Method, apparatus and system for producing components with a pre-determined outer surface appearance, especially for front panels of kitchen units
OwnerJörg R. Bauerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention relates to a method for the production of components with a pre-determined surface appearance, in particular for front panels of kitchen units, whereby the components are printed with a pre-determined pattern by means of a printing method which may be programmed corresponding to the appearance achieved. The invention further relates to a device for the production of said components and a system in which groups of said components are produced.
Claims20
A method for printing a rigid component comprising a veneer having a solid natural wood outer surface that is mounted onto a base body, the method comprising:
- ink jet printing a plurality of differently-colored inks from a plurality of different nozzles onto said veneer according to a program configured to ink jet print a predetermined wood appearance comprising a predetermined wood grain pattern and a predetermined background color, wherein the plurality of colored inks and the veneer possess the following properties and the ink jet printing is performed such that:
- (i) the colored inks are absorbed by the veneer,
- (ii) edge regions of neighboring sprayed droplets of differently-colored inks flow into one another while being absorbed by the veneer, and
- (iii) after ink jet printing and absorption of the colored inks, the resulting visual appearance of the veneer is formed by a combination of the imprinted predetermined wood appearance and the natural appearance of the veneer,
- such that said resulting visual appearance of the imprinted veneer is different from both the predetermined wood appearance and the natural appearance of the veneer.
A method for printing a wood veneer mounted on a base body made of a synthetic material or fiberboard, the method comprising:
- selecting a predetermined type of wood appearance, which has a predetermined wood grain pattern and a background color, from a plurality of predetermined types of wood appearances, each of which has a predetermined wood grain pattern and background color, stored in a computer, the wood grain pattern and background color of the selected predetermined type of wood appearance differing from the natural wood grain pattern and natural background color of said veneer, and
- ink jet printing a plurality of differently colored inks on said veneer according to a program configured to print the selected predetermined type of wood appearance, wherein the plurality of colored inks and the veneer possess the properties that:
- (i) the colored inks are absorbable by the veneer, and
- (ii) edge regions of neighboring sprayed droplets of differently colored inks flow into one another while being absorbed by the veneer,
- such that said resulting visual appearance of the wood grain pattern of the imprinted veneer is different from both the selected predetermined type of wood appearance and the natural wood grain pattern and natural background color of the veneer.
A method for printing a rigid component comprising a veneer having a solid natural wood outer surface that is mounted onto a base body, the method comprising:
- scanning an original image of a wood cuter appearance into digital form,
- storing the scanned image,
- applying the scanned image to the veneer by ink jet printing a plurality of differently-colored inks from a plurality of different nozzles onto said veneer according to a program configured to ink jet print the stored wood outer appearance comprising a predetermined wood grain pattern and a predetermined background color, wherein the plurality of colored inks and the veneer possess the following properties and the ink jet printing is performed such that:
- (i) the colored inks are absorbed by the veneer,
- (ii) edge regions of neighboring sprayed droplets of differently-colored inks flow into one another while being absorbed by the veneer, and
- (iii) after ink jet printing and absorption of the colored inks, the resulting visual appearance of the veneer is formed by a combination of the imprinted predetermined wood appearance and the natural appearance of the veneer,
- such that said resulting visual appearance of the imprinted veneer is different from both the predetermined wood appearance and the natural appearance of the veneer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.