Packaging Value

Innovative Development in Packaging

Doob Tube Labels & More

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Peter Howell from Great Engineering in Australia came to Color Label Solutions this week to provide additional training on their line of label applicators; especially covering small container labeling.


Color Label Solutions Team
Color Label Solutions Team
If you don’t know this company, Great Engineering (https://greatengineering.com/) makes world class label application equipment.  Ideal for cylindrical containers for many industries: food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. And don’t forget the boutique beverage and cannabis markets.  Here is my previous post on the BenchMax applicator:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2017/04/benchmax.html

During our session, a few key points came out that I decided to share with you.  First, the economical BenchMate (https://greatengineering.com/benchmates/) offers the capability to integrate with a C3500 label printer.

BenchMate Integrated with the C3500
BenchMate Integrated with the C3500

Although using a hand crank, this manual applicator can apply a lot of labels, quickly and affordably.  In addition, this manual applicator has the capability to apply 2 labels on one container, with very precise positioning. With the addition of the interface unit and foot press, you can print directly into the BenchMate, eliminating any requirement for rewinding.  I find this capability very intriguing; especially given the price of the unit.
The BenchMate plus the Interface, Cable, Footpress and Freight to the US from Australia as seen in the above picture costs $1990.  No other applicator at this price enables the printing of color labels directly into the applicator.
In you have containers less than 55 mm in diameter, the BenchMate+ offers the ability to apply labels to containers down to 17 mm (11/16”) in diameter. Be sure to watch this video of applying labels to very small bottles from the BenchMate’s webpage.  



The BenchMate+ with the small container adapter and overhead roller costs $510 more than the BenchMate; totaling $2,500 with the components to apply labels directly printing from the C3500.
Second, Peter worked with us to apply labels to tapered bottles.  Tapered containers, such as joint or “Doob” tubes, make label application very difficult; given the difference in diameter/speed of the container as it turns on the applicator.  For example, we are currently working on a label that is .6875” on the tapered end; and 1.125” on the larger end.  This .4375” difference is what makes label application tough.
Watch us apply a 2” x 1” label on a tapered joint tube with lip/lid.


As you can see in the video, the blue rollers of the small container adapter are moved to allow for the lip connecting the lid on top of the container.  These type of design considerations make the BenchMax a very flexible machine.
And here is another video of the same application providing more detail on how the system works for applying labels to tapered containers.


And in this video, we applied several labels on the same tube; to show how the BenchMax applies labels in the same position each time.


In this last video, you can see how we cut the rollers to better apply the labels.  Based on your containers, the BenchMax makes it easy to adapt the applicator for the type of container you have.  No other label applicator makes adapting to the container easier.  In this video, Peter from Great Engineering shows how to remove and cut the rollers to better fit your containers.


Third, the BenchMax offers an orientation capability.  With this feature, you can apply labels on a round container in precisely the same position on every bottle.  In our training, we used a Mason jar, and applied labels relative to the position of the embossed letters on the jar.  Wish I had pictures; bummer.
Based on our meeting, I’ve found the BenchMax a very interesting choice for applying labels to a variety of round containers; especially small container vials.  With the ability to integrate with the Epson printers, the ease of adapting to a variety of containers sizes and shapes, and the minimum sizes down to 8 mm in diameter make the BenchMax and BenchMate label applicators good choices for many companies.  Contact us to learn more how these devices will fit your operation.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com

Complete Print Shop

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Postmark (http://postmark-usa.com/) showed their new CMYK printer at the Franchise Services Expo July 27 and 28 in Long Beach.  Combined with their fixed feeder, Postmark calls their solution the Complete Print Shop.


CMYK Printer With Fixed Thickness Feeder
CMYK Printer With Fixed Thickness Feeder
With the fixed thickness feeder, you can print a wide variety of items that are difficult to impossible to print with normal printers.


Watch the new CYMK printer and Fixed Thickness Platform run here:


And print Coasters:

On-Demand Color Coasters
On-Demand Color Coasters

Coffee Sleeves:

On-Demand Color Coffee Sleeves
On-Demand Color Coffee Sleeves

Paper Bags:

On-Demand Color Bags
On-Demand Color Bags
Thick Menu Cards or Shelf Talkers:

On-Demand Color Cards/Shelf Talkers
And other items such as envelopes, bubble envelopes, napkins, small boxes, etc.  Pretty much anything paper you can now print with the fixed thickness feeder and the CYMK printhead.
You may remember we showed an earlier version of this device at WestPack 2017:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2017/02/westpack-2017.html

and a slightly different version at WestPack 2016:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2016/02/cls-at-westpack-2016.html

From my perspective, the biggest difference with the latest iteration is the software.  Now, Postmark has integrated the Navigator RIP from Xitron:

http://www.xitron.com/products/navigator-harlequin-rip/

With this software, now you can print PDF’s easily; and get better print quality.  Plus the workflow seems much easier to use.  The Navigator RIP is a big step forward in ease of use of the CMYK print engine.
In addition to the new RIP, Postmark has reconfigured the printer; eliminating the need for hoses, wires and connectors.  This new configuration makes it much easier to set up and run.
The 4” CYMK printer, Fixed Thickness Feeder and RIP costs approximately $20,000.  The 8” version costs approximately $25,000.
If you need to print a wide variety of “thick” items; or you want to add a new source of income for your printing business, contact us to discuss how the CYMK print engine and Fixed Thickness Platform would work for you.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com  

Induction Sealing Statistics – How You Must Get The Right Cap and Lining Material Combinations

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This discussion below is an excerpt of a client discussion we have prior to supplying equipment. We don’t have to do this; we could be like the ebay or Alibaba or “one stop every machine under the sun supplier” but we are not as we like to think of ourselves as a supplier invited to […]

1″ Solution

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This week something happened that makes me want to “blow our own horn”.  Maybe we’re boasting, but I’m very happy by how we supported a client this week.  Let me tell you more.


1″ Labels-Print & Apply
We’ve been selling to several customers 1” wide labels for printing with the C7500 and C7500G.  What makes this fact interesting is the minimum print width on the C7500G is 2”.  Please see this post for more information:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2016/06/cryogenic-narrow-labels.html

For this customer, we created a 1” label centered on a 2” liner.  And it worked perfectly.

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1″ Wide Label-2″ Total Construction
In addition, this customer uses basically all black artwork.  And black is the most difficult color by far.  Here is what we’re recommending for all black labels:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2016/11/ink-pigments.html

After several months, the customer purchased an automatic label applicator from Label-On; The Label-On Mini 500 Tabletop applicator:

http://www.label-on.com/tabletop-round-bottle-labeling-machine/

This applicator, however, would not allow us to account for the .5” liner on the “bottom” side of the label.  Normally, exposed liners are approximately only 3 mm or less.  Attempting to apply the 1” labels centered, we would have place them above the start of the taper on the bottle.  Therefore we had to move the label from the center.
To make this change, we changed the die to make the labels, placing it on one side; and making the exposed liner basically on 1 side.

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1″ Wide Label-One Side Justified
It was very difficult to come to agreement, however, on which side to place the label.  We had to account not only for the applicator placement of the label, but also the fact the labels would be rewound to place on the applicator.  It may not sound complex, but this requirement led to a great deal of discussion.  And some worry on my part.
Once the labels were manufactured, our customer tested them; and found the labels did not print at all correct.  They were still centered on the 2” label.  Frankly, I had forgotten to tell the customer of the need to redo the artwork.  Tim, our Support Manager, figured this out quickly. But was still “nerve-wracking” for me.
To support our customer, we quickly recreated labels the labels adding the extra liner and bleed.

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1″ Wide Label PDF- 2″ Total Construction
Once we had the new artwork, the label printed close to perfect; we had to move horizontally the label to print full-bleed.  A slim line of white was exposed on one side.  Using the horizontal alignment feature in the C7500G driver and changing slightly the media size, the label printed perfectly.  And the rewinder worked as expected.  Watch us print and rewind here:


More important to me, the label worked on the applicator:

C7500G Printed 1
C7500G Printed 1″ Wide Label Applied By Applicator
Watch the Mini 500 Tabletop apply these 1” labels onto the bottle perfectly.


Reading this post, it may not sound like much.  But getting this label design to work correctly was a lot of effort.  And I appreciate the patience the customer showed during this process.
If you want to print 1” wide labels or any other difficult or special color labels on-demand, contact us.  We’ll help you create the solution that meets your requirements.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com 

“Hot” Labels

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Burn Hot Sauce (www.burnhotsauce.com)  is an original, small batch, farmer and chef-owned business in Santa Cruz, California.  All of their produce is grown on organic farms; and is raw, alive and full of probiotics.  Their single-origin fermented hot sauces age for months, highlighting the farm on every bottle; and are made with love.  To learn more:  http://ediblemontereybay.com/online-magazine/winter-2016/edible-artisans-burn-hot-sauce/


When asked about their interest in printing color labels on-demand, Chase Atkins and Amada Pargh, owners of Burn Hot Sauce, said, “We like the ability to modify our label designs at any time; which helps us conserve media.  In addition, we wanted to print labels ourselves to save time.  It takes a lot of time to purchase and use preprinted labels.”
After trading a few emails, Amanda and Chase sent me a PDF of their labels. 


Burn Hotsauce Label
Burn Hot Sauce Label
I printed from the C7500 and sent print samples of their labels to them to review. As I did not have the correct size of label, it was difficult to impossible to print full bleed.  But the label print quality was good.

C7500G Label Print
C7500 Label Print
However, I sent them only paper as I did not understand their requirement for waterproof labels. 
Once Amanda and Chase received the labels, they wrote, “Unfortunately we will not be buying an C7500 printer since it does not suit our needs.  The gloss paper disintegrates in water”.  In addition, Amanda and Chase were MAC users.  Initially, they did not want to use a printer with no MAC printing capabilities.  If you want to print labels from your MAC computer, read this post from our Tech Support Manager Tim:  http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2016/02/printing-from-epson-label-printers.html

After receiving this email, I sent them another set of samples from the C7500 on matte poly labels.  Our matte poly labels are very durable, waterproof and chemical resistant.  If you search “GHS” on our blog, you will see many posts on labels for GHS.
After testing the poly labels, Amanda and Chase purchased a C7500 and 2.5” x 6” labels and started printing!

C7500 Printed Labels
C7500 Printed Labels
According to Amanda and Chase, “we like the C7500 color label printer.  This printer has great print quality and speed; and enables the use of a variety of label media.”

Burn Hot Sauce Labels
Since receiving Burn Hot Sauces pickles, I can vouch that they are Spicy; and Good! 
Also, I found the Cyklon Probiotic Powder a very interesting product.  I look forward to finding a new interesting way to use the powder.
Now producing their own labels, Burn Hot Sauce will start printing for other local food manufacturers.  Chase will begin printing labels for two other food companies shortly; with customized label sizes from us.
We enjoy working with food manufacturers like Burn Hot Sauce; producing unique, specialty products.  Our print on-demand color label systems fit their requirements well; and we get to try great tasting food!  Contact us if we can help with your custom labels.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com

Edible Love

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Love’s Oven (www.lovesoven.com) products are produced with the highest quality all-natural ingredients that are sourced locally (Colorado beet sugar) and organically (organic coconut oil) whenever possible. Their proprietary THC & CBD extraction methods ensure that you receive a consistent and effective dose of cannabutter/cannaoil Love in every bite.

Love’s Oven was born in 2009 with a promise to its patients to provide great tasting cleanly extracted products to help with their chronic pain and other ailments.  If you look at the label of any of their 15+ products you’ll never find any ingredients that you need to have a chemical engineering degree to pronounce. Ingredients like crystallized ginger and honey roasted peanut butter are about as complicated as it gets.  Love’s Oven has built its reputation by crafting their products in a state of the art facility in Denver where their food safety and quality assurance programs guarantee you’ll receive a potent and delicious product that can be found throughout Colorado.

In the fall of 2016, Colorado issued new label requirements that caused Love’s Oven to change their labeling procedures. According to Katie Wrank, Administrative Assistant & Marketing, “Colorado mandated that we add the Universal THC Symbol, in various sizes and colors, to each label for both medical and recreation use.  At the time, we were using a black only, DataMax thermal transfer printer adding variable data on top of five different preprinted labels in conjunction to printing some on a laser printer. This process was very frustrating and time consuming.  We had to make a change.”
Katie says, “While growing significantly, we needed an efficient and improved process to label our products. Prior to any changes, our work flow was to extract label information from the daily production list, transfer the production numbers and product information manually to the packaging order, and then type everything by hand onto our label templates. With over eighty-eight label templates requiring daily changes, our label process was at risk for human error. Plus, all these changes were too much for one person to manage.” 
To change their label process, Love’s Oven contacted Rich Arbogast of Sendata Systems, (www.sendatasystems.com). As a partner of Color Label Solutions, Rich contacted us to see if we have a solution for Love’s Oven.  Rich said, “Sendata are experts at managing data and thermal transfer printers.  But decided to work with Color Label Solutions to bring the best possible print on-demand color label system for our customer, Love’s Oven.
To start the process, we printed sample labels on the C7500G.  We recommended this printer given their need for a large volume of gloss labels.

Love's Oven C7500G Full-Bleed Label
Love’s Oven C7500G Full-Bleed Label
In addition, we provided an estimated ink cost of their labels.

C7500G Estimated Ink Yield
C7500G Estimated Ink Yield
On these long, full-bleed labels, I estimated the ink cost at $0.027 per label.  Based on the samples and estimated ink costs, Love’s Oven purchased a C7500G printer.
About the C7500G, Katie says, “We now have the ability to print on demand labels quickly and efficiently. We also have the design flexibility to change our graphics on a moment’s notice.  Many of our customers love to see their logo printed in full color on products that contain their trim or flower.”
While working with Love’s Oven, I learned about their new label creation process.  Katie says, “to improve our labeling process, I decided to use a mail merge technic that I used in a former position at a large shipping and printing company. In Excel, I created a database of our products, including all the variable information: product name, ingredients, allergens, net weight, and pieces per package. This database allows us to quickly update product information such as changes to a recipe. On another tab in the Excel database, we retain information about the ingredients used during the cultivation of the marijuana, which are required by the state of Colorado. By using the VLOOKUP command in Excel, we pull information pertaining to each product, automating the data input on the production list.”
“Once we have the products compiled in one list, we use Adobe InDesign to merge the data with our artwork onto the backgrounds of our label templates. With this workflow, we can export all our labels from one file as separate PDF files which print like a dream on the C7500G.”

C7500G Label
C7500G Label
One other interesting note, Rich has worked to help Love’s Oven to print THC symbols on their brownies using white, food-grade ink.  What a great solution Rich put together for Love’s Oven.

Edible Ink Printed Brownies
Edible Ink Printed Brownies
“With the constantly changing Cannabis labeling/direct marketing laws and regulations required by the State of Colorado, providing the best solution to these requirements was our goal. I believe we hit the mark with the C7500G printer for the packaging labels and direct marking food grade inkjet coder for applying the mark directly to the edible products. These products are the only ones I know that can print with the quality needed for the labels, and the food grade ink for the direct marking of the edible food cannabis products.”
We’re excited by the success at Love’s Oven.  If you need a new labeling solution for your cannabis or any other products, contact Color Label Solutions.  We’ll help you meet the regulatory requirements of your industry; and produce beautiful labels in the process.

Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com 

On-Demand Color Mattress Tags-Labels

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The story of Pleasant Mattress Inc. stretches back to the throes of World War II, when the original Morgensterns immigrated from Vienna to the United States and cobbled together a new life. Today, Pleasant Mattress continues their tradition of resourcefulness and forward-thinking. Their success rests on the synergy between father and son. Generation after generation, Morgenstern sons have taken inspiration from their fathers, each one building on the tradition of the last. As Isaac Newton said, the secret to success is standing on the shoulders of giants.


Pleasant Mattress manufactures following product lines in their plant in Fresno, California:

●   Chattam & Wells-the first Californian Born luxury mattress.  Each Chattam & Wells luxury mattress is made in the USA by people who believe their job is to create a mattress that provides the foundation for a healthy life.
●   MAXX-Ingeniously over-engineered for years of support.  MAXX takes cues from traditional high-end mattress crafting; employing proven and durable coil engineering.  
●   Spring Air- the standard for quality mattressesand sleep systems. A great night’s sleep starts with a mattress that can both support the body and relieve pressure where it is needed most. Spring Air Back Supporter mattresses do just that, with patented designs and innovations that are unmatched by any other bedding company.
●   Eclipse-makes a difference in the sleep health of their customers through handcrafting the highest quality sleep products.  
Pleasant Mattress Factory
Pleasant Mattress contacted me when they wanted to add color labels and tags into their operation.  According to Russell Raymond, Director of Plant Operations, “In our facility, we mark each law tag we sew into our mattresses with a highlighter.  Each day of the week is added to each tag in the color of the group of orders.  These colors markers make it easy to track our products through production.  But it takes time to mark all of these tags; and opens up the possibility of errors.  We needed to automate this process, using our existing Easy Label software.”
To test the feasibility of this solution, I shipped a C3500 demo printer and labels to Pleasant Mattress to test.  Working with IT, we added the demo printer to their network and adjusted the Easy Label templates to add color based on the order number.  We made this change in a very short time.

Pleasant Mattress Text Label
Pleasant Mattress Test Label


In addition, we tested sewing into the mattresses some of the 5 mil poly tags we sell, and they seemed to work great.
 

Tag Sample Sewn Into Fabric
Tag Sample Sewn Into Fabric

Based on this test, Pleasant Mattress purchased C3500, tags and labels; and deployed them in their operation.

C3500 Printing 4
C3500 Printing 4″ x 12″ Tags
These printers produce the 4” x 12” law tags.  The letter represents the day of the week of the production; and the color represents a group of orders.

On-Demand Color Mattress Law Tag
On-Demand Color Mattress Law Tag
And these tags are sewed into the mattress during production:

Color Tag Sewn Into Mattress
Color Tag Sewn Into Mattress
Once packaged, Easy Label generates a color-coded label for each mattress to represent a shipment of a group of orders.

On Demand Color Mattress Label
On Demand Color  Mattress Label
And once the label is on the finished product, Pleasant Mattress uses the color-coded label for staging and loading of orders.

On-Demand Color Labels for Staging
On-Demand Color Labels for Staging
According to Russell, “the color codes prevent potential errors.  If a shipping error is made, the incorrect color sticks out.  The color-coding labels in our operation saves us time and potential costs.”
The color-coding solution deployed at Pleasant Mattress reminds me of one of the first stories I completed on the C3500, many years ago at Tubelite:

Tubelite

From my perspective, two aspects of the Pleasant Mattress C3500 deployment make this solution stand out. Neither have anything to do with the printer.
First, Pleasant Mattress understood how color would improve their operation, and they found a way to automate this component as part of the solution.
Second, implementing an automated color printing solution was easy.  Using their existing label printing software, Easy Label, Pleasant Mattress’s IT manager understood the application sufficiently that making the change was easy.
I’m exciting by the on-demand tag and label solution implemented by Pleasant Mattress, as it shows how color creates value in an operation.  Contact us to discuss how color can improve your operation as well.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com

No Risk Label Printing

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This post is from guest blogger, Tim Semic, Support Manager from Color Label Solutions.

Would you like to provide a way for your employees or vendors to print labels that meet your exact specifications without the risk of accidentally making changes? 
How about printing labels from multiple computers? 

Printing labels from a web browser?  Even across the internet?

BarTender Print Portal
BarTender Print Portal
 If so then please read on…
Seagull Scientific offers two Bartender companion applications that enable you to print labels from a simple read-only interface.  Those applications are Bartender Print Shop, and Bartender Print Portal.
The user interface is basically the same between the two products, while the configuration is more complex for Print Portal.
Bartender Print Station is bundled with every edition of Bartender, while Bartender Print Portal is only bundled with the Enterprise-Automation edition.
Print Station provides a mechanism for printing labels within an easy to use read-only interface.  This configuration prevents employees accidentally changing or deleting labels.  Consequently, some companies may wish to have a “design” computer using Bartender Designer, and then another computer or two set up for print-only label printing.

BarTender Print Station
BarTender Print Station
Print Station can be configured for full-screen and secured; effectively turning a computer into a print kiosk.  This type of kiosk would be great for printing badges, shipping labels, or static labels in a secured computer interface.

To learn how to configure Print Station, watch this video:

Configuring BarTender Print Station 

Print Portal offers different options for risk free label printing.  Elizabeth Sinclair of Seagull Scientific says, “Print Portal includes many features that make locating and printing documents quick and easy. Running on a web server, BarTender documents are available from any computer connected to the internet. With built-in security measures, administrators of Print Portal can require users to login to the site, and assign user permissions granting access to specific documents on the server. Print Portal’s intuitive interface lets users quickly locate the document they need to print and send it to the printer with a simple “click” operation.”

BarTender Print Portal
BarTender Print Portal
If interested in learning how to configure Print Portal, see this YouTube video. 

Configuring BarTender Print Portal

As Print Portal is more difficult to configure, the video is long; but goes through every step in the process to get your users, either internal employees or outside vendors, printing the labels you need.
To operate Print Portal, you’ll need an Enterprise Automation edition of Bartender; which is licensed based on the number of label printers you require.
Which edition is right for me?
The number of computers required to print labels will dictate which companion application to use.  If you wish to provide label printing in a read-only interface from more than three computers, purchase the Enterprise Automation edition of Bartender.  You will get security, ease of label printing, and some pretty heavy bragging rights too!
And contact us to help you configure Print Portal to work for you and your company.  Happy Printing!
Tim Semic
855-962-7670
support@colorlabelsolutions.com

“GE”–NOT “G”

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As of August 1st 2017, Epson will no longer sell the C7500G printer.  They announced end-of-life for this part number earlier this July.


C7500G
C7500G

I first wrote about the C7500G in July of 2015:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2015/07/c7500g.html

And wrote about one of our first customers, NIC Industries, using the C7500G:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2016/06/c7500g-whiz.html

Instead of the C7500G, Epson will sell the C7500GE.  The “GE” is a printer bundle: including the C7500G printer, a single user license of Wasatch SoftRIP, one year of on-site service for the printer, and 6 months of free support for Wasatch SoftRIP.  Learn more about the GE printer bundle, including the Wasatch RIP here:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2016/11/c7500ge.html

With the SoftRIP, you get better color control; especially important when trying to color match.  For example, you may use it to match specified Pantone numbers, to match more closely the color printed on a label to the original artwork.  However, you don’t have to use the SoftRIP to print to the C7500G.  You can print to the C7500G from most if not all Windows based applications.

Wasatch SoftRip Label Edition
Wasatch SoftRip Label Edition
Here is information from Wasatch on their Label Edition: 

https://www.wasatch.com/labels.html 

For an incremental $955 for the C7500GE versus the C7500G, you get 1 year of on-site service valued at $1,029 and the Wasatch SoftRIP valued at $1,200.   Even with just the on-site service, the GE bundle is a great deal.
Personally, I believe the SoftRIP is best suited for professional printers; those individuals experience with using other RASTER IMAGE PROCESSORS (RIP) from other printing applications.  Although not difficult, using the RIP is different than printing directly from a PDF and other Window-based software programs.
So beginning August 1st, you’ll be able to purchase only the “GE” version.  But some of you may not want or need the on-site service or the RIP software.  If so, please contact us know to order your C7500G before the price goes up.  Or purchase from our store here:

https://colorlabelsolutions.com/product/c7500g-inkjet-label-printer/

Don’t forget to add 2 years of Extended Warranty with the “G”:

https://colorlabelsolutions.com/product/c7500-c7500g-return-to-depot-extended-warranty-one-year/

And a spare set of ink:

https://colorlabelsolutions.com/product/c7500g-multi-pack-ink-cartridge-cmyk/

And a spare maintenance kit:

https://colorlabelsolutions.com/product/c7500g-maintenance-box-c33s020596/

If you prefer to get the C7500GE with the one year on-site service and Wasatch SoftRip, purchase in our store here: 

https://colorlabelsolutions.com/product/c7500ge-graphics-editon-inkjet-color-label-printer/

Or contact us if you have any questions around printing color labels on-demand.
Guy Mikel
949-680-7840
info@colorlabelsolutions.com 

L801 Full-Bleed Label Printing

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While attending the recent Afinia reseller meeting, I learned about a relatively new feature built into the L801 printer driver, which makes full-bleed printing relatively easy.  Let me tell you more.


L801 Full-Bleed Printed Label
L801 Full-Bleed Printed Label
If this company is new to you, Afinia Label (www.afinialabel.com) was founded in 2009 to offer specialty printing solutions with best-in-class support at accessible prices. Their parent company, Microboards Technology, has been offering media duplication products since 1989. This background gives Afinia a rock-solid foundation of technical expertise, and decades of experience providing the best possible customer service.  
In the past, I’ve written about one of their new products, the L301:  
http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2017/02/l301.html

and we’ve sold some of their other products.  Afinia’s major product is the L801 which uses the Memjet print engine:
http://afinialabel.com/equipment/l801-printer/

The L801 prints beautiful labels up to 8.5” wide; especially using the dye-based inks.  Although the dye inks are not sufficiently durable for many applications, they produce a very vibrant color, which is required for many prime label applications where many customers want to print full-bleed.
But full-bleed printing can be difficult on die-cut labels.  You must get some ink on the exposed liner; but not too much.  Too much ink on the liner may transfer to the label itself.  I written about full-bleed label printing in the past.  Here is a recent post covering full-bleed printing.

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2017/04/easy-to-do.html

Now in the driver, Afinia has added to their driver controls that make it easy to print full-bleed labels.  To cover labels 100% with ink, you need to first know the orientation of the labels. To know the “language” that Afinia uses to describe the label orientation.

L801 Label Orientation
L801 Label Orientation
The leading edge of the label (the edge that comes out of the printer first) is described as the “Top”; making the trailing edge of the label the “Bottom”.  Standing behind the printer, you’ll find the “Left” and the “Right” edges.  When facing the printer, the left and right are reversed (naturally).
When printing full-bleed, Afinia recommends making the size of the label in the driver slightly larger than the actual label size.  I’ve used 0.03” as my standard recommendation since I’ve written this article on the LX2000:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2015/06/lx2000-full-bleed-color-label-printer.html

Once the print size is set in the driver, Afinia recommends printing a few labels to examine the initial print output.  You need to ignore the first label, according to Afinia, to enable the settings to be completely implemented.
Once printing, you can see if the image need to move up or down; or right to left to better fit.  To move the image in the template, it’s simple to do using the position adjustment.

L801 Position Adjustment
L801 Position Adjustment
The position adjustment provides the movement direction for positive or negative inches or millimeters you can adjust the image. This diagram makes it very simple to center the image correctly on the label.  Again the idea is to have only a very thin line of ink on the liner; covering the edge of the label completely.  Here is the setting we used during our training:

L801 Position Adjustment
L801 Position Adjustment
Once this setting is establish, Afinia recommends printing a few more labels.
If you still have an edge or two that is still slightly off, you can make an “offset” adjustment on a single edge.  This setting basically stretches the edge slightly; just enough to eliminate a thin ribbon of white label showing; or to reduce the overprint slightly.  Again, here is my setting during training:

L801 Offset Adjustment
L801 Offset Adjustment
It’s a genus idea that makes printing full-bleed easier to do.


According to Mike Atkins, National Sales Manager for Afinia, “The low cost of ink and great quality of color output from the L801 has made it one of our most popular options for prime label applications. However, printing edge-to-edge has certainly presented a challenge to users in the past. These latest updates in the driver have opened up what our customers can do with the L801, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.”
If you need to print full-bleed labels; but don’t want to spend a lot of time adjusting the print, contact us to help you with the L801 color label printer from Afinia.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com

On-Demand Color Badges

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Founded in 1976, CompuSystems (https://www.compusystems.com/) has enjoyed many years as a major registration service provider for the trade show industry. They offer integrated software that meets the specific needs of their clients, creating an ecosystem that fosters the buyer and seller relationship.

Their goal is to establish long lasting relationships with their clients based on trust, a shared success and a commitment to quality. Their vision is to have every customer recommend CompuSystems. To succeed, CompuSystems is dedicated to making investments in quality products and services to support their customers now and in the future.


When Jeremy Kubik, Director of IT for CompuSystems, and I first communicated, he was looking for an alternative to the Xerox Color printers they were using.  Jeremy said, “We’re looking for an alternative to the Xerox sheet fed printer.  We want to use some type of continuous badges; many of our badges are 4” x 12”.  In addition, we need a smaller footprint as our registration desks have limited space.  Plus we need to have the capability to print on-demand and in color.”
Based on our discussion, I sent samples of both 10 mil paper and 8 mil poly badges designed to work in the C3500.  The poly material is more expensive than the paper; but prints great and is very durable.  Ink costs are less, generally, compared to laser..  On the sample artwork provided by Jeremy, I estimated the ink cost for the C3500 printer at $0.049/badge.  Not bad for a 12” tag.

4
4″ x 12″ Badge Ink Cost-C3500
As CompuSystems consider alternatives, I found a new 8 pt tag paper tag material that was stiffer and printed great.  Plus this material was very affordable.  With this new material, Jeremy created a new 12” tag design, set up to print 2, 4” x 6” badges separated by a crease.  With this design, the C3500 can print a two-sided badge.

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4″ x 12″ Badge Design
Based on the available materials, running costs and printer cost, CompuSystems purchased C3500 printers for their badge printing.

C3500 Badge Printers
C3500 Badge Printers
Even more interesting to me, is how CompuSystems deployed the printers in an overall solution.  First, how the printers were deployed.  According to Jeremy, “to install and configure the printer drivers, I figured out how to accomplish this task via a batch mode.  This step was important as every badge pickup desk at each event uses a different server.  The batch driver deployment makes it easy for us to set up an event.”

C3500 Badge Printers
C3500 Badge Printers
In addition, CompuSystems uses BarTender to create the templates and print badges.  According to Jeremy, “we use BarTender to print our badges.  Our Unix-based registration application looks up each person in the database and “prints” via port 9100 to the local BarTender server.  BarTender then adds the variable information to the template to create each individual badge.  We’re printing hundreds or even thousands of badges at a time with variable information.   All that information is then synchronized with our main servers.  BarTender works great for us.”

BarTender Badge Printing
BarTender Badge Printing
C3500 Badge
C3500 Badge

Jeremy and CompuSystems has built a great solution for printing color badges on demand using the C3500 printers and BarTender.  Jeremy says “we’re very happy with the performance of the C3500 in our first event.  They’re working great; printing very fast.  We especially like the short time to first print.  Plus the print quality is sufficient for our situation.”
In addition, we’ve found badge material, both paper and poly that print great and is affordable.

Fanfold Badge Tags
If you need to print event badges, contact us.  We’ll help you move to printing color badges on-demand, saving you time and money.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com 

Perfect Print On-Demand Color Label Example

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Founded in 1987 as a local wholesaler of products for the cabinet and furniture trades, QuickScrews International Corporation (www.quickscrews.com) has evolved into the supplier of the most popular brand of fasteners in the industry; including their new solar division (https://solarroofhook.com/).   Their highly trained and experienced personnel are ready to discuss their customer’s needs to deliver on the promise “Get the Screws You Need Faster Than Ever”. QuickScrews uses technology to service many different categories of customers; from weekend warriors looking to finish a project, large cabinetmakers or solar roof installers, or wholesalers looking to support their customers. In 2010, QuickScrews began selling their products online, which expanded their customer base to more than 10,000 customers and shipping orders within 24 hours of receipt.



From my perspective, QuickScrews is the perfect example of a company needing to print color labels on demand.  With thousands of SKU’s, QuickScrews uses colors and icons to differentiate types of fasteners. With their solar products, here are their color codes:

QuickScrews Color Codes
QuickScrews Color Codes
And here are icons in use on one of their products:

QuickScrews Variable Icons
QuickScrews Variable Icons
Quickscrews prints these labels using the C3500 in stations distributed in their plants in Livermore, CA and in South Carolina.


And they have experimented using a very inexpensive Go-Dex unwinder to feed large rolls of labels into the C3500.  And it works seemingly great!

C3500 with Inexpensive GoDex Unwinder
C3500 with Inexpensive GoDex Unwinder
But the real magic of the QuickScrews print on-demand color label solution is their database of products and their deployment of BarTender.  According to Mark Buechler, Senior IT Manager for QuickScrews, “our Marketing department has spent a lot of time gathering information and taking pictures of many different fasteners for our database.  We’ve worked hard not only setting up the structure of our database in Excel, but also adding the descriptors, color codes, and variable images associated with every single SKU we sell. It’s a process that will never end”.
In addition to the database, Mark has deployed BarTender, designing different label templates and setting up the network to pull the variable data, including the different text descriptors, icons and color codes to create the labels.  According to Mark, “now each print station in either CA or SC accesses BarTender to print the labels required for each product.   This solution makes it easy for our operators to label our products correctly.  And the colors and icons make it easy for our wholesalers and customer to select the correct fastener.”
According to Elizabeth Sinclair, Manager, Verticals Marketing at Seagull Scientific, the creator of Bartender, “by using good data management practices in your labeling deployment as demonstrated by Mark and the Quickscrews team, you can create enterprise-wide efficiencies that save time, resources and money. Many companies use only the design component, and thus store data in label files. By integrating BarTender with a trusted data source, any changes are easy to make in one location rather than finding, opening, updating and saving every individual label.  QuickScrews has deployed BarTender very effectively.”
Quickscrews has developed a great business model; becoming the subject matter expert in a relatively narrow field.  This focus makes it easy for prospects and customers to purchase the correct fasteners.  By adding a great print on-demand color solution, QuickScrews can now produce labels that make their products easy to use; both their channel and end users.
If you have a large number of SKU’s and considering print on-demand color labels, contact us.  We’d love to help you build a great solution like QuickScrews.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com

Easy To Do

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Label printing can be difficult; I know.  But label printing can be easy if done correctly.  When the artwork matches the label size correctly, label printing is easy to do.

Nutriment.com (www.nutriment.com) believes that success in the nutrition business is predicated upon knowing what customers need to help optimize nutrient intake; and to help address specific health problems.  Nutriment.com has the distinction of offering formulations with the most comprehensive ingredients lists—highly potent formulations with nutrients chosen to work together so that the final effect is greater than the sum of its parts.
Joint health, male enhancement, vitamin/mineral blends and sleep aid formulations are just a few of the products they offer, and their list continues to grow. All ingredients chosen for these specific formulations are only the purist, highest in potency and scientifically validated by clinical research.  Nutriment.com uses only GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certified facilities to produce its formulations. This requirement assures a safe and pure product that you can take with confidence.
When first contacting Peter Baker, Owner of Nutriment, I learned he needed a printer for producing short runs of labels for new products.  “We launch new test products all the time,” said Peter.  Continuing, “Some of these new products generate demand; some don’t.  Once I have a large demand, we’ll purchase preprinted labels.  Until we have a winning product, we don’t want to purchase a large supply of labels that may never be use.”

Given that Nutriment needed to produce a limited run of labels at a time, I offered to send samples from both the C3500 and C7500G printers.  The C3500 is a very affordable label printer; the C7500G has much higher print resolution.  We discussed also the L301 (http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2017/02/l301.html)  and the LX2000 (http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2015/06/lx2000-full-bleed-color-label-printer.html) as well.  But the ink costs would be higher to produce labels for these printers. For the Nutriment application, the C7500G was the best choice.

To produce these samples, Peter sent me artwork setup perfectly to work with a 2” x 6” label. 

Nutrient Label PDF
Nutrient Label PDF
Notice how the label is designed with the marks setting out the location for the corners of a 2” x 6” label.  When printing these labels at the “Actual” size using Adobe Reader or Acrobat, the preview shows exactly how the label will look.

PDF Label Preview
PDF Label Preview
For the most part, we don’t carry  inventory of labels required to print all the possible sizes and types customers would want.  But in this case, I checked with our plant, who happened to have a roll of 2” x 6” and 2.5” x 6” gloss poly labels in inventory.  So I agreed to print some test labels for Nutriment.
Once I received the labels from the plant, I printed 7 different labels.  On the first label, I found that I had to move the print slightly down and change the boarder setting to .06” to get the label to print exactly as required.

Label Horizontal Adjustment Example
Label Horizontal Adjustment Example
We then packaged up the test prints and sent to Peter.

Nutriment Label Prints
With the correct artwork and label sizes, printing great looking labels is easy to do.  Perfect for an application such as desired by Nutriment, printing labels as need for their prototype products.  Companies launching new products all the time like Nutriment, printing on-demand color labels make good economic sense.
If you want to produce great looking labels easily yourself, contact us.  We’ll help you get started printing labels quickly and easily.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com

BenchMax

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BenchMax Label Applicator (https://greatengineering.com/benchmax/)  will enable you to use any label (or 2) on any round container larger than 8 mm in diameter.  With the Small Container Adaptor, the BenchMax makes it possible to label containers down to 8 mm in diameter.  And the Orientation capability scans the container for a feature, to insure labels are applied in the correct orientation.  Finally, you can adjust the rollers to apply labels to round containers with ridges or other features.

BenchMax Label Applicator
BenchMax Label Applicator


More important to me, however, was the fact that you can now integrate the BenchMax into the C3500 and C7500 for on-demand color label printing and application.  This capability makes the BenchMax the only off-the-shelf label applicator available for integration with a color label printer.  I first wrote about this capability after WestPack 2017: http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2017/02/westpack-2017.html

When I received my BenchMax, I was pleasantly surprised how well the unit was packed for it’s shipment from Australia to the US.


After unpacking the BenchMax applicator, I attempted to thread the supplied labels through the machine.  You can download the directions here: https://greatengineering.com/pdf/BenchMAX_BenchMARK_Manual.pdf 

And be sure to watch this video on setting up the BenchMax first.  It’s important and helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZDGScvkRcA

As the machine ships with the small container adapter in place, I made a mistake on the threading.  Therefore, I decided to remove the small container adapter before moving forward.

BenchMax Small Container Adaptor
BenchMax Small Container Adapter
But I had a heck of a hard time removing the adapter.  To remove the adapter, you need to remove the Hex screw shown below and the knob. 

Small Container Adapter Screw
When I tried to remove the screw, the adapter would turn, and not release.  I believe this problem says more about my mechanical skills than the adapter.  Once I held the adapter with the palm of my hand, and turned the Allen screw, the came off.  With the adapter off, it was easy to thread the labels through applicator.
After threading the labels, I had to set the gap sensor.  Frankly, I made a mistake in this step as well.  I could not get the provided labels to apply correctly. You need to make sure the sensor is positioned off a few mm from the leading edge of the first label.  This position below worked great.

BenchMax Label Leading Edge Exposed
BenchMax Label Leading Edge Exposed & Sensor Setting
And found the top of form on round labels as well:


Once I got the sensor set correctly, I was labeling containers. Even applying two labels to one bottle.


(Note to self: get some nice looking, unused round containers).
The BenchMax makes placing two labels with the correct spacing on one bottle easy to do.
After figuring out the applicator portion, I integrated my C7500G with the BenchMax.  Following the instructions for the Interface was easy; get the instructions here:  https://greatengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/interfaceInstructions.pdf

And the included label guide instructions as well: https://greatengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/GuideInstructions.pdf

I thought the label guide worked well; and may work better using fanfold labels:

BenchMax Label Guide
BenchMax Label Guide
And in minutes, I was printing and applying labels to large containers.


And by reinserting the Small Container Adapter, I was printing and applying labels to smaller round containers:


And here you can watch the printer respond to the commands from the interface:


When you first start to integrate the printer/BenchMax, be sure to print 15 to 20 labels to have lots of slack in the system.  As the printer backs up when starting to print, you need approximately 10” to 12” of loose labels.  After printing this initial slack, the Interface does all the work.  And I confirmed, the Interface works with Adobe Acrobat and BarTender, making printing and applying labels with variable data easy to do.  Be sure to keep the software application open during application; so the Interface can continue managing the label printing.
If you own a C3500 or a C7500/C7500G and apply labels to a round container, you should consider purchasing a BenchMax label applicator.  Now, you can print and apply in one step; increasing productivity and insuring your labels are applied correctly in the exact position every time.  The BenchMax applicator with the Interface, Label Guide, Cables and freight costs approximately $10,000.
If you don’t own one of these printers, now you should consider purchasing both the printer and BenchMax applicator to improve your operations and look of your finished products.  Contact us to discuss how the BenchMax label applicator fits into your operation.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com 

Is It Simply a Case of “How Much?” – Knowing What To Ask About Your Induction Sealing and Labeling Machinery

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We get approached all the time with one simple question: “How much?” This is no doubt a critical aspect when deciding on a larger purchase. But few realize the complexity that goes into determining the right combination of equipment, process, and consumables for specific production requirements. If we state the price of machinery and/or consumables […]

Label Color Management-Reader/Acrobat

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Color Label Solutions prints and send label samples out most days.  And I’d say most of these samples are printed from Adobe Acrobat in my case.  However, many of our customers print from Adobe Reader.  These customers create artwork in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or some other application before saving as a PDF.


While at a customer site this week, I decided to test some of the other Adobe Color Settings; as the colors in the initial print output were different from the C7500G versus the customer’s standard printer. By accident, I’ve found an additional way to improve color matching.  I’m sure many graphic artists understand these capabilities; but I did not.
In the past, I posted on using the ColorTone Matching assistant and/or the Wasatch RIP available in the C7500GE to improve color matching. 

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2016/11/c7500ge.html 

But for many of you, selecting a different setting in Adobe Reader or Acrobat may give you “close enough” or sufficient color matching.  Let me explain further.
In the print dialog box of Adobe Reader, you can find the “Advance” button.

Adobe Print Dialog Box
Adobe Print Dialog Box

In the Advance dialog box, you’ll find 3 basic options for color printing.

Adobe Reader “Advanced” Print Dialog Box

  • Let Printer Determine Colors Checked
  • Let Printer Determine Colors Unchecked (PDF Determines Colors)
  • Print as Image

In addition, you can select “Preserve CMYK Primaries” and “Preserve Black”.  However, I didn’t notice any difference with these selections alone.
With the above label artwork, I found a difference when printing as an image.  The green was darker, and maybe more yellow when printing using the setting “Print As Image”.

In Acrobat, I found Adobe provides many more options for color management; with 4 basic types:

  • Printer Color Management
  • Same As Source
  • Adobe Color Management
  • Print as Image

When Printer Color Management is selected, Acrobat says “Color Handling determines if color management will be used, and if so, whether it happens in the application or at the printing device. When ‘Printer’ is selected, convert any ICC profiles to PostScript CSAs, and color will be managed in the printer RIP.
With Same As Source is selected, Acrobat says “Color Handling determines if color management will be used, and if so, whether it happens in the application or at the printing device. When ‘Same as Source (No Color Management)’ is selected, embedded profiles are ignored, and only device values are sent.
When Acrobat Color Management is selected, Acrobat says “Color Handling determines if color management will be used, and if so, whether it happens in the application or at the printing device. When ‘Acrobat Color Management’ is selected, select an ICC Profile that describes the target output device.”
In my version of Acrobat, I count 42 different ICC profiles available when selecting Acrobat Color Management.  Although not printing using all of the available profiles (some are black/grey’s only), I did find differences. With most of the profiles, I did not see a difference using this artwork and label media.

Acrobat Color Management Profiles
Acrobat Color Management Profiles

Using ColorMatch RGB (Matches the native color space of Radius Pressview monitors.  This space provides a smaller gamut alternative to Adobe RGB (1998) for print production work), I found a darker green with this artwork.

Acrobat ColorMatch Profile
Acrobat ColorMatch Profile
And I found the same print output using Apple RGB: (Reflects the characteristics of the average Mac OS monitor, and is used by a variety of desktop publishing applications, including Adobe Photoshop 4.0 and earlier.  Use this space for files that you plan to display on Mac OS monitors, or for working with legacy (older) desktop publishing files.)
In addition, I did see a difference by selecting “Printer Color Management”.  I’ve decided to make this setting the default.
For those of you printing with Adobe Reader or Acrobat, I encourage you to test your artwork with the variety of settings and maybe label media to see if you find a difference in color of your print output.  You may find a better color matching option.
And for those of you we’ve sent samples, forgive me if the color wasn’t exactly correct.  Maybe I could produce better color matches now.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com

L301

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I received my new printer the other day: the L301.

L301
L301
Selling at $1,595, the L301 is the lowest price 4+” color label printer available.  The ability to print up to 6” wide labels at this price point seems like a very interesting proposal for small label producers.  I wanted to try it; so here is my out-of-the-box report.
L301 Label Printer
L301 Label Printer
Prior to taking the printer out of the box, I realized that I could not install the driver.  I needed to get from Afinia a file of the driver to download.  At the time, the driver was not publicly available.  You can now download it here along with the instruction manual and quick start guide:

http://afinialabel.com/support/software-drivers/

After unpacking, I started to install the printer by first plugging in the printer and installing the ink cartridges.  Immediately I found discrepancy with the ink cartridge numbers.  The manual called for Cartridges: #26548 and #26562. However the numbers on the bags were different.  In the production units, the part numbers will be on the cartridge outer packaging.  


After installing the ink cartridges, I installed the driver.  However, the driver does not install completely until the USB is connected.  Afinia says do not connect the USB cable until the driver is installed.
Once installed, the driver looks similar to the Neuralabel 300x and Primera LX2000 driver.  Both printers use HP print engines; so that makes total sense to me.  Read my earlier post on the LX2000 here:   

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2015/06/lx2000-full-bleed-color-label-printer.html

And 300x here:

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2016/03/300x-color-label-printer-top-10.html

Next, the instructions gave me information about the media.  Narrowest width is 2”; and shortest label is 2”.  A 2” x 2” label is pretty large for the minimum size.  Afinia hopes to reduce the minimum size to 1.75” x 1” shortly.  And the widest printable label is 6”.  The printer uses a 3” core, and a max OD of 6”.  I then installed the media on the unwinder which was a lot easier than on the VIP 495.  Read my post about this printer here: 

http://colorlabelsondemand.blogspot.com/2015/05/495.html

After inserting the paper, the printer pulled the label media into the printer and found the gap.  I then printed my first 6” x 4” matte poly label.  My first print took exactly 1 minute.  And I did lose a label on my first print as the printer had to find top of form.  Here is my first print on a matte poly coming out of the printer:

L301 First Print
L301 First Print
As you can see, my right side was printing on the liner.  To adjust this print start position, I had to simply add space on the “Left Offset” in the driver, found on the “Settings” tab.

L301 Driver Setting Tab
L301 Driver Setting Tab

On my second label, the time to print was cut in ½.  Slightly less than 30 seconds to print a 6” x 4” label.  And the Left Offset adjustment worked! Notice the difference in the location of the ink on the right side of the printer.

L301 Printed Labels
L301 Printed Labels
To cut, I just moved the cutter across the path of the web.  Worked great. Looking at the cut position, I noticed I would want to add about a 1/16” of an inch.  The cutter adjustment in the driver enables this configuration; but does not say which direction is positive or negative.  I’ve learned later that positive ejects the labels out further.
Next, I printed gloss paper labels.  First I used a 6” x 4” label with a .25” gap and blackmark.  When I tried to print, it would not work correctly.  After thinking about the problem, I realized the blackmark was directly in the gap; and may be fooling the gap sensor.  When I changed to blackmark, the gloss paper label printed as expected.
However, the printed label had two issues.  First the print output had lines.

L301 Label Needing Alignment
L301 Label Needing Alignment
By completing an ink cartridge alignment, the lines disappeared.  Look at the Cyan block pre/post alignment.

L301 Alignment
L301 Alignment
I’m not surprised by the fact the cartridges require alignment when you first use the printer.
Second, the black ink came off the gloss paper I tried first.  Look at the barcode in the downspout label above.  As the black is a pigment ink, gloss is a harder match.  I tried our standard gloss paper; and it performed much better. The black ink did not smear.

L301 On Gloss Paper
L301 On Gloss Paper

And the gloss poly printed very nice.

L301 On Gloss Poly
L301 On Gloss Poly
And I found the gloss poly labels waterproof; I was surprised by this result.

L301 Water Resistant Gloss Poly
L301 Water Resistant Gloss Poly
On the matte paper labels, I found the material printed OK using the standard settings.

L301 Printed On Matte Paper
L301 Printed On Matte Paper
Although both barcodes scanned, I though the print quality could be better.  The colors and text looked very nice, however.
On clear film, I thought they printed great.

L301 Black
L301 All Black on Clear Film

But the ink came off easily in water.  Not really an option.
As for ink costs, the L301 is much more expensive than the C3500 or especially the C7500.   For example, this artwork at 5.5” wide would cost ~$0.14 to $0.16/label.

On the LX2000, the ink cost of this label would cost approximately $0.05.

LX2000 Ink Cost
LX2000 Ink Cost

And the ink cost would be only $0.024/label for the C7500G at 4.25” wide:


According to Mike Atkins, Sales Manager for Afinia, “The Afinia Label L301 Color Label Printer is perfect for small and growing businesses. By printing In-house and on-demand, you give your company the flexibility to change your labels as-needed; to accommodate branding, ingredient, or government regulation changes. Powered by an HP thermal inkjet printing technology, the L301 will work well for small businesses wanting to print labels on demand.”
For the positives, the L301:
  • Costs much less than competitive printers.
  • Makes label printing easy to do.
  • Prints great looking labels up to 6” wide.

As for the negatives, the L301:
  • Uses expensive ink.
  • Prints very slowly.
  • Does not offer a networking option.
  • Limits gloss media to selected options

Overall, I found the L301 as an affordable option to print low volume quantities of labels wider than 4.25” wide.  At $1,595, the L301 is under ½ the price of the LX2000; the competitive option.  You can purchase a lot of ink for $2,000+ dollars.  For those businesses printing 10 to 20 labels per day, who need wider than 4.25” labels and want to limit their investment, the L301 is a good option.
If you are interested in learning more about the L301 or any other label printer, contact us to discuss your requirements in detail.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com

Full-Bleed Label Media

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Color Label Solutions (www.colorlabel.solutions) is pleased to announce the availability of full-bleed specific labels.  With these new labels, you don’t have to worry about overspraying ink onto the liner; then transferring the excess ink to the labels.  With these labels, the ink dries immediately on the liner.

Full-Bleed Circle Labels
Full-Bleed Circle Labels
Basically, we now offer inkjet coated liners for your labels.  Just like your labels, ink dries immediately on the liners; making it much easier to print full-bleed. If you have ever gotten ink on your fingers while applying labels, then you’ll understand the benefits of this new liner.  The full-bleed specific labels are just easier to use.

C7500G Full-Bleed Circle Labels
C7500G Full-Bleed Circle Labels
To print full-bleed labels, I recommend generally the C7500 series printers.  These printers offer something no other color label printers have: precise media handling.

C7500 Media Handling
C7500 Media Handling
Media in other print on-demand color label printers may move slightly horizontally while printing; making it more difficult to print full-bleed.  With the media handling design of the C7500, labels don’t move horizontally; enabling better full-bleed printing.

C7500G Full-Bleed Label
C7500G Full-Bleed Label
To print full-bleed labels, I recommend the following:
*   Design your labels slightly larger (1/16”) than the actual size of the label.  This step is critical to get full coverage.  Most people send me files different than the actual size of label I have.  This difference makes it virtually impossible to print the label correctly.
*   Set the label size in the driver .03” larger than actual.  This adaptation helps insure the label is more likely to be completely covered.  If the driver is much-more larger than the actual size, you get skips and “head maintenance” in the printer.

Too Large Label Format Error
Too Large Label Format Error

*   Use the narrowest edge of the label possible in the driver settings (0.06”) as the default is 0.08”:


C7500 Default Label Boarder Setting
C7500 Default Label Boarder Setting
This setting helps center the image on the template; especially important for circle labels.
If you print full-bleed, contact us to order the new labels designed for your application.  You’ll save time, money and hassle by moving to the new, full-bleed labels.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com 

WestPack 2017

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Color Label Solutions exhibited at WestPack (http://westpack.packagingdigest.com/) in Anaheim from February 7th to 9th again this year.

Beatriz Molina At WestPack
Beatriz Molina At WestPack
In addition to demonstrating the C7500, C7500G, the C3500 and the C831, we showed an exciting new item; the CMYK printer with the Fixed Thickness Feeder.  Now you can print coasters, coffee sleeves, bags, cards, corrugated boxes and any number of thick items on-demand in color.  Watch us print here: https://youtu.be/r9PC9puLeYM

The CYMK printer is the perfect income producer for printers and manufacturers who want to print thick paper and other inkjet-coated items.  The CYMK printer and feeder ushers in a new age of on-demand printing, enabling many more personalized items at a much lower cost and labor requirement.

CMYK Printed Coaster
CMYK Printed Coaster
For the first time at the show, we demonstrated the 8” version of this printer.  You may remember, we demonstrated a 4” version at WestPack for folded corrugated boxes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHtUlpGk9SY

And erected corrugated boxes at EastPack last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgIBSxmPAOU

In addition to the new 8” version, we’ll release a new RIP (raster image process) for the CYMK printer next month.  This new RIP will enable better, higher resolution printing with more image and color control.  Look for more information shortly.
In addition out the new CYMK printer, we saw in-person a new item we’ll begin selling next month; the BenchMax round container applicator integrated with the C7500 and C3500 printer:

C3500 Integrated With BenchMax Applicator
C3500 Integrated With BenchMax Applicator
This new applicator launches next month once the Interface devices receives approval.

BenchMax Interface
BenchMax  Applicator Interface
The Interface sets between the printer, applicator and the computer; managing the print jobs based on the output of the applicator.  You can watch the C7500 with the BenchMax here:

http://greatengineering.com/epson-printers/

At approximately $10,000, the BenchMax is the most affordable round container applicator available that is integrated with the C7500 and the C3500 label printers.  This unit is perfect for chemical, food, beverage or other manufacturers with round containers that want to apply labels more productively and accurately; in the same position every time.
In addition, I learned that the BenchMax could be configured with a Thermal Transfer printer to apply over-laminate on labels produced by the C7500.  With this system, you can use much less expensive materials; and then apply over-laminates to add durability and a glossy look.  It’s an elegant solution to a common requirement.
Finally, I saw the Swiftcolor 4” color label and tag printer print and cut great looking tags on-demand.

SwiftColor Printed Tag
SwiftColor Printed Tag

Watch the Swiftcolor print/cut 20 4” x 1” tags in 4 seconds here: 

https://youtu.be/s-PH4jtfPT4

The Swiftcolor printer is perfect for apparel manufactures who need to print tags and care labels on-demand and in-color.
I’m very excited by the prospects of the new 8” CYMK printer with the Fixed Feeder, the BenchMax integrated with the C7500 color label printer and the Swiftcolor printer for apparel tags.  If you are a printer, the CYMK printer and Feeder are the prefect addition to your production assets.  If you use round containers and want to print color labels on demand, the BenchMax applicator is a great new option for you.  And if you are an apparel manufacture, the Swiftcolor printer offers a new capability to produce great looking tags on-demand and in color.  Contact us to learn more about these valuable new machines.
Guy Mikel
855-962-7670
info@colorlabelsolutions.com