The Sign Shop benefits from Europe’s first Agfa Anapurna M2050
Field trials of the Agfa Anapurna M2050 UV-curable printer have gone so well at Barnstaple-based The Sign Shop that managing director Bruce Isaac has said there is no way he’s letting the machine go at the imminent end of the test period. The 2.05m wide flatbed and roll-fed printer, the first of its type to be installed in Europe, has been running at The Sign Shop since October during which time it has allowed the company to expand into new applications areas and attract a number of major new customers.
“We’ve had issues as you always do with a test machine but Agfa has responded really well and we’ve found a machine that is likely to make a huge impact on our business,” said Isaac. “We did a mail shot to a number of agencies and creatives explaining what we can now do in terms of applications and we’ve had an enormous response and won clients that we just couldn’t have reached otherwise.”
Isaac said The Sign Shop, established over 18 years ago, had been interested in buying a UV-curable printer for around two years but, at his intended investment level, he was unconvinced about both speed and output quality. Having visited Agfa’s headquarters in Mortsel, Belgium to learn more about its flatbed printer options and on learning about the Anapurna M2050, he agreed to trial the new engine.
The Sign Shop has since been outputting a variety of applications direct to rigid and flexible materials. Typical substrates include MDF, Dibond aluminium composite, acrylic sheet, foam board and Correx, all of which Isaac said have produced excellent results in a range of thicknesses. Changeover from flatbed to roll-feed mode on the printer is quick and easy, enabling canvases, banners and self-adhesive vinyl films to be used, and overall production rates have increased significantly as a result.
The Anapurna M2050 is the latest addition to Agfa’s UV-curable hybrid printers, all of which benefit from the company’s M-series G2 inks for greater flexibility and improved adhesion on both rigid and flexible materials. A six-colour machine, the 2.05m bed width is complemented by a white ink capability, zoned vacuum table and enhanced media transport. It has eight print-heads and can print in both uni- and bi-directional modes. It is able to output onto rigid materials up to 2 x 4 m and up to 4.5cm.
“The quality of print we’re achieving on the Anapurna M2050 is defined by the small picolitre size of the print-heads which produces very fine standards of text and graphics. Another plus factor is the white ink which has enhanced our overall creativity using different types of material.”
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