Glass like laminate?

[pippip]

Hi all,

We do memorial/wallet cards with usual spec, generally printed on our versant80 on 350/400gsm silk and gloss laminated (pouch and roll), round corners.

I just got a sample card in from a client and the gloss finish on it is like glass smooth, zero imperfections, I feels like plastic but I've never seen such a smooth finish off traditional laminate. I'd say in thickness is actually slightly thinner than mine. The print quality is super crisp too, great fine detail in photos and small font. I've attached the best photo I could take that managed to catch a hint of what of the finish.

Has anyone any idea of how this finish is was produced?

 

[TJPrinter]

I would check with your laminate supplier. Don't know if you can get the equivalent but Skandacor has what they call 1.6mil polypro photo gloss ultragrip, and it produces a very high gloss. Not sure how to explain the gloss level but the gloss level is higher than a UV gloss.

 

[pippip]

I'll look into that polypro.

The more I examine the sample it's a much harder feel to it. With standard gloss lam I would call "soft" you could scratch or indent it pretty easily where as this is an almost hard shell like a hardened plastic.

I have to give back to the sample so I can't destroy it either to investigate.

 

[G5MacMan]

Could be Dye sublimation, i use to do Coasters and the Shine / Gloss on them were incredible.

 

[tngcas]

Could it be a UV activated epoxy. I've seen that once from a boutique puzzle company, the finish was super high gloss and hard as a rock. It actually made the puzzle really difficult to do because the glare was so high, so while it was cool, I felt it was impractical. From what I understand of the process, the machine that does it prints and activates the epoxy nearly simultaneously.

 

[jwheeler]

I'm with @tngcas ...could be a UV coating, or UV varnish. Too bad you can't try the tear test. If you tear the edge, you'll know if it's laminate or a coating.

 

[pippip]

Could be Dye sublimation, i use to do Coasters and the Shine / Gloss on them were incredible.

I don't think so as its a double sided card, I could see how it might work for single sided.

 

[pippip]

Could it be a UV activated epoxy. I've seen that once from a boutique puzzle company, the finish was super high gloss and hard as a rock. It actually made the puzzle really difficult to do because the glare was so high, so while it was cool, I felt it was impractical. From what I understand of the process, the machine that does it prints and activates the epoxy nearly simultaneously.

Possibly, any samples I've seen of epoxy would lead me to think it would be too thick. As mentioned this card is actually thinner than my 400gsm with 40mic gloss lam.

I am wondering maybe some sort of uv coating but I don't think it could give this level of protection and strength

 

[G5MacMan]

I don't think so as its a double sided card, I could see how it might work for single sided.

plenty of double sided sublimation around

 

[pippip]

plenty of double sided sublimation around

But how tight would the register be? could you get less than 1mm accuracy?

 

[pippip]

I have one or two reps I'm gonna ask next time I see them.

What it actually is near identical to in feel is those clear PVC covers used for binding

 

[G5MacMan]

But how tight would the register be? could you get less than 1mm accuracy?

Sublimation print is all in one hit, so yes