Digital printing is ideal for small orders where several colors and customization effects or photographic images are essential. However, digital printing may not be appropriate when customers need to print light-colored materials if the printer does not use white ink.
The other major drawback of digital printing is that it is not just as durable as screen printing but is a perfect solution for unique events and one-off displays. And, finally, you will not save on print costs if you choose digital printing, as prices remain the same irrespective of the required number of prints.
Common Flaws Of Digital Printing
Quality printing has indeed come a long way since it was created. Even with the beautiful technology that assists professionals with print tasks worldwide, faults can still occur. That doesn’t mean that the pros don’t know what they do.
Mechanical defects mainly cause these problems with digital printing. Some of the major flaws of digital printing are as under:
1. Large Volumes Are Costly
Digital printing machines run at a maximum of around 50 feet per minute without getting too technical. While this speed is adequate for modest volume (10,000 – 15,000 items), bigger volume works will benefit from traditional presses that can operate at speeds between 300 and 500 meters per minute.
Although Canon large format Inkjet printers are not costly to set up and operate, they will save you money if your work is very large.
2. Ink Restrictions
While digital printing undoubtedly works well with color and ink, digital inks tend to fade faster than offset inks when exposed to direct sunshine.
In addition, the opacity of digital ink is not completely equal to offset ink because digital ink is naturally thinner (though the difference between the two is only noticeable when dealing with clear or metallic media).
There are sorts of laminations available to avoid this problem. For that purpose, Canon Large formats Inkjet Printers are the option.
3. Registration Defects
Have you ever seen a photo that shows a solid color at the edge of a colored image? It is often insufficient registration. Suppose shades that have been printed upside down don’t align.
In that case, you get some strange “special effects,” including double pictures or a solid color line at the edge of an image or text. It is frequently a sign of an issue with digital press maintenance.
4. Prominent, Solid Areas Banding
Banding occurs when the “bands” are evident across your printed sheet. There are sometimes bands in huge printed solid sections with more or less ink due to different problems. Each digital printer manufacturer has a technical limit on how large a concrete color area can print reliably.
It can also be due to the paper moving quickly through the printer, media skewing, or too high the preheater. But for Canon Large format Inkjet Printers this isn’t the case.
5. Inconsistency
The colors differ across printers. It isn’t easy to match colors on prints created by various printers properly.
However, that is common because different printers interpret your color settings differently. Although this will not resolve the problem properly, Canon Large format Inkjet Printers can lessen inconsistency.
6. Fold Cracks
Toner is on top of the paper in digital printing and does not get into ink in offset printing. As a result, the toner cracks when digitally printed parts are folded. There are several strategies to defeat this: use less toner or mark the paper before printing.
If you use less toner, you won’t crack as much. Before printing, the sheet scoring offers the toner a pre-determined form to rest on before folding and can aid in avoiding cracking.
7. Color Fading
Digital inks fade faster in direct sunshine than flexographic ink or offset printing. Every ink fades with time. It’s just a bit faster with digital ink. If you want to make the ink last more than a decade, get your label screen printed.
Special laminations for UV inhibitors assist the ink in surviving longer as an option. Most items are used long before the ink can begin to fade.
8. Low Opacity
The digital press can print CMYK somewhat better than a conventional flexographic label printer. However, there are several restrictions on spot color duplication. Mixing spot colors on the flexo presses are easier.
The opacity of digital press inks isn’t as high. The ink is a little thinner than a flexographic press. Only transparent or metallic materials can be seen. However, a bump or two of white set down initially will almost remove this worry.
9. No Dark Colors & Belt Driven
Digital printers are not capable of producing light colors or white printed on darker colored paper. You will need to print on Canon Large format Inkjet Printers if you print white on blue or black paper.
The belt usually drives digital printers. Once the paper leaves the drawing box, it lies flat on a belt while the machine is fed. It can lead to a minor shift between prints. However, it is very little and does not impact the printed work.
10. Low Color Quality
As versatile as commercial digital printing can be, its drawbacks must be properly considered. First, the quality of the color is not as high as in offset printing. Digital printing uses a CMYK method — a unique combination of cyanine, magenta, yellow and black to bring your artwork closer to every color.
11. Color Absorption
Another problem with digital printing is that color is not absorbed into the printer paper as in offset printing. It enables fissures to be left in the ink when printed parts are sliced or folded. Digital printing can therefore be a less ideal alternative for pamphlets, greeting cards, and other folded objects.
12. Combination of New & Old technology
Digital printing technology continues to improve, printing speed accelerates. However, there’s still a long way to go to reach the pace of the traditional printing press.
Thus, the time-saving use of the digital press for proofing or small quantities, combined with the traditional press for mass production, would for a certain time constitute a basic combination mode for the textile printing sector. And we need to create future breakthroughs by combining new and old technology with complex situations.
13. High Ink Cost
Digital ink-jet printing comes with a small number of overall production costs than traditional printing. Because the color and pigment ink are cheaper than traditional printing are significantly more important.
14. Color Accuracy
Compared with conventional spot color printing, each color set independently adjusts the color paste. We can achieve high color precision through the computer color matching system. Even if the color paste is different, it impacts only one color on the printer paper.
The digital printing is a CMYK color mix; each color is blended with four color tint. A little external effect, such as the difference in ink, the difference in the print head, and small changes to the printing process, will affect the accuracy of several colors. The color accuracy of digital printing is, therefore, slightly worse than traditional printing.
Conclusion
The popularity of digital printing has undoubtedly increased in recent years. Digital printing accounted for 16.2% of the worldwide print market value in 2017. Due to its growing popularity, many assume that digital printing is the best option, which is not always the case.
Digital printing isn’t everybody’s right choice. It is suitable for minor works using media that is not exotic. But with Tenaui Middle East standard offsets are a better alternative for large, time-sensitive jobs. It is imperative to examine the benefits and downsides of each option before picking how to print. So, if you make a choice, you’ll be sure it’s the proper one.
