Roland shines at sign show
Roland DG sparks a silver rush at wide format show in Sydney last week.
Roland DG may have been the platinum sponsor at the Visual Impact Image Expo in Sydney last week but its main attraction was definitely silver as it unveiled what it claims is the world's first inkjet printer/cutter with metallic silver ink.
The Soljet Pro III XC-540MT includes metallic silver ink as a sixth colour designed to give posters, POP, labels, decals and wraps a distinctive eye-catching metallic shine. It prints CMYK plus white and silver at a resolution of 1,440 dpi with a maximum width of 1.37 metres. Output at the show onto a high gloss media demonstrated the new printer's ability to produce material with a uniquely shiny metallic appearance, not just as a pure silver spot colour but also mixed with CMYK to produce a range of effects.
The printer uses an eco-solvent ink (Eco-Sol Max) and can also be configured as a double-white machine instead of silver. Outdoor durability is cited as one to three years for the silver ink (three years for the CMYK) and lamination is recommended for high gloss media due to the different way in which the silver ink dries on the substrate. The printer also uses an ink circulation system designed to reduce waste and prevent the silver pigment from settling.
Pictured: Silver solutions: Conrad Birkett of Roland DG with the new Soljet Pro III XC-540MT printer with silver ink.
The Visual Impact Image Expo held at Darling Harbour in Sydney last week was one of the first demonstrations of the printer worldwide and, according to Conrad Birkett, business development manager at Roland DG in Australia, customers were soon lining up to get their hands on the silver; by mid-morning on the first day of the show, the ink was already drying on several contracts for the new machine.
The latest in latex
The Expo also saw the local launch of the latest latex ink printer from HP Designjet, the L25500 which now joins its bigger brother, the L65500, which was officially launched at Pacprint.
Travelling all the way from Barcelona in Spain for the launch was Santiago Morera, vice president and general manager, HP Designjet large-format printing solutions, Imaging and Printing Group. He stated that the arrival of the new smaller version of the printers highlighted the on-going development of the latex ink technology.
Pictured: Santiago Morera (left) with Shane Lucas, director HP Graphic Arts South Pacific, at the Expo last week for the launch of the new Designjet L25500 latex printer from HP.
“Positioning latex printing at this price point, affordable for small printers, we are doing a big second step,” he commented. “We are more committed than ever to the proposition of latex printing – and it’s proven, it’s working and it’s growing the market. It’s not a new technology that has to be tested, it’s happening now.”
The L25500 printer is available as a 42-inch or 60-inch model and is designed to offer smaller printshops, photo labs and copy shops an alternative entry path into wide format printing. The HP latex inks are designed to be virtually odourless, non-flammable and non-combustible, and can be used in environments without ventilation. This makes the printer ideal for office-type locations and workplaces which previously would have been unsuitable for eco-solvent or UV ink wide format printers.
While the target market for the L25500 is clearly as an entry-level device for graphic arts professionals looking to get into the signage and banner market, the ease-of-use of the new printer raises the possibility of its use in corporate environments, a possibility which Morera did not discount. Equally, while the L25500 is just the second latex printer to hit the market, Morera said there will definitely be more to come.
“Yes, it’s not a secret. We are backing that technology. We can do them bigger, we can do them faster, we can do them with more versatile media. We are putting a lot of research behind that technology and you won’t have to wait long to see another product coming.”