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is the best
means of printing in the modern
world to communicate, advertise
and market your products. You can
have short-runs, low cost customized
services in a short period of time.
Hence, digital printing is the order
of the day.
Some
of the main commercial printers
are HP Indigo press manufactured
by Hewlett Packard, Oce VarioPrint
6250 by Oce, InfoPrint system by
InfoPrint Solutions Company, the
iGen3 by Xerox and Nexpress by Kodak.
 There
are two types of format. The small
format is used in business offices
and libraries and is up to ledger
size sheets. The wide format is
used for drafting and designing
and is up to 3’ or 914mm,
rolls of paper.
There
are different types of printing
that are used. Chemical technologies
use blueprint. When the characters
have to be pre-formed and applied
individually, daisy wheel is used.
When array of dots are used to print,
dot-matrix is used. When ink is
sprayed on paper to create the desired
impression, ink-jet is used. This
also includes bubble-jet. is done when
the toner in desired colors is melted
and applied on to the paper to create
an impression. Line printing is
done when pre-formed characters
are applied to paper by means of
lines. When heat is transferred
to special paper, like in earlier
fax machines, it turns black to
form the printed image and then
we have heat transfer. The benefits
of using digital printing are many.
- In the traditional
methods, thousands of impressions
of the same image were made using
a set of printing plates. Now,
every image can be different.
- Conventional
ink got absorbed into the substrate.
The ink and toner now used does
not absorb into the substrate.
It forms a layer on the substrate.
- There is less
wastage of paper and chemical
used in the ‘set up’,
that is, in checking the right
color and the right position before
printing.
- It is very
good for rapid protoyping. Short-runs
are very economical. Many types
of designers find it easy to use.
In some machines the substrate is
positioned upon and this travels
through it in a conveyor belt.
Other
advantages are that this can be
used for Print-on-Demand. With Variable
Data Printing (VDP) personalized
children’s books with their
names can also be printed. Postcards,
where each one differs from the
other in form, style and image can
be printed. Postcards can also be
addressed in a presorted manner,
cut, finished and then mailed. Booklets
of varying sizes and quantities
can be printed. Labels with variable
data can also be made. Different
types of binding such as, saddlestitch,
perfect bound or wire or plastic
spiral can be undertaken.
In
digital printing an electric charge
is used to transfer the toner or
ink to the substrate that it is
printing on. Earlier only black
and white or single color printing
could be done. Now with you can use
any color or a combination of colors.
IGen3 and Nexpress use toner particles.
Indigo uses liquid ink. Toners are
more expensive than inkjets.
Digital
printing is now the most used form
of printing. In terms of the quality
of the printed material and the
quantity that can be printed, with
personalized printing, the customer
can be assured of the best services.
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