IST METZ Hosts Annual UV DAYS

Published: July 16, 2015

NUERTINGEN, GERMANY | IST METZ reports this year’s UV DAYS featured the motto “UV rocks.” During the 7th edition of the event, visitors from all over the world came to the company headquarters in Nuertingen to learn more about UV lamp technology as well as the increasingly popular LED technology. Both drying technologies were demonstrated with a cartonboard guitar. 

The company welcomed 800 guests and offered printing demonstrations and lectures, company tours, lab tours, and a large exhibition of partners from the printing industry. Also featured was an exhibit featuring 35 companies.

There was also high demand for the paper guitar, this year’s print gimmick for visitors. The printing of the paper guitar body, with the drying of inks and varnishes by means of UV light included, was demonstrated live, once with UV lamp technology and once with a UV LED system. The finishing of the guitar neck with hot-foil embossing was shown, also cured by means of UV light.

The company explains that any ordinary smartphone can be pushed into the folded head of the guitar. It is first clamped into a holder produced by the 3D printing process. The top of the head is closed with a cardboard tab. An app for Apple or Android devices developed specifically for the occasion can be loaded. It contains a game in which, similarly to when playing the guitar, the fingers of the left hand have to touch the correct strings to win points. In other words, the cardboard guitar really can be "played" digitally using the app.

“We have once again shown at UV DAYS how much potential UV technology offers in combination with new product ideas“, says Dirk Jägers, managing director of IST METZ. “Lamp or LED, which technology is the better choice depends on the respective application. UV allows for high-class finishings in package printing. There the lamp technology will remain useful. In commercial printing less finishing effects are required, but here the advantage of immediate processing is a strength UV also offers. A retrofitting to LED technology is conceivable in this area. What is certain above all is that the market for UV is growing, and along with it UV DAYS, which we will host again in 2017.”

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