LFP - Large-Format-Printing
MIMAKI RECEIVES TWO EDP AWARDS FOR ITS INNOVATIVE DIGITAL PRINTERS AND CUTTERS
Thursday 23. April 2009 - Mimaki Europe has been awarded two EDP Awards at this years competition for the best products of the year - one for its groundbreaking UV LED curing UJV-160 digital large format printer, the other for its printer cutter for apparel TPC-1000.
Mimaki Engineering, a leading manufacturer of wide format inkjet printers and cutting machines for the Sign / Graphics, Industrial markets, and Textile / Apparel, is proud to have been honoured with two EDP Awards for its innovative and future-oriented digital large format printers.
The UJV-160 UV LED curing large format printer won in the category up to 1.6 m. The hybrid machine features now a new rigid media feeding mechanism that can accomodate media up to 12 kg. The flexible ink for UV LED curing jointly developed by MImaki and 3M adds further benefits as the ink is expandable and does not crack when bent so allowing innovative applications to be designed and created. 3M offers its highest warranty, the MCS warranty for this combination. In addition hard ink including white is available for jobs that do not require bending or folding. In addition Mimaki offers now 600 ml reusable bulk ink containers that provide for ink savings up to 30 to 40 percent and enhances environmental friendliness resulting in far less waste.
This large format printer enables significant energy savings as UV LEDs can be switched on and off without any warm up time resulting in energy consumption only when it is needed. In comparison with conventional UV lamps UV LED requires less than 50 per cent of its energy requirements. In this respect UV-LED technology is a breakthrough new technology in step with the latest environmental demands. Since the ink is cured or fixed immediately after LED radiation, the job turnaround time from printing to further processing, such as lamination, is shortened greatly, so dramatically improving working efficiency and productivity.
Due to the fact that UJV-160 uses UV LED curing, it does not generate heat and heat-sensitive substrates such as PVC can be printed upon without any problems which broadens its application range considerably. High image quality is ensured with variable droplets and a resolution of up to 1200 x 1200 dpi. The UJV-160 comes complete with two tables for feed and delivery enabling print service providers to print on light rigid materials as well as roll to roll.
Mimaki offers an effective and very competitively priced print and cut solution with the CF2 Series flatbed cutting plotter for creating POP displays and other types of sign boards.
Mimakis second award winning product of the year is the TPC-1000, a printer cutter for apparel printing. The TPC-1000 can use two types of inks for apparel printing: Solvent ink and dye sublimation ink: Sb52 and Sb51. The use of solvent inks for printing on heat transfer substrates enables printing of numbers, team names and sportswear brand names, caps and casual wear. Dye sublimation printing with high density dye sublimation inks exhibiting a wide color gamut, facilitates printing on transfer paper for image transfer to polyester sportswear and swimsuits. The print and cut solution allows for fast and accurate order processing of variable data and short run jobs. The machine incoorporates Mimakis patented Half Cut functionality as well its UISS (Uninterrupted Ink Supply System) and continuous crop mark detection technology. When printing on heat transfer media the design can be accurately cut and then placed on the media for transfer. All that needs to be done afterwards is heat pressing the design to the media for achieving a beautiful adhesive finish that is washable.
For dye sublimation prints transfer paper is printed upon. Then the fabric and transfer paper are placed in a heat press. Under the influence of heat, the ink transferred to the paper is dyed to polyester materials whereby the water-content of the ink vaporizes instantly. Thus vivid dye colored images are produced on fabric textures. Due to the fabrics retaining their washability, this technology is particularly suitable for sportswear.
“We feel very honoured that our forward-looking products have been selected not only once but twice by the EDP Association. This asserts us that Mimakis innovative products are at the forefront of technology development and help our customers to fulfill their daily chores to their best abilities and utmost productivity while achieving superb quality to satisfy their customers demands”, says Sakae Sagane, Managing Director Mimaki Europe.