SURFACES New product
SURFACES New product thanks to digital printing: Digital staining Digital Lacquer Embossing (DLE) is a patented, in-house development of Hymmen GmbH Maschinen- und Anlagenbau and is the first method which uses digital printing technology for something other than “painting pretty pictures”. A new product has been created; a digitally applied UV protective lacquer. Much like with this technology, Hymmen has developed another method which can create completely new products. It will lead to completely new product opportunities, in particular in the parquet industry. Benefits of digital printing Digital printing provides some basic essential benefits: it enables industrial production of small batch sizes, the embedding of digital print in process chains in the decor industry, individualized mass production, speedy reaction to market trends, short retooling times and low warehouse costs. Digital printing creates products which would be impossible with analog technology. Extra-long pattern repeats, designs with 25 or more different boards, without repetition and designs with motifs which spread over multiple boards (logos, mosaic etc.) are just a few examples of decorative options. It is fair to say that printing decorative designs digitally with CMYK inks has become more or less established. The production of digitally printed flooring with Hymmen JUPITER printing lines alone is estimated at 70 million m²/ year. Digital structure printing The digital structuring of surfaces (DLE) is a very new technology. One of the most important properties, alongside the appearance of the flooring, is quite definitely the surface structure. However, the flexibility of digital printing is confronted by the inflexibility of the analog structuring processes. When it comes to appearance, decorative designs can be changed without losing time, pattern repeats can be infinitely long etc., as already mentioned. When it comes to the surface feel, the analog structuring processes cannot keep up the pace. This is where Hymmen’s patented, in-house development Digital Lacquer Embossing (DLE) comes into play. It can be connected directly to a JUPITER digital printing line or even be used for digital structuring of surfaces printed and lacquered in other ways. the DLE machine technology already developed, a method has been created and the patent is already pending. In the first step, the wood is fine-ground in order to reduce standing fibers. Digital printing is then used to apply a highly transparent ink to the areas which are not to be stained. The ink is cured and the stain is then applied and distributed. A topcoat is finally applied to seal and protect the wood. The applied ink layer is very thin (5-8 µm) and can be removed with a fine “cleaning grind”, meaning that a second passage with another stain color or treatment with an open-pored seal is possible. Design options At the beginning, every new technology is faced with the same challenge: how do you bring together this new technology with existing products? And this is where you have to think outside the box. It isn‘t always necessary to replace existing solutions with new technology. New technology can create something new or just something extra. www.hymmen.com Board with crack (before, digital printing mask, after). Flooring with lines and logo. The basic idea of DLE has now been picked up on in order to create a further product which previously was only possible to produce with analog techniques: furniture finishes and flooring which are decorated with a stain. Formerly, staining was only ever possible over the entire product surface. The only way to include patterns and shapes in the design was by masking. Taking this method as inspiration, and using Floor at the Ligna show. 38 No. 1 • February 2020
EVENTS Focus Components area Focus Components is the new "business event" created within Xylexpo 2020; organized in collaboration with Made expo, it is an exhibition area dedicated to semifinished materials, components and consumables for furniture, a world-class showcase to exhibit your production and provide visitors - mostly furniture manufacturers - with an all-round view of the entire wood value chain. Focus Components is a turning point for Xylexpo, a real platform for the Production "4.0" of furniture and interior decorations with a focus on the industry, while offering an opportunity of in-depth information and professional update to architects and designers. www.xylexpo.com Giampiero Mauri innovation center trade day Some forty agents and distributors from all over the world met last December at the headquarters of Giardina Group in Figino Serenza, in the province of Como. There are many reasons behind the choice to invite their distribution network to Italy, to the factory where finishing and drying equipment is designed, manufactured and tested. Most important is the ‘official inauguration’ for the ‘Giampiero Mauri Innovation Center’ business network, a 2,500-square-meter facility with meeting and training rooms surrounding a 1,500-square-meter showroom/workshop which includes all the operational technologies of the Giardina Group. “This was a very important moment for us”, declared Stefano and Riccardo Mauri, owners of the company. “We have put on display the fruit of a determined approach that allows us to have an effective centre where today all our skills are made explicit and available. A place that we have officially opened to our worldwide sales network because it is, and must always be, available to them, so that they may illustrate what we know and what we can do to their customers”. This event ended an excellent 2019 for the group, which has seen a significant increase in sales, even at a time that many judged and experienced as being rather stable. “We have reached 20 million euros, and the orders we have for delivery in the coming months are giving us a very positive outlook for 2020”, added the two brothers. “Our technologies and, more importantly, the quality of our excimer solutions allows us to be the ideal leading partner in many countries around the world today”, commented Stefano Tibè, Giardina Group sales manager. www.giardinagroup.com 11th European TMT Workshop In 2003, some years after the first introduction of thermally modified timber (TMT), the IHD started to organise the European TMT Workshop as a specific workshop focused to this material. In the same year, the European Conference on Wood Modification (ECWM) was established. Both conferences can look back to many successful events, but on the other hand, the technical and economic conditions of thermally and chemically modified wood changed continuously. For instance, a number of manufacturers appeared, but some disappeared. After meanwhile 10 TMT Workshops, the time has come to rethink the concept, particularly in light of ECWM, with a very similar content and target group. In result, we decided to finish the TMT Workshop series and to merge it into ECWM in the near future. This idea was proposed to the board of ECWM, together with the suggestion to organise the next but one ECWM conference 2022 in Dresden, as a joint conference. The Institute of Wood Technology Dresden (IHD) invites home and foreign speakers on 14 - 15 May 2020 to the 11th European TMT Workshop to Dresden. Conference language is English. Registrations are possible not later than 4 May 2020 by using the online form. www.ihd-dresden.de No. 1 • February 2020 39
