process
Durst news for the science and application of inkjet printing
The trade and its rules
Every modern industry has gone through overhauls in work
organization and invested in new machinery. Every trade – and the
printing trade is no exception, whether it be serigraphy, typography or
blueprint – has had rules to follow, respect and learn. On the one hand
there were organizational, social and cultural rules, which through time
changed or became obsolete with evolutions in society, machinery,
organization, work, and the development of education from aristocratic
and elitist to democratic and pluralistic. On the other hand there were
technical rules concerning the organization and implementation of
work stages, materials and their treatments.
These technical rules are still largely valid today and should be
respected and observed by today’s companies, despite the use of
semi-automated machinery and processes. Today, in the printing
sector, many of these rules (which can be called basic principles,
know-how, or “state-of-the-art”) are often ignored, whatever their
merely technical or economic nature. This may depend on the fact
that performing a printing service is (and was) seen primarily a way
of making money “the most and fastest possible” and not as a
vocational profession, but also on the fact that we live in a use-
and-dispose of, “one-shot” society where “dynamic” quality is a given
even in the case of incredibly low prices. Well, the slogan “the most
and fastest possible” hasn’t existed for some time. Perhaps it was valid
when digital printing was innovative, in the late 90s and early years of
the new millennium; expecting dynamic quality – with its guidelines –
“a priori” is unfortunately a reality. If the profession – viewing
performing a trade as a profession – always dominates behavior, in
business it can be assessed on the individual level.
process - Durst news for the science and application of inkjet printing - Issue 70 - March 2011
Process: Issue 70 - March 2011
Editorial
The trade and its rules
Media & Handling
Special supports for roll-to-roll inkjet printers
Application
• Pongs Seidenweberei GmbH for the first time at the 2011 Frankfurt
Christmasworld with gilt satin and Lurex fabrics printed with the
Rhotex 320
• Profiltek, a specialist in glass partitions for shower stalls, debuts with
“Imageink” at Cevisama 2011 in Valencia.
• The Imola Ceramics Cooperative is betting on Durst Gamma
digital technology
Sifting through the technical rules of various trades we find two that
crop up everywhere and are still valid today:
1.
Using quality material: this influences your behavior and in the
end is always thriftier.
The “purity requisite” of master brewers is probably the best known;
that of bakers, which can be read in the Gifhorn flourmill museum
and whose consequences can be seen when it is not respected, has
given us a colloquial term meaning “giving short shrift”. In the digital
era, the “quality materials” imperative means, in the case of computer
data processing: if you input junk you’ll output junk. Despite acquired
knowledge, today’s digital printing lacks this conviction: an anonymous
self-adhesive film from China is expected to offer, at 25% less than the
cost of a name brand, the same perfect result with equal print speed
and color load.
However, it’s a given that you’ll need to print in 4 to 6 passes to get
roughly the same result as what the more expensive but better-quality
film gets in 2 passes. So it’s obvious that here we’re not thinking
in terms of process cost (which covers production as a whole) but
primitively in terms of costs quickly revealing themselves to be a single
heading: materials acquisition costs. However, if the material accounts
for only 35% to 45% of the overall costs of a printing service, and the
remainder is 65% to 55%, the 40% savings on costs for the material
(meaning a 14% to 18% overall savings) is not much help, especially
when on the other hand printing repetition or slowdown provokes a
doubling (or at least 30% increase) in costs relating to human
resources, energy and colors, provoking a further expense of 55% to
65%, or in other words 16.5% to 19.5%.
1
Final result:
You’ve saved the wrong way! I’m not championing the cause of the
costlier materials, today you can find valid materials at acceptable, and
even low, prices, but you have to ask yourself how and for how long,
at bottom, a maker can sustain a low-price policy. Often we laugh at
people so gullible as to buy a “Rolex” for 750 euro from a peddler on
the beach, convinced of having gotten a bargain. Fifty-meter PE films
1.6 high and coated in UV inks at less than 120 euro per roll belong to
the 750-euro “Rolex” category.
process - Durst news for the science and application of inkjet printing - Issue 70 - March 2011
2.
“Use the best tool and care for it like you would your finest
employee”.
The precision of the tool, its size, weight, manufacture and type of
material have to suit the work or the piece to make. Even today, like a
5-star chef takes his favorite knife to work with him, the mason takes
his maul. If some digital printing outfits, for annual invoicing of more a
million euro in soft signage orders, prefer to use 3 to 7 dye-sub printers
similar to plotters that “clank” out 6 to 7 sq m an hour, you have to ask
where their professionalism lies. The rationale “with only 30 to 40,000
sq m of soft signage a year, a professional machine turning out 60 sq
m an hour would be used only 500 to 600 hours a years, therefore a
third of capacity” might even be correct, but here we have the question
of the chicken and the egg: with quicker order-filling, uniform quality
and higher margins (thanks to inks costing less than the usual “jewelry
store” prices), wouldn’t it be possible to be anticipate the trend to soft
signage, transforming it into market positioning and thereby getting
more orders, soon doubling or even tripling those 30 to 40,000 sq
meters?
Even in this case a global view of costs is lacking: certainly, two or
three Mimaki printers are easy to amortize, but printing takes eight
times longer and the ink costs two or three times more. What counts,
however, is that you’re professional print suppliers, expert in handling
colors and files, you’re able to offer know-how, and it is expected, on
the price plane, that you can compete with the little printer around the
corner who can easily procure a “machine” of this type and probably
be happy to take a whole day to print 80 sq m. The fact that, as
professionals, you deal with an order faster with two, three or more
Mimaki printers makes work first of all more costly, plus, given the
natural tolerances of machines and their components, you will have
different printing results, for which you will have to account to your
customer: the result will be having to reprint, without even mentioning
what this means in cost terms…
I believe that the choice of the right tool is one of the factors
important in positioning a company on a dynamic market: it enables
you to be ahead of trends, pioneer the re-launch of a trend and, when
the “trend” has become normality, defend your position thanks to
the advantages obtained in terms of cost and know-how that acting
promptly has ensured you.
At times of dynamic markets and radical technological changes,
having a strategy is more important than cost-paring and acting like
“bean-counters”.
2
Media & Handling

Special supports for roll-to-roll inkjet printers

We are pleased to present two special materials not for “daily use”:
• a photoluminescent film made by ASLAN Schwarz GmbH (www.aslan-schwarz.com)
and
• a metallic support from Metallurgy (www.metallurgy4.com)

The self-adhesive film coated with particles similar to phosphorus can be used instead of luminous panels; printed normally it is a “day-night” film,
in the daytime charging by means of sunlight and at night radiating surprising luminescence. A smart alternative with impact for short promo
messages on dimly lit streets or at bus stops.

The silver-coated film can serve as a worthy ambassador for ads for products in glass, jewelry, cosmetics and decorations for design. Ideated
and created as Fine art supports for Epson printers with water-based inks, these films (also available in rolls) are supports that can be printed on
perfectly with UV inks, which in terms of color quality offer rather different results!

Both materials can be printed on easily and problem-free with Rho Roll ink and using Durst’s Rho 320R and Rho 500R printers.
(See print file below).

Aslan NL 145 self adhesive photoluminescent film

Media typ: ASLAN NL 145 self adhesive photoluminescent film
Unit weight: 200 g/m with the Liner
Thickness: 300 um, Set Thichness on Printer 0,4mm, Head Distance = 2.5mm
Manufacturer: ASLAN, Schwarz Gmbh & Co.KG
Media width: 114cm
Media core: 76mm ( 3 inch. Core)
Description: Trough a special pigmentation the film illuminates independently, even if no more light is availa-
ble. It saves the light up to 8 hours. Illumination corresponds to the DIN 67510-1.
Application: This luminous film indicates emercency exits and escape routes in public buildings. For indoor
applications.
Printer: Rho320R UV Roll to Roll Inkjet Printer
Print heads: Durst Quadro 30
Ink type: Rho Roll Ink
Ink temperature: 50° Celsius
Drying: 1 Lamp, Power 10
Rotery knob: Closed 0000 - 0000
Print resolution: 600dpi, CMYKcm
Vacuum intensity: Level 13
Media tension: Level 15
Print mode: Bi-Directional, Glossy Mode
Force media: Unwind force = 50% Windup force = 50%
Ink limit: 290
Ink adhesion: Perfect adhesion about the Glossy Mode
Visual density: o.k.
Flexibility: o.k.
White point: Not profiled, linearisation and profile used from White Back Poster Paper.
Black point: Not profiled.
Remarks: The media has a very good illumination in the Dark. Enough to take a Photo.

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Media & Handling

Inkjet Metal Roll 24“ metal-MET.610

Media typ: Inkjet Metal Roll 24“ metal-MET.610
Unit weight: about 100 g/m
Thickness: about 90mic
Manufacturer: metallurgy - www.metallurgy4.com
Media width: 24“,36“, 44“ and 50 in. X 30m
Media core: Core 47mm, media has to bee rewindet on a 76mm Core.
Description: The mirror side has an optically clear metalic surface. All products with an adhesive backing
system making it easy to mount onto plastic, metal or foam display boards.
Application: Ideal for name plaques outside offices or on trophies. Create POS Displays with special metalic
efects. Create a room with a view. Special occasions such as Wedding day´s.
Printer: Rho320R Roll to Roll UV Inkjet Printer
Print heads: Durst Quadro 30
Ink type: Rho Roll Ink
Ink temperature: 51° Celsius
Drying: 1 Lamp, Power 10
Rotery knob: Closed: 0000 0000
Print resolution: 600dpi, CMYKcm
Vacuum intensity: Level 13
Media tension: Level 10
Print mode: 3 Pass, Bi-directiopnal, Matt Mode, Pass Overlapping ON.
Force media: Unwind force = 50% Windup force = 50%
Ink limit: 290
Ink adhesion: Perfect adhesion
Visual density: Good black density
Flexibility: o.k.
White point: -
Black point: Not profiled, used the profile from a with back paper.
Remarks: Perfect media to do some special jobs.
Images where you have Yellow ink have a nice Color like Gold.

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Application

Pongs Seidenweberei GmbH for the first time at the 2011

Frankfurt Christmasworld with gilt satin and Lurex fabrics
printed with the Rhotex 320

At the end of January at Christmasworld, the Frankfurt show of

Christmas decorations, there was already a holiday air. Pongs GmbH,
a company that last November bought a Rho 500R and a Rhotex 320,
exhibited for the first time at this tradeshow.
Its decorative gilt fabrics in satin and Lurex (a fire-proof polyester-
polyamide blend with metal glitter) were printed with the two Durst
machines, getting extraordinary results and attracting visitor attention,
as did the rest of the Pongs stand.

Further info: www.pongs.de

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Application

Profiltek, a specialist in glass partitions for shower stalls, debuts

with “Imageink” at Cevisama 2011 in Valencia.
The Cevisama show, held every year in Valencia, is a Mecca for tile
manufacturers and specialists in the bathroom furnishings sector.
Along with some 25 Spanish tile makers using Durst Gamma printers
for their tiles – and making a great visual impact with their stands –
this year Profiltek of Valencia made its debut with showers stalls and
glass partitions with the “imageink” brand printed in digital.
The Rho 800 HS was used to print them, with ink for glass based on
sol-gel chemistry.

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Application

From the world of industrial inkjet printing

The Imola Ceramics

Cooperative is betting on Durst
Gamma digital technology

Art and Industry. This is the exclusive combination that, in 1884, led
to the international success of Cooperativa Ceramica Imola. Today the
company employs 2,000 people, has production capacity of about
31,000,000 sq m destined for residential and other building sectors,
consolidated sales of more than 300,000,000 euro. Figures that show
constant commitment to reaching ever higher qualitative standards:
technological innovation and design research as corporate mission and
priority, confirmed by investments in technology that have recently
been aimed especially at the purchase of vanguard digital systems. Coop. Ceramica Imola Executive Offices

Andrea Mensitieri, Marketing Director of the Imola Ceramics
Cooperative, comments: “Durst was the first company to test digital
technology with pigmented inks in the ceramics sector and we, always
betting on innovation to offer qualified products, immediately
recognized the great potential of these innovative manufacturing
systems. We presented our first designs in glazed porcelain in 2007 and
in 2008 had already gone on to using digital in double firing. Using this
technology has enabled us to surpass design limits, to get out of the
constraint of product repetition and to get contrasts and details that
were impossible before. The market immediately absorbed, recognized
and appreciated these new pluses, leading to very significant
production increments”.
The use possibilities for Durst’s digital printing systems are truly infinite
and, looking at the photo gallery at www.imolaceramica.it, you can’t
help but be struck by the beauty of certain decors: bathrooms, lounges
and living rooms with great impact and refined design. One of the
company’s jewels, the Maxima line, is a clear example of the expressive
potential reached thanks to digital technology. An innovative idea that
broadens and revolutionizes design possibilities for facing and flooring,
inaugurating a new era for the ceramic tile market.
The highest expression of innovation, infinite and different
appearances, ever-varied images, definition, quality and graphic impact
on surfaces that is clearly superior.

Andrea Mensitieri,
Marketing Director

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Application

Particularly worthy of note – Mensitieri adds – is the Rainbow design,

one of the Maxima range finishes, which reinterprets and gives new life
to an exclusive Indian stone. Very innovative and big on impact, it was
immediately a great success with architects and designers.

“The results we’ve gotten to date thanks to digital technology”,

Mensitieri continues, “confirm that collaboration with Durst was a
winning decision. HD technology is definitely a big innovation that,
with very high output like ours, made it possible to streamline work,
guaranteeing excellent standards of quality. With the imminent
installation of three new HD and HDS systems we want to further
boost our production and experiment with new applications. In future
I see, on the one hand, developments in chromatics with the possibility
of adding ‘full’ colors and on the other the possibility of inclusions and
glazed enameled materials that enrich and give movement to surfaces.
We are certain that Durst has even bigger surprises in store for us”.

Rainbow flooring from the Maxima line

Events

22.-26.03.2011 27.-30.04.2011
Graphispag 2011 Digital Image South America
Barcelona, Spain Sao Paulo, Brasil
Durst Image Technology Ibérica, S.A. Durst do Brazil Technologia Em Impressao
Products: Rho 500R, Tau 150 8C, Digital Ltda.
Rotoworx 330, Esko Kongsberg Cutting Table Products: Rho 750
Hall: 2, B26

23.-26.03.2011 24.-27.05.2011
Medprint 2011 FESPA Digital 2011
Roma, Italy Hamburg, Germany
Durst Phototechnik S.p.A. Durst Phototechnik AG
Products: Rho 750 Hall: A1, D80

Durst Phototechnik
AG
Large Format Division
Vittorio-Veneto-Straße 59
39042 Brixen, Italy
Telefon +39 0472 81 01 11
All rights reserved on images Telefax +39 0472 83 09 80
and illustrations.
www.durst-online.com
Durst® is a Registered Trade Mark info@durst.it

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