Your Ultimate Guide to UV Printing

Unlike DTF printing, UV printing achieves prints on rigid objects by depositing inks directly on object surfaces, significantly simplifying the printing workflow and providing print creations beyond garment ornaments.
In this blog, we will take a closer look into UV printing and explore its huge potential in customization business.

Written by Procolored - Published on Jan 10, 2025

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8 minutes read

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Written by Procolored - Published on Jan 10, 2025

PASSAGE SUMMARY

1. What is UV Printing
2. How Does UV Printing Work
2.1 The process of UV printing
2.2 What makes UV printing stand out
3. Understanding UV inks and coatings

4. UV Printings in Actual Practice

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1. What is UV Printing

As a popular printing technique, UV (Ultra-Violet) printing is often utilized on materials like leather, wood, acrylic, glass, metal, and more. Instead of using heat transfer methods, UV printing deposits inks directly onto the target surfaces and instantly cures them with integrated UV lights in the printer.

2. How Does UV Printing Work

While the brief description above makes the UV printing process sound concise, easy, and simple, it actually involves intricate, precise, and advanced settings and techniques, which we will explore in detail in the following passage.

2.1 The process of UV printing

Confirm the printing substrate: UV printing is versatile and can be applied to a wide range of materials such as leather, plastic, metal, glass, wood, ceramics, and paper.

Confirm the object surface: UV printing yields optimal results on flat surfaces, thanks to the planar configuration of both the printhead and the printing platform. Generally, it is not recommended to apply UV printing on beveled or curved objects to prevent uneven ink distribution or incomplete graphics. However, for cylindrical, spherical, pen-like objects, or phone cases, UV printing can achieve excellent results with the assistance of specialized fixtures.

Confirm the object height: UV printing is performed by UV printers, which have a print height limit due to their structure and configuration. Before finalizing your purchase decision, it's essential to confirm the acceptable print height for your intended products. Generally, a wider height range also implies a larger printer size.

Confirm the pattern: Confirm your graphic and upload it to the printing software.

Print & Cure: As previously mentioned, when a printing task is activated, the UV printer directly prints onto the desired object. Simultaneously, UV lights positioned alongside the printhead assembly react with the inks, quickly drying them immediately after they are deposited.

2.2 What makes UV printing stand out

For object printing that significantly differs from heat transfer printing, the global printing community collectively refers to it as DTO (Direct-to-Object) printing. Alongside UV printing, pad printing and screen printing are two other major methods of DTO printing.However, as an emerging digital printing method, UV printing has garnered increasing attention in recent decades due to its significant advantages, which include:

Superior color reproduction: UV printing typically involves three layers of ink to achieve superior color reproduction:

1. White Ink (Base Layer): White ink serves as the bottom layer, reflecting more light back through the subsequent layers. This increases color contrast and highlights intricate graphic details, providing a vibrant and crisp final appearance.

2. Color Inks (Middle Layer): Unlike pad or screen printing methods, UV printing deposits multiple color inks simultaneously across different parts of the graphic. This ensures precise and rapid color reproduction, delivering vivid and accurate results.

3. Varnish Ink (Top Layer): The top layer of varnish ink adds a glossy finish, significantly enhancing the visual appeal and vibrancy of the colors. It also provides protection, ensuring the longevity and durability of the print.

Wider graphic option: To understand the advantages of UV printing, let's first look at how pad and screen printing handle specific graphics. Both methods require a graphic template to create the desired shape—pad printing uses an ink cup, while screen printing relies on a stencil. The more intricate the graphic, the more limitations these templates exhibit in terms of detail and flexibility.In contrast, UV printing, as a digital method, offers high flexibility in depicting both simple and complex graphics, whether in solid colors or multi-colors. By depositing the required inks simultaneously and precisely, UV printing provides a much wider range of options for graphic patterns and colors. This capability allows for detailed and vibrant prints without the constraints imposed by traditional graphic templates.

More simplified operation: Let’s recall the screen printing process: creating a stencil, preparing inks, squeegeeing the inks onto the desired object, and then leaving the print to dry or heat-drying it. Similarly, pad printing is not much simpler; it requires creating an etched graphic first, transferring the ink from a silicone pad to the object, and waiting for a considerable time before the print dries.UV printing, however, frees you from these labor-intensive steps. All you need to do is place the appropriate object on the printing platform. The UV printer then handles everything automatically—detecting the print height, executing the print, and instantly drying it with UV lights. Voilà! You have a complete, accurate, and durable DTO (Direct-to-Object) print, ready in no time.

3. Understanding UV inks and coatings

UV printing works on a wide range of materials, including leather, wood, acrylic, glass, metal, and more. However, due to the varying properties of different substrates, UV inks may exhibit different qualities on each material. To improve consistency, applying specific inks or coatings tailored to the substrate can be highly effective.

Soft ink: Generally soft ink is provided along with an UV printer by default. Compared to hard ink, soft ink can be universally used on both soft and rigid surfaces, causing less cracking issues.

Hard ink: For individuals aiming for premium-quality prints on rigid surfaces such as wood, metal, glass, and hard plastics, hard UV inks are the preferred choice. These inks feature larger particle sizes and increased viscosity compared to soft inks, delivering prints that are exceptionally durable and exhibit a striking three-dimensional effect.Important Note: Avoid using hard UV ink on flexible materials like leather, rubber, or PVC. The rigidity of hard ink can cause the prints to crack when applied to softer substrates.

Encre Procolored pour imprimante UV DTF 500 ml

Encre Procolored pour imprimante UV DTF 500 ml

£269.00

Coating: Here’s another takeaway for UV printings on metal, acrylic and glass - UV printing presents better quality on a less lubricious surface. For extra smooth surfaces, it’s recommended to apply specific coating first, to empower them with appropriate friction and heighten their bonding with UV inks.

Différents Revêtements Procolorés 500ML

£63.00

4. UV Printings in Actual Practice

The customization of Stanley tumbler has again incurred an increasing global attention on custom objects, and UV printing is one of the preferred printing methods to achieve them. With its simple application, fast drying and accurate printing position, UV printing has undoubtedly unleashed the experience of DTO (Direct-to-Objects) printing.

Procolored has further elevated UV printing to a higher standard with its advanced configuration and innovations of the UV printers. Take the product V6 and V10 UV printer for example, besides the top-notch printing quality, these two gadgets are also equipped with impressive features like adjustable printing height, built-in air filter and cooling system, as well as auto-cleaning function of the printhead.