Compared to the Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) printers or Large Character printers (LCP) traditionally used in the construction industries, high resolution printers offer the possibility of adding marketing value with high quality logos printed onto a variety of construction materials.

Printing at 300dpi allows users to mark products with more detailed and intricate data, including barcodes and QR codes, as well as the batch, date and product specification information required for traceability.

For 20 years Timbermark has been supplying high resolution inkjet printers into the timber and construction industries and has customers across the UK, who print on a variety of substrates including rough sawn and planed timber, concrete and steel.

However, latest innovations in printer technology and the relevant consumables mean that inkjet printers are now available that can make a scratch resistant and solvent resistant mark on difficult surfaces like PE pipes.

Timbermark offers the small character Thermal Inkjet (TIJ) printer from Sojet and a larger format piezo printer from Yeacode, both of which can now be integrated with UV lights and use UV curing inks to provide printing with fast adhesion to non-porous substrates, like plastic.

A plasma curing unit is available with both technologies. This improves the adhesion to difficult surfaces like PE and gives better abrasion resistance to the mark.

The TIJ option comes from Sojet, a long-standing supplier to Timbermark. The printer is easy to use with a touch screen interface for easy programming and requires zero maintenance.

TIJ printers use a cartridge-based ink system which means that any problems with the print quality or changing colour can easily be addressed by simply swapping out the ink cartridge. New products from Sojet offer a range of new features, including a print resolution of 600dpi and an outline font option, making it possible to optimize both the impact of the print and the economy of ink use.

Timbermark’s piezo printers are provided by Yeacode. The print heads range from 32mm to 72mm in height and provide market leading speed possibilities of 180m/min at 300 dpi. Yeacode’s piezo printers use a bulk ink system to give low running costs.

The new UV curing applications are best suited to printing on plastics. Plastic pipe manufacturers have traditionally used continuous inkjet (CIJ) printers for marking their products. However, using a high-definition print allows the printing of sharp logos. This enhances the marketing appeal of the product, or allows users to print their customers’ logos onto pipes. High-resolution printers also enable the printing of machine-readable codes, such as barcodes or QR codes, which can direct customers to any web page, streamlining the sales and marketing process.

Timber industry customers have also seen the benefits of UV curing inks and the technology has been taken up by customers printing on pallet blocks and OSB panels. The resulting print is darker and doesn’t fade on exposure to sunlight.

However, for customers dealing with steel or concrete products, Timbermark continues to recommend the larger character printer from German supplier, EBS. The solvent-based ink cartridges are the most suitable consumable for printing onto this kind of substrate. EBS handjets have the advantage of being compatible with a Bluetooth scanner giving the printers scan-to-print functionality.

Timbermark is exhibiting at this year’s Construction Week UK exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham, 1-3 October 2024. To see some of the printers and discuss your printing requirements visit stand D316.

Timbermark supplies customers across the UK and Europe from its offices in Oxfordshire and Belgium. For more information go to www.timbermark.co.uk or email sales@timbermark.co.uk.