ISRAEL-SUPER SIZE PRINTER Record breaking printer creates super-size glass designs

Record ID: 398837

  • Title: ISRAEL-SUPER SIZE PRINTER Record breaking printer creates super-size glass designs
  • Date: 5th December 2014
  • Summary: KFAR SABA, ISRAEL (RECENT) (REUTERS) VIEW OF DIP-TECH'S BUILDING FACADE, SIGN READING 'A GLASSIC WORK OF ART' EXTERIOR OF BUILDING VIEW OF PRINTERS BEING MANUFACTURED PRINTER PRINTING ON GLASS CLOSE OF PRINTER PRINTING ON GLASS PAN CLOSE OF COLOURFUL PICTURE BEING PRINTED ON GLASS GLASS PANE BEING REMOVED FROM PRINTER VIEW OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF DIP-TECH YARIV MAT
  • Embargoed: 20th December 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEW6F85BLCA686UFIRWGPKV3M5
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS 4:3 MATERIAL
    Demand for 'super size' printed glass panes have led an Israeli-based digital glass printing company to manufacture a massive glass printer that has won it a Guinness World Record.
    Made by Dip-Tech, the digital ceramic in-glass printer is about 21 meters (23 yards) in length and can print a single pane of glass of up to 18 metres (19.7 yards) long and 3.3 metres (3.6 yards) wide.
    The Carmel Campus building just off the Haifa coast in northern Israel features the printer's handiwork in the form of an architectural facade comprising large-scale, colourful glass panes.
    Dip-Tech's printed glass products can also be found in projects worldwide, from Harlem's Hospital in New York to Melinda Consortium in Italy and the Origami Building in France.
    "The tendency of the market is to get into the super size glasses," said Israeli-based Dip-Tech's CEO Yariv Matzliach, who revealed that the company set a world record at the Glasstec 2014 show in Dusseldorf, Germany.
    Dip-Tech, which features impressive huge printed glass exteriors on the company's own office building in Kfar Saba, in central Israel, has manufactured two award-winning AR18000 printers, one based in Germany and the other in China.
    Matzliach said the company began manufacturing the large size printers after demand by architects worldwide. And he says the need for increasingly large single-pane pieces is growing.
    "In the real world people they love to see big things, especially when we're talking about streets and cities and buildings. It's getting bigger and bigger and there's no margin between the panes or between the different subjects but everything is like a picture, everything is like, see big is great," he told Reuters.
    But Dip-Tech takes pride in not only the large glass panes themselves, but also in the unique patented ceramic ink they use to print onto the surface.
    "We are the only company that can produce and manufacture a ceramic digital ink for the glass industry and this is a great IP (intellectual property)," he said.
    The process looks like any printer at first glance. The image is sent to the printer and the ink is then injected onto the glass. But the drying process takes time and the transferring and installation of such large panes is even more challenging.
    "It's a huge, huge achievement, engineering wise it's not easy to design, manufacture build integrate, make it happen and work, it's a 21-22 meters in length machine, it has to be very accurate," said Dip-Tech's research and development project manager, Arnon Lewartowski, who was responsible for the implementation of the huge digital glass print orders.
    Matzliach said the large panes have become an architectural need and he hopes to make them even larger, wider and with better resolution in the future. And although the production is tailored for high-end customers, Matzliach said he hopes to devise cheaper ways to produce the printed glass, making it more affordable.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register