FUTURE OF PAPER (UNIT 4 )

FUTURE OF PAPER  

If you thought the paper industry was going to disappear, think again. Graphic papers are being squeezed, but the industry overall has major changes in store and exciting prospects for new growth.

The year 2015 saw worldwide demand for graphic paper decline for the first time ever, and the fall in demand for these products in Europe and North America over the past five years has been more pronounced than even the most pessimistic forecasts.

But the paper and forest-products industry as a whole is growing, albeit at a slower pace than before, as other products are filling the gap left by the shrinking graphic-paper

We may think we’re using less paper than in the past. After all, we’re consuming media online, we think before we print, we opt for digital bills and bank statements.

We might be using less paper in offices and buying fewer newspapers because we’re now reading them online. But you’re ordering more online. The stuff you buy on the internet has to be transported home, and it’s sent in packaging made out of wood fibers. So, that’s one of the key reasons the pulp and paper is a growing industry.

Environmental impact

Nowadays, 95% of the raw material used in the paper industry comes from plantations. Millions and millions of trees would not exist if not for the pulp and paper industry, because no one would be planting millions of trees just for fun. Without the paper industry, the environment would look much worse than it is today.

WEB vs PAPER

At first glance, that may seem to be a little ironic - after all, aren't advances in online technology and electronic media systematically reducing our need for paper?

Well, no, in fact. Paper consumption has increased consistently as the IT revolution has gathered pace. In today's information age paper continues to be the main tool for spreading information, culture and knowledge.

Far from being endangered by the arrival of the new information technologies, paper has become an indispensable complement to them and a symbiotic relationship has developed.

This underlines the fact that although paper and IT products do share certain traits, they are in reality two distinct entities, like apples and oranges, and any attempts to compare them is a rather futile exercise.

A real irony in the paper/online relationship is the message which ruefully ends many of our email communications - the one which asks us to "please consider the environmental consequences when printing this email".

Although the intention is laudable, such messages actually make us less environmentally aware. They make the recipient feel guilty about using paper, which is a biodegradable, recyclable and amazing natural resource, whilst making the sender feel environmentally responsible by implicitly suggesting that it is harmless to send information in the virtual world.

Rather than target one media over another - paper versus online - we need to target waste regardless of the source. An unnecessary email or google search is as real a problem from an environmental perspective, as the much maligned hard copy email, which can at least be recycled.

The information age is here to stay and it is bringing about a high speed and interconnected world. It also needs to speed up its recognition of its growing detrimental impact on the environment. A shared objective of both the paper and IT industries is to seek to continually reduce environmental impacts, although, only paper can be an active part of the solution.

ALL ABOUT PAPER (UNIT-4)

ALL ABOUT PAPER

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon,  printing upon,  drawing or for packaging.  It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets.

Of all the writing materials mankind has employed down through the ages, paper has become the most widely used around the world. Paper has a long history stretching back to ancient Egypt in the third millennium BC.
Although our paper may not be recognisable to the Pharaohs, paper has retained its essential characteristics down through the ages and today's diverse offerings remain as natural, essential and precious as ever.
The word ‘paper' is derived from papyrus, a plant that was once abundant in Egypt and which was used to produce a thick, paper-like material by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Papyrus, however, is only one of the predecessors of paper that are collectively known by the generic term ‘tapa' and which were mostly made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry, fig and daphne trees.

Paper as we know it traces its roots back to China at the beginning of the first millennium AD. Traditional Chinese records give the credit for its development to one T'sai Lun (about 105AD). He was subsequently deified as the god of paper makers!

China: birthplace of paper   AD 105
The birth of paper, as we know it today, took place under the Chinese Han Dynasty in AD 105. Ts'ai Lun, a court official, invented a papermaking process which primarily used rags (textile waste) as the raw material with which to make paper.
Chinese papermakers subsequently developed a number of specialities such as sized (paper with special surface properties), coated and dyed paper. Further advances saw paper designed to be resistant to insects and the use of a fibre-yielding plant - bamboo - which was de-fibred by cooking in lye Papermaking and innovation went hand-in-hand and the papermakers enabled China to develop its civilisation more rapidly, but they did encounter problems satisfying the growing demand for paper for governmental administration.

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Paper is recorded as being manufactured in Italy by 1220 and Germany by 1400, just about the time when the woodcut print making technique was transferred from fabric to paper in the old master print and popular prints.
The craft of papermaking spread throughout the world and remained a relatively small-scale, artisan activity until paper production became industrialised during the 19th century. Originally intended purely for writing and printing purposes, a dazzling array of paper products are available to today's consumer.




Modern paper making

Modern paper making began in the early 19th century in Europe with the development of the Fourdrinier machine, which produces a continuous roll of paper rather than individual sheets. These machines have become very large, up to 500 feet (~150 m) in length, producing a sheet 400 inches (~10 m) wide, and operating at speeds of over 60 mph (100 km/h).  In 1844, both Canadian inventor Charles Fenerty and German inventor F.G. Keller had invented the machine and process for pulping wood for the use in papermaking. This would end the nearly 2000-year use of pulped rags and start a new era for the production of newsprint and eventually almost all paper was made out of pulped wood.


USE OF PAPER

Paper can be produced with a wide variety of properties, depending on its intended use

1 For representing value: paper money, bank note, cheque, security (see Security paper), voucher and ticket

2 For storing information: book, notebook, magazine, newspaper, art, zine, letter

3 For personal use: diary, note to remind oneself, etc.; for temporary personal use: scratch paper

4 For communication: between individuals and/or groups of people.

5 For packaging: corrugated box, paper bag, envelope, wrapping tissue, Charta emporetica and wallpaper

6 For cleaning: toilet paper, handkerchiefs, paper towels, facial tissue and cat litter

7 For construction:  origami, paper planes, quilling, paper honeycomb, used as a core material in composite materials, paper engineering, construction paper and paper clothing

8. For other uses: emery paper, sandpaper, blotting paper, litmus paper, universal indicator paper, paper chromatography, electrical insulation paper (see also dielectrics and permittivity) and filter paper

Industrial papermaking
A modern paper mill is divided into several sections, roughly corresponding to the processes involved in making hand-made paper. Pulp is refined and mixed in water with other additives to make a pulp slurry, the headbox of the paper machine distributes the slurry onto a moving continuous screen, water drains from the slurry (by gravity or under vacuum), the wet paper sheet goes through presses and dries and is finally rolled into large rolls, often weighing several tons.
Another type of paper machine makes use of a cylinder mold that rotates while partially immersed in a vat of dilute pulp. The pulp is picked up by the wire and covers the mold as it rises out of the vat. A couch roller is pressed against the mold to smooth out the pulp, and picks the wet sheet off of the mold.

Handmade Paper making

Hand made paper (Cor. kagziindia.com)

New research into western form of handmade papermaking has renewed the interest and quality of hand made craft paper. The hydro pulper can be made from 200 litre drum, motor and blade to create 1mm size pulp. The new vat has a 30 degree entry angle to help novices make a good sheet the first time. The new moulds and deckles are made from moulded aluminium frames and high tec screens. The new transfer curve rolls over the new cotton sheets to quickly transfer from mould to cotton couching material. The new cotton couching is better than the thick couching material The new stacking system guides each cotton couching material onto a press board. The new press boards align 5 per board onto the bench press. The new bench press presses 50-200 sheets at a time. The research was pioneered with the help of Les Westerlund and the Environmental Technology Centre at Murdoch University,WA. The paper is made 150-300 gsm for quality printing with one smooth side.

SOME TYPES - Handmade Floral Paper, Handmade Crocodile Paper, Handmade Batik Paper, Handmade Embossed Paper, Handmade Dew Paper, Handmade Leather Paper,

SOME USES - Handmade Paper Note Book,  Handmade  Paper Bags, Handmade Paper Stationery, Handmade Paper Boxes, Handmade Paper Photo Frames and Handmade Paper Album.

MODERN PAPER SIZE
The international paper size standard, ISO 216, is based on the German DIN 476 standard for paper sizes. ISO paper sizes are all based on a single aspect ratio of square root of 2, or approximately 1:1.4142.


The base A0 size of paper is defined to have an area of one m². With the given aspect ratio of square root of two, this corresponds to a piece of paper with a longer side of one metre multiplied by the square root of the square root (that is, the fourth root) of two and the shorter side being the reciprocal of this value. Rounded to millimetres the A0 paper size is 841 by 1,189 millimetres (33.1 × 46.8 in). Successive paper sizes in the series A1, A2, A3, and so forth, are defined by halving the preceding paper size along the larger dimension. The most frequently used paper size is A4 (210 × 297 mm).


A0   841 by 1,189 mm

A1   594  by 841 mm
A2 420  by  594 mm
A3 297 by 420 mm
A4   210 by 297 mm
A5 148 by 210 mm
A6 105 by 148 mm
A7 74 by 105 mm
A8 52 by 74 mm
A9 37 by 52 mm
A10 26 by 37 mm


B0   1000 by 1414 mm
C0 917 by 1297 mm


Traditional inch-based paper sizes
Traditionally, a number of different sizes were defined for large sheets of paper, and paper sizes were defined by the sheet name and the number of times it had been folded. Thus a full sheet of "royal" paper was 25 × 20 inches, and "royal octavo" was this size folded three times, so as to make eight sheets, and was thus 10 by 6¼ inches.
Imperial sizes were used in the United Kingdom and its territories. Some of the base sizes were as follows:


Name in × in mm × mm Ratio
Emperor 48 × 72 1219 × 1829 1.5
Antiquarian 31 × 53 787 × 1346 1.7097
Grand eagle 28.75 × 42 730 × 1067 1.4609
Double elephant 26.75 × 40 678 × 1016 1.4984
Atlas* 26 × 34 660 × 864 1.3077
Colombier 23.5 × 34.5 597 × 876 1.4681
Double demy 22.5 × 35.5 572 × 902 1.5(7)
Imperial* 22 × 30 559 × 762 1.3636
Double large post 21 × 33 533 × 838 1.5713
Elephant* 23 × 28 584 × 711 1.2174
Princess 21.5 × 28 546 × 711 1.3023
Cartridge 21 × 26 533 × 660 1.2381
Royal* 20 × 25 508 × 635 1.25
Sheet, half post 19.5 × 23.5 495 × 597 1.2051
Double post 19 × 30.5 483 × 762 1.6052
Super royal 19 × 27 483 × 686 1.4203
Medium* 17.5 × 23 470 × 584 1.2425
Demy* 17.5 × 22.5 445 × 572 1.2857
Large post 16.5 × 21 419 × 533 1.(27)
Copy draught 16 × 20 406 × 508 1.25
Large post 15.5 × 20 394 × 508 1.2903
Post* 15.5 × 19.25 394 × 489 1.2419
Crown* 15 × 20 381 × 508 1.(3)
Pinched post 14.75 × 18.5 375 × 470 1.2533
Foolscap* 13.5 × 17 343 × 432 1.2593
Small foolscap 13.25 × 16.5 337 × 419 1.2453
Brief 13.5 × 16 343 × 406 1.1852
Pott 12.5 × 15 318 × 381 1.2

Newspapers have a separate set of sizes.

Broadsheet - Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages ( typically 22 inches / 55.9 cm or more). Now standered newspaper size is 52.5 cm. The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet newspaper was the Dutch Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c. published in 1618.

Compact- A compact newspaper is a broadsheet-quality newspaper printed in a tabloid format, especially one in the United Kingdom. The term is used also for this size (not to be confused with 4.25 × 6.75 inches or 108 × 171 mm paper sizes) came into use in its current use when The Independent began producing a smaller format edition for London's commuters, designed to be easier to read when using mass transit.

Tabloid (newspaper format) -  A tabloid is a newspaper with compact page size smaller than broadsheet, although there is no standard for the precise dimensions of the tabloid newspaper format. The term "tabloid journalism", which tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, and TV and celebrity gossip is commonly associated with tabloid sized newspapers, though some respected newspapers such as The Independent are in tabloid format, and in the United Kingdom the size is used by nearly all local newspapers. In the United States, it is commonly the format employed by alternative newspapers. As the term tabloid has become synonymous with down-market newspapers in some areas, some small-format papers which claim a higher standard of journalism refer to themselves as compact newspapers instead.

The tabloid newspaper format is particularly popular in the United Kingdom, where its page dimensions are roughly 430 × 280 mm (16.9 in × 11.0 in).

Berliner - Berliner, or "midi", is a newspaper format with pages normally measuring about 470 × 315 mm (18.5 × 12.4 in). The Berliner format is slightly taller and marginally wider than the tabloid/compact format; and is both narrower and shorter than the broadsheet format.



PAPER FINISHING

The characteristics, appearance and properties of paper and board are supplemented and enhanced by their final treatments. These may be simple processes where the reel is slit into a number of more narrow reels or cut into sheets or more complicated processes such as coating or super-calendering.

COATED PAPER 
Coating is a process by which paper or board is coated with an agent to improve brightness or printing properties. By applying PCC, china clay, pigment or adhesive the coating fills the miniscule pits between the fibres in the base paper, giving it a smooth, flat surface which can improve the opacity, lustre and colour-absorption ability. Various blades and rollers ensure the uniform application of the coating.

Different levels of coating are used according to the paper properties that are required. They are divided into light coated, medium coated, high coated, and art papers - art paper is used for the high quality reproduction of artwork in brochures and art books.


UNCOATED PAPER
Not all paper is coated. Uncoated paper is typically used for letterheads, copy paper, or printing paper. Most types of uncoated paper are surface sized to improve their strength. Such paper is used in stationary and lower quality leaflets and brochures.


PAPER RECYCLENG 
The paper industry has been recycling for over 600 years. As environmental awareness has grown, the ease with which paper can be recycled is an increasingly valued attribute. Recycling is ecologically and economically sound and recovered paper is a vital raw material for paper production.

Over the past 15 years the paper recycling capacity in Europe has doubled as a result of the significant investment by the paper industries in its recycling capacity. Since 2000, the growth in the paper recycling rate has been three times that of total paper consumption.

The paper industry is the largest recycler in Europe. Recovered fibres are particularly suited for applications such as newsprint and packaging. Innovation in recycling technology means that some fine papers can also be based on recycled fibres. However, for some "higher quality" publication paper and some packaging applications only top quality recovered paper, which is not available in large quantities, can be used.
Europe is the global leader in paper recycling:

FACTS ABOUT RECYCLEING
90% of news papers are printed on recycled paper
90% of corrugated boxes are made of recycled fibre
66.6% of consumed paper is sent for recycling
54% of the fibres used in new paper and board are sourced from recovered paper


PAPER  PRODUCTION  IN INDIA

- India’s pulp and paper industry is just 1.6 percent of world’s production.
- 12 million ton production per annum in India
- Per capita paper consumption in india 10 kg.
- Per capita paper consumption in China 60 kg.
- Develop countries like US per capita consumption is 300 kg.

Large Integrated Paper Mills from private and public sector with a product mix of all varieties of paper (writing, printing, packaging, speciality, paper boards and newsprint ) located in all regions and using conventional fibre such as wood and bamboo and also unconventional raw materials like recyclable waste paper, agro-residues, viz. bagasse and wheat straw.

Newsprint is a cost effective and inexpensive paper made from wood pulp and used chiefly for printing newspapers, flyers, and other printed material intended for mass distribution. It usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel.

In India ,three main sources raw materials are used to manufacture paper are Wood account for 30%, Waste Paper 39% and Agro based Raw Materials 31%. The current Global requirement is to protect the environment and saving of trees to control Global warming which is the threat to mankind.

- Nepa Mills ( Burhanpur, MP)  is  the FIRST Newsprint Mill in the country



IMPA - Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) as a body represents the resurgent and organized face of paper sector in India.
comprise the membership of  IPMA in a broad spectrum.  IPMA members account for more than one-third of industry's production of paper and paper board.



Major Paper Mills in INDIA

The Hindustan Paper Corporation (GOVT)
Cachar Paper Mill, Panchgram (Assam)
Nagaon Paper Mills, Kagaj Nagar
The South India Paper Mills
NEPA Mills, Nepanagar ( GOVT. Mill) ( For NEWSPRINT)
Nepa Mills, KASHIPUR, UTTRAKHAND

Cachar Paper Mill, Panchgram (Assam) ( cor. Silcahr Times)

Sirpur Paper Mills (Adilabad, Telangana)
Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills
Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited
Amrit Corp ABC Papers
Century Pulp & Paper, Lalkuan.
Orient Paper Mills
Hemkunt Paper Mills Ltd.
ITC Paperboards & Specialty Papers Division
J. K. Paper Ltd.
Khanna Paper Mills
K. R. Pulp & Papers
Murli Industries Ltd.
Mysore Paper Mills
Punalur Paper Mills, Punalur
Sai Rayalaseema Paper Mills Ltd., Kurnool
Sangal Papers Ltd., Mawana
Satia Paper Mills Ltd., Muktsar
Seshasayee Paper And Boards Ltd., Erode
Sri Nandha Paper and Board, Namakkal, Tamil Nadu
Sri Srinivasa Paper Mills
Trident Paper Mills
West Coast Paper Mills, Dandeli
Whitefield Paper Mills
Yash-Papers, Faizabad
Mundey Paper Mills, Malerkotla ( PUNJAB)
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3D PRINTING ( Unit 4)

3D PRINTING

3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing technology where a three dimensional object is created by laying down successive layers of material. 3D printers are generally faster, more affordable and easier to use than other additive manufacturing

technologies.

3D printers offer product developers the ability to print parts and assemblies made of several materials with different mechanical and physical properties in a single build process. Advanced 3D printing technologies yield models that can serve as product prototypes.

A large number of competing technologies are available to do 3D printing. Their main differences are found in the way layers are built to create parts. Some methods use melting or softening material to produce the layers, e.g. selective laser sintering (SLS) and fused deposition modeling (FDM), while others lay liquid materials that are cured with different technologies. In the case of laminated object manufacturing, thin layers are cut to shape and joined together.

HISTORY OF 3D PRINTING

3D printing has its roots in the 1980s when inventor Chuck Hull began experimenting with liquid plastics that would harden when they were exposed to ultraviolet light.

Hull ultimately discovered that thousands of these plastic sheets could be layered, or "printed," on top of each other and shaped into a three-dimensional object.

He co-founded 3D Systems, with the company developing software to do 3D printing from computer images and building 3D printers. Even so, Hull in May told the Quartz website that some of the talk about 3D printing "is definitely hype and won't happen". The recent surge in interest follows the embrace of 3D printing technology by the "maker" community -- the new technology do-it-yourself creative movement.

PRICE

People can now buy their own 3D printers for less than $1,000, and enterprise-sized machines begin at an inexpensive $2,500.

HP AND GE MAKING

General Electric chief executive Jeff Immelt has said 3D printing can help make manufacturing "sexy again", and President Barack Obama has praised it for having "the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything".

"The systems need to become larger, more repeatable, that sort of thing,"

BENFITS

3D printing works especially well for "highly sophisticated parts that are very difficult to make in a conventional way," GE is testing 3D printing for other engine parts, with an eye toward reducing material and energy costs.

FUTURE

3D printing, which employs lasers to "print" objects from metals or plastics according to a digital design, has suddenly become one of the hottest areas of technology.

Computer giant Hewlett-Packard is plunging into the business, recently announcing it would put its own ultra-fast 3D printer on the market by 2016, "empowering people to create, interact and inspire like never before".

Market researcher Gartner forecasts that worldwide spending on 3D printing will rise from $1.6 billion in 2015 to around $13.4 billion in 2018.

GE is among the large manufacturers active in 3D printing. It has been using the technology to make fuel nozzles for its LEAP jet engines, which will go into service in 2015.

WHAT IS DIGITAL PRINTING (unit 4)

WHAT IS DIGITAL PRINTING

 Digital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small run jobs from desktop publishingand other digital sources are printed using large format and or high volume laser or inkjetprinters.

Digital printing has a higher cost per page than more traditional offset printing methods but this price is usually offset by the cost saving in avoiding all the technical steps in between needed to make printing plates.

On Demand Printing

Digital printing also allows for on demand printing, short turn around, and even a modification of the image (variable data) with each impression. The savings in labor and ever increasing capability of digital presses means digital printing is reaching a point where it will match or supersede offset printing technology's ability to produce larger print runs at a low price.

 Quicker and Less Expensive

The main difference between digital printing and traditional methods such as lithography,flexography, gravure, or letter press is that no printing plates are used, resulting in a quicker and less expensive turn around time. The most popular methods include inkjet or laser printers that deposit pigment or toner onto a wide variety of substrates including paper, photo paper, canvas, glass, metal, marble and other substances. The four main digital printing presses are the Canon imagePRESS, HP Indigo, Xerox iGen and Kodak Nexpress all have their points of differences and advantages.

 PRINT ON ANY MEDIA

With digital printing you can print any surface like, T-Shirts, Mugs, Posters, Key Chains,  Teddy Bears,  Magnets, Mousepads, Tea Coasters,  Puzzles, Shoulder Bags etc. Using Digital Banner Inkjet Printer you can print on canvas, PP paper, translites, silver & golden film and other items.

Customized Printing

capable to deliver exclusive design solutions and customized printing for textiles printing solutions on specified fabrics as per the requirements. Good for printing for company logo, theatre stage design, individual designs and contract collections, each and every assignment.

SOME TYPES OF DIGITAL PRINTING

Digital Saree Printing

Digital Ink Printing

Digital Fabric Printing

Digital Color Printing

Digital Screen Printing

Digital Textile Printing

Digital Image Printing

Customized Digital Printing

Textile Jet Printing

FLEX PRINTING OR FLEXOGRAPHY

Flexography (often abbreviated to flexo) is a form of printing process which utilizes a flexible relief plate. It is basically an updated version of letterpress that can be used for printing on almost any type of substrate including plastic, metallic films, cellophane, and paper. It is widely used for printing on the non-porous substrates required for various types of food packaging. it is also well suited for printing large areas of solid color.

Flex printing is a profitable business - Flex printing is a profitable business venture and there are two ways through which you can do flex and banner printing business. You require a business project report before you start doing the project.

The first option is to secure a retail space having sufficient area to do your business; this is the place where you will set up your entire business. The next, you can do is secure a comparatively small space where you can make it as your designing area. Leave a separate place for keeping your machinery or rent a place especially for machinery that is not too expensive. you can even set up a printing unit in your house itself.

Flex and banner printing is increasing in India, the growth is happening at a steady pace due to the heavy rise in demand. It is the mode of advertisement that will never go out of fashion. Outdoor and indoor advertising both require flex printing. There is growing demand from major metro cities across India such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

Most of the customers for flex printing business are from regional and national political parties. These banners are required by these parties for setting up programs and rallies on a regular basis.

DIGITAL VINYL PRINTING

The printing industry has undergone huge changes in the past 20 years, with advancements in technology providing more printing options and capabilities than ever before. In most cases, digital vinyl printing has now superseded screen printing and wide format printing has also gone main stream, as it is no longer the expensive and tricky process it once was. Vinyl printing provides photo quality print. It cost around 25 INR per sq. feet in Indian market.

Vinyl is a synthetic plastic material that has the most uses compared to any other plastic in the world. Vinyl printing is a form of Outdoor promoting approach for advertising. Vinyl printing is the rising demand in the market. Digital vinyl printing offers large format, full color printing which can be laminated or shape cut. Used for everything from vinyl and PVC banners, T shirts, to car wraps, wall coverings and exhibition displays; vinyl printing offers a flexible high quality solution for decorating cars, buildings and windows, both internally and externally.

Advantage

Designed to last – Vinyl printing uses durable, waterproof, scratch-resistant inks, which means it’s perfect for creating a wide variety of internal and external signage. Vinyl materials are capable of enduring everything from heat and sunshine to cold and wet weather, making them a sound investment.

Cost-effective – If you’re going to offer vinyl-printed banners, signs or wraps to your customers, you need to know you’re going to make a reasonable profit. Vinyl printing is so cost-effective, that businesses of all sizes can afford to purchase vinyl marketing materials – just make sure you purchase the most efficient printer possible.

Quality is amazing – Photo-quality images are printed with ease. Digital printing technology means that every vinyl product looks professional, colorful and high quality.

Printing on T shirts - Vinyl printing is amazing because it comes in multiple colors and textures. Glitter, flock, glow in the dark are just a few types that can make garments unique. This method is also an alternative option when design has multiple colors. Vinyl printing uses vinyl to create graphics on a T-Shirt. 

SCREEN PRINTING ( Unit-4)

Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A roller  or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing or pumping ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas.

Screen printing is also a stencil method of print making in which a design is imposed on a screen of silk or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance, and ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface. It is also known as silk screen, serigraphy, and serigraph printing.

There are various terms used for what is essentially the same technique. Traditionally the process was called screen printing or silkscreen printing because silk was used in the process. Currently, synthetic threads are commonly used in the screen printing process. The most popular mesh in general use is made of polyester. There are special-use mesh materials of nylon and stainless steel available to the screen printer.

Credit is generally given to the artist Andy Warhol for popularizing screen printing identified as serigraphy, in the United States. Warhol is particularly identified with his 1962 depiction of actress Marilyn Monroe screen printed in garish colors.

American entrepreneur, artist and inventor Michael Vasilantone would start to use, develop, and sell a rotary multicolor garment screen printing machine in 1960. Vasilantone would later file for patent on his invention in 1967 granted number 3,427,964 on February 18, 1969. The original rotary machine was manufactured to print logos and team information on bowling garments but soon directed to the new fad of printing on t-shirts. The Vasilantone patent was licensed by multiple manufacturers, the resulting production and boom in printed t-shirts made the rotary garment screen printing machine the most popular device for screen printing in the industry. Screen printing on garments currently accounts for over half of the screen printing activity in the United States.

In June 1986, Marc Tartaglia, Marc Tartaglia Jr. and Michael Tartaglia created a silk screening device which is defined in its US Patent Document as, "Multi-colored designs are applied on a plurality of textile fabric or sheet materials with a silk screen printer having seven platens arranged in two horizontal rows below a longitudinal heater which is movable across either row." This invention received the patent number 4,671,174 on June 9, 1987, however the patent no longer exists.

Graphic screen printing is widely used today to create many mass or large batch produced graphics, such as posters or display stands. Full color prints can be created by printing in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Screen printing is often preferred over other processes such as dye sublimation or inkjet printing because of its low cost and ability to print on many types of media.

Screen printing lends itself well to printing on canvas. Andy Warhol, Rob Ryan, Blex bolex, Arthur Okamura, Robert Rauschenberg, Harry Gottlieb, and many other artists have used screen printing as an expression of creativity and artistic vision.

HOW IT WORKS - 
A screen is made of a piece of porous, finely woven fabric called mesh stretched over a frame of aluminium or wood. Originally human hair was used, then silk was woven to make a screen mesh; currently most mesh is woven of man-made materials such as steel, nylon, and polyester. Areas of the screen are blocked off with a non-permeable material to form a stencil, which is a negative of the image to be printed; that is, the open spaces are where the ink will appear.

Before ink is applied to the screen, the screen and frame must go through a process referred to as 'pre-press'. In this process, an emulsion is 'scooped' across the mesh and the 'exposure unit' burns away the unnecessary emulsion leaving behind a clean area in the mesh with the identical shape as the desired image. The surface (commonly referred to as a pallet) that the substrate will be printed against is coated with a wide 'pallet tape'. This serves to protect the 'pallet' from any unwanted ink leaking through the substrate and potentially staining the 'pallet' or transferring unwanted ink onto the next substrate. Next, the screen and frame are lined with a tape. The type of tape used in for this purpose often depends upon the ink that is to be printed onto the substrate. 

With most plastisol inks and sometimes UV and water-based inks, Split Tape is recommended for its clean removability. However, if the user needs a more aggressive adhesive tape (often requiring cleaning adhesive residue), tapes such as Blue R-Tape and masking tape are recommended. These aggressive tapes are generally used for UV and water-based inks due to the inks' lower viscosities. The last process in the 'pre-press' is blocking out any unwanted 'pin-holes' in the emulsion. If these holes are left in the emulsion, the ink will continue through and leave unwanted marks. To block out these holes, materials such as tapes, specialty emulsions and 'block-out pens' may be used effectively.

Types of screen printing
1. Flat bed- manual process, visiting card, greeting cards, letter pad, matrimonial cards etc.
2. Cylinder – sheet fed or web fed press with hot air dryers
3. Rotary- used for printing on garments

Speed- we can print 300 feet per minute or 4000 impression per hour. 1800 t-shirt printed in on hour.

Advantage
1. Cost effective printing
2. Can print any surface, flat or odd shaped.
3. Can use any color, transparent, glossy
4. Can use enamel paints, plastic colors, fluorescent or textile colors.

LIMITS
We cannot use halftone or process colors.  Amount of ink applied is far greater than letter press or offset press.


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OFFSET PRINTING (UNIT 4)

Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred ( or offset ) from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. Today over 40% of all print jobs in world are carried out using offset printing.

Based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a water-based film, keeping the non-printing areas ink-free. Development of the offset press came in two versions: in 1875 by Robert Barclay of England for printing on tin, and in 1903 by Ira Washington Rubel of the United States for printing on paper.Compared to other printing methods, offset printing is best suited for cost-effectively producing large volumes of high quality prints in an economically sound manner that requires little maintenance.


Three Cylinders
Offset printing works in a simple manner. It uses three cylinders to transfer the image onto the substrate. The first cylinder is mounted with the printing plate. The image on the printing plate is ‘right’ reading or written with the right side up. The first cylinder is inked and the image transferred or offset onto the second cylinder, which is mounted with a rubber blanket. The image on the second cylinder is thus reversed or becomes ‘wrong’ reading. Finally the image is transferred from the blanket cylinder onto the third cylinder or the substrate. The substrate is mounted on the third cylinder also known as the impression cylinder. The image once again is reversed and becomes ‘right’ reading or right side up in the final printed version

Ink-water balance
Ink and water balance is an extremely important part of offset printing. If ink and water are not properly balanced, the press operator may end up with many different problems affecting the quality of the finished product, such as emulsification. This means the water overpowering and mixing with the ink.It leads to scumming, catchup, trapping problems, ink density issues and in extreme cases the ink not properly drying on the paper, resulting in the job being unfit for delivery to the client. With the proper balance, the job will have the correct ink density and should need little further adjustment except minor ones. Such as when the press heats up during normal operation, thus evaporating water at a faster rate. In this case the machinist will gradually increase the water as the press heats up to compensate for the increased evaporation of water. Printing machinists generally try to use as little water as possible to avoid these problems.


Advantages of offset printing

Advantages of offset printing compared to other printing methods include:
1. high image quality - Consistent high image quality. Offset printing produces sharp and clean images and type more easily than letterpress printing because the rubber blanket conforms to the texture of the printing surface.
2. Quick and easy production of printing plates.
3. Longer printing plate life than on direct litho presses because there is no direct contact between the plate and the printing surface. Properly developed plates running in conjunction with optimized inks and fountain solution may exceed run lengths of a million impressions.
4. Cost saving -  Offset printing is the cheapest method to produce high quality printing in commercial printing quantities.


Photo Offset
The most common kind of offset printing is derived from the photo offset process, which involves using light-sensitive chemicals and photographic techniques to transfer images and type from original materials to printing plates.
In current use, original materials may be an actual photographic print and typeset text. However, it is more common — with the prevalence of computers and digital images — that the source material exists only as data in a digital publishing system.

Web offset
Offset lithographic printing on to a web (reel) of paper is commonly used for printing of newspapers and magazines for high speed production.
Ink is transferred from the ink duct to the paper in several steps :-
The ink duct roller delivers ink from the ink duct to the ink pyramid. Also called the  Ink Train.

The ductor roller, sometimes called a vibrator roller due to its rapid back and forth motion, transfers ink from the duct roller to the first distribution roller. It is never in contact with both rollers at the same time.
The distribution rollers evenly distribute the ink. The first distribution roller picks up the ink from driving rollers, and the last distribution rollers transfer the ink to the form rollers. The transfer rollers transfer ink between the ink-absorbing and ink-delivering driving rollers.
Driving rollers roll against the distribution rollers and either absorb or deliver ink, depending on their placement.
Ink form rollers transfer ink from the last distribution rollers on to the printing plate.
The printing plate transfers the ink to the offset cylinder (typically called blanket cylinder) usually covered with a rubber 'blanket'. The paper is then pressed against the blanket cylinder by the impression cylinder, transferring the ink onto the paper to form the printed image.

Sheet-fed Litho
"Sheet-fed" refers to individual sheets of paper or paperboard being fed into a press. A lithographic ("litho" for short) press uses principles of lithography to apply ink to a printing plate, as explained previously. Sheet-fed litho is commonly used for printing of short-run magazines, brochures, letter headings, and general commercial ( job work ) printing.

Heat set offset

Web-fed refers to the use of rolls (or "webs") of paper supplied to the printing press. Offset web printing is generally used for runs in excess of 5 or 10 thousand impressions. Typical examples of web printing include newspapers, newspaper inserts/ads, magazines, catalogs, and books. Web-fed presses are divided into two general classes: "Cold" or "Non-Heatset," and "Heatset" offset web presses, the difference being how the inks that are used dry. Cold web offset printing dries through absorption into the paper, while heatset utilizes drying lamps or heaters to cure or "set" the inks. Heatset presses can print on both coated (slick) and uncoated papers, while coldset presses are restricted to uncoated paper stock, such as newsprint. Some coldset web presses can be fitted with heat dryers, or ultraviolet lamps (for use with uv-curing inks). It is also possible to add a drier to a cold-set press. This can enable a newspaper press to print color pages heatset and black & white pages coldset.

Web-fed vs. Sheet-fed (photo offset)
Sheet-fed presses offer several advantages. Because individual sheets are fed though, a large number of sheet sizes and format sizes can be run through the same press. In addition, waste sheets can be used for make-ready which allows for lower cost makereadies, so that good paper is not wasted while setting up the press, for plates & inks (waste sheets do bring some disadvantages as often there are dust, offset powder particles that transfer on to the blankets and plate cylinders, thereby creating imperfections on the printed sheet in the form of "hickies").
Web-fed presses, on the other hand, are much faster than sheet-fed presses, with speeds in excess of 20,000 cut-offs per hour. Their speed makes them ideal for large runs such as newspapers or magazines. However, web-fed presses have a fixed cut-off, unlike rotogravure or flexographic presses.

Types of commercial offset processes

Perfecting press
A perfecting press, also known as a duplex press, is one that can print on both sides of the paper at the same time. Web and sheet-fed offset presses are similar in that many of them can also print on both sides of the paper in one pass, making it easier and faster to print duplex.

Offset duplicators
Small offset lithographic presses that are used for fast, good quality reproduction of 1- and 2-color copies in sizes up to 12”X18”. (Romano, & Riordan 139–141) Popular models were made by A.B. Dick, Multilith, and the Chief and Davidson lines made by A.T.F./Davidson.
Offset duplicators are made for fast and quick printing jobs; therefore have faster make-readies and turn-around time, printing up to 12,000 impressions per hour.
They are able to print business forms, letterheads, labels, bulletins, postcards, envelopes, folders, reports, and sales literature.

Sheet-fed offset
In sheet-fed offset, “the printing is carried out on single sheets of paper as they are fed to the press one at a time.” Sheet-fed presses use mechanical registration to relate each sheet to one another to ensure that they are reproduced with the same imagery in the same position on every sheet running through the press.

Process
The actual process of printing is quite involved. One of the most important functions in the process is Pre-press Production. This stage makes sure that all files are correctly processed in preparation for printing. This includes converting to the proper CMYK, finalizing the files, and creating plates for each color of the job to be run on the press. The sheet fed press consists of different systems that complete the actual process; feeder system, printing system, inking/dampening system, and the delivery system.

Feeder system
The feeder system is responsible for making sure paper runs through the press correctly. This is where you load the substrate and then correctly set up the system to the certain specifications of the substrate to the press.

Printing /inking system
The Printing Unit consists of many different systems. The dampening system is used to apply dampening solution to the plates with water rollers. The inking system uses rollers to deliver ink to the plate and blanket cylinders to be transferred to the substrate. The plate cylinder is where the plates containing all of the imaging are mounted. Finally the blanket and impression cylinders are used to transfer the image to the substrate running through the press.

Producer of offset press
Manroland  (Deutschland, Germany ) is the largest producer of newspaper presses in the world. Every third newspaper world-wide, gets printed on a Manrolannd web press. In 1911 the first Roland sheetfed offset press was built.
In India Hindustan Times uses MANROLAND COLORMAN Web offset. Colorman presses to 90,000 copies per hour.  Colorman E-Line web press with automatic wireless control which can scan the unit for its wear and tear, ink control console equipped with iPad for single-touch operations and chemistry.
Times Of India (TOI) owner, Bennett & Coleman group also uses MANROLAND COLORMAN. TOI has a long term relationship with Manroland with multiple press lines of Colorman, Geoman, Regioman and Cromoman installed at numerous production sites across India. http://www.manroland.com/ 


Mitsubishi is another big producer of web offset press. Mitsubishi  L1100 is a eight color web offset press.


SOME OFFSET PRESS Manufacturing co. in INDIA

Orient web offset press, ( The Printers House )  http://www.tph.co.in/ - a leading exporter and Manufacturer of Single width , Single circumference Web offset Printing Presses from  India. TPH’s manufacturing facilities at Ballabagarh (Faridabad) near New Delhi , India   ( User – Amar ujala, Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik jagran etc.)

Manugraph - Manugraph is India's largest manufacturer of web offset presses. http://www.manugraph.com/ ( user – Tribune, Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik jagran etc) ( Speed – upto 70,000 Copies per hour )
Ronald Web Offset, Ballabhgarh, (HR)- http://www.ronaldindia.com/
Newsweb Engineers Private Limited, Ballabhgarh  (HR)
Rotta Print India Private Limited, Faridabad. ( HR)

For more see - http://www.printweek.in/

PRE PRESS SECTION (UNIT 4)

A imagesetter.

Prepress is the term used in the printing and publishing industries for the processes and procedures that occur between the creation of a print layout and the final printing. The prepress procedure includes the manufacture of a printing plate, image carrier or form, ready for mounting on a printing press, as well as the adjustment of images and texts or the creation of a high-quality print file. In today's prepress shop, the form of delivery from the customer is usually electronic, either a PDF or application files created from such programs as Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress.

The following items have each been considered part of pre press at one time or another:
1. Screening and adjustment of a continuous-tone of images such as photographs

2. Imposition, or the combination of many pages into a single signature form.

3. Separation, or specifying images or text to be put on plates applying individual printing media (inks, varnishes, etc.) to a common print.

4. Making of plates - The usage of different materials of plates should meet the needs of printing  method. Usually rubber, plastic, aluminum are used for plates as well as film which is the photomechanical exposure and processing of light-sensitive emulsion on a printing plate. Manufacturing of plates should be well planned and delivered beforehand. Also, the cost should be calculated as well.
Manufacturing of a high-quality print (PDF) file, which is used for the final printing.
Paper select, choosing a proper paper is also a very important step in prepress.


Image setter 

An imagesetter is an ultra-high resolution large-format computer output device. It exposes rolls or sheets of either photographic film or bromide paper to a laser light source. Once the film or paper is developed, a very high quality black and white image is revealed. Development ( processing) usually occurs in a unit separate to the image setter, as does raster image processing.
Image setter output ranges in width; usually between 12 and 44 inches. The resolution of an image setter is typically between 1200 and 4800 dpi.
The image setter has been largely superseded by the platesetter.

Image setter film is a silver halide-coated plastic film very similar to normal black & white photographic film, except the spectral sensitivity is reduced to a much narrower band around the output of the laser of the individual image setter. This allows the film to be handled under a (usually red) safelight, instead of in total darkness like most photographic film.

Output on bromide paper
The use of bromide paper instead of film in an image setter allows it to produce paper output called bromides. Bromides are similar to ordinary laser prints but with four major differences.
The output can be much bigger
The output is of much higher resolution
The black is darker, and is of much more consistent color
The cost is approximately 100 times that of an equivalent laser print
The main use of bromides is for proofing documents before expensive lithography plates are made. Proofing on bromide paper is much easier than film, since it doesn't require a light table or other backlighting in order to read. Because of the uptake of plate setters, this function of image setters in modern printing houses has been reduced, although not completely eliminated.
Bromide paper is very similar to black & white photographic paper, except the backing is much thinner, and like image setter film is of diminished spectral sensitivity.

Computer to Plate (CTP) 

Computer to Plate (CTP) is a newer technology that allows the imaging of metal or polyester plates without the use of film. Eliminating the stripping, compositing, and traditional plate making processes, CTP revolutionized the printing industry and led to reduced prepress times, lower costs of labor, and improved print quality.
Most CTP systems used thermal CTP as opposed to violet CTP, though both systems are effective, depending on the needs of the printing job. Thermal CTP does have the advantage of extremely high quality, but Violet CTP does cost significantly less. Thermal plates are generally used for longer runs, while Violet CTP is employed for shorter runs, and popular with 2-up and 4-up applications (Bruno, Romano, and Riordan 126).

Thermal CTP has the added bonus of utilizing binary exposure, which limits the risk of under or overexposure, and makes it possible to work under yellow light (Bruno, Romano, and Riordan 126).
Thermal CTP involves the use of thermal lasers to expose and/or remove areas of coating while the plate is being imaged. This depends on whether the plate is negative, or positive working. These lasers are generally at a wavelength of 830 nanometers, but vary in their energy usage depending on whether they are used to expose or ablate material. Violet CTP lasers have a much lower wavelength, 405–410 nanometers. Violet CTP is “based on emulsion tuned to visible light exposure,” (Bruno, Romano and Riordan 126). The general trend of platesetters has been to move toward coatings whose success on press is independent of post imaging chemical bath processing.