In this Q&A, Colin Stewart, Founder and Director of Timbermark, discusses the evolution of the company’s product range, with fast-drying solvent-based and UV-curing inks. Their innovative system includes plasma treatment, inkjet printing and UV curing, opening up new market opportunities.
Timbermark
[Editor] Could you provide a brief overview of Timbermark's core business, and the types of services or products offered?
[Colin Stewart] Timbermark is an inkjet systems company. The core products are all variants of high-resolution inkjet technologies, printing at 300 dpi vertically, and up to 600 dpi horizontally.
The mission is to advise on the best technology option, install at site, and then support with service and ink supplies. The company operates in the UK, based in Oxford, and across Europe, based in Belgium.
[E] How has Timbermark evolved from its initial focus on timber printing to broader applications like packaging?
[CS] When Timbermark was founded 20 years ago, we focused on the sectors where we had unique expertise. The product range has evolved since then, and the addition of fast-drying solvent-based and UV-curing inks has allowed us to offer printing applications with improved adhesion and durability to many industries.
[E] What are the specific advantages of UV-curing inks and plasma treatment for industrial applications compared to traditional printing methods?
[CS] The most popular technology for coding and marking is “continuous inkjet”, which produces a 16-dot-matrix-type code using solvent-based ink. These printer types may not always be reliable, and the print effect is mostly limited to logos and codes.
Timbermark system includes plasma treatment, inkjet printing and UV curing all in one installation. The former, usually only needed for PE products, keys the extrusion surface to help the ink adhere. The inkjet can include sharp logos, bar codes and QR codes. The UV-curing turns the liquid ink into a solid polymer film that adheres to the substrate, resulting in a high-definition print that is solvent-resistant, lightfast and abrasion-proof. This makes it suitable for ENATS requirements.
[E] Could you elaborate on the Egeplast project and the opportunities it presented for Timbermark? If you cannot disclose the name, would you be able to discuss a recent project that has enhanced Timbermark's name in the industry?
[CS] The Egeplast project enabled customers to produce ENATS-compliant products, opening a new market opportunity. Timbermark has taken advantage of this, securing other projects with customers in the plastics industry.
One customer manufactures umbilicals for the oil and gas industries. The cables are encased in a PE jacket, which was marked with both a laser and CIJ printing. However, the dot matrix effect of the CIJ printing meant that the resulting print was not very sharp and was then rubbed off during the haul-off part of the production process.
Timbermark has enabled customers to print their logo and a QR code linking to their website with a UV plasma treatment module, a Yeacode piezo inkjet printer and a UV-curing LED. Neither mark will come off with the application of either solvent or pressure.
Another project uses a pipe and a profile extrusion producer, so customers can print their logos onto extruded pipes. The system will combine the benefits of Thermal Inkjet Printing (no mess, zero maintenance, 600dpi print) with UV curing to produce an indelible, high-resolution mark.