Written by Andy Neat, Marking and Installation Product Manager
Let’s turn the volume up to 11!
I’ve got a new marking system to tell you about *fanfare music*.
Yes another one!
Here at Phoenix Contact we’ve been launching marking systems on a yearly basis to push the boundaries of where the market sits in the marking world. From LED light curing, to mobile printing on site and even smart integration with EPLAN, Phoenix Contact keeps innovating.
So In the week where Apple launch a phone with facial recognition and wireless charging, in the same month as ‘driver-less lorries’ were planned for our motorways, what am I going to throw out there to tickle your taste buds too?
I’m going to give you an example to start with; shrink sleeve markers. You know the stuff, small, fiddly and you use a heat gun or sometimes a hairdryer to shrink it! I’ve chosen this type of marker because it isn’t often printed in small quantity (this will eventually be the point of my blog). When small volume is required, we have sufficient printers to handle this such as the Thermofox for low volume and the Thermomark Roll for low to medium volume.
For the past 5 years we’ve had customers use the Thermomark Roll for shrink sleeve, adhesive labels and cable tie markers etc. This is perfect product, but as with anything, when the printing volume goes up, so does the strain on the printer. This isn’t a huge issue though, for instance, I used to drive an estate with a 1.6 litre eco engine, a great big strong reliable car… but with the power of a kitten.
It did the job of course but it just needed a bit more ‘oomph’ behind it.
So let’s say you’ve got a demand for shrink sleeve printing daily in the hundreds…possibly thousands and the printer needs to be robust, reliable, quick, up to date with technology, easy to operate and most importantly industrial. Then ladies and gentlemen I give you the Thermomark Rollmaster.
The Thermomark Rollmaster is designed for high volume business, companies that churn out hundreds of roll based materials on a daily basis, and in my day to day work this is almost always shrink sleeve. But it doesn’t stop there; the Rollmaster will print all the 600+ marking options already available for the older Thermomark Roll.
Rollmaster Printer
Significant improvements have been made with this model to up hold the strain of production demands:
- The print head levers which are plastic on the Thermomark Roll are now stainless steel on the Rollmaster.
- The reels are quicker to release to aid a speedy changeover of roll material
- The screen is now an LCD touchscreen bringing the device into the 21st century for intuitive use.
- You can communicate with it the usual ways with either USB lead or Ethernet, but now you can also Bluetooth from our marking app, print straight from a USB stick or…wait for it, Wifi print for the first time.
We’ve released more than one version of this new printer, a 300 dpi (dots per inch) version and 600 dpi. But why? The Simple answer is future proofing. With the future market trend being ‘industry 4.0’ where smart machines and intelligent installation will be all the rage, a lot of this will include auto ID labels such as QR codes and Bar codes. So that’s where we see 600dpi will be required. For all other printing requirements 300dpi would more than suffice.
And there you have it, another year another innovative marking system from Phoenix Contact. It’s not always about variety of markers sometimes it’s simply volume. Now excuse me while I give my wife her hairdryer back.
Find out more about the Rollmaster Printer here.
For any more info on anything marking contact Andy Neat on aneat@phoenixcontact.com or follow him on Twitter @pxc_andyneat
