www.printmonthly.co.uk 69 November / December 2023 - Issue 345 BACK TO BASICS / INK TECHNOLOGY THE COMPATIBILTY QUEST Whether you are running OEM inks or opting for products from a third party, your selection of ink is key to the final printed output. We speak with suppliers of both ink types to find out more about the latest options on the market Ploughing tens of thousands of pounds into a printer is all well and good, but if the materials you are working with are not up to task, then you will almost certainly not be getting the most out of your equipment. The good news for print service providers (PSPs) is that there is a huge array of inks available to them. OEM (original equipment manufacturer) inks can be supplied directly by the manufacturer while third-party inks come in from other providers, with each range covering everything from solvent and eco-solvent to UV and latex. Here, Print Monthly takes a closer look at some of the latest options in OEM and third-party inks and finds out more about the products proving most popular with companies across the UK market. Compatibility Is Essential First up is Nazdar Ink Technologies, which, based in Kansas in the US, provides a wide range of ink products to customers around the world. Its portfolio includes digital inkjet, screen, and narrow web printing inks and chemical products, with each of these going through an intense development and testing process to ensure they offer print companies a reliable solution. Bruce Ridge, director of technical service at Nazdar, says quality is most likely assumed when buying inks from most manufacturers and is very difficult to quantify until you have an actual product problem. He explains that among the core challenge for printers is the availability of ink products, given the shortages we experienced in the last couple of years. Ridge also picks out compatibility as a key consideration for printers and the question of whether your inks will work well with your printer. He explains: “If we are talking about inkjet inks, compatibility is essential due to the damage incompatible inks may cause to your printer. This is not as critical for screen or flexo printers. “When it comes to determining an ink type once you have decided which ink manufacturer to use, I would recommend using the SAFE criteria which determines which ink to use in this order: substrate, applications, finishing, and end-use. Then after all that, pricing would be the next consideration.” As to how to go about identifying reliable ink products that you can depend on, Ridge says one way of doing this is
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