Compress 1200 | UV Printing High Res Photos on Canvas

Inkjet Printing on Canvas | UV Printing Photographs
Printing on Canvas Efficiently with Flatbed UV Printers
There are some unexpected efficiencies when you’re printing multiple objects on a UV inkjet printer. In this case, we’ll look at those efficiencies when using a Compress iUV1200s to print 2 large canvases.

Common sense makes you want to believe that if it takes you 1 minute to print a specific item on your LED-UV printer that it would take 2 minutes to print two of the same item. That is correct … sometimes.

In a recent test we did it became very clear that this is not always the case.

In our test we printed 2 – 16” x 20” canvases on the bed of our Compress iUV-1200s. The bed of the 1200 is roughly 45” wide by 29.5” deep. We oriented the canvases on the print bed so that they extended across the bed (20” each across). We printed them and timed the outcome.

The time it took to print 2 – 16” x 20” canvases at 1440 x 720 resolution in bidirectional mode was 11:48 seconds – or slightly less than 6 minutes each.

We removed the canvases and placed a single canvas where the first one was previously (nearest the home position of the print head).

We printed in the same mode – 1440 x 720 bidirectional – and timed THAT print.

The result was quite surprising. Where it took a little under 12 minutes to print 2 canvases, it took slightly less than 10 minutes to print one!

Why and How Printing Multiple Canvases Makes More Cents

By printing to at the same time with the most efficient orientation on the printer we increased our hourly throughput from a little over 6 canvases per hour to over 10 per hour!

Over an 8 hour shift that would equate to 32 additional pieces per shift.

Now that is efficiency.

Why is this?

Simple – the printer works on two axes (axises, more than one axis).

One axis is where the print head assembly traverses across the media and the second axis is the bed.

That bed either travels under the scanning print head assembly or is travelled over by a gantry carrying the print head assembly. In the case of the 1200s the bed travels under the print head assembly.

The speed at which the print head assembly scans over the bed is far quicker than the speed at which the bed travels under the print head assembly.

Therefore, when placing a single item on the bed of your LED-UV printer you will get quicker prints by placing the item with the longer side going across the bed in the direction that the print head assembly scans.

In more common language. The printer will print faster in landscape more than in portrait mode.

Understanding how to make your LED-UV printer more efficient translates into more productivity which means lower labor costs, quicker turnaround and less wear and tear on the mechanics of your printer.