Karibu unveiled

swissQprint has launched Karibu, its first roll-to-roll printer. The 3.4m wide UV inkjet machine, which has made its public debut at Fespa Global, will be available from this September.

Karibu features a light box next to the printing area, for immediate and continuous quality control of backlit prints. It also has a Mesh Kit integrated with the print bed for the clean printing of permeable substrates, as well as full bleed printing. A mouse click by the operator sends the Karibu print beam - which is movable in the X direction - from its standard position to the mesh position. There is a dual roll option (2 x 1.6m) for the machine - the roll holders are split into two sections with each half of the shaft driven individually for optimum web tension on both rolls. Karibu has 136 keys ranged across the print bed width, each one opening/closing a vacuum channel, thus eliminating air leakage even in the gap between dual rolls. A tap on the switches opens or closes the entire vacuum area width within four seconds - a solution for which swissQprint has filed a patent application. swissQprint has developed an inkset specifically for the new Karibu, which is NVC-free and Greenguard Gold certified.