Materials Components Finishes & Marking    

Direct Digital Printing

Our cutting-edge UV-based flatbed digital printing features laser alignment technology for accurate and crisp printing of complex visuals, with eye-catching results.

Color prints are created by blending various densities of small droplets of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. The effects created are brilliant colors and gradients our eyes perceive as solid from a distance. However, at close range, the eye can see this half-toning effect because some of the larger droplet sizes are detectable by the naked eye.

On Gloss White

On Gloss Black

All About Direct Digital Printing:

• Best used for graphics with high amounts of detail (such as a gradient finish, CGI effects or overlapping colors), or when multiple colors are used in one graphic.
• Full CMYK spectrum of colors offered.
• Available on powdercoated enclosures, parts and panels, as well as flat parts and panels with bare-metal finish.
• Digital print technology produces a slightly raised and textured surface, especially when compared to silkscreening. Digital print is laid down linearly by scanning UV ink jet heads, and cured immediately after. This means the ink can't self-level (flow), so there is a slight linear texture that becomes visible in large areas of single color. This is generally not a problem in any way, but those used to silkscreen should be aware that they may perceive a difference if they closely examine the surfaces.
• Digital print is superior in producing images on textured surfaces such as sandtex powdercoat. This is because the ink jets downwards, effectively filling the low spots (in contrast, silkscreen is a planar process that can leave voids).
• Color letters on signal white powdercoat base are legible to 6 pt font for both sans and serif fonts.
• For colored letters on non-white powdercoat, minimum font size is 10 pt for Serif fonts and 7 pt for Sans Serif fonts. Please note: Fonts that appear smaller than Times New Roman and Myriad Pro may have to be enlarged to ensure proper white underbase. Please email info@protocase.com for more information).

Acceptable Graphic File Formats:

To ensure the highest print quality and clarity, vector graphic files are recommended:

• .AI - Adobe Illustrator
• .EPS - Encapsulated PostScript
• .SVG - Scalable Vector Graphics
• .PDF - Portable Document Format
• .DXF or .DWG - AutoCAD

We can accept the following raster image files, however additional processing charges may apply:

• .PNG - Portable Network Graphic
• .JPG (.JPEG) - Joint Photographic Experts Group
• .TIF (.TIFF)- Tagged Image File
• .PSD - Photoshop
• .VDX, .VSD, or .VSDX - Visio
• .DOCX - Microsoft Word
• .PPTX - Microsoft PowerPoint

File formats we cannot accept:

• .CDR - Corel Draw File

Silkscreen

Also known as screen-printing or serigraphy, Silkscreening is the process of passing durable inks through a porous fabric, creating a high-resolution sharp-edged single-color image created from a stencil. Multiple color images are created by incorporating multiple stencils onto one surface, one graphic and screen for each color. We only offer 'spot color' printing (i.e. one discrete color per screen), and we do NOT offer half-tone process color, wherein an infinite range of colors can be made up from combining various weights of small dots in process colors Cyan/ Magenta/Yellow/Black. This limitation is a result of the difficulties inherent in registering half-tone patterns with each other on 3-D objects, as distortions imposed by textured coatings.

On Gloss Black

On High Gloss Safety Orange

All About Silkscreen:

• Ideal for flat graphics with a limited number of colors, as each color needs to be silkscreened separately. The more colors used, the more time it will take to silkscreen.
• Larger images can be done in multiple screens, but sections should ideally be separate due to finite ability to spatially register the multiple mage sections. Our standard screens have a printable area of 12" x 16.5".
• Fourteen standard colors offered (custom silkscreen colors available upon request for an additional fee).
• Available on powdercoat finish and bare-metal finishes.
• Due to the self-levelling nature of silkscreen ink, silkscreen produces a smooth finish that is virtually indistinguishable by touch.
• Heavily textured finishes can degrade the screen print quality. Small features, fine print and thin lines can look distorted on a rough surface (see font size limitation below). Best results are achieved on smooth or lightly textured powdercoat.
• Minimum 9 pt font size required, with the exception of silkscreening over sandtex powdercoat, which requires a minimum 11 pt font size.

Acceptable Graphic File Formats:

To ensure the highest print quality and clarity, vector graphic files are recommended:

• .AI - Adobe Illustrator
• .EPS - Encapsulated PostScript
• .SVG - Scalable Vector Graphics
• .PDF - Portable Document Format
• .DXF or .DWG - AutoCAD

We can accept the following raster image files, however additional processing charges may apply:

• .PNG - Portable Network Graphic
• .JPG (.JPEG) - Joint Photographic Experts Group
• .TIF (.TIFF)- Tagged Image File
• .PSD - Photoshop
• .VDX, .VSD, or .VSDX - Visio
• .DOCX - Microsoft Word
• .PPTX - Microsoft PowerPoint

File formats we cannot accept:

• .CDR - Corel Draw File