Timbermark has recently installed its new Yeacode printer with recirculating ink system onto a robotised production line for Evergreen Pallet Solutions, at their Cargo Pallets Site in Middlesborough. The new system has greatly improved the print quality for Evergreen and enabled them to eliminate hand stencilling on their winged pallets.
Evergreen had been using the printer that was originally supplied with their pallet production system, but they weren’t happy with the print quality. The previous oil-based print head was low contrast, and the resultant mark did not stand out well,especially on composite blocks.
Timbermark’s Yeacode printer with recirculating print head and UV ink produces a far better result and, with its 30mm throw distance, can print on winged as well as flush pallets, giving equally good results.
The Yeacode 7 series printer with recirculating ink system, and Seiko 360 dpi, 108mm print head is uniquely well-suited for pallet production.
The recirculating ink system gives clean prints, with no voids or lines, and rarely, if ever, requires purging.
The UV curing ink is dark black, and the 100pl dot size gives superb contrast, even against recycled grey composite blocks.
The print head can fire from up to 30mm away from the block, which solves some of the problems associated with printing on pallets – such as the printhead getting blocked by collected dust or damaged by protruding nails.
The UV cured ink dries instantly and gives a clear, sharp, dark mark even on wet pallets.
Timbermark’s system is also unique in its software application, which has been designed specifically for 4-way pallets. The “Pallet” software treats each block as a separate item to be printed and switches the UV LED off between prints. The system synchronises the designs, ensuring perfectly consistent positioning of the mark on block after block.
The industry standard is to treat the pallet’s 3 consecutive blocks as one 1200mm long object, meaning that the positioning of the second and third elements is prone to error. It also means that, where UV curing is in operation, the UV LEDs are on for the full length of the pallet, with all the safety and cross-curing issues this can cause.
The system Evergreen had been using uses a greyer, oil-based ink, and printed from only 5mm from the substrate, leaving it vulnerable to damage by dust or nails. Poor aftersales support meant the printer had been out of service for extended periods. This, and the inability to print on winged pallets meant Evergreen had been hand stencilling pallets.
Evergreen’s directors, Paul and Graham Tait, are delighted with the new system:
“We are very happy with the quality of printing achieved with the Timbermark system, it provides a much-improved print quality with bolder images.
“The fact that we can print on winged pallets means that we can discontinue manual stencilling of these products giving us a significant labour saving to help offset the capital cost of the new installation.”
“We also feel that Colin made every effort to carry out the installation to ensure the minimum disruption of our own operations keeping downtime to a minimum.”
Timbermark constantly strives to incorporate the latest technology and provide top quality, efficient and robust printing systems for its pallet industry customers.
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