Dip-Tech brought digital ceramic frit printing to the glass market so that mass customization
would be possible.  Now there are many digital decorating technologies, but none of them
compare when it comes to permanency of color, abrasion resistance, and chemical
resistance.  Those technical merits make ceramic inks thee choice when a building owner
considers the total cost of ownership, ease of cleaning, and replace ability factor.

How does screen printing of ceramic enamels compare to digital frit printing?
  • The possible colors are very similar.  
  • Both are lead and cadmium free (always for Dip-Tech, mostly for others)
  • Digital frit inks are of a finer particle mix to allow jetting onto the glass as compared to
    coarser screen print inks.
  • Screen printing from image A on glass to image B on glass requires clean up, tear
    down, set up, registration adjustment, cleaning of old screen, and storing of old
    screen.  Typically this takes 20-30 minutes for 2 persons.
  • Digital printing requires matching the image to the glass shape, registering the glass
    onto the print table, and printing a prepared file (done remotely ahead of time)
  • Digital frit printing handles mass customization easily - tiled images, variable data, and
    one print per image are all done.  Easily.

How does digital printing of UV inks compare to ceramic inks?
  • UV works on a CMYK 4 color process
  • white UV ink color durability has come to be questioned
Digital Frit Printing
Matthew Tangeman
Custom Glass Machinery Ltd
1069 Harrison Ave
Columbus, OH  43201
+1-614-586-5423