Primera Technology, Inc. (“Primera”), a manufacturers of specialized digital printing equipment, announced that its new Catalyst Laser Label Marking System is now shipping. 

Catalyst allows fast and easy production of highly durable, synthetic labels for a wide range of rough-service applications. Labels produced with lasers, including Catalyst, are typically used to replace metal plates or far less durable labels produced by resin thermal transfer printers on polyester substrates.

Typical applications requiring such high-durability labels include the U.S. Department of Defense’s IUID program, UDI labels for medical devices and healthcare equipment, automobile VIN and under-hood part number, warning and instruction labels, aerospace and solar panel labels, serial tags for outdoor power equipment, vehicle and marine spare parts, building tools and materials and much more.

Text, graphics and linear or 2D/3D bar codes are laser-imaged onto Color Laser Film (“CLF”), developed and manufactured by Schreiner ProTech GmbH in Germany. CLF labels are explicitly designed for extreme environment applications and do not require extra lamination to withstand extended exposure to UV light, chemicals, liquids and temperatures of up to 300C. 

Instead of ink, Catalyst uses a bundle of 2, 4, or 8 fiber-coupled laser diodes along with matched, high precision lenses (patent pending) to image onto CLF. Bundled fiber lasers have never before been used in a roll-fed, desktop laser label imager. After imaging the CLF material, Catalyst’s built-in Digital Die-Cutting system cuts the labels to any shape, eliminating the need for pre-die-cut labels. Unlike other laser-based marking systems, it uses a knife blade instead of the laser beam to cut out the labels. This feature eliminates the need for a smoke and fume extraction system, saving even more money on the initial equipment costs and the ongoing costs of periodic filter changes, cleaning and other maintenance.

Catalyst’s imaging method has several advantages for producing highly durable labels, including:

• Lower cost. Catalyst’s entry-level model’s price is about a tenth of the cost of machines with identical speed and imaging quality.
• Simple mechanics. Instead of a more traditional but more complex and expensive computer-controlled galvanometer with beam steering mirrors, Catalyst was designed more like a standard industrial label printer such as Primera’s LX910 Color Label Printer. This approach results in a far less complicated and more rugged machine with no special maintenance or ongoing calibration required.
• Ease of operation. Catalyst installs on a PC as a standard Windows printer. Any popular Windows-based label creation software can be used to send image files. No special operator training or certification is required.

“We are excited to introduce this ground-breaking new laser-based label imaging system,” says Mark D. Strobel, Primera’s vice president of sales and marketing. “For companies that need labels for use in harsh and severe-service environments, and even for mission-critical applications such as aircraft parts identification, Catalyst is the most affordable and easiest to use laser-marking label printer available.”

A printer driver for Windows 10+ is available online for download. Also available for download is an easy-to-use label design and printing software from Seagull Scientific called BarTender 2021 for Windows. Wired USB and Ethernet connectivity are standard. Wireless Ethernet is available using an inexpensive Universal Ethernet to WiFi adapter.

Visit www.primera.com for more information.