In today’s competitive market, print businesses are always looking for new ways to add value and incremental revenue to their portfolio of services. We caught up with Russell Cavenagh, Managing Director, Mutoh Australia to discuss how adding Braille to signage can be produced relatively easily by using UV LED printing.
Incorporating Braille into signage not only provides an invaluable service to the visually impaired but also adds a sense of inclusivity and accessibility to public spaces, making them more welcoming and user-friendly. Print providers and sign-makers with a Mutoh UV LED printer can increase business revenue by offering a faster and more efficient alternative to traditional embossing methods.
UV curing uses ultraviolet light to dry the ink instantly. This means there is no waiting time for the ink to dry, resulting in faster turnaround times and increased productivity. The ink is not absorbed into the substrate but instead sits on top, allowing you to print on almost any non-porous surface, such as plastics, glass, wood, stone, and metal. For UV Braille printing, the UV curing process allows you to lay ink repeatedly and precisely to create a tactile finish. This technique also ensures fine detail, scratch resistance, which means the Braille characters are durable and long-lasting.
All signs can benefit from the addition of Braille, making this a good opportunity for printers to add incremental value to most of their printed signage jobs. It is particularly important for signs in all public facilities and municipal buildings. They are also important for tourist attractions, emergency signage, hotels, museums, libraries, hospitals, schools, colleges, and universities.
The Braille Printing Process
The Braille printing process is straightforward and can be easily achieved with the right tools. To get started with UV Braille printing, you will need the following equipment:
- Mutoh UV printer (XPJ-461UF, XPJ-661UF or XPJ-1462UF)
- Mutoh VerteLith rip
- Mutoh LED UV rigid inks (UH21)
- Non-porous objects to print on (plastics, glass, wood, stone, metal)
VerteLith handles the print stage to create the structured print, ensuring that the height of the text matches the targeted Braille standard. For a visually appealing result, you can choose to build the initial layers with white and gloss, finishing with a colour layer.
Conclusion
Braille printing with Mutoh’s UV printers creates some great opportunities for adding value and revenue to your business. With UV technology, you can add Braille lettering to signs that is durable, visually appealing, and accessible.
