Print Board Segmentation for Borderless Personalized Printing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing personalized novelty items on rigid boards often result in edge bleeding issues, necessitating the use of remote processing and unwanted borders, which delays product availability and limits in-store customization options.
Innovation Solution
A print board structure comprising a main layer, a printable layer, and a pressure-sensitive layer, where the pressure-sensitive layer holds the board together during printing and can be removed post-printing to allow the board to be broken into pieces, eliminating edge bleeding and enabling full-edge printing without borders.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the entire rigid board is printed on to eliminate borders, then the printing area is improved, but edge bleeding occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid board is divided into multiple separate pieces after printing. Each piece can be printed individually to the exact edge without bleeding, and the pieces are assembled to form the complete image. This segmentation allows full-edge printing on each component while eliminating the border issue on the final assembled product.
Solution Approach 2:
The rigid board is pre-cut into multiple pieces before the printing process. This preliminary segmentation enables the printing system to treat each piece as a separate printing target, allowing prints to extend to the very edge of each piece without bleeding into adjacent areas, thereby maximizing printable area while maintaining edge precision.
2Manufacturing precision
If remote processing is used to avoid edge bleeding, then manufacturing precision is improved, but production time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables in-store self-service printing where the rigid board is pre-cut into pieces that can be printed locally at the store using standard printers. This eliminates the need for remote processing while maintaining printing precision, as each piece is printed independently to the edge without bleeding issues. The customer can receive their personalized item immediately.
3Ease of manufacture
If the rigid board is made thinner to enable in-store printing, then ease of manufacture is improved, but structural strength decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid board is segmented into multiple thin pieces that can be easily printed on using standard in-store printers. Despite each individual piece being thin and easy to manufacture, the final assembled product achieves sufficient structural strength through the combination of multiple layers or pieces working together as a unified structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A print board capable of being printed on and then separated into one or more pieces. The print board includes a main layer, a printable layer secured to a first side of the main layer and a pressure sensitive layer secured to a second side of the main layer. The print board is kiss cut through the printable layer, the main layer and a releasable portion of the pressure sensitive layer to form the one or more pieces. A base layer of the pressure sensitive layer holds the one or more pieces together so that personalized projects may be printed thereon. The personalized projects are printed on the printable layer and then the base layer of the pressure sensitive layer is removed. After the base layer is removed the print board is broken into the one or more pieces.