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How do you protect your media?
There can't be many wide format printers that haven't suffered the consequences of a head crash. One minute everything is fine, moments later the printer is stalled, the job is ruined and the trouble has only just begun. With luck, the situation can be recovered with some TLC. Unfortunately, it's more likely to require a visit from an engineer to replace a damaged head.
Printers don't just arbitrarily crash heads. The most common cause relates to media damage. When the printer encounters media damage, tracking accuracy disappears and a media ‘wave' is propagated. Moments later, the rapidly scanning heads crash into the media with dire consequences for the job, work queue and day's production.
The problem begins the moment a fresh roll of media is taken from its box, used for the first time and put back into storage. At most companies that means the media is stood on end or leant in a corner. Inevitably, at some point in its career, the roll will fall over, probably taking dozens of others with it: some or all will be damaged. Simply leaning a media roll against a wall is enough to inflict sufficient damage to induce a head strike. Media clearly needs protecting and Clustarack believes it has just the product.
Clustarack is designed to tidily store, organise and, crucially, protect vulnerable media from damage. Invented by Simon Twigger, Clustarack, like all great inventions, is a product of elegant simplicity and functionality. It's simply a flat plate which sits on the floor bearing an array of formed prongs that receive the hollow core of the media being stored. It's footprint is economical and it delivers its benefits the moment it's unpacked and put to use. Media is stored vertically, protected from edge damage and compression effects which happen with other modes of storage.
With the benefit of his print-room experience, Simon Twigger estimates a typical print company could save approximately ten per cent of its annual media bill by using Clustarack. A simple calculation reveals Clustarack earns its keep from the moment it's put to use.
The consequences of media damage soon add up. Aside from the direct cost of wasted media, there's the impact of lost production, plus bills associated with engineers and replacement printer parts. On that basis Clustarack looks like inexpensive insurance.
The market would appear to agree. Clustarack got its most public outing at the last Sign and Digital exhibition, with over two hundred units sold at the show. Simon Twigger expects an even bigger reaction at The Sign Show at the Ricoh Stadium. According to Simon, the mere mention of a solution to head crashes is all it takes operators and owners to see the immediate benefits and place an order.
It's a great testimony to any product when it's selling strongly but even better when repeat orders arrive. Most companies which have bought a Clustarack come back for more. Obviously the benefits of reduced print room chaos have their attractions. Simon Twigger has apparently received many votes of confidence and, despite having sold around a thousand, has never had a single return.
Clustarack is a unique media storage and protection system in that it extends a measure of active media protection where other systems are actually capable of inflicting damage. With a range of core sizes on offer, it's a product the owner of any inkjet printer could be using. For benefits returned, the cost is low. A print room free of damaged media? It's as simple as ordering the Clustarack.
