SGIA products
Aug 1, 2008 12:00 PM
What's your specialty?
From POP to billboards, fine art prints and posters, SGIA 2008 (Atlanta, October 15-18) will offer a wide variety of educational sessions on specialty imaging. Day one will include a free session, “Introduction to Digital Imaging,” providing an overview of digital imaging equipment and technologies for a broad range of graphic applications. It also will examine markets served, emerging trends and their implications as well as facility and management considerations.
The educational opportunities at the Expo will provide market, technology and production management insight directly from the industry's movers and shakers. Sessions include:
- New developments in inkjet printing and its related consumables.
- The technologies and profitability within post-print finishing.
- Sales techniques.
- Graphic installations.
- Digital signage technologies.
| Expected attendance | 15,000+ |
| Net size of event | 225,686 sq. ft. |
| Conference sessions | 52 |
| Tracks | 6 |
| Hands-on workshops | 6 |
| Free sessions | 3 |
| Wednesday, October 15 | 9:30 am - 5:00 pm |
| Thursday, October 16 | 9:30 am - 5:00 pm |
| Friday, October 17 | 9:30 am - 5:00 pm |
| Saturday, October 18 | 9:30 am - 1:00 pm |
See www.sgia.org.
UV innovations
EFI VUTEk (Meredith, NH) will show the VUTEk DS Series, which was previewed at Drupa. In addition, many Drupa visitors saw VUTEk's newest UV roll-to-roll printer, the QS3200r, for the first time.
The DS Series flatbed UV digital screen printer is built for producing POP-quality graphics at up to 557 sq. m/hr. (6,000 sq. ft./hr.). The 8-color printer produces up to 1,200 dpi. An extended application range of UV ink and substrate compatibility enables printing on paper, film, rigid boards and a variety of other specialty materials.
The DS Series accommodates a maximum media size of 1.6 m × 2.4 m (63 inches × 96 inches), up to 5.08 cm (2 inches) thick. A large ink reservoir and optional automated media handling for both input and output enable near-lights-out operation for up to eight hours. The VUTEk user-controllable zoned vacuum table is optimized for European and North American standard single-sheet graphic printing and also supports simultaneous printing of multiple, various-size substrates. An optional advanced material handling system loads and unloads the printer automatically. The DS Series is expected to be available in 2009.
See www.efi.com. SGIA booth 1807
Extreme vehicle wrapping
3M (Saint Paul, MN) recently released a new inkjet film and overlaminate designed to help printers take the next leap in vehicle wraps. 3M Control-tac Graphic Film IJ380 and 3M Scotchcal Gloss Overlaminate 8580 are designed for extreme wraps. Using new cast-film technology, the film is highly conformable and has virtually no memory once applied, effectively solving the most difficult problem in wrapping deep channels and concave areas — lifting — without use of adhesion promoter or relief cuts.
See www.3Mgraphics.com. SGIA booth 1831
Digital cutting/routing
In September 2007, UV flatbed innovator Zünd (Franklin, WI; Altstatten, Switzerland) announced its plans to withdraw from the digital printer market and focus its development efforts on digital cutting and routing.
More than 13,000 of the company's flatbed cutters are installed worldwide.
“The potential in digital cutting is huge and has not been exhausted yet,” says owner and CEO, Karl Zünd. “Considering the synergy between digital printing and digital cutting/routing, one can only imagine what will be possible in the future. This synergy does not only affect the graphics and packaging industries. Textile and other industries are advancing toward digital manufacturing, which also involves cutting. We envision taking these advances even further and want to offer our customers exciting new opportunities in all areas of digital cutting.”
Zünd has launched a redesigned website: www.zund.com. It is now possible to access product-specific documents via “related documents” links from any of the applications or specifications pages. New videos demonstrate Zünd cutting systems operating in a variety of applications.
See www.zund.com. SGIA booth 453
Super-wide and fast
Matan (Williamsville, NY) presented the Barak5 super-wide hybrid UV printer at Drupa. The printer runs at 300 sq. m/hr., printing materials up to 5 m wide. Barak5 incorporates 32 printheads with drop sizes starting at 30 picoliter for high-quality output. Its extended color gamut and flexible inks (Barak UV 300) enable it to target a wide range of demanding applications. It offers low ink consumption with coverage of up to 180 sq. m/liter (1,940 sq. ft./liter).
The printer handles both flexible and rigid materials, coated or uncoated. An optional Multi-roll feature enables it to print on up to three rolls simultaneously. In addition, the printer can run at various printing modes from POP quality to billboards beyond 300 sq. m/hr. without switching ink. A new feeder motor for up to 5m media width enables easier double-sided printing applications.
See www.matanprinters.com. SGIA booth 1061
Driven to perform
At SGIA, Roland (Irvine, CA) will feature its Pure Print Performance line of wide-format inkjet printers and printer/cutters including AdvancedJET, Hi-Fi Express, Hi-Fi JET Pro, SOLJET and VersaCAMM models. Roland offers one of the industry's broadest printer lines with eco-solvent, solvent, aqueous and sublimation inkjets ranging from 30 to 104 inches in width.
See www.rolanddga.com. SGIA booth 731
High-speed photo quality
Agfa Graphics (Ridgefield Park, NJ) will show the new piezo :Anapurna Mv and :Anapurna M4f at SGIA. The :Anapurna M line of wide-format industrial UV inkjet printers are take uncoated rigid substrates and roll media for indoor and outdoor work. The :Anapurna Mv will offer the image quality of the :Anapurna M, with varnish as an option. The M4f, also built on the M platform, has four CMYK printheads and is positioned as a rigid printer only with roll-to-roll as an option. Both the :Anapurna Mv and M4f have a maximum media width of 160 cm and output up to 720 × 1,440 dpi. They use state-of-the art 14 picoliter printheads and Agfa-made UV-curable :Anapurna ink.
The Mv and M4f debuted at Drupa, where Agfa also introduced the new :Anapurna XLS, built to provide photographic quality at high production speeds. The :Anapurna XLS comes in a choice of speeds and produces highly saturated colors in the medium, large and extra-large formats (up to 250 cm) at up to 1,440 dpi. It also allows borderless printing and has the capability for dual board printing. This printer is built around Agfa's Universal Print Head (UPH) piezo technology. The :Anapurna XLS ink is developed for optimum jetting reliability, image quality and adhesion to a wide variety of industry-standard media. The :Anapurna XLS will make its U.S. debut at Graph Expo 2008.
See www.agfa.com. SGIA booth 3541
Running the gamut
Océ North America (Chicago) offers a range of large-format digital printing solutions and consumables: Océ Arizona family of flatbed printers; Océ CS9000 Series low- and eco-solvent roll printers; Océ Workflow Solution for finishing rigid and flexible media; plus a complete range of media for all types of wide format printers.
See www.oceusa.com/odgs. SGIA booth 1041
A new eco-friendly option
HP's (Palo Alto, CA) new solutions and recent acquisitions of NUR Macroprinters Ltd. and MacDermid ColorSpan Inc. enable the company to offer the industry's largest all-digital color graphic arts portfolio. These moves also support HP's Print 2.0 strategy to drive growth of digital pages and lower costs of printing for high-volume commercial markets.
The HP Designjet L65500 — which is making its North American debut at SGIA — is the first of a new category of large-format signage printers with HP Latex Inks that reduce the impact of printing on the environment. This 104-inch thermal inkjet printer offers broad outdoor and indoor application versatility, while delivering quality and durability at breakthrough print speeds. Prints are odorless, enabling an improved printing environment.
See www.hp.com. SGIA booth 2203
Screenprinting fabrics
InteliCoat Technologies will be showcasing several new products at SGIA, including three additions to its Magic brand polyester fabric offerings: FAB-FR, FAB-LITE and FAB-MESH. Additionally, Magic POS PRO + GS 200 is designed to provide a cost-effective solution for indoor applications such as promotional roll-ups, trade show graphics and point-of-sale displays.
See www.intelicoat.com. SGIA booth 2015
New grand-format UV flatbed
Gandinnovations (Mississauga, ON, Canada) introduced the NanoJet at Drupa. Equipped with a silicon nozzle plate, the NanoJet uses 24 Spectra 15-picoliter printheads. Printing at speeds of 220 sq. ft./hr. (20.4 sq. m/hr.) in photorealistic mode, the 6-color NanoJet has a print area of 4 ft. × 8 ft. and prints at 800dpi, using Gandinnovations UV-curable branded inks.
The strong vacuum table on the NanoJet holds virtually any rigid material in place up to 5 cm (2 inches) thick using a linear motion system to control movement, ensuring accurate registration.
See www.gandinnovations.com. SGIA booth 1403
Rigid or flexible prints
At Drupa, Screen's (Rolling Meadows, IL) Truepress Jet2500UV made its commercial launch. It is a wide-format flatbed and roll-fed inkjet print system featuring grayscale printheads that enable printing on both rigid and flexible substrates and offer a great balance between high print quality and productivity for a range of applications. The user can select five different resolutions, 300, 600, 900, 1,200 and 1,500 dpi. The printer can produce up to 70 sq. m/hr at 300 dpi, for applications such as billboards and banners. It covers a maximum printing width of 2,500 mm and takes reels of flexible material up to 50 m long. It prints up to seven colors, including a pre-white function.
See www.screenusa.com. SGIA booth 663
Wide gamut, high resolution
Epson (Long Beach, CA) is entering the outdoor commercial printing market with the new Stylus Pro GS6000 64-inch roll-to-roll printer, which boasts technical advancements poised to dramatically impact the professional sign making market.
Featuring Epson UltraChrome GS ink, a new solvent-based ink technology with eight individual colors, including an all new orange and green, the Stylus Pro GS6000 ($28,995 MSRP) reportedly produces a wide color gamut on nearly any solvent-based media. The printer's new Dual-Array MicroPiezo AMC printhead produces up to 1,440 × 1,440-dpi resolution with a droplet size as small as 3.7 picoliters. The printer produces up to 340 sq. ft./hr. for banner-quality printing, up to 180 sq. ft./hr. for everyday production and up to 91 sq. ft./hr. for photographic signage output.
The ColorBurst Professional Production RIP, a new, PostScript 3-compatible RIP and print server, is Pantone licensed for accurate spot color matching, offers support for ICC output profiles and incorporates a new multi-threaded/multi-processing architecture for fast job processing.
See www.epson.com. SGIA booth 753
All-in-one signmaking software
EasySIGN USA (Irvine, CA) is expanding its sales, distribution, support, and marketing channels from Europe to the United States, Canada and Latin America. The company has OEM agreements with vendors including Mutoh, GCC and Summa.
EasySIGN Software enables users to design, plot, print, route and engrave, all in the same interface. The software is designed by and for sign makers to cut designing and production time, as well as costs and materials. The company is giving away a 12-hour training DVD and offers a free trial at www.easysignusa.com.
Can't make it to SGIA?
Graph Expo 2008 — October 26-29 in Chicago — will feature many of these and other specialty printing products. See http://graphexpo.gasc.org.
Pressure-sensitive adhesive media for HP Turbojet
FLEXcon (Spencer, MA) announces its wide-format digital product line on 6-inch cores is now compatible with the HP Turbojet Series printers. The rolls are available in 300-ft. and 750-ft. lengths preboxed in Quick-Ship for same day shipping. Options within FLEXcon's FLEXmark, LITEcal, BUSart, BUSmark, RAILmark and SEETHRU-SIGN product lines are included on the list of compatible products. See www.FLEXcon.com.
Beta partner for Sun Chem's FastJet
Sun Chemical (Parsippany, NJ) has announced IMG Digipack GmbH (Remscheid, Germany) as its first beta partner for the FastJet inkjet printing press for corrugated packaging.
The core FastJet technology is based on fixed color arrays, with nearly 500 printheads that allow full color printing at less than 1 second/sq. m. The press uses UV inkjet inks that have been designed specifically for FastJet to be extremely stable, produce vibrant, glossy colors and to be virtually odor free.
A second FastJet press currently is being commissioned in the United Kingdom and a third will go to the United States later in 2008. See www.sunchemical.com.
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