How Does Raised Printing Work?
You can print raised lettering on a card, stationery, handouts or any printed item where you feel a second look is in order. Raised printing is also known as thermography. This applies especially to raised print business cards, after-all your business card can be a very busy printed item. Arguably it is one of the most traveled marketing instruments in your arsenal.
Step One Printing
This process is the same as traditional commercial printing in the beginning phase. The sheet of paper travels thorough a printing press and is printed with an image. The image comes from a plate that is developed similarly to photography. The surface of the plate is flat and each time it rotates 360 degrees it obtains a fresh supply of ink water. The ink adheres to the developed areas of the plate and the water keeps the non developed areas clean.
So the order it happens is like this; Plate Cylinder > blanket > paper.
Step Two Vacuum Pick-up Pad to Powder Unit
A newer feature with today’s raised printing systems it trackless picks up heads. This means that nothing touches the freshly printed sheet. It virtually eliminates ink and powder tracking on the printed piece. Below we can see the sheets of paper leaving the printing press and moving into the first steps of thermography, powdering.
The powder unit holds the powder that is sprinkled on the wet ink.
Frosting of powder
As the sheet of paper travels through the powder unit is receives a frosting of powder. This fine powder sticks to the wet ink on the paper.
Step 3- The Heat Tunnel
Once the paper exits the powder unit, it moves into the heat tunnel. The heat tunnel is inferred light that causes a reaction between the powder and ink, causing these areas to swell (raise)
Step 4- The Delivery
Finally the sheet is ejected from the heat tunnel and safely lands in the delivery tray.
At the end of this process you will end up with a crisply printed raising printed result. There are limits with raised printing because of the way it is done. For example fine lines or fine line tints are often missed or distorted. When the powder and ink are baked is when most of the distortion takes place. Although you can attempt to print tints (screen @ 133 LPI or better) the result will be a somewhat clogged looking appearance. The same way fine lines (.2 px. or less) will not print as intended. It is sometimes recommended to print in both flat and raised inks together so that all design elements are produced to give the desired result.
Are There Other Kinds of Raised Lettering?
Raised printing on most products turns out quite nicely. The machines used for raised printing have come along way since the 70′s but the production process is the same as it has always been. Raised printing printers can print raised lettering on your business stationery with stunning results.
Raised Lettering on Coins
Raised lettering is also found on coins where it is produced with segmented collars that form the raised image. This happens during the minting process, where the segmented collars eject the coins after production these impressions in coins will last for centuries. As a matter of fact the oldest coin known to man is over 2700 years old. It can be seen if the Department of Coins and Medals at the British museum.
Conclusion
So, now you have it. You’ve been given my quick tutorial on how raised printing works; the next step is your choice. Take this information and make it work for you. It’s easier to move forward without knowledge, but in the end it may turn around and bite you. Knowledge is always power when it is used appropriately.