Direct Color Solutions
Direct Color Systems (DCS) is a U.S.-based world leader in engineering, manufacturing and marketing small-format, direct-to-substrate thermal ribbon printers and inkjet printers. DCS printers utilize cutting-edge technology to deliver rich, full-color images directly onto rigid substrates such as plastic, metal, wood, glass, ceramic tile and vinyl. DCS printers currently accommodate substrates up to 13" x 24" x 6" tall, making them a great solution for digital decorating. DCS also markets related printing supplies, including software, inks, substrates and accessories. In addition to the standard printer models, DCS offers custom engineering and manufacturing services for inkjet printers for a wide variety of applications, allowing easy printing onto everything from finished parts to raw materials and textiles. With distributors located in more than 30 different countries around the world, thousands of DCS printers have been placed into service internationally since the company was founded in 1995. DCS printers offer unique benefits for the name badge, signage, labeling and awards industries and can serve as replacements for traditional screen printing and pad printing equipment.
Imagine being able to print directly onto plastic, vinyl, acrylic, extruded PVC, expanded PVC, coated aluminum, brass and more. Now you can with the Direct Color Systems® printers, inks and ribbons! These award-winning systems allow you to print directly onto many different mediums, to produce different products like employee name badges, security badges, door plates, desk name plates, architectural signage, and much more. The digital thermal printers and flatbed inkjet printers are an alternative to time-consuming engraving or screen-printing processes. These printers produce brighter and more colorful results with more options.
Direct Jet Flatbed Inkjet Printers
DCS's flatbed inkjet direct-to-substrate printers are ideal for digitally decorating everything from PVC, aluminum and wood to glass, acrylic and ceramic tiles – without the need for pre-coating or priming. Print high-quality, photo-realistic images, logos and text onto signage, ad specialties and giveaways, packaging, plaques, mirrors, golf balls, CDs, injection-molded parts and much more.
Direct Jet Flatbed Printer Models: 1324, 1314, 1309, 2-17
Software: Color Byte Rip 8 and Color Byte Rip 9
Extended Warranties
Inks & Supplies
Substrates
Specialty Substrates: InkMark™ Coated Substrates, DuraJet™ Surface-Printable Aluminum
Direct-to-Substrate Flatbed Inkjet Printer – 13" x 24"
Direct Jet 1324
The Direct Jet 1324 is DCS's largest flatbed inket printer, with a table size of 13" x 24" (330mm x 609mm) and optimized resolution of up to 5760 dpi. The 1324 can accommodate substrates up to 6" (152mm) thick.
Direct Jet Features:
Print directly onto tiles, PVC, aluminum, wood, acrylic, crystal, electrical components, CDs, DVDs and more
Solvent-resistant print head and capping station
8-chamber (CMYKWWCICI) ink-repelling coated print head to ensure consisent, reliable printing
Bright white ink option
Clear ink option to seal in durability
No pre-coating or undercoating required
Complete RIP and print profile options
180 nozzles/chamber
Pinpoint LED height adjustment option (must be added at time of order)
Direct-to-Substrate Flatbed Inkjet Printer – 13" x 14"
Direct Jet 1314
The Direct Jet 1314 is DCS's mid-sized flatbed inket printer, with a table size of 13" x 14" (330mm x 355mm) and optimized resolution of up to 5760 dpi. The 1314 can accommodate substrates up to 3" (76mm) thick.
Direct Jet Features are exactly the same as the above
Direct-to-Substrate Flatbed Inkjet Printer – 13" x 9"
Direct Jet 1309
The Direct Jet 1309 is DCS's smallest, most economical flatbed inket printer, with a table size of 13" x 9" (330mm x 228mm) and optimized resolution of up to 5760 dpi. The 1319 can accommodate substrates up to 2" (50mm) thick.
Direct Jet Features:
Print directly onto tiles, PVC, aluminum, wood, acrylic, crystal, electrical components, CDs, DVDs and more
Solvent-resistant print head and capping station
8-chamber (CMYKWWCICI) ink-repelling coated print head to ensure consisent, reliable printing
Bright white ink option
Clear ink option to seal in durability
No pre-coating or undercoating required
Complete RIP and print profile options
180 nozzles/chamber
Pinpoint LED height adjustment option (must be added at time of order)
Direct-to-Substrate Flatbed Inkjet Printer – 13" x 17"
Direct Jet 2-17
The Direct Jet 2-17 is the latest addition to this flatbed inket printer family, with a table size of 13" x 17" (330mm x 432mm) and optimized resolution of up to 5760 dpi. The 2-17 can accommodate substrates up to 2" (50mm) thick.
Direct Jet 2-17 Features:
Optimized Resolution of up to 5760 dpi
8 channel print head (Y, M, C, K, LM, LC, Cl, Cl)
180 nozzles per inch/channel
Complete RIP, RIP and Cut, and print profile options
Droplet sizes as fine as 1.5 picoliter
Maximum printable size 13" x 17" (330mm x 432mm)
Accepts substrate thickness up to 2" (50mm)
Lead screw Y axis motion control
Solid extruded aluminum "C" channel frame construction
Prints directly from third party applications like CorelDRAW®, Adobe Illustrator® and Photoshop®
No pre- or post-treatment is required on most substrates
Direct-to-Substrate, Small-Format Printer Types
Whether you're printing on plastic, metal or glass; golf balls, name plates or pens; or vinyl or other flexible media, DCS can provide you with the technology to perfectly fit your application. Our small-format printers are great for digital decorating and many other practical applications and fall under the following technology headings:
Flatbed Inkjet Printers
When paired with Multisolve inks, our Direct Jet line of flatbed inkjet direct-to-substrate printers are the best solution for printing brilliant color directly onto three-dimensional substrates such as plastic, metal, wood, stone and glass without the need for priming or pre-treating. This versatile inkjet technology can be used to print ultra-high-quality, photo-realistic, full-color images onto acrylic awards, signage, brass nameplates, golf balls, pens, customized gifts and much, much more.
When combined with "Specialty Substrates" from DCS – including our InkMark™ coated substrates and DuraJet™ surface-printable aluminum – the quality and durability provided by our flatbed inkjet printers is suitable for many commercial and industrial applications. Print on substrates up to 13" x 24" x 6" thick (330mm x 609mm x 152mm).
DCS flatbed inkjet printers utilize micro-piezo head technology and custom-formulated, fast-drying solvent inks. This combination enables owners of these products to print directly to many different rigid substrates without the use of a pre-treatment or pre-coating. Being able to digitally image or decorate many different types of products significantly reduces the dependency on screen printing or pad printing whenever prototyping, short runs or fast turnarounds are a must for any product line.
Direct Jet Flatbed Inkjet Printers
DCS's Direct Jet inkjet printers are available in four bed sizes to accomodate rigid substrates of various dimensions, up to 13" x 24" x 6" thick (330mm x 609mm x 152mm). Our DIrect Jet printers feature a solvent-resistant print head and capping station to ensure consistent, reliable printing. When used in conjunction with our Multisolve inks, you can print brilliant color – and brilliant whites – without the need for priming or pre-treating. A clear overcoat option seals your images for added durability.
Substrates
Direct Jet prints directly onto surfaces including, but not limited to: wood, aluminum, acrylic, plastic, PVC, ABS, polycarbonate, glass, crystal, stainless steel and ceramic tile.
Applications:
Use DCS's Direct Jet series to print ultra-high-quality, photo-realistic, full-color images (up to 5760 dpi) onto:
Awards and plaques: acrylic, aluminum, wood and eco-friendly plaques
Signage
Packaging
Brass nameplates
Golf balls, pens, tins, customized gifts and other ad specialty items
Injection-molded plastic parts
Electrical components
Custom tiles: ceramic, marble, etc.
CDs and DVDs
Name badges
Vinyl & Flexible Media Inkjet Printers
DCS's Flex33 is the first small-format printer that is engineered specifically for printing onto vinyl and other flexible and roll media. Print durable, high-quality images onto flexible substrates such as vinyl, backlit film, t-shirt transfer film, banner media, magnetic signage, label stock and much more without the use of a pre-treatment or pre-coating. When used with our UV-stable, pigment-solvent Multisolve inks, you'll create items that stand up to the elements up for up to 2 years without lamination or 5 years with lamination.
DCS has developed the Flex33: a vinyl and flexible film printer that utilizes micro-piezo head technology and custom-formulated, UV-stable, pigment-solvent inks. This combination enables owners of these products to print onto many different flexible and roll media without the use of a pre-treatment or pre-coating. DCS is proud to be the leader in the small-format market and are the first to bring an entry-level solvent inkjet roll printer to market.
Print and Cut
The Flex33 can be paired with a vinyl cutter (such as the Graphtec Craft Robo Pro, shown below) to create a complete, affordable print and cut package.
Substrates
These roll printers will print to a variety of different media types including: self-adhesive vinyl roll, photo paper, backlit film, self adhesive t-shirt transfer film, banner media, etc.
Applications:
Signage and banners
Vinyl and magnetic vehicle graphics
T-shirt transfer film
Window decals
Labels
Large photos
Electronics skins
Thermal Ribbon Printers
The Millennium series of thermal printers are designed for automatically feeding and printing onto precut rigid blanks, making this an ideal technology for printing single-color or full-color badges, access cards, business cards, plates and much more. DCS's digital thermal transfer dye-sublimation and resin printers offer unsurpassed print quality and speed, complete with many advanced options that you won't find with standalone card printers.
Dye Diffusion Printers
Dye Diffusion Printers are thermal printers that utilize dyes, resins and metallics coated directly onto a ribbon. Each minute pixel in a thermal head then transfers the dye or resin, either directly onto the substrate or through the use of a retransfer process directly onto the substrate. Some advantages with Dye Diffusion printers are high resolution and consistent color reproduction, high-output production speed and the option of utilizing substrate selections that include many different standard thermo plastics. When using the full-color ribbon application, this process also puts down a clear over-laminate as part of the printing process. This greatly enhances the durability of this product and offers some limited UV resistance as well. This process also allows for monochrome spot color printing resulting in cost benefits and speed. These include a variety of colors as well as the important white and metallic images. Some drawbacks of this technology would be a higher capital cost of equipment, limited size of output capability, slightly higher printing costs (full-color only) and substrate options that are limited to flat sheet stock only.
Millennium Series Thermal Printers
DCS's Millennium thermal printers automatically feed and print onto precut rigid blanks, in single color or full color. The Millennium series offers unsurpassed print quality and speed, complete with many advanced options that you won't find with standalone card printers.
Thermal-Printable Substrates
The Millennium 770 accepts print-receptive products from 1" x 3" up to 2.5" x 3.7" (25mm x 76mm to 64mm x 94mm) and can accommodate substrates from .020" up to .060" (.5mm to 1.5mm) thick. The Millennium 720 accepts CR80 card stock and oversized blanks.
Thermal-Ribbon Applications:
Print using computer graphics, scanned images or original artwork created in popular software packages or DCS's own Color Byte software.
Name badges and name tags
Photo IDs and access cards
Business cards
Customer loyalty cards
Name plates and signage
Ad specialties
Printer Applications & Samples
DCS's printers and inks give you the ability to print and mark on a wide range of products in a variety of markets including the signage, label, ad specialty, point-of-sale, screen printing, pad printing, hot stamping and award industries. Some common applications for DCS printers include:
Ad Specialty Digital Decorating & Printing
Digital Acrylic Printing: Awards, Plaques & More
Digital Aluminum Printing
Anodized Aluminum Printing (Open Pore)
Dial Face Printing
Eco-Friendly Awards & Plaques
Equipment Serial Plate Printing
Garment/Textile Printing (Direct-to-Garment Printing) / T-Shirt Printing
Glass Printing
Golf Ball Printers
Industrial & Injection-Molded Part Printing
Industrial Labeling Printers
Luggage Tag Printing
Name Badge Printers
Photo ID Printing
Tile Printing
Digital Wood Printing
Custom-Engineered Inkjet Printers (OEM)
Whether your market demands printing onto injection-molded parts, finished parts, raw materials or textiles, Direct Color Systems® wants to be your source for custom-built OEM inkjet printers that you will be proud to sell.
The custom engineering services offer you the opportunity to secure a printer designed specifically for your marketplace needs. Among the benefits these services would provide you are:
Economical cost control
Quick time-to-market
A unique, advantageous marketing position for both you and your customers
DCS's in-house design and manufacturing expertise
Production in our agency-compliant and audited plant
Agency compliance for the appropriate CE, UL, CS, FCC and other conformance marks, as required


