Primera Technology, Inc., a manufacturer of specialty printers, announced the availability of its new DL500 Durable Label Printer.
DL500 allows fast and easy in-house production of durable labels for a wide range of rough-service applications, including the U.S. Department of Defense’s IUID program labels, UDI labels for medical devices and healthcare equipment, automobile VIN and under-hood part number, warning and instruction labels, and more.
Text, graphics, and linear or 2D bar codes can be laser ablated onto a range of adhesive-backed label materials. Finished labels are robust and do not require lamination to withstand extended exposure to UV light, chemicals, liquids and temperatures of up to 300C. As such, they also meet the requirements for UL and CSA rating and serial number plates.
Instead of ink, the printer utilizes a specially designed laser diode, along with high-precision, matched optics. This type of laser and optics combination has not been used in a rollfed, desktop laser label imager. Labels produced with this method are typically used to replace metal plates or labels produced by resin thermal transfer that are laminated in a secondary process but are still not durable enough for many applications.
Compared to Yag, fiber and CO2 lasers, DL500’s laser diode and matched optics marking method has a number of advantages for producing highly durable labels, including:
• Lower cost. Typical systems will be priced between $18,000 and $22,000 (USD)—about half the price of competing systems.
• Simple mechanics. Instead of a more traditional but more complex and expensive computer-controlled galvanometer with beam steering mirrors, DL500 was designed more like a standard industrial label printer. This approach results in a machine that is less complicated with no special maintenance or on-going calibration required.
• Ease of operation. DL500 installs on a PC as a standard Windows printer; can be driven by virtually any popular label creation software. No special operator training or certification is required.
Both “smoke” and “smokeless” label substrates are available. Each substrate has its own advantages for certain applications. For substrates that generate smoke, Primera’s DF-30 Smoke and Fume Filter is available. DF-30 has five stages of filtration, which allows the DL500 printer to be used indoors without the need for an outside exhaust.
