Tech-Knowledge

ROI is what it’s all about, which is why Fujifilm believes it has a way of convincing you that buying an Onset makes sense.

Fujifilm has recently announced a new initiative to encourage printers of all sizes to take its Onset Challenge (see Cover Story) – the intention being to prove the impressive ROI of the range, which has so recently been extended with the S40.

Sophie Matthews-Paul provides guidelines on getting the quality you expect.

It’s a bit like like buying a new car; we all want a bargain but most of us also need a quality motor that won’t let us down and will match the claimed running costs and service charges. And, of course, we would like it to hold its value as the years pass to make sure that it’s been a worthwhile purchase. A wide-format inkjet printer is a similar type of investment, but it also needs to be able to return a profit.

When we remind ourselves about the early days of wide-format digital technology one thing we’ll all acknowledge is that we were pretty limited by the inks and materials available, and how well the machines of the day could handle them. If the results came out well on our chosen substrate, then we were pretty satisfied; if the end product wasn’t fit for purpose, then the ink tended to get blamed.

Wide-format digital print is all about ink and its inherent behaviour during the processes we expect it to endure. For machine manufacturers, it’s the element in their equipment that actually proves the unit is as good as it claims to be. Ink also represents the part of the printing process which tends to play a major role in carrying the responsibility for quality even though it is dependent on machinery and technology for being transferred from cartridge or bottle through to the printhead nozzles and jetted onto the material beneath.

See-through graphics offer a huge opportunity but the most commonly used materials have their drawbacks. As leading player Contra Vision points out with their technical knowledge, new developments mean it’s worth looking again.

Mention see-through graphics, or one-way vision graphics as the medium is also popularly known, and thoughts immediately turn to perforated self-adhesive materials that are printed and then subsequently applied to all manner of transparent surfaces from vehicle windows to office partitioning; architectural glazing to impressive expanses of buildings’ exteriors and retail windows. That however, far from encapsulates the medium. There are other ways of producing see-through graphics, and other materials to use. They work practically anywhere perforated media can be used, and in thousands of places, situations, and applications where they simply can’t.