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Digital Flatbed Printers : Good suddenly got better
One of the first flatbed machines to be launched was Inca’s Eagle 44, in January 2001. It has subsequently become a name synonymous with quality, reliability and innovative piezo inkjet solutions for the graphic arts market. The range evolved rapidly with the introduction of the Eagle H and Columbia in 2002.
Today, models include: the top of the range high speed Columbia Turbo and larger Columbia Turbo 220 (both available with an AutoSpeed materials handling option to further increase speed); the Spyder 150 which suits substrates up to 1.5 by 1m; larger Spyder 320 which handles 3.2 by 1.6m materials; low cost Spyder 320-e; Spyder 320+ white; and a six-colour model.
Every Inca printer can print directly on many different materials including: paper and board; lenticular lenses; flexible and rigid plastic; metals and glass. Inkjet technology suits substrates with uneven surfaces, so the printers can achieve excellent results even on single faced corrugated board and foam.
Inca's managing director, Bill Baxter, said: “Digitally printed point-of-sale posters and signs are often mounted on foam cored board, styrene or corrugated materials to provide support. Printing directly onto rigid substrates can save a significant amount of time and material. There are also several specialist applications that can only be handled by printers of this type.”
The Columbia Turbo is still popular three years after its launch and is complimented by the larger Turbo 220. Both machines print edge-to-edge, with the level of precision allowing images to be printed to bleed. Substrates can be up to 40mm thick, providing enormous versatility in terms of what can be printed, plus the ability to proof a job on the material on which it will finally be produced.
Baxter added: “One of the reasons why digital printing, whatever the output technology, has become so popular is the ability to produce customised and variable data print. This makes it economical to print just one copy, or a job where the information alters throughout the run.”
Inca has always worked closely with screen ink manufacturer Fujifilm Sericol, which developed the Uvijet range of UV inks for use in its flatbed printers. The inks cure instantly as the UV light is applied but remain stable in the print head, ensuring reliable reproduction. This means Inca printers can be in constant, around the clock use, printing billions of drops. Equally, they can be left during shut down periods, without the need to purge or spit, thus reducing wastage.
If all this seems a long way from traditional screen printing, it’s simply because it is. However, the industry is changing and this technology is an excellent and easy way forward in producing graphics. This is probably the key to digital printing and why the last few years have been so successful. Recognising the ease with which graphics can be printed has been a turning point for the industry.
Designed for flexibility
There is always space for newcomers and a name screen printers will be familiar with is the latest to enter the digital market.
HG Kippax & Sons has introduced a new brand name, DataPrint, to the line-up of flatbed inkjet printers now jockeying for market share among Britain’s large-format sign-makers and PoP producers.
Manufactured by Switzerland- based Heinrich Mantel, the DataPrint is billed as a universal inkjet print platform, suitable for direct printing to virtually all rigid and flexible substrates.
Bill Kippax said: “The DataPrint echoes in its versatility our own KPX screen-printing flatbeds. It is the ideal digital solution for those who want optimum flexibility in their outputting capability, plus those seeking to print on specialised substrates. Its height-adjustable vacuum table makes it easy to change from one substrate to another, whilst its quick-fit print-head and ink-feed system allows ink types to be switched at will to suit different materials and applications.
“Although the DataPrint is a newcomer on the flatbed inkjet scene, it comes from a Swiss manufacturer who has years of experience of the digital market in the form of direct computer-to-screen technology. So its move to printing has been a small, albeit knowledgeable step. Similarly, whilst the DataPrint is our first venture into the digital field, we have the expertise gained from 47-years of screenprint equipment manufacture to bring to the market.”
Getting bigger
As well as new-comers there are a number of companies who have been around for a while but are opening new doors for their customers with additions to their range. The latest announcement is from EFI, which has launched the Vutek QS3200 to its newest family of UV-curing digital inkjet printers.
The Vutek QS3200 joins the Vutek QS2000 in a new category of printers that combine EFI’s production and workflow management technologies with the digital print capabilities of its Vutek superwide format printers.
EFI’s vice president of Vutek marketing, Robert Raus, said: “The marketplace for 3.2m, UV superwide printers is experiencing significant growth world-wide. The Vutek QS3200 delivers the highest possible image quality without the traditional trade-off in productivity for point-of-purchase displays, signs and banners.
“The 3.2m QS3200 superwide printer is packed with the same combination of high definition print (HDP) technology and high production speeds found in the recently announced Vutek QS2000 printer, making it the ideal choice for larger print shops with applications bigger than the recently announced Vutek QS2000 can produce.”
Rigid or roll-based
Last, but by no means least, is a new addition to the Oce family. The CS7100 printer joins Oce’s CS7000 Series UV curable inkjet printers that can print onto roll-based or rigid media. The CS7100 prints up to 2.5m wide and will be delivered with newly developed, heavy duty roller tables to support a wide range of rigid substrates up to 12.7mm thick.
The CS7100 uses sixteen 600dpi micro-quad piezo inkjet print heads, featuring a total of 1,536 jets to deliver high print speeds. The UV curable, pigmented inks offer outdoor durability up to three-years.
And finally
Inkjet printing has come a long way since the introduction of the Eagle 44 in 2001 and we have come to recognise it as a bona fide part of the industry. However, as with any technology there is still a lot of evolution which will continue to take place in order to bring about better performance.
Print heads and inks have both seen a huge amount of development, with print heads producing smaller drops of ink which, in turn, allow printing of finer images. At the same time the cost per nozzle is decreasing and the number of nozzles per print head is increasing which will lead to better images: probably in a much shorter timescale than anyone was expecting ten-years ago.
I am not alone in thinking that with all of these changes taking place the future for the screen-printing industry doesn’t look good. Now that digital has finally been accepted as a solid part of the industry only time will tell what the next ten-years will bring.
