Hardware - Wide Format Print

HP today announced an expanded large format portfolio to help low-volume print service providers (PSPs) and technical design professionals lower costs, increase productivity and win new business with easy-to-manage, in-house large format printing capabilities.

The new solutions are designed for entry-level large format commercial printing applications as well as architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), geographic information systems (GIS), and mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD) technical applications.

 

Highlights include:

The HP Designjet Z5200 PostScript® Printer, a simple and productive entry-level large format system that offers easy, affordable and high-quality printing in-house

A new 24-inch model of the HP Designjet T770 Printer series that includes an easy-to-access top-loading roll, large memory for processing files and fast speeds

The HP Designjet 111 Printer, HP's most affordable and compact large format printer, which delivers high-quality, cost-effective prints for entry-level technical professionals

"HP recognises that customers need to expand their printing capabilities and turn around projects quickly to give them a competitive advantage and help capture new business opportunities," said Santiago Morera, vice president and general manager, Designjet Solutions, HP. "The additions to our large format portfolio address those needs by offering lower costs, higher productivity and easier operation - combined with our hallmark quality and reliability."

 

HP Designjet Z5200 PostScript® Printer simplifies large format printing

Designed specifically for copy shops and quick printers interested in entering the large format market, the HP Designjet Z5200 PostScript® Printer offers a simple, affordable device for a broad range of high-quality applications, including posters, point-of-purchase (POP) displays, maps, light boxes and canvas prints. To streamline the printing process, advanced HP technology eliminates and automates many of the steps involved with traditional large format printing. In addition, the new HP Instant Printing Pro solution simplifies and accelerates the entire printing workflow with fast, easy file preparation and automatic nesting, preview, orientation and crop marks.

The HP Designjet Z5200 PostScript® Printer also includes an embedded spectrophotometer for automatic calibration and media profiling to help those without extensive colour management experience ensure colour accuracy and consistency across projects.  Additionally, HP Universal Bond Paper and HP Bright White Inkjet Paper with ColorPRO Technology provide noticeably superior print quality compared to competitive untreated bond papers for high-quality output at a much lower cost.

New entry-level printing solutions for technical professionals

From winning bids and developing plans to interacting with peers and clients, digital information sharing is essential to how AEC/GIS/CAD professionals operate. HP's large format printers and multi-format devices now make it easy to turn digital designs into documents and then digitize them back into the design-and-make process, helping shorten project cycles.

The new HP printers offer smaller footprints and intuitive ease-of-use features to allow small technical teams, individual professionals and students to benefit from in-house large format printing.

Adding to the proven HP Designjet T770 Printer series, which includes a 44-inch device, the new 24-inch model allows small teams to increase productivity with a printer that is fast, reliable and easy to use. The HP Designjet T770 Printer's top-loading roll makes it simple to load and swap media, and its expandable memory allows the printer to handle bigger jobs as business grows. It also features built-in networking for easy sharing and the ability to print without opening applications.

Available in a tray or roll-fed option, the HP Designjet 111 Printer is an ideal entry-level printer for technical CAD applications, large format posters and presentations. Designed for AEC students and professionals, construction offices, universities and technical instruction environments, the HP Designjet 111 Printer is affordable at any budget with the ability to create posters or presentations for less than $1.(1) As the smallest HP large format printer available,(2) measuring only 1 metre (3.3 feet) wide, it also fits easily into small offices.

More information about the HP Designjet portfolio is available at www.hp.com/go/designjet

Seiko Epson Corporation today announces that its wide format inkjet printer Epson Stylus Pro 7900 and 9900 series have achieved 98%  coverage of the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM, as evaluated and certified by Pantone, LLC. Epson's award-winning wide format inkjet printers have long been received as the industry standard in various graphics applications, and the attainment of this exceptionally high PANTONE coverage provides further proof of Epson's leadership in this field.

PANTONE is the definitive international reference for selecting, specifying, matching and controlling ink colours. With the ability to achieve 98% coverage of PANTONE colours, industry professionals using Epson printers have a great deal of freedom when producing designs, proofs and final images. It also enables designers to accurately reproduce corporate and brand colours and use a wide variety of PANTONE spot colours for eye catching packaging.

The combination of Epson's Micro Piezo TFP inkjet technology with its 10-colour UltraChrome HDR (high dynamic range) ink set provides the outstanding performance required by graphic designers and print professionals. In addition to Cyan, Light Cyan, Vivid Magenta, Vivid Light Magenta, Yellow, Matte or photo Black, Black, Light Black and Light Light Black, Epson's UltraChrome HDR inks include Orange and Green which significantly increases the range of colours that can be achieved, especially bright green to yellow, and yellow to red.

The Stylus Pro printers' ability to achieve the widest colour gamut enables high-quality images with great subtlety and exceptionally smooth gradations. The unique three-level black ink technology significantly improves the overall grey balance while enhancing the mid-tone and highlight detail, which in turn gives a smoother tonal range. The high-density pigments ensure strong vibrant colours and accurate neutral and dark tones.

"This PANTONE certification highlights the superb accuracy of the Epson Stylus Pro printers' coupled with the extremely wide colour gamut of the UltraChrome inks and gives the design and print industry the highest level of confidence when working on projects that demand accurate colour representation," says Duncan Ferguson, Director of Pro-Graphics and New Business Development for Epson Europe.

The 24-inch Stylus Pro 7900 and 44-inch Stylus Pro 9900 series are available from Epson certified dealers worldwide. For more details, please contact your local Epson sales representative.

Océ, an international leader in digital document management and printing for professionals, today introduced the new Océ CS6400 Series of robust and reliable outdoor production printers. The Océ CS6400 Series enables users to grow their businesses by reducing job turn-around time while increasing customer satisfaction by delivering exceptional quality prints. The Océ CS6407 printer model will be shown on the Océ stand at the IPEX Exhibition in Birmingham, UK, 18-25 May 2010.

The Océ CS6400 Series uses mild-solvent inks and includes two models:  the 190 cm (74.8”) wide Océ CS6407 printer, and the 264 cm (104”) wide Océ CS6410 printer. Both models can be used in four-color mode or eight-color mode. Print speeds of up to 100 square meters (1075 ft2) per hour can be achieved.

 

High productivity printers with user-configurable color modes

Newly developed, high frequency print heads with multi-drop technology deliver prints at production print speeds. The eight print heads can be configured in two ways:  2 x 4 mode (C, M, Y, K), with four colors and two heads per color for maximum print speed; or 1 x 8 mode (C, M, Y, K, G, Lc, Lm, Lg), with eight colors and one head per color for superior print quality. The four-color mode reaches print speeds up to 100 square meters (1075 ft2) per hour. With the eight-color mode users can still print at speeds of up to 50 square meters (538 ft2) per hour.

 

Setting a new quality standard

The Océ CS6400 Series offers a perfect balance between high-speed printing and great print quality. Smart Pass Technology onboard every Océ CS6400 Series printer delivers smooth and band-free prints by optimizing pass-to-pass dot placement and alignment.

The four-color mode ensures excellent image density and is ideal for outdoor banner applications. The eight-color mode adds Light Gray, Gray, Light Magenta and Light Cyan ink for smooth transitions and exceptional overall image reproduction. The Gray and LightGray inks make it possible to print real gradations, light shadows and metallic textures.

With the speed, productivity and print quality of Océ CS6400 Series, users can produce rush jobs and manage peak volumes, while still meeting their clients’ high print quality demands and delivery requirements.

Océ IJC640 mild-solvent inks are tuned for the screen and sign industries.  The inks have an outstanding color gamut capable of producing saturated and brilliant colors, and offering excellent outdoor durability of up to three years.

 

Ink and media systems enable long print runs

Océ offers a full range of media for all kinds of applications on the Océ CS6400 Series. Users can visit the Océ Media Guide (www.mediaguide.oce.com) and find the right media for their printer and application, including matching Océ color profiles.

The Océ 6400 Series detects the thickness of the loaded media, and adjusts the printhead height automatically. In combination with the three-level pressure control system of the pinch rollers, media of up to 1 mm thick can be used.

Efficient 1.5 liter ink reservoirs and a sub-tank system provides for on-the-fly ink changes. These large capacity ink reservoirs reduce the need for frequent ink replacement, enabling productive, round-the-clock printing. In addition, the support of bulk media rolls with weights up to 120 kg (264 lbs.) gives users the ability to print long jobs on the same media.

 

HP today announced new HP Designjet multifunction printer (MFP) and scanning solutions to help office users, IT managers and technical design professionals easily shift from a cumbersome, hard copy based project workflow to a more efficient, integrated digital workflow solution that boosts productivity and reduces costs.

"Enterprises and small and mid-sized businesses are facing extreme pressure to develop a leaner, more efficient infrastructure, while still providing high-quality results," said Santiago Morera, vice president and general manager, Designjet Printing Solutions, HP. "HP is committed to providing solutions that allow our customers to collaborate, innovate and achieve success while simplifying the way they manage their printing environment."

Optimise imaging and printing infrastructure with new large-format solutions

The new HP Designjet T1200 HD-MFP extends HP's leadership in the large-format MFP market, offering customers an integrated scanning, copying and printing experience for a variety of documents, including drawings, maps, renders and photo-realistic images. Ideal for reproduction houses, copy shops and planning departments, the HP Designjet T1200 HD-MFP features a four-camera charge-coupled device (CCD) scanner with 600 dpi technology and embedded PostScript capabilities for optimal results.

Customers also can streamline workflow and increase efficiency by bringing large format colour scanning in-house with the new HP Designjet Scanner. A resolution of 600 dpi optical from four CCD cameras creates high-quality images with realistic colours and precise lines even when using poor-quality originals. The HP Designjet Scanner complements existing large format printing capabilities to build a powerful, easy-to-use, in-house scan-copy-print system. It integrates easily with numerous industry-leading third-party scan applications - enabling excellent copy quality and performance.

These solutions help customers drive new business opportunities by delivering higher productivity and print quality, fast print speeds and a powerful in-printer processing architecture that allows workgroups to easily meet deadlines, even during printing peaks.

Software solutions allow customers to capture new business

HP also offers a suite of software solutions for the HP Designjet portfolio that increase productivity, reduce costs and deliver high-quality results. The solutions include Serif Poster Designer Pro for HP, HP Instant Printing, SCP Reprocontrol for HP and HP Designjet Excel Accounting Report.

More information is available at www.hp.com/go/graphicarts, as well as through the HP Graphic Arts Twitter feed.

 

April’s Sign & Digital UK show saw Mimaki’s exclusive distributor; Hybrid Services Ltd, enjoy great success – securing a significant number of sales during and immediately after the exhibition as their reseller network placed confirmed orders for sign & graphics, UV curing and soft signage products.

The exhibition hosted the UK launch of Mimaki’s Tx400-1800D production textile printer – a 1.8m wide, direct to textile machine, sporting latest generation print heads, and Mimaki’s bulk ink system that allows up to 8 litres of ink per colour. Very well received by customers looking for a solution to produce everything from soft signage and flags to dye sublimated sportswear and high fashion garments, the Tx400 also produced the majority of the graphics on Hybrid’s stand. “We took the opportunity to practice what we preach,” said Hybrid’s marketing manager, Duncan Jefferies. “The 3.6m x 1.5m side panels on our hospitality area were one piece of display polyester printed direct on the Mimaki and then put through a rotary calendar press. Our stand builders stretched it around the panel prior to construction and we were very pleased with the result.” Other graphics and hanging fabrics on the stand were also produced on the Mimaki; printed to semi sheer flag fabric taking advantage of the machine’s ability to print direct to such cloths and delivering the necessary show-through required for such applications.

Along with significant orders for core products in the Mimaki range – such as the CJV30 printer / cutters and JV33 wide format printers; the first showing at the exhibition of Mimaki’s desktop LED UV printer; the UJF-3042 generated an unprecedented level of interest. Often found with a crowd of interested people surrounding it, the A3 printer proved the star of the show for promotional products companies, manufacturing suppliers and signmakers keen to print to small rigid substrates. John de la Roche – Hybrid’s national sales manager reported a very satisfying amount of resulting business. “We’re in the fortunate position of having our April and May order books absolutely full. All our consignments of the UJF-3042 for this period have sold out, but we continue to receive orders from companies keen to invest early in this impressive new machine.”

“Our resellers had an excellent show, “ continued de la Roche, “and we’re working hard this week to fulfil the machine orders as quickly as we can. In a tough and very competitive economic climate, it’s enormously encouraging to witness the willingness of an educated and well informed market to invest in technology that they’re convinced will benefit their businesses. The number of visitors to the show who clearly came to purchase new equipment bears testament to both this, and the quality of Mimaki’s product range.”

Whilst this printer is neither large format, nor indeed even a printer in the traditional sense, the technology is nonetheless interesting, and on that basis newsworthy.

HP today announced its entrance into the 3D printing market, with the launch of its first HP Designjet 3D printing solution aimed at the mechanical computer aided design (MCAD) and educational markets.

The new HP Designjet 3D printing solution enables design professionals to achieve faster time-to-market and cost-savings during product development. It also sets a new standard for automated 3D printing, office integration and reliability.

The HP Designjet 3D printer series enable users to easily produce robust plastic 3D models in their office, while also saving money with one of the lowest total cost of ownership in its class(1). Available in two models and starting below €13,000, the HP Designjet 3D printer creates highly accurate models in ivory coloured HP Designjet 3D ABS Material, while the HP Designjet Color 3D printer can produce single-colour parts using eight different colours, ideal for designers and educational professionals who need to differentiate individual areas of assembled models.

"The HP Designjet 3D printing solution offers the ideal combination of affordability, model quality and usability," says Santiago Morera, large format printing business vice president and GM, HP. "The affordability of the HP Designjet 3D printers means that businesses that choose these products are likely to see a return on investment very quickly. If they are outsourcing just five to ten models per month, the printer can pay for itself in one year and if only one error is detected before tooling it can potentially save them thousands(2)."

Featuring the new HP Designjet 3D Removal System - an innovation in automated removal of excess model material within a normal office environment - this new product introduction from HP will provide manufacturers, product designers, engineers, and educators with affordable, high-quality 3D printing, supported by HP's renowned expertise in reliable, office-ready technology.

By eliminating the need for special disposal methods, the unique HP Designjet Removal System makes the HP Designjet 3D printer solution truly office-ready. Designed with the office environment in mind, the printers produce models that are ready-to-handle without gloves, and the printing and post-processing of the models is automatic, with no manual finishing necessary.

Wrench model and HP logo model produced on the HP Designjet Color 3D Printer

 

Produced using recyclable ABS plastic, the models created on the HP Designjet 3D Printer Series are highly durable, functional and precise, therefore users can count on printed output that's always true to the original design. Models can be usable and pre-assembled with moving parts, providing prototypes ideal for fit, form and functional testing.

"We found that fit and form testing is a critical part of the design process, and the HP Designjet 3D printing solution allows us to do this affordably, easily and comfortably in our office," said Josep Congost, design manager of Roca, world leader in bathroom spaces and experts in cutting-edge design. "3D printing allows us to speed up our design processes and drive more product launches per year. We can make crucial decisions and detect unforeseen design, fit and function issues very early in the design process. Also, Roca is a very environmentally-concerned company and the fact that the models are produced using recyclable ABS plastic made the decision to go with HP even easier."

The new HP Designjet 3D Removal System that accompanies the printers, ensures waste products from the printing process require no treatment before being disposed of into the office drainage system(4), thus avoiding unplanned incremental investments. In addition, the ABS plastic can be recycled as part of the HP Planet Partners Program(3). All this makes the HP 3D printing solution ideal for companies looking to minimise their impact on the environment.

Developed to HP specifications and quality standards to ensure the best possible customer experience, the HP Designjet 3D Printers are easy to install, use and service and offer consistent, repeatable quality, print to print, printer to printer.

The HP Designjet 3D Printer will start being commercialized during May 2010 in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Availability in other countries will be announced at a later date.