EFI has unveiled its new Reggiani Bolt high-speed textile inkjet printer, capable of printing at 600 x 600 dpi at 90 metres per minute in a single pass.
The machine, pitched at medium to high end applications, is on the market for Australian and New Zealand printers now, says Andy Yarrow, director APAC at EFI. "The EFI Reggiani Bolt is already available commercially to the market. The first unit will be shipped in Q1 2019," he said. "The printer is available in 180 width, and 340 width is in our product development roadmap."
According to Yarrow, the Bolt is a testament to EFI's commitment to addressing its customers' needs. "Before kicking off the project, in March-April 2017 we completed interviews with customers across the world. Key takeaways from these interviews have been need for performance, uptime and productivity, printhead reliability and printing quality," he said.
Launched at an open house event at EFI Reggiani's facility in Bergamo, Italy, which was attended by nearly 300 customers and journalists, the Bolt features a new recirculation printhead system with greyscale drop sizes between five and 30 picolitres, and can also print maximum-resolution images at 600 x 4800 dpi for high-end, high-quality applications.
Adele Genoni, vice president and general manager at EFI Reggiani, said the Bolt was born of years of innovation and expertise. "The innovative development of our new single-pass printer comes from Reggiani’s speed of innovation in digital textile printing, its 70 years of history, and our proprietary knowledge of high-volume analog rotary printing. Our EFI colleagues’ proven, worldwide expertise in single-pass technology and, most importantly, EFI Reggiani’s serious commitment to listening to and addressing our textile customers’ needs, have allowed us to achieve incredible results with our newest print technology.
"The EFI Reggiani Bolt re-writes the rules of digital textile single-pass printing, delivering superior throughput and quality with a highly competitive return on investment for customers. We are excited to bring this technology to our customers and see their businesses succeed and grow," said Genoni.
Additional features include enhanced maintenance features such as a contactless wiping system and assisted alignment system; enhanced colour gamut and image quality; and the option to integrate analog printing stations. As an EFI product, the Bolt also comes with the Fiery digital front end, incorporating rip and colour management technologies.