  Colorific inks are proving to be the alternative inks of choice – especially when backed up by Tech8’s unrivalled technical support.

According to Shaun Holdom, Business Manager for Colorific, “In this tough, recession-hit market, wide format printer owners are switching to credible alternative inks in order to realise significant savings and increased profits.  Previously, there had been concerns about the viability of alternative inks – mainly due to scaremongering by OEMs – but our customers are telling us they like the security of being fully backed up by Tech8 in the unlikely circumstance that any issues might occur.”

He adds, “This ‘alternative inks made easy’ model is proving to be a real winner.  We have had great feedback from our existing channel partners and we’re continually expanding our ink product portfolio.  As a result, we are now looking to further expand our distribution channel throughout Europe and would be interested in meeting potential new business partners at FESPA.”

Justin Atkinson, Business Development Manager at Tech8 adds "Colorific were the first to go through our ink accreditation process - accordingly we now have a significant number of Colorific users covered by Tech8 warranty. Our decision to exhibit alongside Colorific at FESPA is further testament to our confidence in Colorific, and underlines our faith that their inks can provide Tech8 customers with a highly reliable and effective alternative to more expensive OEM inks".

Whatever your printer, whatever your application, Colorific have a ‘best in class’ ink to suit your specific requirements; for any given printer and application, Colorific supply ink solutions that are fully tested and proven in the field, with a track record of reliable and trouble-free performance.

Since its introduction to the market, Colorific has continually grown its portfolio of solutions so it now encompasses the majority of wide format printers currently in use today.

Colorific & Tech8 have recently prepared case studies focusing on the savings to be made by switching to properly supported alternative inks.  For more information, follow the links below:

 

Colorific: TJ’s save 50% by switching their Mutoh to Colorific ink

Tech8: Press On Digital Imaging makes big savings with Tech8 Support and Bulk Ink

 

 

Further information on Colorific can be found on their website at www.colorificink.com

 

Further information on Tech8 can be found on their website at www.tech8.eu

 

The Sign and Digital UK show at the NEC proved hugely successful for Josero with their range of Triangle inks, spare parts and new Josero Redjet printer.

The Triangle and Josero stand was one of the largest and most prominent at the show. It featured a Mimaki JV33, a Roland SP540V and a Seiko 64V running Triangle inks in cartridges and Eco Bulk systems.

These were complimented by Josero’s new Redjet super wide 3.2m solvent or bio printer for banner, flex and paper, which is capable of 720 dpi and up to 75 square meters per hour. This printer is easily maintainable with low ink costs and includes a full parts and labour manufacturer’s warranty. There was a huge amount of interest in this new printer at the show. Loic Delor, Managing Director of Josero commented, “We have spent the past year testing and trialing our new machine to ensure it provides our customers with a high quality and reliable product. It is very competitively priced and is excellent value for money. We have many customers who have already placed orders for the printer.”

The stand had a large technical and management team to support its products including Paolo Capano, Inx Digital (Triangle inks is part of world leading ink giant SAKATA INX) - EMEA Vice President of Sales who was delighted with the impact Josero has made on the UK market. Also, the stand had an Ergosoft technician helping and advising visitors on the Ergosoft RIP for all the printers. Josero has a network of dealers throughout the UK and Ireland and representatives from each of these companies were also available on the stand to speak to their local customers.

Triangle inks is one of the fastest growing alternative ink manufacturers in the world. Josero is the sole distributor for the UK and Ireland for Triangle inks. Triangle have an extensive product portfolio which means Josero can supply alternative inks for virtually every model of wide and superwide printer across the whole spectrum of ink technologies - Full Solvent, Eco Solvent, Mild Solvent, Water-based, Bio and UV curable.

As well as being the master distributor of Triangle Inks in the UK and Ireland, Josero has a range of its own products including new and used printers and spare parts.

With an international audience anticipating the latest and best products for the metal decorating industry, INX International is ready to answer the call.  The company (Hall 3, Booth B25) will feature its EVOLVE Advanced Digital Solutions and a pair of new inks at METPACK 2011, which runs from May 10-14 in Essen, Germany.

The new metal decorating inks making their debut will no doubt leave an impression on show visitors. TP UV Fusion is the first UV hybrid low migration ink available in the market for 3-piece metal decorating, and the TP LEC base system of thermoset inks represents the latest in high quality, earth friendly low energy cure products. 

"We are glad to be back at METPACK and looking forward to seeing a sizeable number of people in our booth.  The metal decorating business has a good vibe to it right now," said Rick Clendenning, President and CEO of INX International.  "Our two new inks are exactly what the industry is looking for.  With the advances our EVOLVE brand is making in short-run production, I'm very optimistic. The timing is right for printers to move their businesses forward."

The TP UV Fusion hybrid inks offer several distinct advantages. Specifically formulated for indirect food packaging applications that require low migration and low odour inks, these unique inks conform to Nestle requirements for packaging inks.  They also qualify for the ASA Soy Ink Seal since they are environmentally friendly without VOC solvents, in addition to being both ITX and Benzophenone free.  With exceptional adhesion to a wide variety of base coated metal substrates, TP UV Fusion offers excellent press stability and colour balance that is comparable to the best conventional litho inks on the market.

INX International's outstanding Research & Development capabilities played a significant role in the development process of TP UV Fusion, using an independent laboratory to conduct a migration analysis.  The lab confirmed the migration limit of 10ppb in 95% ethanol, with the overall migration conditions meeting the requirements specified in Directive 85/572/EC.  The sample material for these hybrid inks also was exposed to 95% ethanol for 10 days at 40° Celsius.  It was determined the overall migration values were far below the limit of 10 mg/dm?, and by using LC-MS/MS no photo initiators or acrylates were detectable.  By using GC-MS, no significant identified signals above 10ug/kg (10 ppb) were observed.

The TP LEC base system thermoset inks for 3-piece metal decorating are formulated for fast make-ready and low temperature bake.  With outstanding printability, these bright, low energy cure inks offer excellent adhesion and fabrication and abrasion resistance, while producing good gloss and a clean, sharp image.  An environmentally conscious product, nearly one-fifth of the LEC base system consists of soy and vegetable oil contents and is formulated VOC free.

EVOLVE Advance Digital Solutions is a brand concept designed to help traditional printers and converters evolve to digital printing with industrial inkjet systems.  A full range of resources is available, including integrated systems, chemistry, parts, service and consulting.  Some of the best known products are designed for the metal decorating industry, including the CP100 UV digital cylindrical printer and the MD series of UV flatbed printers.

The CP100 uses Xaar patented through-flow technology that is available only through INX.  Designed for short-run cylindrical printing and packaging work, it is extremely cost effective.  Like the CP100, the MD series offers best in class performance and image quality.  The MD660 and MD1000 printers quickly and inexpensively deliver real-metal sample proofs in just minutes for the short-run production of items such as decorative tins, general line containers and aerosols.  They print on coated or uncoated aluminum or steel substrates at speeds ranging from 65' to 120' per minute with exceptional resolution in excess of 1000 dpi.