In the modern industrial printing field, One-Pass printing technology has revolutionized traditional production methods. It uses a fixed printhead to complete full-color printing in a single pass, perfectly combining the flexibility of digital printing with the high speed and efficiency of traditional printing.

UV one-pass and water-based one-pass printers represent two major branches of this technology, each with its own unique core technologies, applicable scenarios, and cost structures.

The decision often begins with the most basic questions. Before considering which printer is right for you, let’s determine your core needs.

– What materials do you primarily print on? This is a crucial factor. Do you need to print on plastics, metals, glass, or other composite materials? Or do you need to print on packaging materials such as paper bags, paper cups, pizza boxes, cartons, and lunch boxes?

– Do you need to print white on your products?

UV one-pass printers offer a CMYK+W five-color configuration. The addition of white ink allows for vibrant patterns on dark backgrounds.

Water-based one-pass printers only support CMYK four-color printing and cannot print white.

Now, let’s address these two questions and clear up the confusion about choosing a printer for your printing needs:

1、The fundamental differences between the two One-pass printers:

* UV single-pass printers use industrial-grade piezoelectric printhead technology, combined with oil-based UV ink, which is instantly cured by LED ultraviolet light. It can print and cure directly on almost any flat surface, achieving long-lasting colorfastness and scratch resistance.

* For example, the Novix Ultra-UVS printer uses a MEMS-technology piezoelectric printhead with 1280 nozzles, a minimum droplet size of only 7pl, and a resolution of up to 1200dpi, allowing for professional-level color printing. The printhead integrates a heater and thermistor to maintain a constant inkjet environment, preventing clogging and reducing the risk of printhead damage.

* Water-based printers, on the other hand, use a completely different technological approach. The Novix Pro-SP900 is equipped with an HP Fi1000 industrial-grade thermal inkjet printhead, using water-based inks to achieve instant-drying printing on all ink-absorbing materials. A single HP Fi1000 printhead can print up to 305mm wide, meeting the printing width requirements of most ink-absorbing materials. For even wider print widths, multiple printhead configurations are supported. It also supports high-resolution, vibrant color printing at 1200dpi.

2、Material Adaptability Determines Your Printing Business Scope

One of the biggest advantages of UV Single Pass printers is their wide material adaptability. They can print directly on plastics, metals, glass, ceramics, acrylic, phone cases, wood, coated products, and various composite films.

Due to this wide material range, UV Single Pass printers offer cross-industry printing applications, including automotive parts (such as license plate frames, component printing, and car interior decoration); stationery (such as pens, rulers, and notebooks); packaging (such as plastic bags, pouches, courier bags, insulated bags, gift boxes, non-woven bags, disposable bags, and lunch boxes); household goods (such as shoe insoles and shower gel bottles); and coded printing systems such as QR code printing, barcode printing, and serial number printing.

UV Single Pass printers support I/O interfaces for connection with robotic arms, enabling automatic feeding and receiving, providing a complete automated solution, particularly suitable for industrial scenarios requiring both personalized customization and high-volume production.

In contrast, water-based one-pass printers focus on printing on absorbent materials, excelling at direct printing on corrugated boxes, cardboard, pizza boxes, paper cup fans, paper bags, envelopes, lunch boxes, seed paper, coasters, cards, and more. Novix water-based inks are environmentally friendly and food-grade certified, making them perfectly safe for printing on lunch boxes and pizza boxes, meeting stringent food safety requirements. Similarly, water-based one-pass printers support coded printing systems, meeting the “one code, one item” tracking needs of the e-commerce era; making them an ideal choice for printing on absorbent materials.

3、Single-pass printing technology offers more business possibilities.

In terms of color performance, both single-pass printers provide high-quality color printing for your products, but there are key differences.

UV single-pass printers offer a five-color configuration of CMYK + white. The addition of white ink allows for maximum color rendering even on dark materials! Water-based one-pass printers only support CMYK four-color printing and cannot be configured with white. This means that color reproduction will be slightly inferior on dark materials, but this does not affect the print quality or effect.

In terms of production efficiency, UV single-pass printers, with single-color printing speeds up to 120m/min and multi-color printing speeds up to 40m/min, are quietly changing the limitations of production capacity. Water-based one-pass printers also have printing speeds up to 40m/min, significantly higher than traditional printing methods. In today’s era of personalized customization, the Single Pass series products will meet the needs of on-demand printing, single-sheet printing, and high-efficiency printing.

Maintenance and operational complexity are also important considerations. The Novix team has dedicated itself to research and development, maximizing the intelligence, automation, and simplicity of printers.

Whether UV or water-based, the one-pass series printers feature an integrated design, one-button start, PLC touchscreen, integrated computer software, mechanical control buttons, print height memory, and many other functions, providing users with the most convenient, fastest, and least-operational integrated printing solution. In general, for products requiring printing on ink-absorbing materials, water-based one-pass printers are the preferred choice. For products printing on other materials, UV one-pass printers are the preferred option. For more information on materials, customized solutions, etc., please contact the Novix team. Our solution engineers will provide you with one-on-one consultation services.

Materials determine the technology path – this is the essence of choosing an industrial printing solution.

The core of the choice is never the superiority or inferiority of the technology itself, but rather which path can accommodate the materials you most frequently use, the types of orders you most often, and the cost structure you value.

True industrial wisdom lies in recognizing that the most advanced technology is not necessarily the most suitable, but the most suitable technology is the one that creates the greatest value on your production line!

To learn more about One Pass printing technology, contact the Novix team today for personalized, professional printing solutions tailored to your needs.