A system and method for positioning a food product with respect to a print head for printing on a surface thereof. The system is incorporated into a printer. The system has a movable support surface for supporting the food product thereon, the support surface being vertically and horizontally moveable with respect to the print head. A sensor is provided for detecting a position of a surface of the food product positioned on the moveable support surface with respect to the print head. The sensor provides a signal to the printer indicative of a position of the surface of the food product and wherein the moveable support surface is adjustable in response thereto. The sensor is a position sensor configured to detect the position of a top surface of the food product.

A printer and corresponding method of printing an image on a surface of a plurality of food products by providing a system having a printer with an extendable and retractable receiving arm and a rotating food product delivery tray for continuously and automatically providing delivery of unprinted food products which are retracted into the printer, printed on, and returned by the receiving arm to the rotatable delivery tray and the tray further moves to deliver subsequent food products for printing.

A printer housing with an upper portion and a lower portion with a cavity there between and wherein the upper portion and lower portion are connected by one or more hinges such that the housing opens about the hinged connection between the upper portion and the lower portion to expose the cavity there between. The hinged connection allows the upper portion to be lifted up with respect to the lower portion to expose one or more printer components for access through the cavity. One or more hinges secure the upper portion to the lower portion and wherein the one or more hinges are positioned on a same perimeter side of the housing such that the housing opens about one side.

Provided herein are methods for printing an image on a substrate using various methods of deposition in a single process. The methods may comprise a base layer application step wherein a base layer is applied to a portion of the substrate using a valve jet, or an inkjet printhead and a graphical application step wherein one or more ink layers are applied to a portion of the substrate (e.g., using an inkjet or a valve jet). Advantageously, the base layer may be applied only to substantially the same portion of the substrate as the one or more ink layers. The methods may further comprise a top coating step wherein a topcoat is applied to the printed portion of the substrate using a valve jet or an inkjet printhead.

Soft bug screens for shielding motor vehicle radiators are disclosed. Mesh material having an un-lined surface and a surface with release liner is selected. The mesh material is fed out as uncut sheet from a wide roll, which is conveyed through a wide format printer with the release liner crossing the waste ink collector and the un-lined broad surface transiting the ink-application system. A light vacuum suction is supplied to the release-liner lined surface, to smooth the sheet flat without suctioning the sheet down to a pinned down immobility. Ink is applied on the transiting-past unlined broad surface of the mesh material while continuing to supply the light vacuum. The ink is let or heated to dry on the continuing transiting unlined broad surface along while still continuing supply of the light vacuum. The final outline is trimmed out. The release liner is peeled off.

Method for manufacturing microarrays and verifying the quality of said microarrays, wherein the method comprises: a) providing at least one reagent, b) loading said at least one reagent in a dispensing print head, in a predetermined arrangement, c) in a first print pass, generating instructions for the print head and moving said print head with respect to a substrate to print said at least one reagent on the substrate to obtain microarrays, d) obtaining an image of the printed microarrays by means of a camera, e) processing the obtained images of the printed microarrays, to calculate parameters indicative for the quality of the printed microarrays, f) comparing, at the end of the first print pass, the calculated parameters for the printed microarrays with predetermined criteria for the microarrays, to identify possible printing defects, g) comparing, for the printed microarrays, the identified printing defects of step f), h) using the outcome of the comparison of step g) to select a corrective action to improve the quality of the microarrays, prior to the printing of a subsequent print pass.

A method, a panel and equipment to form a digital print by applying dry ink, preferably including particles of pigment coated wood fibres, on a surface, bonding a part of the particles with a liquid blank ink drops and removing the non-bonded particles from the surface. A panel having a surface with a wood grain dcor, the panel including a first surface portion that is formed by a continuous basic layer including wood fibres having a first color, and a second surface portion that is formed by wood fibres having a second color, wherein the wood fibres having the second color are applied on and bonded to the continuous basic layer, and wherein the second surface portion covers a part of the first surface portion.

A method and a plant (i.e., system or assembly) for manufacturing ceramic products comprising the steps of feeding a mixture of ceramic powders so as to obtain a powder material strip; compacting the powder material strip so as to obtain a compacted powder layer; acquiring a surface image of the compacted powder layer that reproduces the respective surface chromatic effects; processing said surface image so as to obtain a graphic decoration to be applied on the surface of the compacted powder layer that is coordinated with the respective chromatic effects in the thickness; and printing the graphic decoration on the surface of the compacted powder layer.

A local coordinate system in which the turfed area is digitized, and a marking area is divided into elementary cells to form a matrix, and the pattern to be marked is broken down into a mosaic of pixels associated with the elementary cells of the matrix. Next, for each elementary cell of the matrix, tasks to be performed by the marking devices are determined according to a value of the pixel associated with said elementary cell, to mark the pattern to be marked on the marking area; and the movement of the vehicle over the turfed area is controlled so as to cover all of the elementary cells, and the marking devices are controlled so as to perform the tasks to be performed in each elementary cell.

Embodiments of the invention relate to a method of indirect printing with an aqueous ink. In some embodiments, an intermediate transfer member (ITM) comprising a silicone-based release layer surface is employed. For example, the release layer surface satisfies at least one of the following properties: (i) a receding contact angle of a drop of distilled water deposited on the silicone-based release layer surface is at most 60; and (ii) a 10-second dynamic contact angle (DCA) of a drop of distilled water deposited on the silicone-based release layer surface is at most 108. Related apparatus, systems and treatment formulations are disclosed herein.