Hands on

Nessan Cleary asks users for their feedback on this cutting table, which was introduced by Esko at Drupa last year.

Most people who invest in a UV flatbed printer quickly find that a cutting table is an essential accessory to keep jobs moving through production and prevent bottlenecks. These tables can handle most materials from vinyl through to acrylic and many now sport powerful routing heads for dealing with the tougher substrates such as aluminium. There are several to choose from but Esko's Kongsberg tables have established themselves as one of the market leaders. Esko has a bewildering array but the XN series, introduced at last year’s Drupa show, has proven popular.

Nessan Cleary talks to two users about their experiences with this high-volume flatbed printer.

Konventional wisdom has it that screenprinting is better suited to fast throughput than inkjet but there are several digital printers that challenge that. This month we’ve been looking at one of these - HP's FB7600. Naturally print quality and the ability to handle multiple substrates are still key considerations but these printers are all about productivity, so the loading and unloading systems are just as important.

Nessan Cleary talks to users about how this package has evolved from being financial management tool to a vital part of the production system for the modern wide-format operation.

Management information systems (MIS) have become increasingly important to print businesses, partly because there’s more emphasis on automated throughput than there was, but also because the role of the MIS has changed. Traditionally such systems have been all about gathering financial information so that managers can make the best decisions for the smooth running of a business. But increasingly the MIS now sits at the heart of the production process, running everything from estimating and quoting to generating delivery notes and invoices.

Nessan Cleary reckons this new latex printer is likely to drive further take-up of this environmentally friendly inkjet technology.

One of the more exciting announce-ments from this year’s Fespa Digital show was Mimaki’s move into latex printing with its new JV400. This is built on a brand new chassis, developed as a platform for several new printers to come, including one using SUV inks that was announced at Fespa and will be launched later this summer.

Nessan Cleary takes a peek at this printer, which is new to the UK and aimed directly at the textile market, but available in various guises.

The Gunsjet R4 is a new series of wide-format printers which seems to have something for everyone, with the same imaging technology used to power solvent, aqueous and UV models, in both roll-fed and flatbed editions.

Nessan Cleary takes a look at this heavy duty UV flatbed, designed mainly to churn out pop materials day after day.

INCA DIGITAL, based in Cambridge, was one of the early pioneers of flatbed UV printers. Its entry-level model is the Spyder, currently available in two versions, the Spyder V, featured here, and the Spyder 320. 

Metallic inks can generate impressive effects, but you need a printer specifically designed to take them. Nessan Cleary takes a close look at Roland's VS series.

Metallic inks offer the wide-format print company the option to produce truly eye-catching special effects that can help differentiate it from its competitors and open up interesting markets such as labels and packaging. Several vendors offer metallic inks but here it’s Roland's VersaCamm VS series, specifically developed to handle these inks, that comes under the spotlight.

This Mimaki hybrid printer promises the best of both worlds, handling both roll-fed and rigid materials with ease as Nessan Cleary finds out.

In the early days of UV printers hybrid devices did gain a poor reputation for quality with many manufacturers simply adapting existing roll-fed chassis as a quick, cheap way of getting to market. But Duncan Jefferies, marketing manager for Mimaki's UK distributor Hybrid Services, says that the UJV-160 has been designed from the ground up to be a hybrid device, noting: “Mimaki has an excellent reputation for build quality.”

Sophie Matthews-Paul takes a first look at Durst’s new textile printer the Kappa 180.

When Durst made its entry into digital textile printing in 2009 with the announcement of the Rhotex 320 it stood to reason that, having made the departure from its core technology of UV-curable chemistry, there would be more in the fabric field to follow. Although it’s not being launched until ITMA in September, I was able to spend some time with the new industrial strength Kappa 180 at Durst’s Kufstein premises in Austria.

Sophie Matthews-Paul visits Mortsel, Belgium, to test the versatility of this new UV-curable machine.

For Agfa Graphics, the acceptance of its unusual M-Press platform took a little time but now, in its guise as the Tiger, it is proving to be a successful solution for high-end applications where the mix of inkjet and screenprinting is a bonus. Combined with its printing capabilities are high levels of automation and slick throughput, it’s now a platform which suits the specific requirements of users needing the best of both production worlds.

Sophie Matthews-Paul finds this new machine to offer good quality and good features at a good price.

In the wide-format sector there are machines that are launched with a fanfare and do hitherto impossible digital tasks. On the other hand there is a quieter band of manufacturers producing engines which do as it says on the tin, and which continue to serve the large numbers of users who want to produce bread-and-butter applications without having their lives and working practices disrupted.

Sophie Matthews-Paul investigates this hybrid UV-curable entry-level machine, the Durst Omega 1, in our hands on feature.

It was really only a question of time before Durst made the decision to join the entry-level market with a UV-curable platform, and the company has now achieved this. The result is the 1.6m Omega 1, a compact yet solid hybrid engine which incorporates all of the Austrian manufacturer’s finely honed skills but at a price point which will appeal to those on a limited budget.

Sophie Matthews-Paul assesses the printer EFI Vutek GS200 in a live demonstration environment in the US.

The world’s first Wide Format Print Shop Live at Fespa Americas, held in Orlando at the end of February, provided an opportunity to take a close look at the Vutek GS2000 2m UV-curable option from EFI, from initial delivery and set-up through to continuous running at the show.

Sophie Matthews-Paul finds the Roland VersaUV LEC-540 machine is much more than a wide-format printer.

Many in the large-format print space today want to create all sorts of shapes, sizes and finishes away from conventional indoor and outdoor applications. As a result there have been machines coming to the fore which have a lot more to offer than just their broad width.