Inkjet & Digital Printing

Mimaki UJF-6042 Delivers New High Quality Production Possibilities

Tuesday 18. September 2012 - Mimaki Engineering Co.,Ltd., a leading manufacturer of wide format inkjet printers, today announced the UJF-6042 A2 format UV flatbed printer with LED curing and multiple ink options. In addition to its larger format size, this printer incorporates many of the innovative improvements Mimaki has introduced in the UJF-3042 series, including 6-colour process colour, white ink, clear ink, to be used as spot varnish, and the ability to print on substrates up to 150mm thick. The UJF-6042 will be unveiled at Photokina, scheduled for September 18-23, 2012, in Cologne, Germany. Commercial availability is expected in December of 2012.

“Mimaki engineering continues to deliver significant innovation to the sign and display graphics marketplace, and the UJF-6042 is a great example of our dedication to bringing business-enhancing products to market,” said Mike Horsten, Marketing Manager of Mimaki Europe. “In addition to being able to accommodate larger sized materials with its A2 flatbed, the UJF-6042 achieves a more precise and vivid image quality that is normally only found in more costly printers. Reaching 1800×1800 dpi resolution and a variable dot with a minimum size of 4 picolitres, it guarantees smoother gradations. We believe that Photokina attendees will be wowed when they see the price/performance results this printer delivers.”
Product Details
The UJF-6042 incorporates a ball screw type head conveyance mechanism heretofore available only in very high-end flatbed printers. This high precision conveyance mechanism enhances the accuracy of the ink drop placement onto the substrate. In addition, the UJF-6042 features:
? Near Photo Quality. Together with its ability to print up to 1800×1800 dpi and its variable dot size, the UJF-6042 is engineered to deliver extreme accuracy of the ink drop placement on the substrate. For photo applications, its A2 size means operators can simultaneously print two facing pages of an A3-size photo album. For smaller items, it is easy to create an efficient print layout to minimize waste of expensive substrates and decrease overall production time.
? Multiple ink options for the utmost in production flexibility. The UJF-6042 operates with LH-100 CMYK + white inks, a rigid ink formulation for printing on hard surfaces requiring greater adhesion properties. In addition, the UJF-6042 can utilize Mimaki’s LF-100 flexible ink available in six colours and white, as well as LF200 ink which is available in CMYK + white and enables stretching of ink up to 200% with high adhesion for applications requiring this level of flexibility. With Mimaki Circulation Technology (MCT), standard with the UJF-6042, white ink is circulated to avoid settling of white pigment in the ink lines. Quality can also be enhanced with the application of glossy or matte finish clear ink, and multi-layered print can be achieved by overprinting an area several times.
? LED Curing. Mimaki’s new UV LED unit is optimized for curing efficiency, leaving no uncured ink. With LED UV curing, the UJF-6042 delivers environmentally friendly UV printing and curing with all of the advantages of LED technology, including long-life, energy savings, lower heat generation, the ability to use thinner, more cost-effective media and printing on heat-sensitive media that cannot be utilized in with conventional UV curing systems.
? Automatic Primer. The automatic inkjet primer application system can apply primer on selected areas, saving cost and preserving the character of the substrate where ink is not being applied.
? NozzleRecoveryFunction.Thisfunctiontemporarilycoverscloggednozzleswithnormalnozzles, maintaining consistent print quality throughout the run.
? Direct Print on Thick, Substrates. The UJF-6042’s UV inks enable printing directly on a wide variety of substrates as thick as 150mm and up to A2 size. Substrate types include coated paper, cast-coated paper, leather, acrylic, wood and metal. There is growing demand for high quality photo books with leather or acrylic covers and coated or cast-coated paper inside, and the UJF-6042 is the only printer on the market that can accommodate this range of substrates with the quality required for photo applications. This capability provides print service providers with a unique, high margin revenue stream not previously achievable.
? Environmental Advantages. In addition to the environmental advantages already cited, UV curable printing generates minimal VOCs. Also, the curing efficiency of the newly developed UV LED unit reduces power consumption while offering much longer life cycles and increased operability. The 600 ml ink packs come in eco-cartridges, which can be used repeatedly, further reducing the amount of waste.
? Standard user friendly RIP “RasterLink 6”- RasterLink6 features intuitive operation. Print and other conditions can easily be set with related settings consolidated into a single window. In addition, stored layouts can be reused at any time by using the “Register as Favorite” designation. Its colour replacement function enhances the ability to re-create printed images. Selected colours from the RasterLink 6 colour charts can easily be added into Adobe Illustrator swatches. Users can also simulate printed colours in Illustrator or Photoshop prior to actually printing, saving both time and money in the design and production process. Additionally, the RasterLink 6 RIP simplifies reverse printing. Simply select the order of over- and under-print with white in RasterLink6, and the most efficient path is automatically determined without further operator intervention.
With RasterLink 6, 3-layer printing of colour, white and colour can be simultaneously performed. The underlay printing of a base layer of white ink reproduces the natural beauty of process colours printed on transparent substrates with high precision and simultaneous printing of white and colours ensures that there is no multi-pass colour registration shift.
RasterLink 6 includes the ability to import lists for production of variable data. In addition, the “Jig Layout Function” enables easy imposition of multiple files or images with a template-based approach.