Hardware - Industrial Print

Agfa Graphics today announced the latest enhancement to its award-winning :Jeti AquaJet direct dye sublimation printer. The 3.2m :Jeti AquaJet printer is showcased at FESPA 2010, with the latest generation of aqueous-based disperse dye :AquaJet Pro inks, powered by DuPont Artistri ink technology. They produce brighter, more vibrant colours and deliver faster throughput on polyester based fabrics.

The launch of the :AquaJet Pro inks means that :Jeti AquaJet printers can now offer the superior print quality usually associated with conventional textile printing with the ease and enhanced productivity of digital textile printing. AquaJet printers are designed for long-term system reliability and three shift continuous operations. When used with :AquaJet Pro ink technology, they provide customers with brilliant color and excellent light and water fastness properties, a higher color gamut and increased production speed.

"The combination of Agfa's direct to textile printers and :AquaJet Pro inks allows us to better meet the needs of the booming digital textile printing market," said Richard Barham, Vice President Inkjet at Agfa Graphics. "Now, we are able to deliver higher throughput speeds thanks to better jetting behavior and the higher gamut of the inks. And customers have reported up to 15 percent ink savings after switching to :AquaJet Pro inks."

AquaJet Pro ink technology is based on high-quality disperse dyes with high fade resistance that can enable long-term outdoor applications.

AquaJet Pro inks will be made available as a premium ink set for the :Jeti AquaJet range in the third quarter of 2010. Existing :Jeti AquaJet installations can be upgraded to profit from the performance of :AquaJet Pro inks.

 

Best ‘IDEAs’ celebrated as winners announced at Fespa Munich

The winners of the first Inca Digital Excellence Awards (IDEAs) were announced last night in Munich during FESPA at a special event to mark the occasion.

The IDEAs celebrate the creative and stunning effects and products produced by innovative companies around the world using Inca printers. The judges – Nigel Steffens, CEO of FESPA, Peter Kiddell of PRISM and John Charnock of PR-INT – were faced with the tough task of selecting the winners from a very strong global line up and were looking for high-quality graphics that exceed expectations for creativity.

The standard of entries was extremely high with Inca printer users producing innovative products incorporating many different materials to meet customer’s specific requirements.  The flexibility of Inca UV digital printing enabled companies to produce stunning lenticular walls that come alive when you walk by, children’s shoes and toys, cross bows, wood effect furniture, interior décor, urban art, displays, 3D POS products and more.  Materials used ranged from Re-Board, Acrylic, Plastic, aluminium and leather to MDF, Douglas Fir and Plywood.

Each category winner received an Inca IDEA Trophy and a VIP trip to Munich to attend FESPA and celebrate their Award.

“We are delighted by the number and quality of entries that showed the considerable potential for digital print,” says Dr Linda Bell, CEO, Inca Digital. “The sheer range of applications show the ingenuity and creativity of our customers using the full range of our printers, from one of the very first Inca Eagles installed in Europe nine years ago, the Inca Spyder, Columbia Turbo and latest Inca Onset.”

The IDEA 2010 stars are:

POS/POP GRAPHICS

Winner – Daelprinting, Belgium: for the design and production of a 3D cargo bike for Kraft Foods. This comprised 50 pieces of Re-Board that could be easily transported in a car booth, constructed without screws or tools, and re-used many times. Printed on an Inca Onset S20.

DISPLAY GRAPHICS

Winner – Mills Styrox, Australia: for its own trade show booth promoting its eco-friendly products and versatility of Xanita board. The whole booth, including tables, chairs and 3D layered graphics, were printed on an Inca Columbia.

Highly Commended – Mills Styrox, Australia: again for a wall graphic for an Outback Steak House Restaurant. The rustic image was printed directly using an Inca Columbia onto large sheets of 10mm plywood.

DÉCOR

Highly Commended – Optima, Canada: for 32 high-impact graphics printed by an Inca Columbia Turbo onto Aluminium for an underpass in Downtown Rideau.

 

PRODUCT DECORATION & SPECIALITY PRODUCTS

Winner – Visual Marking Systems, USA: for printing Crossbows with a camouflage decoration and instructions on an Inca Spyder 320+w. The challenge was to print quality graphics on flat and curved surfaces that could withstand extreme bending.

Highly Commended: Optima, Canada, for producing furniture featuring multiple wood grain effects to achieve an inlay effect on Exterior Medite using an Inca Columbia Turbo.

Highly Commended – JD Print and Display, Canada: for producing multi-layer children’s toys printed by an Inca Eagle onto multiple materials from 3-25.5mm thick

 

OFF THE WALL

Winner – America Digitaal Druk, The Netherlands:  for a stunning Tropical Forest Lenticular Wall that comes to life when you walk past it printed on a Inca Eagle 44 (one of the first in Europe) for Emma’s Children’s Hospital in Amsterdam. This featured 18 two-part lenticular panels mounted onto Dibond.

Highly Commended – Druckwerk Hamburg, Germany: for a Camel Active instore display printed onto Douglas Fir pine using an Inca Columbia Turbo

Highly Commended – Extrema Publicidad, Mexico: for printing onto leather with an Inca Eagle H to make children’s shoes

 

Grapo Technologies, a manufacturer of wide format hybrid and flatbed UV printers based in the Czech Republic will be demonstrating its next generation of printing technology at FESPA 2010, scheduled for June 22-26 in Munich. The new flatbed Gemini X10/1080UV from Grapo Technologies is capable of printing on rigid substrates as well as roll-to-roll, and will bring to market higher speeds, improved quality and a number of new innovations. Grapo Technologies is located in Hall B2, Stand 460 at the show.

"The theme at FESPA 2010 is Catch the New Wave of Innovation," said Radim Králik, CEO of Grapo Technologies. "That's exactly what we will be bringing to the show with our next generation platform for UV flatbed printers. With a printing area of 2x3 meter for rigid sheets as well as the ability to handle rolls up to 165 cm, the Gemini X10/1080UV brings tremendous new business potential to sign and display printers at an affordable price point."

Faster Output, Exceptional Skin Tones
With speeds of up to 90 square meters per hour, the new Gemini X10/1080UV also offers double the speed of previous generation Manta printers when printing with white ink at 15-30 square meters per hour. High quality printing of skin tones and better quality flat colors also differentiate this new printer.

"Sign and display printers are always seeking higher quality to meet the escalating requirements of their customers," added Králik. "With greater speed and productivity, as well as the wide range of printed products, the Gemini X10/1080UV enables sign and display printers to produce more jobs at higher margins. Much of this new capability is enabled by the 10 XAAR 1001 printing heads with unique Through-Flow system and variable drop sizes for grayscale printing embodied in this new generation printer, as compared to eight printing heads and a fixed drop size in the previous generation."

Expanded White Ink Capabilities
With the new design, the white ink heads are specifically positioned to print in one pass. "The Gemini X10/1080UV can print CMYK, white and CMYK again, printing three layers all in one pass," explained Králik. "This is quite unique in the industry and contributes heavily to the improved productivity of this device. This capability is particularly important when printing on transparent substrates, such as acrylics, where images must be displayed on both sides. In addition to using white ink as the diffusion layer for backlit applications for point of purchase and other materials, white ink can also be used as a spot color, allowing selected images to be highlighted for greater effect."

Grayscale Printing Brings Speed, Quality, Cost Savings
Previous generations of Grapo Technologies' printers used a binary printing technology with a single drop size.  In the Gemini X10/1080UV, grayscale printing is enabled by eight different levels of drop sizes ranging from 6 to 42 picolitres, with extremely precise drop placement.  The ability to jet small droplets produces sharp images with smoother gradients and quartertones, while larger droplets produce dense, uniform solids. The result is a near-photographic image quality and also results in more efficient ink consumption, saving up to 35% in ink usage depending upon the application.

This variable drop capability especially affects white ink printing and allows the opportunity to produce more interesting images with much finer detail. The precise drop placement also contributes to both the improved quality and speed of the printer. Grayscale printing can either simulate additional colors, such as light magenta and light cyan, in a CMYK printing process, or additional specialized colors can be utilized if needed.

"We have designed this printer to be even easier to operate and more energy efficient than past generations," concludes Králik. "It is ideal for screen printers seeking to move to more modern and efficient digital technologies, digital sign printers who wish to move away from less environmentally friendly solvent printing, and for offset or flexo printers who can effectively use the Gemini X10/1080UV to create short run samples cost effectively and/or diversify their offerings. Combined with the broad range of substrates that can be used, from irregularly shaped items, wood and glass to all types of plastic, vinyl and paper materials, the capabilities of the Gemini X10/1080UV relative to its price point are unmatched in the industry. We are excited to see the reaction of FESPA attendees."

Orders will be taken for the Gemini X10/1080UV at FESPA, which will be commercially available in August 2010.

The high level of modularity of the new Durst Rho 750 printers makes them the most flexible UV flatbeds in the market and ensures the best and most affordable solution to a customer’s needs.

They are the first machines to have three main levels of upgradability relating to productivity – Basic, Presto and HS. The high speed version (HS) is capable of an output speed of up to 180 m² per hour. The increases in output from one level to the next are achieved by increasing the number of printheads, thus maintaining the exceptional image quality. `

The Rho 750 has the latest development of Durst’s own Quadro Array 30D printheads with silicon nozzle plate and MEMS technology, which ensure highest image quality even for solid colours. It also has 6 colour, 600 DPI image quality and will print roll media and additional colours without loss of speed.

As part of the modular approach to the machine’s design, it has the widest range of different options, including those for inks, media and productivity.

The 100% VOC free Rho UV Inks are suitable for the widest range of board and roll media (e.g. perfect adhesion on acrylics and polycarbonate / ISO 2409 Cross Hatch Test = 0). Ink options include high density white and special effect varnish, as well as Process Colour Addition (PCA). Two process colour options, either orange and green or orange and violet, provide perfect rendition of even difficult corporate colours. For example, more than double the amount of Pantone colours in the red and blue gamut area can be matched with a Delta E < 5.

Additional process colours extend the colour gamut as shown above

Capable of printing on an exceptional range of different media, the Rho 750 prints 2 m wide by any length of material and will print roll media, including heavy roll option without any speed loss. Special features allow for printing heavy (up to 70 kg on the belt) and/ or thick boards (up to 7cm). There is also a corrugated print option which includes fully automated loading and unloading of media.

The continuous printing process maximises productivity (no pauses for masking found in a table system) and there are three levels of speed upgrade. Furthermore, mechanical front stops enable parallel printing of boards side by side.

Designed for high quality, industrial performance and able to be tailored to specific business requirements, including being able to be upgraded in the field, the Rho 750 will provide a business with a competitiveness that will be maintained as the business grows.

Agfa announced that StylePrint, one of Australia's leading screen printing companies has purchased its second :M-Press Tiger. This comes only five months after the Melbourne-based company installed its first.

"Since the acquisition of the first :M-Press Tiger our customers like the quality so much that the demand for the high-quality prints has gone up to the point where we clearly see the need for a second engine," said Andrew Woodhouse, who heads production at StylePrint. "Our customers do not just ask us for print, they specify 'Tiger Prints.' A Tiger Print is becoming a new definition in Australia."

"StylePrint is a true digital pioneer in screen printing. Their success is so pleasing to us because it is additional confirmation that :M-Press delivers the results for which it was designed," said Tom Cloots, Agfa's business unit manager for :M-Press.

Developed jointly with Thieme, Agfa's :M-Press Tiger combines the printing expertise of both companies: screen printing from Thieme and digital inkjet printing from Agfa. The :M-Press Tiger can print up to 700 square metres per hour including loading and unloading, with no make ready, films or screens. It can handle substrates up to 10 mm thick. It features a colour gamut better than ISOcoated V2, the offset gamut. It also enables variable data printing.

"The ability to offer our clients photo quality as well as variable data is what our business is all about-opening up new opportunities for our customers," added Woodhouse.

Employing 60 people, StylePrint, which was founded by Terry and Elizabeth Woodhouse, is one of Australia's most respected screen printers serving advertising and retail clients with posters, point-of-sale (POS), indoor and outdoor displays and more. It was their sons, Andrew and Michael that took the company into the digital era.

"Agfa's M-Press Tiger is the first true production digital machine that really bridges the gap between speed and quality. It is economical and the quality is unbeatable," said Michael Woodhouse. "it's been designed in a way that mimics screen systems, so it suits operations like ours precisely."

The Woodhouse's also appreciate the "Green" aspect of the :M-Press Tiger. "Digital does not require screens, films, chemistry and water, so it is easy for us to be more environmentally responsible," added Michael Woodhouse.

 

Durst exhibits its glass decoration system at FESPA in Munich as part of a demonstration of the wide range of applications available with its Rho inkjet printing systems.

Decoration of glass using digital technology and organic inks is currently of great interest to architects and interior designers for use in kitchens and bathrooms, amongst other applications. Durst has developed the glass decoration system for use with its Rho 700 and 800 flatbed printers featuring organic Sol-Gel ink chemistry.

Sol-Gel UV ink is an organically pigmented ink system with high ecological standards. It is 100% VOC free and capable of UV curing, giving the same printing properties such as speed, curing and resolution, for example, as our POP inks. Unlike standard inkjet UV inks, which, if exposed to moisture or chemicals, result in strongly or totally delaminating from glass unless time consuming primers are applied, Durst Sol-Gel ink actually forms a chemical bond with the glass to provide unique resistance characteristics.

Many tests on Durst’s Sol-gel ink have been conducted and have proven its excellent adhesion, durability and chemical resistance. These tests include the following Stability Properties:

Water resistance

• Room temperature. After immersed for 72 hours – no loss in adhesion (Cross Hatch Test EN ISO 2409). PASSED
• Hot water (in style of ASTM D870-02). After 30 minutes immersed at 65˚C - no loss in adhesion (Cross Hatch Test EN ISO 2409). PASSED

Steam resistance

• (In style of ASTM D2247-02). After 30 minutes exposure to water vapour up to 45˚C/100% humidity - no loss in adhesion (Cross Hatch Test EN ISO 2409). PASSED

Solvent resistance

• Tested with alcohols, glass cleaning agents (5%), commercial bath and shower cleaners, acids (hydrochloric 10%, acetic 5%), caustic soda (2.3%). No ink removal. PASSED

Lightfastness

• According to DIN controlled Bluewool Test
• Bluewool rating = 8
• Lifetime for 25% colour loss > 2 years for outdoor applications and > 10 years for indoor applications

The system offers the user exceptional flexibility. It is capable of full scale production runs of interior fittings for large retail chains or glass furniture, for example, and is also able to produce one-offs and prototypes, such as boutique interiors or temporary outdoor signs. With a Durst Rho printer at the heart of the system, you are assured of the highest productivity and the finest quality print, included pin sharp text as small as 4pt. The Sol-Gel ink is available in CMYK with options of white and Satinato, for imitation of satin glass.