Kernow Coatings’ FloorSharK Dry Toner substrate for printed floor graphics has successfully achieved R10 anti-slip rating after being tried and tested on a Xeikon 3500 digital press.
FloorSharK Dry Toner has been developed with applications such as social distancing graphics in mind and is made from Kernow’s textured ultra-tough Sharkskin material. FloorShark Dry Toner follows on from the KernowJet FloorSharK substrate for latex and solvent printing.
Xeikon 3500 presses are dry toner digital label printing machines, capable of delivering a 1200dpi print quality at just shy of 20m/min and with a width of 516mm. 3500 is part of Xeikon’s 3000 Series of presses, principally targeted at the digital label printing market although also suitable for a number of other applications. As such, Xeikon and Kernow Coatings have been involved in a rigorous testing programme to achieve the R10 anti-slip rating for floor graphics. The companies now intended to further this to other dry toner digital press in the Xeikon portfolio, such as the CX500 with a wider web width (520mm) and faster print speed (30m/min).
Hendrik De Backer, EMEA sales manager at Kernow Coatings, said, ‘Our new FloorSharK Dry Toner has performed outstandingly on the Xeikon 3500. We are delighted with the results. The excellent cooperation with Xeikon has led us to this significant point, and we now plan to test the product on Xeikon’s top performing CX500 dry toner press where we anticipate similar results.
‘In these challenging times, diversification and adaptation are key. We are excited to be able to introduce a unique market-leading product that’s been tried and tested and will open doors for more applications on Xeikon’s digital presses.’
Dimitri Van Gaever, segment director, Graphic Arts at Xeikon, said, ‘This successful cooperation with Kernow Coatings opens up greater opportunities for our customers and meets the recent unprecedented and necessary demand for socially distanced floor signage. Now, with the new FloorSharK with R10 rating, our customers can confidently print non-slip, resilient and creative floor decals to meet demand. And thanks to the unique properties of this material, no post-press lamination is required, saving a significant amount of time and cost in the process. This basically means that – thanks to the single-pass print process and 1200dpi resolution of a Xeikon press – our customers can offer an unbeatable quality/productivity/price ratio for this application, putting them well ahead of the typical wide format production environments.’
