Connect with us

Digital Printing

Effective Digital-Print Enhancements

Speed, LED-lamp curing, integration software, advanced engineering and versatile ink blends

Published

on

Because the ISA Sign Expo and SGIA Expo tradeshows have become extravagantly large, no person or journal can truly cover them in detail. For that reason, I often like to return to the venue, in type anyway, to present additional information on interesting products. At the October SGIA Expo 2011 tradeshow, for example, five improvement characteristics, singular or grouped, accompanied most new, digital-print product announcements — higher speed; LED-based UV-cure lamps; integration software; refined engineering; and more sophisticated inks. In brief, the highlights are:
Speed: Print speed usually comes through the addition of wider- or longer- swath printhead clusters, e.g., more printheads, but at a cost. Still, if you’re a production shop, speed equals money, so the ROI is assured. Most difficult in the speed arena is media handling, which is why rigid-media, moving-platen (flatbed) machines are popular speedsters. Roll media tends to gain wings — lift — at high speeds. Also, unless controlled, the high-speed unrolling of media may generate capacitance-caused static electricity that could create both switching and software madness.
LED curing: The LED-lamped, UV-cure technology provides lamp-life and heat-sensitive-media advantages because LEDs operate at lower temperatures and, typically, last much longer than mainstream UV-cure lamps. LEDs also allow printing on heat-sensitive media that may not survive the ambient heat produced during normal, UV-cure print processes. One caveat — LED-lamped machines may require proprietary inks.
Integration software: Every high-cost, high-end, production-machine manufacturer now offers various software programs that feature one or more excellent implements — processing, maintenance, proofing or machine-integration tools — for complex, multi-machine situations.
Advanced engineering: All around, refined-engineering, machining and printhead developments are allowing sign and print-for-pay shops to produce finer-detail prints at higher speeds.
Better chemistry: Ink chemists have developed more sophisticated blends that offer increased flexibility and adherence, and this allows further diverse applications. Similarly, they’ve broadened gamut perimeters, which allow more colorful — and color-accurate — prints.
Here’s some, but certainly not all, enhancement examples:

Xante’s Speed-o-matic
Xanté (Mobile, AL) — Charlene Cheng at Illume Public Relations recently issued a press release that said Memjet (San Diego) had received Popular Science magazine’s, 2011, "Best of What’s New" Award for Computing Innovation. The release named Memjet’s full-color, 8.77-in.-wide, office-type printer and described how Memjet printers produce photo-quality images at about one page per second.
In ST’s SGIA Expo 2011 review (see ST, page 74, December 2011) digital-consultant Vince Cahill wrote of Xanté’s displayed, large-format, Memjet printer, the Xanté Excelagraphix 4200, “waterfall” inkjet printer. He said, “Xanté … hopes to begin shipping this single-pass print device sometime in 2012. In a critical view, the device output exhibited some jet outs at this and a previous show; however, its remarkable production speed suggests interesting future opportunities.”
Xanté says its 42-in.-wide, CMYKK, Excelagraphix prints 3-billion, dye-based, aqueous, 1.2-pl ink drops per second (from 352,000 nozzles) at print speeds up to 12-in./sec.
Vince’s mention of “jet outs” (inoperative ink nozzles) politely emphasizes a principal flaw in such single-pass printers: There’s no second-pass overprint to obscure any first-pass imperfections. This, however, isn’t an incurable failing, but a fix-it technology hasn’t yet been announced.

Roland’s sure cure
Roland DGA Corp. (Irvine, CA) — Roland’s ECO-UV S ink’s receipt of SGIA’s digital-inks (Category 101) Product of the Year deserves further highlighting because, Roland says, its VersaUV’s ECO-UV ink-curing system (for VersaUV LED Wide-Format Inkjet Devices) cures at all of its related machine’s print speeds, which is important because any UV-cure ink’s chief (possible) print-process disadvantage is insufficient cure processing that affects the ink deposits’ deep-layer drying.
UV-cure, poly-based inks only cure with UV light and, improperly processed ink won’t dry over time, as will aqueous and solvent-based inks. Another UV-cure ink dilemma is poor substrate adherence, which can cause ink to flake away from the application surface.
Roland’s UV-cure inks easily surpass normal requirements. Even better, its new high-gamut, high-gloss ECO-UV, formulated for extreme uses, sticks to an even wider range of coated and uncoated media and will easily stretch around curved surfaces. Roland’s new, ECO-UV S ink formulation stretches up to 220%, with no peeling and cracking and is ideal for imaging shrink sleeves, wraps, PET bottles and vacuum-forming applications, the company says.
ECO-UV S is offered in CMYK and white for the VersaUV LEJ-640 printer and LEC series printer/cutters.

Summa’s rewinder
Summa Inc. (Seattle) — An interesting look-twice utility is Summa’s DC4sx thermal-transfer, printer-cutter power (motorized) take-up rollers, designed to control media over long — or unattended — print runs. Out of the box, the printer-cutter features Summa’s friction-feed Microsprocket™ drive with Optitrac™ laser-guided, active steering, but the optional take-up roller utility further establishes Summa’s engineering prowess, because a long-term takeup system requires spot-on synchronization with the print-drive system, to prevent either binding or run-away spooling.

HP’s all-rounded fabricator
HP (Palo Alto, CA) — HP’s new, roll-feed, Designjet L26500 and Designjet L28500 latex-ink printers should attract signshop attention because, in addition to standard inkjet processes, their fabric-print feature allows shops to produce such soft signage as street graphics, flags, interior decorations and, best, tradeshow graphics.
Printed fabrics for tradeshow booths save on weight, shipping and in-show handling; thus, they’ve become popular for tradeshow graphics.
The L26500 will print vehicle-graphic media — the ink stretches with the vinyl — and it qualifies for HP, 3M and Avery Graphics performance warranties.
ST contributor and industry consultant Sophie Matthews-Paul said HP’s Designjet L26500 “…is destined to be a good all-rounder for print-service providers, sign-makers, architects and designers.”
The L26500’s bigger brother, the 104-in.-wide, HP Designjet L28500, also prints with HP 792 Latex Designjet Inks and shares many of its peer’s features, which include soft signage. The primary difference is production — the L28500 is notably fast.
HP has also introduced its new, HP Scitex FB7600 industrial press and the HP Scitex XP5500, XP5100 and XP2500 industrial printers.

Mimaki’s LED-lamped flatbed
Mimaki USA Inc. (Suwanee, GA) — Mimaki’s JFX-1631 flatbed, rigid-substrate, variable-droplet, UV-cure printer nabbed SGIA 2011’s Product of the Year in the Category 114, flatbed-rigid substrate UV field. Mimaki says the JFX-1631’s dual-feeding mechanism allows ultra-precise, ink-dot placement that reduces banding. The printer images CMYK plus white ink.
Most notable is its dual, high-energy, LED curing units and a new, post-cure unit that allows faster UV-cure times.
Mimaki says the LED-lamp lifespan will exceed 2,000 hours.
The JFX-1631’s eight printheads each feature 636 nozzles (6, 12 and 24 pl) and will print super-small text on media up to 2-in. thick. You can add the roll-feed option.

Advertisement

EFI Vutek’s LED-lamped producer
EFI Vutek (Foster City, CA) — The company scored SGIA’s Product of the Year flatbed, rigid-substrate (Category 115) blue ribbon with its EFI™ VUTEk® GS3250lx, an eight-color plus white, production-level (2,400 sq. ft./hr.), LED-lamped, UV-cure, hybrid printer. The LED technology and proprietary inks extend the previous range of supported substrates.
Designed for 24-hour productivity, the GS3250lx will handle flexible media or up to 126-in.-wide rigid media up to 2 in. thick. It images 600 dpi or 1,000 dpi. It also features seamless integration to EFI Web-to-print and MIS solutions and has native JDF connectivity between the Fiery XF RIP and VUTEk system.
Such printers display the industry’s high-tech ascension into sophisticated, multi-machine printshops.

Oce’s dual v-dot system
Océ Display Graphics Systems (Chicago) — The Océ Arizona 360 XT took SGIA’s Category 116: Flat Bed-Rigid White Ink UV prize. Unique to the Océ Arizona is its piezoelectric inkjet printheads that comprise Océ VariaDot® imaging technology. The Arizona printers are true flatbeds with a roll-to-roll, non-interfering roll-media option. The 360XT also features two variable-dot printheads per color (it images UV-cure inks in black, cyan, magenta, yellow and white). It produces, Océ says, near-photographic, 1,440-dpi, edge-to-edge (if selected) image quality.

Mutoh’s fast banner-maker
Mutoh America Inc. (Phoenix) — The company says banner production has never been so simple because its new, 48-in.-wide ValueJet 1204GA printer images on Mutoh Ready2Print, pre-grommeted and pre-welded banner material. The machine’s software provides formatted, design and layout templates.
The 1204GA also prints on standard banner material, vinyl and popular inkjet media. To change over, you simply install the grommet groove covers. Mutoh’s Ready2Print, 14-oz., pre-grommeted banner material comes in 24-, 36- and 48-in. widths.
“Simply load your media, print and hang,” Mutoh says.

 

Advertisement

Subscribe

Advertisement

Most Popular