Hand-Coating vs. Vacuum-Forming Technology
Hand-Coating
For hand-coated globes, the map, which is divided into 12 segments, is glued on by hand. Our traditionally made globes are available with acrylic spheres or hand-blown crystal glass spheres. The map image is offset printed on special paper. It impresses with brilliant colors combined with the highest detail. The ultra-fine resolution makes the halftone dot virtually invisible to the human eye. Note for experts: COLUMBUS globes are printed with a 105 screen, whereas the competition usually uses a 60 screen. This type of application is used for the following maps:
Vacuum-Forming Technology
The modern production of machine-made globes is achieved by using the vacuum-forming technology. In this process, the map is printed with distortion onto a plano film. Afterward, these distortions are corrected by the "deep-drawing" process.
The globes, which are made exclusively of acrylic, are manufactured as two hemispheres. They are then permanently joined together at the equator.
This proven technique has been used by COLUMBUS since 1965 with the "Duplex". At that time, it was a huge development step towards mass production.
The globes, which are made exclusively of acrylic, are manufactured as two hemispheres. They are then permanently joined together at the equator.
This proven technique has been used by COLUMBUS since 1965 with the "Duplex". At that time, it was a huge development step towards mass production.
