Technical printing is an overarching term for functional printing projects that require product specifications above and beyond the industry standard. Often seen in highly regulated industries, technically printed parts call for exceptionally tight tolerances. To gain a deeper understanding, you can read our technical printing blog series
here.
When it comes to high-volume technical printing programs, one of the critical decisions you will need to make is the type of printing process to utilize for design development and full-scale production. Technically printed parts can be achieved using different printing technologies, such as gravure, lithographic, cylinder screen, or screen printing. At Boyd, we have specifically chosen to work with standard screen printing as our primary process.
In this two-part blog series, we will be reviewing the two screen-printing processes and equipment utilized at Boyd and how they fit into high-volume technical printing projects.
宝德技术印刷丝网印刷工艺比较
为任何技术打印程序选择最佳打印方法取决于零件的数量、尺寸、复杂性和功能要求。Boyd采用两种丝网印刷方法：单张纸和卷对卷。尽管这两种方法在处理上述核心因素的能力上有所不同，但主要区别在于物料搬运。虽然单张纸印刷在设计开发过程中起着至关重要的作用，但卷对卷印刷仍然是大多数大批量项目无可争议的赢家，因为它的运行速度、材料使用、在线检测以及每次打印多种颜色的能力。
单张纸丝网印刷
Sheet-fed screen printing is usually preferred for low- to medium-volume technical printing projects. The sheet-fed printing process requires an operator to load individual sheets into a press and then remove them after each pass, increasing overall job time. This combined with its size and run rate limitations (which we will discuss in the next blog), is why sheet-fed printing has proven to be an inefficient and more costly method for high-volume technical printing.
However, the development phase usually involves creating several variations of a design in low volumes and short intervals. Speed and agility are critical. As a result, regardless of the printing method utilized for production, the sheet-fed printing process is always used during the development phase for technical printing projects.
卷对卷丝网印刷
Roll-to-roll printing is the default printing method used for high-volume jobs that contain a high level of complexity, which is archetypical for technical printing projects. The substrate is administered in rolls (or webs) and continually fed through the press by a system of rollers. High-volume roll-to-roll technical printing has a significant utilization in the medical and appliance industry for capacitive touch applications, disposable medical devices, and electrodes.
Roll-to-roll printing is better equipped for high-volume projects because of its higher speed, tighter tolerances, and higher quality levels, resulting in less material waste and cost savings. This process is significantly faster as the materials do not require much handling and parts can be printed continuously. Other factors that add to roll-to-roll printing’s superior efficiency include the ability to perform roll-to-roll fabrication and in-process testing. This method is also preferable for through-hole (or via) printing and offers the possibility of printing multiple colors at once.
宝德在大批量技术印刷方面的优势
In addition to the variety of equipment available in-house, Boyd provides unique insight during the development and full-scale production stages. Typically, most high-volume technical printing projects come to Boyd at the front end of the customer’s development process. The customer may have completed their first round of artwork, be generally satisfied with the design, or have started looking into inks but need support in preparing and finalizing the part design and manufacturing process for high-volume production. That’s where Boyd comes in.
Boyd’s
quick-turn prototyping services help to develop high-volume technical printing projects with unparalleled efficiency and performance. Since we offer both sheet-fed and roll-to-roll printing, our experienced and knowledgeable R&D team can address customer’s projects with speed. We work with our customers to create multiple iterations of their design with fast turnarounds, allowing the customer to fine-tune their artwork to specification, while we ensure it’s primed for high-yield manufacturing.
What makes Boyd distinct during this development phase is that we build parts at low volumes with the mindset that they will scale up to a high-volume printing job. This foresight drives us to simulate the exact inks, squeegee types, print directions, and screen meshes but also replicate the specific drying and curing parameters used at high volumes. As a result, by the end of the development process, the artwork is already optimized, allowing for a streamlined transition to high-volume production.
In general, both the printing processes, sheet-fed and roll-to-roll, can be used for technical printing, but project requirements such as volume, tolerance, and circuit complexity, can determine which method is better for your specific application. However, the performance or capabilities mentioned throughout this blog for each printing process is also dependent on the type of equipment used. To learn more about our printing equipment, stay tuned until our next blog.
