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Controls Group debuts UV ink unit for injection-based presses

N&T Staff Report
 
Controls Group Inc. last month introduced a device that could open the door for newspapers with ink injection-equipped presses to use UV inks as part of their printing operations.

The patent-pending device, called a UV Extruder, uses a pumping process and materials that eliminate the chance that the UV ink will react before being placed on the web, according to Rick Atwater, CGI president.

“Every other injector available today locks up because the UV ink reacts with the materials now used to manufacture ink injectors,” he said. “We have spent considerable effort and time to develop a completely different type of principle that will move fluids in a different way.”

2 years in development

Atwater said CGI has been working on the extruder for the past two years to help newspapers with digital ink injection systems to deploy UV inks.

A growing number of papers are examining the use of UV inks so they can better compete with heatset commercial printers. The inks can give coldset printers the ability to print on glossy stock and also permits them to print colors more vibrantly.
Atwater said the extruder will cost about 20 percent more than standard digital inking systems, but can be installed on any single or doublewide press that uses digital inking.

“It doesn’t use the classic method of propelling ink, but it can be used just like every other digital pump,” he said.
Atwater said the extruder is modular and allows users to clean the fountain portion without taking it all apart.

It also shares electronics with CGI’s existing digital inking systems, which means newspapers can easily swap out a standard system for a UV one. The extruder can also be meshed with the majority of press control systems, Atwater said.

“We’ve tried to make it as user-friendly as possible,” he said.