What printing equipment does Stickerine use?
| Presses | Epson SureColor, 11-color UltraChrome eco-solvent |
|---|---|
| Specialty press | Mimaki UV flatbed + roll-to-roll, white ink |
| Contour cutting | Summa S-Class, OPOS optical registration |
| Cut tolerance | ±0.1 mm |
| Rigid / oversize cutting | Kongsberg X24 CNC table |
| Lamination | Roll laminator, UV film on every job |
| Face stock | 3 mil cast and calendared vinyl (3M, General Formulations) |
| Location | Greenville, South Carolina, USA |
Presses
Epson SureColor, 11-color UltraChrome. Eleven ink channels: cyan, light cyan, magenta, light magenta, yellow, orange, green, violet, black, light black and light light black. The industry norm for sticker printing is 4-color CMYK. The extra orange, green and violet channels are why brand colors that sit outside the CMYK gamut land accurately here, and the three black densities are why gradients render smooth rather than banded.
Eco-solvent ink does not sit on top of the vinyl the way an aqueous inkjet does; it briefly softens the surface and cures into it. That is what makes the print scratch and solvent resistant before the laminate ever goes on.
Mimaki UV flatbed and roll-to-roll. Used for white ink underbase on clear, holographic and metallic films, and for rigid substrates such as aluminum composite, acrylic and coroplast. UV ink cures instantly under lamps, so it prints on materials that will not accept solvent ink.
Lamination
Every sticker passes through a roll laminator before it is cut. The laminate is a clear UV-blocking film in gloss, matte or luster. It is included at no charge on every order. Skipping lamination is the single most common way a cheap sticker gets cheap, and it is why unlaminated prints chalk and fade within a season outdoors.
Cutting
Summa S-Class with OPOS. OPOS stands for Optical POSitioning. The cutter's sensor physically reads registration marks printed on the material instead of trusting the file geometry, which cancels out any stretch or skew introduced during printing and lamination. Cut accuracy is ±0.1 mm.
Kongsberg X24 CNC table. A flatbed digital cutting table for rigid sheet goods and oversize work: signs, standees, thick substrates and large-format decals that will not run through a roll cutter.
Because both machines cut a path from a file, there is no steel die. Any shape costs the same as any other shape, and there is never a die charge or a tooling charge.
Substrates we keep in stock
3 mil white cast and calendared vinyl, clear polyester, holographic prismatic film, brushed metallic film, static cling, high-tack industrial vinyl for textured and powder-coated surfaces, 13 oz and 15 oz scrim banner vinyl, coroplast, aluminum composite and acrylic.
Why the hardware list matters to you
Equipment is the part of a print quote you cannot see and cannot fake. A shop reselling someone else's capacity cannot tell you what press ran your job, cannot promise a cut tolerance, and cannot fix a color problem without going back through a broker. We own every machine listed above and everything happens under one roof in Greenville.
Related questions
- Do you print in house or outsource?
- Everything is printed, laminated, cut, inspected and packed in our own Greenville, South Carolina facility. Nothing is brokered out.
- What resolution do you print at?
- Artwork should be supplied at 300 DPI at final size. The presses image far finer than the eye resolves at reading distance; 300 DPI input is the practical ceiling for sticker work.
- Can you match a Pantone or brand color?
- We color manage to ICC profiles and the 11-ink gamut covers most Pantone spot colors closely. Send the Pantone number with your file and we will match as closely as the process allows, or send a printed sample and we will match to it.