06102022-Imran-Poster-What Factors Impact Printing Quality

WHAT FACTORS IMPACT PRINTING QUALITY

  1. HARDWARE

As a print service provider, your printer is the heart of your business and it’s an important investment decision to make. You should look for high-specification print heads with a good reputation for reliability and longevity, always ensuring the print nozzles fire correctly and accurately.

You should also look at the overall build quality of the device and ensure that the media is handled well and stays in place while the printer does its job.

  1. INK

The quality of your ink will determine the overall quality of your printed images as well as their durability. If you want to ensure consistent results across time, without constant recalibration and unexpected surprises, it pays to use only ink certified by the manufacturer of your device. While cheaper inks might save you money today, the long-term impact could be catastrophic for the future quality of your service and the reputation of your business.

Higher-grade inks are also more likely to feature additional performance characteristics such as color consistency and optimal drying, enabling faster finishing and shipping.

Not only does this speed up production and offer faster turnaround times, but it reduces the chances of accidental smudging or contamination. Of course, with technologies like UV ink, this is less of a concern as the ink is cured instantly with UV lamps built into the print carriage.

  1. MEDIA

As with hardware and ink, with media, you get what you pay for. For temporary signage jobs, you can get by with a budget option, but for more permanent solutions, or high-profile jobs for larger clients, it pays to invest in media you know will show the print off to its best potential. It’s also important to use the right media for the job and ensure that it will withstand the environment into which it is placed.

  1. IMAGE RESOLUTION

Always ensure that your source imagery is of a high enough resolution, especially when printing larger applications. Vector-based graphics and text can usually be scaled without any loss in quality, but raster images like photographs have an upper limit after which the pixels become clearly visible. In the latter case, the highest print quality can even be detrimental and can expose imperfections with much greater clarity.

  1. MAINTENANCE

Don’t overlook the importance of regular maintenance and periodic service checks. Nine times out of ten, a chronic issue in print quality is the result of an insufficient head cleaning schedule rather than the device itself. A quick and simple maintenance cycle lets you keep your print heads and nozzles in top condition without impacting productivity.

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