All You Need to know About UV DTF Part 1

What is UV DTF and why do I need to know about it? You need to know about it because it could change the direct print industry just like textile DTF changed the screen printing business. Carlos Uribe at Hirsch Solutions and I dive into UV DTF technology end-to-end. Carlos explains what it is, how it works, and why the Mimaki solution is the best (if not only) solution on the market today. This video is part one of two, and walks through the process, the technology, and explains why precision Japanese engineering is going to be a requirement.

Chinese companies have had this out for years, but I have no faith in the mechanical accuracy or reliability of the feed and take-up system; they generally just take a pedestrian LED UV printer (always running 3200 printheads) and add the mechanisms to remove the liner and re-apply it as transfer film. That removal and reapplication process (along with the pinch rollers and the platen vacuum) is critically important. When you are running adhesive side up, you cannot afford to have a media failure--the consequences should be self-evident. You want an engineering team that carefully considered all the contact points in the workflow, and my vote is for Japan, and only Mimaki offers a fully automated solution that makes sense. Other points:

1. It's really UV Transfer-to-Object (TTO), not DTF. Transfer-to-Object is what it does.
2. It has nothing in common with textile DTF and DTF is misleading.
3. It's not a laminate that is being applied at the finish, it is a transfer film. Laminate is permanent, this film is just a carrier.
4. It is not a sticker, it is only the ink that is being transferred. Sticky ink. Stinker?
5. Mimaki makes very good LED UV roll-to-roll printers. The UCJV300 is a legend. This is the UCJV-75 with precision modifications.
6. Hirsch is a training and service focused dealer--you'll need one for this. They know what they are doing and can show you, too
7. This technology is going to disrupt pad printing, and is a perfect compliment to UV direct printing.
8. The finished product is excellent--much better than pad printing, and it is very durable.
9. Anyone can install it with a minimum skill level required: the most DIY friendly product since the sticker.
10. Close to universal application potential; you could put a transfer image almost anywhere, on anything

Watch the full video is here:    / @thepracticalprinter  

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