The Vutek 3m h3+ and 5m h5+ feature media handling improvements that that will come as standard on new printers: an upgraded vacuum table allows for better control of thicker media and thin, light-edged materials, thanks to doubled vacuum strength on the print table. All new media hold-down rollers mount to existing Media Edge Guide (MEG) rails and the spring rollers force media into the vacuum, often eliminating the need for MEG skis entirely. When MEG skis are needed, they are now available in three thicknesses.

The h+ series offers new optional colour configurations as well, with double CMYK (including ‘lights’) plus clear and white or double white for greater opacity.

This allows two new clear ink options for Vutek h+ series users. EFI’s UltraClear Coat flexible ink that was introduced for its superwide roll-to-roll LED printers, is now available for the h3+ and h5+ printers. A second clear ink, EFI Vutek Endura Clear, which has a harder surface finish for increased protective qualities, is also now available for the h+ models.

Both UltraClear Coat and Endura Clear inks can be used for decorative applications – to enhance an entire image (full flood) or selected areas (spot) to add extra ‘pop’ to colours or special effects to graphics – as well as for a protective coating. They print inline, simultaneously with the image, with a gloss or matte finish.

In addition to the clear inks, an optional Gloss+ print mode achieved by controlling the UV curing process, as in some Inca/Agfa and Canon wide-format printers, can be used to add a flood or selective gloss effect to graphic prints. EFI describes this as a ‘perfect way to add value to short-run, speciality jobs, without the use of clear ink’.

‘We are excited to bring these new printers to market,’ said Todd Zimmerman, senior vice president/general manager Display Graphics & OEM Ink at EFI. ‘Vutek printers have been the leader in the hybrid category in signs and display graphics for more than two decades, with more than 300 installations worldwide. The Vutek h+ series answers some of the key pain points for our customers, all while improving ease of use and offering the LED environmentally friendly benefits you expect from EFI Vutek technology.’

EFI has also announced the availability of Transform-TF inks for thermoforming applications. Compatible with the h+ printers, the inks are suitable for first- and second-surface interior and exterior and non-backlit and backlit applications where common thermoforming is specified. EFI says the Transform-TF inks exhibit outstanding elongation characteristics while maintaining excellent adhesion and opacity, and provide ideal characteristics for heat bending and routing of acrylic sheets with no chipping or loss of adhesion.

Further developments for the h+ series are planned, with enhanced double-sided printing for high-value block-out applications expected ‘soon’. Existing Vutek h3 and h5 printer owners can upgrade their current unit with most of the new enhancements of the h+ series.

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Like its predecessor, the Anapurna H3200 features a six colour-plus-white inkset and UV LED curing but both the print shuttle and print engine itself have been redesigned to achieve a significant productivity increase. The fast-firing print heads yield throughput of up to 66 sqm/hr in production mode and superior print quality on both flexible and rigid materials, according to Agfa. Additionally, the printer’s newly-implemented continuous board feeding mode enables efficient printing on rigid materials, with the capability to print up to four boards simultaneously.

The enhanced print shuttle is also said to contribute to improved image quality, particularly in darker solid tones. The Anapurna suits high-quality production across a range of applications, from uncoated rigid media like plastics to roll media such as film, vinyl, banners, canvas and coated textiles. Its GreenGuard Gold-certified inks deliver high colour vibrancy and a broad colour gamut, while Agfa’s Thin Ink Layer technology reduces ink consumption.

‘We are excited to unveil the next generation of the Anapurna H3200,’ said Philip Van der Auwera, product manager,  sign & display at Agfa. ‘Since the debut of the first Anapurna over two decades ago, the printer family has undergone multiple enhancements and expansions. Renowned for its exceptional versatility and unwavering reliability, the new version of the Anapurna H3200 now combines these attributes with a boost in productivity and improved quality. This step underscores Agfa’s commitment to innovation and delivering top-notch solutions that align with the evolving needs of our customers.’

The new model will be shown at the C!Print exhibition in Lyon, France from 6–8 February 2024, alongside the top of the range Tauro H3300 HS. It will also appear at Fespa Global Print Expo in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in March 2024.

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What’s now called embellishment or special effects used to be a group of purely post-press operations. These included lamination, spot or flood varnishing and foiling (hot or cold). Other eye-catching things have always had to be done in or on the press – if you wanted metallic colours you had to use a special ink or print on a metallised substrate; the same applied for fluorescent or other special colours.

Digital print has blurred those boundaries, bringing a number of ways of achieving the same or ‘close enough’ effects, combined with the flexibility and minimal set-up requirements characteristic of digital print. These also split into in-press effects and subsequently-applied effects.

Before looking at these in detail, it’s also worth noting that a sustainability argument is emerging for digital embellishment as an alternative to more conventional processes. This comes from Scodix, which makes stand-alone ‘embellishment presses’ (distributed in the UK by Friedheim) that can apply a wide range of decorative effects to printed sheets, with full digital flexibility in each.

Scodix carried out a lifecycle assessment of its digital foiling options which found that compared to conventional hot stamp foiling, its version reduces CO2e (CO2 equivalent) by 85%, fossil fuel usage by nearly 85%, and water consumption by 80% per B1 sheet. The study, carried out by EcamRicert, and Mérieux NutriSciences Companies, compared the enhancement of a single B1 sheet through to 100,000 B1 sheets using Scodix foil (175g) versus traditional foiling methods.

That’s only one of the options that Scodix offers and there’s no indication given that any of the other supported techniques offer comparable advantages. However, like any other form of digital printing, it seems likely that overall wastage of materials and energy is likely to be lower simply through the ability to only print or finish the number required.

The main argument in favour of these types of effects though is that they add impact to printed products and therefore margin to your work. Some you can only do if you bought the right press, though they could also be a factor in choosing a new one. There’s an increasing number of toner presses that offer additional colours which may include clear ‘varnish’, white, fluorescent and metallic colours, though usually only one or sometimes two at a time.

Plus-one – or more

Machines that offer a fifth colour include Xerox’s iGen line and Ricoh’s Pro C7200, also sold by Heidelberg as the Versafire EV (and about to be replaced by the Pro C7500, though we’ve not seen any specification for this yet). Kodak’s Nexpress and Nexfinity models could do this too, with options over where in the laydown sequence the fifth colour went, though both are now discontinued. Moving up to six colours brings in the popular Xerox Iridesse, and the more recent Fujifilm Revoria, while most HP Indigos can handle up to seven colours, though of course click charges go up in proportion with all extra colour presses. Xerox also offers a conversion kit for two-pass printing on its entry-level PrimeLink C9065/C9070, which potentially allows the use of up to eight colours, albeit with a complete change of toner cartridges between passes.

The exact choice of extra colours varies by manufacturer, but in addition to white – for use on coloured or transparent substrates – and clear – used to create flood or spot varnish effects – fluorescent or ‘neon’ colours are offered, particularly pink and sometimes yellow. These can replace or be mixed with their standard CMYK equivalents to expand the colour gamut for more eye-catching effects. A few offer metallic toners too, which again can be printed solid or mixed to provide novel colours and finishes.

After the event

Post-press options are more about foiling, spot varnish and various creative lamination processes, often in combination. A good entry-level choice here is foil-over-toner, a two-pass method that uses ‘real’ foil in a laminator like Vivid’s Matrix models or those from Caslon, Foliant (sold via IFS), Komfi (from Friedheim) or Autobond. Similar options also come from GMP and Intec, now part of the Plockmatic group.

An entry-level option for foil-over-toner is Vivid’s Matrix, seen here at a trade show

In these, the initial colour print is first laminated with a clear film, then printed again with the foil pattern in black toner on top of the film, before a second pass through the laminator transfers the foil to the partially melted black toner. It’s a more labour-intensive process but it works with a very wide range of foil types and doesn’t require special consumables.

Then there are the fully ‘digital’ embellishment devices that offer spot UV and/or foiling in a single operation. This category includes devices like Duplo’s B2 DuSense 8000, which is offered in various configurations providing spot UV, digital foiling or both, including a pre-treatment option for expanding the types of print that can be handled. It’s also possible to build up textured ‘3D’ effects with multiple passes, which the smaller B3 DuSense 810 also supports. An alternative is the B3+ Konica Minolta AccurioShine 3600, which uses technology from MGI, in which Konica Minolta holds a significant stake. It too can produce ‘dimensional’ effects.

At the top end of the digital embellishment market are the ranges from Konica Minolta/MGI and Scodix. These are dedicated industrial production devices that offer UV varnish and foiling, with Scodix offering a particularly wide range of foils and finished effects, while MGI’s line goes up to B1 sheet size in the form of the print-and-embellish AlphaJet that was formally launched in October 2022. Kurz is another player at the industrial end of the scale, having bought Steinemann, whose inkjet varnish and foiling systems it was already marketing as Digital Metal. These include the sheet-fed B2 DM-Smartliner for 2D flat varnishing and foiling and the DM-Maxliner for raised and textured effects.

Whether you’re just ready to dip a toe into digital embellishment and cautious with the investment, or know that you’ve got a ready market for it but need to be sure it’s good enough and fast enough to meet your customers’ needs, there should be something to suit and help your work shine.

Preparing files for embellishment

All digital embellishment processes require ‘artwork’ to control where the effects are applied. Usually this means creating additional layers in the originating applications and/or print PDFs, though some vendors offer DFE-based tools to create embellishment guides or colour substitutions from standard PDFs on-the-fly.

Andrew Bailes-Collins of Ultimate Technographics, which makes imposition, nesting and ganging software, has written a handy guide to preparing generic PDFs that should process correctly through most embellishment vendors’ DFEs and thus avoid some of the common pitfalls that require manual reworking in the prepress studio.

Called PDF Creation for Digital Embellishment, it covers the use of spot colours, layers, knock-out and overprint and choice of correct versions of PDF for hand-off. It’s available free from Ultimate Technographics’ website.

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Available in the UK and Ireland through exclusive distributor Hybrid Services, the new UCJV330-160 integrated printer/cutter is said to offer versatile LED UV roll-to-roll inkjet printing with significantly improved productivity and image quality. It has a production speed of 28sqm/hr in four-colour configuration, dropping to 18sqm/hr with white and/or clear inks. These speeds can be achieved with high output quality, thanks to Mimaki’s newly-developed ink firing technology that improves colour reproduction in high density areas even in high-speed output mode.

The printer is equipped with white and clear inks as standard, and users can print high quality images on conventional media used for outdoor sign graphics applications, as well as translucent, transparent, and coloured materials, including PET, polyurethane and other resin films, textiles and uncoated paper. This media flexibility is complemented by the ability to produce 2.5D print, watermarks or five-layer printing, and the UCJV330-160 is also equipped with advanced features for contour cutting to deliver stickers, decals and labels.

The UJV100-160Plus model is described as ‘affordable’ and has been designed to consume an ‘exceptionally low’ amount of power. At 0.5kW, MImaki estimates it consumes less than half the power of alternative eco-solvent and latex/resin printers on the market, helping to reduce running costs and CO2 emissions. A new ink saving function reduces consumption by up to 50% while maintaining the colour balance of the printed work; ink reduction levels are set by the operator using RasterLink7 software, and do not require specialised knowledge or equipment for colour adjustment.

A new function included in the printer pulls back the printed substrate to enable up to three-layer printing, extending application scope and allowing colour-white-colour or white-colour-clear printing, giving more flexibility in the range of applications, for increased creative effect or to add value to applications such as window graphics.

The two new printers are compatible with Pict, Mimaki’s new cloud-based printer status monitoring tool for all Mimaki products. Available for customers to download, Pict improves the efficiency of Mimaki customers’ print operations and production management by giving them the ability to monitor the operational status and performance of their printers from a PC or mobile device.

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The company is particularly keen to emphasise the benefits of the white ink capability at this point in its range, where it should appeal to 300-series Latex user as well as competing against eco-solvent alternatives, enabling a wider range of applications to be produced. It said that colour reproduction is also improved thanks to Pixel Control technology developed for its DesignJet photo printer range which has not previously been used in the graphic arts models.

‘The new HP Latex 630-series packs our leading latex features, such as white ink, into a more compact and affordable form factor, allowing even the smallest of print businesses to effortlessly deliver high impact signage and décor applications, boosting margins,’ commented Daniel Martinez, general manager, HP Large Format. ‘Beyond the hardware, we have continued to innovate when it comes to services and solutions, with new cloud-based HP Print OS functionalities giving time-pressed users the ability to process and monitor jobs from virtually anywhere.’

The four printer options add white ink the standard CMYK set, and a dual-device print-and-cut capability in all possible permutations. A spindle-less front loading system and ability to print up to the leading edge of the media save operator time and material wastage respectively, while HP’s inks are now supplied in recycled and recyclable cardboard cartons. The printers operate at up to 14sqm/hr and the thermal printheads are user-replaceable The printers have 10GB of on-board job storage for quick reprints and are driven by the SAi Flexi Rip, which is included as standard.

HP has also announced HP PrintOS Design & eCommerce, which it describes as ‘an intuitive web-to-print solution that saves valuable time with simplified print application design capabilities, efficient production paths, and step-by-step guidance on how PSPs can integrate it with an existing e-commerce store’.

‘We spend a lot of time listening to print providers about what they need to grow, and one key area was evolving their e-commerce capabilities and better connecting the front and back-ends of their business,’ added Mr Martinez. ‘HP Print OS Design & eCommerce is our response, giving PSPs a quick and easy way to enhance their online shop, as well as new ways to process orders and automate jobs.’ The software is available as part of HP’s PrintOS suite to subscribers to the HP Professional Print Service Plan ‘Plus’ tier,

The HP Latex 630, HP Latex 630 W, HP Latex 630 Print & Cut Plus, and HP Latex 630 W Print & Cut Plus available immediately. The HP Print OS Design & eCommerce solution is expected to be available from November 2023 in the UK, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.

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The EU-1000MF is capable of printing ‘vibrant and detailed’ graphics directly onto a wide variety of rigid and flexible substrates, and is said to be ideal for a wide range of applications, including signs, exhibitions, interior decoration, and special products. According to Roland, it was originally developed with specific growth markets in mind, but has now been launched across the EMEA region due to growing demand and it having best price-to-performance ratio in its category.

The printer uses Roland DG’s Greenguard Gold-certified E-US UV inks, which were specifically developed for this printer and are claimed to deliver ‘stunning’ graphic results at a lower cost than other large-format UV printer inks. The high-density inks come in a choice of colour configurations including high opacity white and gloss, the enabling textured and dimensional effects to be added to prints. The printer has 2.5l ink tanks to reduce the need for refills.

There is a choice of six or four print heads, in a two-row staggered configuration. Resolutions up to 720 x 1200dpi are supported and media up to 95mm thick and up to 45kg/sqm can be accepted. A four-zone electronic vacuum bed automatically controls air suction, while material alignment pins, which appear at the touch of a button, enable automatic alignment of the media.

No specifications for print speed have been provided. The printer ships with SAi Flexiprint Plus Roland DG Edition Rip software included.

‘By introducing the new EU-1000MF, Roland DG offers customers exactly what they have been asking for, an advanced high-volume UV flatbed printer at an affordable price,’ said Paul Willems, product management & business development director at Roland DG EMEA.

‘The EU-1000MF and its affordable E-US inks will enable users to create customer-friendly results, expand their product offerings, and bring productivity and profitability to a whole new level.’

Roland has also introduced an entry-level line of UV roll-fed printers, the DGxpress, initially with two models, te UG641 and higher productivity UG642. These are available only in a number of eastern European, Asian and African markets.

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The HP Latex 2700 family offers 3.2m width roll printing at up to 89sqm/hr via a double printhead arrangement, using fourth-generation Latex inks to achieve what is described as a ‘30% wider [colour] gamut’ across a range of media types that includes thin films, vinyl and paper. There are also variants of the Latex 2700 which add white ink, claimed to be the whitest on the market, and offer speeds of up to 54sqm/hr; automatic ink recirculation and the ability to store the white printheads in a rotating offline chamber to eliminate waste between jobs that use white ink.

The Latex inks carry a number of environmental and safety certifications, allowing their use on direct-contact items such as toys and wallpapers, and are supplied in recyclable cardboard-based cartridges that also use recycled plastics from HP.

HP’s Professional Print Service Plans are available in two levels, Basic and Plus, each containing a portfolio of service and software solutions. New and enhanced features include Print Beat Live Production, which gives users a single real-time view of all jobs queued and in production across multiple sites, including on HP Indigo presses, and Print Beat Jobs API, which shares printer data – including from non-HP hardware – with external ERP/MIS systems for process automation and business insights. HP Learn is a digital learning platform with free and premium training modules according to service plan, while the Enhanced HP Service Centre offers proactive troubleshooting and smart diagnostics.

‘To reach higher margins, PSPs are always on the hunt for efficiency gains, and technology that allows them to say yes to more jobs with the confidence to deliver exceptional results,’ said Daniel Martinez, general manager, HP Large Format. ‘Our latest offerings are designed to enable this. The HP Latex 2700 family delivers increased print quality, raw speed and white ink capabilities that will amaze customers. Meanwhile, our new Professional Print Service Plans give PSPs a range of ways to manage fleets and operations – improving workflow and maximising the potential of their business.’

Both the Latex 2700 printers and the Print Service plans are available immediately.

On the PageWide side of the business, HP has introduced the T485 HD, a 1.06m (42-in) web inkjet that runs at up to 244m/min in mono or colour Performance mode (slower at higher quality), equivalent to over 7300ppm. The new press uses HP’s Brilliant Ink to give a wider colour gamut on supported papers, which include both coated and uncoated offset types, and is said by HP to be suitable for producing commercial print items including brochures, catalogues and newspapers in addition to direct mail and books. Existing T400-series models may be upgraded to T485 specification. It is expected to be available in the first half of 2023.

The existing T250 HD model has also been upgraded, with a new 244m/min mono mode, representing a 60% increase in productivity, allowing the production of 1250 300-page 6 x 9-in book blocks per hour.

HP also reported the first installation of its PageWide Advantage 2200, announced in early September 2020. This is at DataOne, part of Groupe Diffusion Plus in France, a customer communication management company which provides solutions for transactional and targeted marketing programmes. Loïc Lefebvre, development director, DataOne/Groupe Diffusion Plus said, ‘This new investment is decisive for our group, as we have decided to accelerate our ‘eco-responsible strategy for a sustainable customer relationship.’ ‘

The HP PageWide commercial press platform is reported to have passed the 750 billion pages printed milestone. Additionally, HP has increased the flexibility of its HP SmartStream Elite print server family to support the needs of printers producing direct mail and transactional applications, via expanded support for common file types including IPDS and AFP as well as PostScript and PDF.

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The all-in-one handheld colour measurement device is also said to be able to guide press operators to achieving the lowest delta-E values, via specific density adjustments to achieve the best possible colour match.

The German-headquartered company points out that OBAs have a significant effect not only on how people perceive paper under different lighting, but also on the results of putting ink down during the printing process. SpectroDens 4’s measurement function, OBA-Check, provides information about the intensity of the optical brightening agents used and the shade of the paper.

‘This is extremely useful information in today’s print market where printers are finding it increasingly difficult to locate paper and need to purchase paper from a wider variety of suppliers just to keep their presses running. With OBA-Check, a printer can measure and know the amount of OBAs in each stock and understand how the colour appearance will be affected in different viewing environments,’ David Strand, VP of marketing at Techkon USA, told Digital Printer.

The company also claims that SpectroDens 4 is the first colour measurement instrument to quantify the visual opacity of printed white ink or toner, allowing users to measure and monitor opaque white’s ‘hiding power’, something specified in ISO 23498:2020 and historically a challenge for digital printers.

‘[This] is critical in all conventional or digital printing applications that lay down white ink when printing on clear, metallic or speciality substrates, or when printing metallic inks,’ noted Mr Strand. ‘It creates a base layer on which the next ink is laid. Basic printing principles don’t typically account for ‘white first’, so, as it is effectively ‘hiding’ underneath, it has to be factored in appropriately to achieve the ideal colour match(es) needed on the final product.’

Measuring white opacity requires four measurements of ink drawdown on a black and white contrast card. These are interpolated by the SpectroDens 4 spectrodensitometer and provide the user with the white ink’s ability to reduce the effect of the substrate. This avoids press operators guessing, which can lead to longer make-ready times in analogue print and unnecessarily wasted substrate materials and ink in digital.

Additional features of the SpectroDens 4 include a GrayGuide that displays a G7 pass/fail indication, and the specific CMYK density adjustments needed. It can also scan a control wedge in seconds to confirm proofs against ISO 12647-7 and known datasets like Gracol, Swop3, Swop5, Ifra, Ugra/Fogra and G7. The machine can create, edit, and manage colour libraries, import/export colour data, generate pass/fail QC reports, and manage the instrument, all via onboard software.

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The 130-year old Birmingham business began by engraving name plates but nowadays produces a wide range of printed products, including badges, nameplates and serial plates. With a requirement to print high-value jobs at high quality on a range of rigid media such as plastic foamboard, PVC foam, metal, wood, glass, ceramic and cardboard, Rudd Macnamara wanted to find one printer that could handle all its clients’ needs.

Managing director Chris Dickinson said the HP printer’s ability to print on such a wide range of materials was key to the investment, also highlighting its white ink capabilities as a significant factor.

‘The flexibility to print on all mediums was a plus but the biggest selling point was the white print. We print onto a number of substrates but mainly metal, foamboard and PETG. The material would usually determine which printing process we would use, but the new HP can do it all. Before moving repeat products across, we go through a colour matching and detail sign off, and so far, all has been well.

‘New work is predominantly all quoted and put through the HP printer. This work varies from pump clips for the brewing industry through to metal signs that go on to be embossed for a variety of businesses.’

Another application for the HP printer is in thermoforming, a significant part of the company’s business. This previously involved printing and laminating with significant drying times required. The Latex printer removes the need for both laminating and drying, saving on time and labour.

‘We produce a range of vacuum-formed backlit products and the background colours, particularly the whites, had to be screen printed after the initial digital printing,’ Mr Dickinson said. ‘The new HP printer brings this process into one, increasing our production print and drying times considerably.’

It is also expected that the printer will play a key role in helping the business achieve its short- and long-term growth goals, targeting new markets such as point-of-sale, bespoke packaging and display and design within the travel industry.

The post Rudd Macnamara finds HP Latex to be a key component appeared first on Digital Printer.

The SG3 series offers 762 and 1371mm widths and CMYK printing, while the VG3 series is available in 1371 and 1625mm versions and supports eight colours, which permits a number of possibilities. The permutations include dual CMYK for maximum throughput, gamut-expanding orange and green inks, plus white and light cyan, magenta and black inks to yield high quality reproduction of images such as mono photographs or those with skin tones or other subtly varying colour shades.

All the printers use Roland’s TR2 eco-solvent inks and support up to 1200dpi resolution. Improved ease of use has been a priority in the new models, according to Roland, with a 7-in LCD touch panel for control and status overview, automated media feed and gap adjustment (maximum media thickness of 1mmm including liner, where appropriate), and simplified media set-up with one-touch media holders. The Media Take-Up system is now included with all TrueVis 3 devices with an automated setup function. Proactive maintenance is enabled by Roland DG Connect software, which also provides a dashboard view of machine statistics for device management and cost tracking.

‘We’re so excited to bring to market these next-generation TrueVis printer/cutters,’ said Paul Willems, Product Management & Business Development director at Roland DG EMEA. ‘Since its launch in 2016, we have focused on building upon our award-winning TrueVis range. The combination of unparalleled colour, durability and ease of use has appealed to large numbers of digital print business owners.

‘The exciting new products launched today were developed from user feedback with the goal of making Roland’s best-selling Print & Cut performance available in an even more user-friendly and intelligent manner for everyone. The VG3/SG3 series provides exceptional value for printing businesses and delivers the finest image quality.’

Roland will be demonstrating the new models on its at Sign & Digital UK at the NEC, Birmingham, from 22 to 24 March.

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