An entirely new set of special effects capabilities are possible with UV.

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1 Why Go UV? Benefits - Special Effects - Substrates UV Print Benefits Inks Varnishes Coatings Synthetic & Special Effects Substrates UV Print Benefits UV printing is completely dried at the point of printing on the press. All post press finishing processes can be done immediately after printing. No waiting for it to dry adequately to finish. Turn around times on jobs is dramatically improved. Missed delivery deadlines overall are improved. Rush delivery jobs can be taken in with confidence that drying will not cause a delivery misfire. An entirely new set of special effects capabilities are possible with UV. UV printing meets customer demands and government regulation requirements for VOC emission. UV Print has no solvents, it is a VOC free process. No spray powder needed. The cost of buying spray powder is eliminated. The press room, presses and entire plant are cleaner. Printed product that needs to be depowdered for laminating, blister coat etc can be run with no powder when done UV, eliminating de-powdering. Maintenance issues attributed to spray powder such as excessive repair and maintenance on presses, computers, electronics, controls cabinets, chillers, HVAC equipment are eliminated. Time and money spent on cleaning up the spray powder is eliminated.

2 Post press finishing processes that require the ink to be fully oxidized such as laminating, foil stamping, mounting, offline coating, blister coat, scratch offs, etc can be done immediately after printing. Multiple inline coaters on presses are feasible with the benefits of UV curing. UV curing on perfecting presses eliminates all the negative problems associated with running the ink wet through the press after the perfecting (slur, marking, ink buildup on impression cylinders, major dot gain, color variance). Long press configurations (7 or more print units) have print better print quality with UV curing. Press delivery load pile heights can typically be ran to the maximum. No concerns of set off and sheets sticking together with UV curing. Run speeds on blister board stocks are dramatically increased. Load heights can be run to the maximum as well. Any jobs that mark because of high run speeds, transferring, delivery problems, etc will run faster when done UV. Jobs can be turned over and back printed immediately after printing without the marking and impression cylinder ink buildup problems associated with conventional print. UV ink does not skin up in the container or in the press fountain. Quality problems from ink hickies are eliminated with UV. Ink waste from conventional ink skinning is eliminated with UV inks. This adds up to a lot of dollars. Ink roller wash-ups are eliminated when ink drying on the rollers is a concern. UV printed foil type metallic inks on paper and plastic yields a fully recyclable product. Plastic and metal foil mounted on papers and plastics are not recyclable. UV printed make-ready waste can be run through the press immediately after printing multiple times. Reducing the amount of make-ready stock needed.

3 Typical UV curing scenarios use comparable amounts of electricity as IR/TA curing. And UV has the added guaranteed result of the instant drying benefits. The same practices for safely handling conventional inks and wash up chemicals are adequate to safely handle UV inks and chemistries. Inks Special Effects Metallic printing has superior drying and quality of print. Ink piling on other print unit blankets and back trap mottling is eliminated. Metal FX print is produced at a much higher quality level and more efficiently when done UV. The ability to cure the silver inline before printing the other colors on it makes a tremendous difference in quality. The ink trap is outstanding with no back trap mottling issues. Drying and turn around time is a non issue, print is sharper with better contrast, extra passes through the press are eliminated, run speeds are faster. Pearlescent inks print with more vibrancy. The pearlescent can be cured in the print unit thus eliminating piling on the blankets. Tinted opaque white colors can be run with UV curing to eliminate piling and back trapping. Some security inks are UV cure specific. Backlit printing requires very heavy ink films thicknesses of light fast inks. This process requires UV curing to dry those very heavy ink films. Lenticular printing requires UV curing to eliminate set off on the lens and excessive dry times. UV curing also sharpens the print for lenticular which is critical to quality motion and 3D effects. Benefits Whites are printed with ease when done UV. Lengthy dry time and extra passes through the press for overprint are eliminated. The piling on blankets is a problem when ran through as an extra pass conventionally. This is a non issue when ran UV.

4 Dense and heavy dark blacks and heavy dark 4 color process areas are dried immediately eliminating set off and excessive dry time. Dry trap overprinting using UV curing can eliminate extra passes through the press for many scenarios. Excellent color to color trap can be achieved by dry trapping on all color combinations, especially the most difficult ones with colors trapping to whites and metallics. UV curing the first down inks provides the excellent trapping. Dry trapping also yields far superior print quality appearance. Back trap mottling is eliminated on uncoated, coated and board stocks when curing with UV. UV curing will elevate print quality and avert reworks and untimely paper claim events for unacceptable levels of back trap mottling. Printing and curing UV ink on uncoated stocks eliminates dry back, massive dot gains, back trap mottle and a multitude of other quality issues including lengthy dry times resulting in set off and production delays. Print quality appearance is dramatically enhanced when you collectively eliminate these issues. Print is much cleaner sharper with much better contrast as well. Printing UV on plastic substrates eliminates the primary causes of rework on plastic poor drying, drying failure and set off. The rework risk of running conventional inks on plastic is very high. Printing plastic using UV allows run speeds to be and load pile heights to be increased dramatically. Conventional printing on plastic typically requires slow run speeds, very aggressive inks that would dry up on the rollers, very small load heights of just a few inches and a lot of spray powder..and whole lot of luck. Printing UV ink on foiled and poly laminated foil paper stocks is best for the same reasons as listed on plastic UV. Ink dot gains can be manipulated by selectively curing or not curing in the individual print units. Curing at a particular print unit will sharpen the print for the color printed in that unit. UV ink is VOC free.

5 Varnishes Special Effects Gloss UV varnish spot printing can be done inline over flood UV Matte varnish to achieve outstanding contrast without the registration issue caused by spot gloss/ spot matte technique and drying issues. Benefits UV varnishes have superior durability Matte UV varnishes are much more durable at the lower gloss levels where conventional matte varnish consistently fails due to scratching (packaging, binding, etc). UV varnish is VOC free. Coatings Special effects Raised UV coating requires very heavy application to achieve the effect. It must be UV cured to eliminate set off. Textured UV coatings also require very heavy film thickness to achieve the effect. It must be UV cured to eliminate set off. Glitter, confetti, metal flake, pearlescent coating effects are glaringly better achieved with UV. Many require different amounts of heavy film thickness for effect. Due to heavy film thickness requirements UV is needed. Iridescent (glowing) UV coatings require UV due to the heavy film thickness needed to achieve the effect. Color-stream and Iriodin pigments benefit from the higher gloss of UV coatings. Solid colored and metallic coatings require UV. Strike through effect UV coating and varnish combinations can yield many different texture and gloss/matte contrast looks.

6 Benefits Highly durable and flexible coatings are best if UV. Weather and Water Vapor resistant coatings are only available in UV. UV coatings have higher solvent resistance. UV coatings have very high temperature resistance. They are thermoset, meaning they cannot rewet or re-soften. UV coating is VOC free. Synthetic and Special Effects Substrates Plastics - print applications, attributes and benefits Styrene Available in white and clear. Low temperature and tear resistance. Typically used on signage, posters, disposable type cards, thermoformed packaging and shaped items. PVC - Available in white, colors and clear. High temperature resistance, highly durable, tear resistant. Typically used as signage for more extreme applications, gift cards, credit cards, phone cards, etc. Plastic packaging grades available. Polycarbonate Available white and clear. Very smooth glass like appearance. The number one choice for backlit signage and high profile print. Extremely durable, weather resistant and high temperature resistant. PETG Clear. Excellent clarity. Very smooth glass like appearance. Great for high profile, flashy UV print. Smoothness and clarity make it great for lenticular. Very durable. Used for higher end plastic cartons. APET Clear. Tainted clarity. Very durable. Used for plastic cartons. Lower end plastic. Flexible vinyl Available white and clear. Very flexible and pliable. Number one choice for statics clings. Used for banners, binder covers, etc. Typically comes temporarily mounted to a paperboard to give it the stability needed for printing.

7 Polypropylene - White. Typically used for banners. Very good tear resistance. Great outdoor durability. Not recommended for litho printing without guarantee for litho printability from the manufacturer. Polypropylene blends White. Poly Art, Hop Syn etc. Typically used for banners and as an artificial paper substitute. Very good tear resistance. Polyethylene White. Very difficult to get ink adhesion. Very durable and pliable. Very good tear resistance. Works good for tags. Not recommended for litho printing without guarantee for litho printability from the manufacturer. Magnetic and magnetic receptive stocks are best run UV. Very high risk of set off. Latex type sized and cast coated stocks. Best ran UV to ensure drying and minimize dot gain. Adhesive backed stocks typically are mounted to a liner film that is prone to set off. UV curing eliminates the problem. Metalized and Mica Pearlescent effect papers can be difficult for conventional ink to dry on and are prone to set off. Best done UV. Micro-fluted and other highly rigid paperboard stocks are best ran UV. Their rigidity causes them to mark badly when going through the press. UV curing eliminates or greatly minimizes the amount of marking. Blister paperboard is best printed UV for drying, increased run speeds and load heights. No spray powder can be used. Blister pack will adhere to most UV inks. Poly coated, grease and oil resistant packaging paperboards require UV inks for best drying.