In the continuous development process of the printing industry, the emergence of UV printers has revolutionized the traditional printing mode, bringing new development opportunities to numerous fields. Among them, UV pure platform printers and UV conveyor printers have attracted much attention. Although both occupy a certain market share, considering various factors comprehensively, UV pure platform printers demonstrate significant advantages over UV conveyor printers in many aspects.
Printing Precision and Stability: Outstanding Performance of the Pure Platform
The movement of the nozzles of UV pure platform printers is relatively fixed. During printing, the distance between the nozzles and the materials is stable, providing a strong guarantee for high-precision printing. Take Canon’s Arizona series as an example. It uses the VariaDot intelligent variable droplet technology system, which can precisely control the size of the ink droplets, achieving a minimum ink droplet output of 6pl. The images are sharp and clear, with smooth grayscale, and the resolution can be comparable to 1,440dpi or even higher. In the printing of small-sized images, the stable movement trajectory of the nozzles of the pure platform printer can accurately restore the details of the patterns, meeting the extremely high precision requirements of industries such as art reproduction and high-end packaging printing.
However, UV conveyor printers rely on the conveyor belt to move the materials for printing. In actual operation, the transmission of the conveyor belt is easily affected by factors such as tension changes and uneven friction between the materials and the conveyor belt. This leads to slight displacement or jitter of the materials during transportation, affecting the relative position between the nozzles and the materials, making it difficult for the printing precision to be comparable to that of the pure platform printer. Even if some conveyor printers are equipped with intelligent variable frequency adsorption functions and automatic conveyor belt deviation correction systems, there are still limitations when dealing with complex patterns and high-precision printing tasks.
Printing Quality and Detail Presentation: Full Advantage of the Pure Platform
UV pure platform printers have inherent advantages in printing quality. With the materials stationary, the nozzles can more stably and accurately spray the ink onto the surface of the materials, achieving perfect control of color and details. For images such as portraits and landscape photography that require delicate color transitions and exquisite detail presentation, the pure platform printer can present rich color levels and realistic image effects through precise ink droplet control. Its independently controlled partition suction platform can automatically adjust the suction force according to the printing requirements, ensuring that the materials are flat and avoiding image distortion, further enhancing the printing quality.
UV conveyor printers have shortcomings in printing quality. As the materials continuously move on the conveyor belt, the nozzles need to complete the spraying in a dynamic state, which places extremely high demands on the response speed of the nozzles and the timeliness of ink spraying. Operations such as changes in the speed of the conveyor belt and start-stop are likely to cause the nozzles to fail to precisely control the ink spraying, resulting in problems such as uneven color and blurred details, which are more obvious when printing large-area solid colors or high-precision gradient areas.
Material Adaptability and Application Scenario Expansion: Greater Potential of the Pure Platform
UV pure platform printers have excellent material adaptability and can handle various plates of different thicknesses and materials, with a printing thickness of up to within five centimeters. Whether it is rigid metal plates, glass, acrylic, or softer materials such as leather and PVC, high-quality printing can be achieved through stable platform support and precise nozzle positioning. For materials with uneven surfaces or irregular shapes, the vacuum adsorption force and area can be adjusted to firmly fix them, ensuring the smooth progress of printing. This makes it widely used in fields such as advertising production, decoration, and industrial manufacturing, such as making personalized decorative paintings, signs, and electronic product casings.
Although UV conveyor printers claim to be able to handle a variety of materials, in actual applications, for heavier, thicker, or specially shaped materials, the conveyor belt conveying system may face challenges. For example, the conveyor belt may not provide sufficient support for thick plates, irregular materials may be difficult to maintain the correct position and angle, and the transmission of smooth materials may be unstable. Therefore, in terms of material adaptability and application scenario expansion, UV conveyor printers have limitations compared to pure platform printers.
Equipment Maintenance and Usage Cost: Economical and Practical of the Pure Platform
From the perspective of equipment maintenance, UV pure platform printers have a simple structure, with fewer moving parts of the nozzles, reducing the possibility of failures caused by mechanical wear. Designs such as its automatic nozzle maintenance system and pneumatic pin automatic positioning system make daily maintenance more convenient and efficient. For example, Canon’s Arizona series’ new automatic print head cleaning and maintenance system can complete the cleaning and maintenance of nearly 27,000 nozzles in all ink paths within 3 minutes, saving maintenance time. In addition, key components such as the vacuum adsorption system and the UV lamp system have high stability and a long service life, reducing the overall maintenance cost.
The conveyor belt transmission system of UV conveyor printers is complex. The conveyor belt is prone to wear and aging after long-term use and needs to be replaced regularly, increasing the maintenance cost. It has many transmission components, which are prone to failures during operation. When maintaining, the entire conveyor belt conveying system needs to be disassembled and inspected, and the operation is cumbersome, consuming a lot of time and labor costs.
In terms of usage cost, the precise printing control of UV pure platform printers can reduce ink waste. For example, the average ink consumption per square meter of Canon Arizona 1240 GT is less than 8ml, saving 50% or even more compared to some UV printing devices with fixed ink droplet sizes. And its energy consumption is relatively low, reducing daily electricity costs. However, when the UV conveyor printer is running, the conveyor belt keeps rotating, requiring a large amount of power support, and the energy consumption is usually high. The increase in the scrap rate caused by printing quality problems also indirectly increases the usage cost.
In conclusion, UV pure platform printers perform excellently in terms of printing precision, quality, material adaptability, and equipment maintenance and usage cost, and have obvious advantages compared to UV conveyor printers. In a highly competitive market environment, it is a wise choice for enterprises to select UV pure platform printers to improve production efficiency, reduce costs, enhance product quality, and strengthen market competitiveness.
