The dawn of the Mini-Beast

Ever heard of a ‘Mini-Beast’? Well it is not exactly what you think. It is the industry nickname that is slowly creeping its way in to describe the new Roland VersaEXPRESS RF-640. Back in March, I looked at the Roland XF-640 which had earned the moniker ‘The Beast’ for its speed and quality of output.

Launched in July, but with a few already in the field, I thought it would be useful to look at its new little brother and try to see where the differences lie. I also spoke with SDUK winner Diarmuid Beary of Display Wizard who took delivery of his ‘Mini-Beast’ a few weeks ago to get his opinion.

Designed to impress

So let’s start with the basics—yet again, the new VersaExpress RF-640 is a very nice looking machine—built solidly with a similar look to the XF version. There is definitely something to be said for putting a bit of thought into the design of the chassis and the overall ‘look’ of the machine; it looks designed, so you would expect it to act like it is designed.

It has the same new media feeding and take-up system which runs around twice the amount of media through the printer than previous models. Combined with the new gold-plated print-head, Roland states these features help to reach print speeds of up to 48sq m/h on a one pass banner quality mode.

The team at Display Wizard has spent some time on this machine and although it is still early days, they believe that these print speeds are completely achievable at one pass, which was exactly my experience with ‘The Beast’ earlier this year. The print speeds quoted by Roland seem to be achievable in the field, which is great news for the tech-spec cynics out there.

There are 16 pinch rollers and these help to grip the media in a very steady and accurate way, which reduces the risk of media skew at high speeds. And as with the XF version, Roland has included a media clamp to the back as well as the front, making it quick and easy to change rolls whenever the job demands.

This means that changing the media can be done by one person—a definite bonus if like a lot of the industry you are an owner/manager business and this task often falls to you. Beary told me that the tension system is great, keeping the media tight and he has had no problems with skewing so far.

There is an optional front dryer unit available, as with the Beast, which is not necessary for all applications and will cost you an extra £2,000 for the RF-640. If you are printing high speed, laying down thick ink layers or printing on to backlit, which is notorious for extended drying times, then you will probably need it.

Display Wizard confirms that there was some tackiness when printing banners and some vinyls but that could be down to profiles and needs some more playing around with the printer to get the settings bang-on. They do say though that at some point, the dryer will be useful in the future. My advice? If you think you might be printing backlit or a lot of banners on high speed, include it in your budget.

Think ink protection

The printer runs with CMYK EcoSOL Max 2 ink, which is Greenguard protected—but what does that mean? Basically, when printing with certain medias, this ink is safe to be used to print on wall coverings that are destined for public places like schools, cafés, restaurants, and so on. According to the Sign Wizard team, there is a small odour when initially printed, which is to be expected, but this wears off.

Also, there are virtually no harmful VOCs on the finished product, which is what print buyers in the market will look for. The ink cartridges are located at the front of the machine as with the Beast, and you can slot two cartridges in for each colour. The printer will automatically switch to the full cartridge when the other is empty, allowing for continuous and overnight unattended printing.

One of the nice new features that comes with the RF-640 is the Roland Printer Assist, an iPad app which you can download for free from the iTunes App Store. With this, you can test print, manage and view production, and check ink levels from anywhere. It’s pretty clever stuff, and perhaps predicts the shape of the future when we may be able to check, RIP, and print jobs remotely simply using a smart phone.

Packing a punch

So does the VersaEXPRESS RF-640 offer a real opportunity to help grow or change your business? According to Design Wizard, the answer is yes. In the few weeks the company has had the printer, it has been able to develop a low-cost pull-up banner that retails at only £39 including the graphic. They have also landed a print contract with a national pub chain for printing wallpapers.

So, in a matter of just a few weeks the ‘Mini-Beast’ has already proven to have a positive impact on their business. The RF-640 is you might say ‘The Beast’s Little Brother’ and like all little brothers, they may be mini, but they still pack a punch.