Share the post "Versatility in Action: Webinar Brings a Fresh Perspective from Meteor Users"
On January 12, MGI hosted a webinar featuring the testimony from three different Meteor users, including Michigan’s Grand Rapids Community College. It is a great opportunity for anyone interested in this digital press to hear directly from the users what they think. Here is the link to watch the video of the webinar:
http://www.mgi-fr.com/webinar/MGI-2012-Webinar-form-.html
Share the post "Introducing the Sterling Digibinder from Spiel Associates, Inc."
You may know MSL recently teamed up with Morgan. Now MSL is excited to announce our new partnership with Spiel Associates, Inc. Spiel Associates is one of the largest bindery equipment vendor in North America.
One of Spiel’s featured products is the Sterling Digibinder. This table top perfect binder works like a floor model perfect binder, but takes up much less space. Perfect for in plant and on demand printers, the Digibinder is fully automated with absolutely no set up. You can go from thin to thick books without making any adjustments. This perfect binder is able to bind up to 360 books per hour up to 2 inches think.
MSL’s own team member, Brent Taylor, received training from Spiel this past week, and is now ready to assist our own customers with the Digibinder. For more information on the product, please call 800.343.4231 or email krista@midstatelitho.net.
If you are considering going to Drupa this year, officials are standing by to assist you in your travel arrangements, including acquiring a visa to travel to Germany. The Düsseldorf based trade fair is the largest in the industry and offers valuable insight into where the printing industry is heading and what you need to do in order to stay competitive in the ever-changing market. You can also order your tickets for the event in advance, saving you time and confusion upon your arrival, or find information about travel accommodations such as hotels and flight deals. If you are thinking about attending Drupa this year, remember it is never too early to begin planning your trip.
MSL would like to announce that our DPX4 has a new home!
MSL has recently added a used equipment page to our website, which is kept updated to reflect the constant changing used inventory we have to offer. Currently MSL has a used DPX4 platesetter from Mitsubishi available.
The DPX4 offers polyester plate imaging for printers who want to obtain the benefits of CTP at a fraction of the cost of metal. Mitsubishi Imaging products are known for excellent performance and high quality. The DPX 4 is a prime example, offering a highly productive, fully daylight-operational and automatic computer-to-polyester plate system. With the DPX4 you can produce imaged, punched and processed plates which are cut-to-size and ready for immediate use. Dual cassettes allow the user to quickly change between plate sizes without having to reload the machine.
Operation and maintenance are simple and will save you valuable time. Additionally, the DPX 4 has a very small footprints, taking up minimal space, leaving you more room for production.
To learn more about the DPX4 we currently have in-store, please contact us at 800.343.4231 or email our Marketing Coordinator at krista@midstatelitho.net.
Aqueous Coated Printed Sheet
Aqueous coatings are bigger than ever in today’s printing market. An aqueous coater is often built directly into a printing press because it is ideally applied immediately after the ink. The coating itself has numerous benefits including a beautiful glossy shine to the finished product and improved durability for jobs that might be going through the mail. Benefits on the production side are quick dry-times that allow the job to be shipped out right away or flipped over and printed again in a short amount of time. There are many misconceptions in the world of aqueous coatings that we will address in this article.
Many variables exist in aqueous coatings. Differences in infra-red dryers, anilox application rollers, coating formulas, and mixes all play into the behavior and final look of the coating. All reputable coating suppliers offer guidelines for their coatings providing specific details and instructions to follow.
In addition to manufacturer specifications, there are many broader guidelines and general rules to follow. First we’ll start with the coating itself. Plan ahead; when shooting for a high gloss, large amounts of coating must be used. This will limit your options later on. Jobs with a heavy coating applied for high gloss can only be coated on one side whereas lighter coatings can be done on both sides of a job.
Coatings are applied to the sheet by means of an anilox roller. An anilox roller is designed specifically for this purpose and has a special surface covered with a large number of tiny pockets or cells. The cells act as buckets to evenly disperse the coating on the sheet. Cell count is measured in LPI or lines per inch which is a count of the rows of cells per inch around the diameter of the roller. Cell depth is a specification exclusively for anilox rollers. Cell depth determines how much and how thick the coating applied to the sheet is.
Anilox Roller Cells Magnified at 400x
The viscosity will cause the look and behavior of your coating to vary. Viscosity is a measurement of how runny or thick your coating is. This is controlled by adding water. Viscosity is measured with a tool called a Zahn cup, which is essentially a bucket with a hole in it. Measurement is made by filling the Zahn cup with coating and using a stopwatch to measure how long it takes for the coating to run through. Viscosity will also vary based on the environmental temperature around the press. A cool coating will be thick and a warm coating will be runny. Most suppliers suggest an environment between 66 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit for an optimum performance. You should consult your supplier for mixing guidelines to control the viscosity of your coating.
In regards to drying your coating, it is generally recommended to maximize the airflow in the dryer rather than simply turning up the heat. Aqueous coatings dry by evaporation, and while heat accelerates evaporation, without proper airflow the surrounding air becomes saturated and moisture has nowhere to go. Excess heat in the dryer can cause problems like curling or in extreme cases can cause fire. As a general rule, it is recommended that coatings are dried at 95 degrees Fahrenheit on the first side and 90 degrees on the other side. Most manufacturers recommend that your heater never exceeds 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Adjusting the speed at which your press is running also has an impact on drying because of the simple fact that a slower sheet will spend more time inside the dryer. Work and Turn printing offers the best dry times.
When considering foil stamping, ink jet, laser printing, or ink over coating to name a few specialty applications, consult your supplier for specific information.
In one week, January 25th, registration for Drupa begins, along with the countdown to the world’s leading trade fair for the print media industry. Drupa 2012 will focus on new innovations in print functionality; that it, practical print concepts which are effective. You can expect to find exhibitions focusing on the fields of printed electronics and green printing, which played a major role in Drupa 2008. If you are interested in finding out more about Drupa or arranging your visit, check out the visitor’s pamphlet.
Be sure to check back on our blog and website often to find out more about this upcoming major event. Rather you’re planning to attend or not, if your business involves print, Drupa affects your business.
2012 is a big year for MGI. The digital printing and finishing equipment vendor celebrates 30 years of business. To mark this achievement, MGI officially launches their new logo design today.
The inspiration for their new logo came from MGI’s key values, “a fighting spirit laden with innovation”. The new look also features dots, rather than pixels, reflecting the company’s evolution towards inkjet technology. You will start to see the new logo being slowly integrated over time on MGI’s and MSL’s websites and other promotional medias.