Green with envy 

The quest to find the right direct to substrate flatbed printer goes on and so far I have looked at three manufacturers. For the interests of this article, and having run a Mimaki roll-to-roll printer for a number of years, I was interested to see how its flatbed stacked up against the others I have seen.

The JFX is available in two sizes, the 200-2513 with a maximum processing area of 2,440 x 1,220mm and the JFX 500-2131 with a maximum area of 2,100 x 3,100mm.

The main selling point of the technology is the use of ‘cold cure’ LED lamps. These do not need to warm up, so they only work when needed, meaning potential energy savings over non-LED systems that have to warm up—and although ink is slightly more expensive than alternative solutions—the JFX could have potentially lower long-term running costs.


Indeed, the manufacturer’s exclusive UK distributor Hybrid Services has carried out in-depth research into the technology, which has helped it consolidate a ‘hit list’ of features that help clarify its advantages. Among these is the claim that it utilises some 75 percent less electricity than conventional metal-halide lamps. Indeed, the company’s data-sheets show that to produce approximately 10w of UV light, LED UV lamps use 80w of power, as compared to the 1200w needed for ‘hot’ metal-halide.



With metal-halide lamps sometimes exceeding 70°C, excessive heat build-up and poor maintenance on long-runs can also lead to materials being warped and images clarity suffering. However, the detractors of LED UV will point to the output of early models that suffered from poor ink adhesion on certain substrates. Hybrid says that this issue has now been dealt with and durability is now a plus point of the JFX.

Mimaki’s findings in regards to lamp durability have also prompted it to go as far as providing a 5,000 hour lamp warranty on the JFX200 flatbed printer, which equates to roughly five years of production. The expected lamp life is actually between 10,000 to 15,000 hours depending on usage and maintenance.

Bang for your buck

Mimaki is also no stranger to UV printers, as its experience dates from the early days of digital textile printing through to the UJF small-format machines, which are capable of printing a wide range of small items such as pens and phone cases. This range now goes all the way up to the JFX range of large-format direct to substrate printers that I looked at.

Mimaki has pursued LED cold curing from very early on in its development curve as its method of choice,  rather than going with other perhaps more developed technologies. And it is a decision which now looks inspired. LED technology is constantly improving and the sign industry alone has adopted LED lighting with great success, usually promoting it based on longer life and reduced running costs.


The JFX also comes with Mimaki’s full postscript level three RIP, Rasterlink 6. This means it will make light work of files containing complex transparency layers, drop shadows, and the like that can sometimes cause issues in some older RIPs. Mimaki has also made significant changes to the RIP to allow multi-layered printing. This means you can offer enhanced design features, for example spot varnish that could be appealing to a range of point-of-sale and exhibition clients alike—or some really creative effects onto, for example, clear acrylic. These series of developments have all been essentially designed to help users get more bang for their buck and give them the opportunity to diversify their product and services offering.



The standard ink setup is two CMYK print sets, or you could alternatively specify CMYK with the other four channels as two white and two varnish. Looking to the nuts and bolts, 1l bottles supply the ink, which are loaded on a convenient shelf at the front of the machine. Mimaki also advise that historical issues with white ink are largely eliminated with the inclusion of a circulation system.

We printed our test file on black foamex to compare it with our current methodology, which sees us output this graphic onto white vinyl. Without any tinkering to the standard settings, using white as a primer meant the results compared well—although some time spent refining the file settings would probably give better results. We also printed small text that was perfectly legible, something that is not always possible on production machines. Mimaki quotes print speeds up to 25sq m/h or 12.5sq m/h with simultaneous white ink printing, which is roughly eight sheets (8 x 4´) (2,440 x 1,220mm).

Ink offensive

One of the key battlegrounds for Mimaki and its competitors centres on ink. Some have better saturation and are lower cost, but your burn through them at a rate of nots. Others put down a very thin layer for similar durability, meaning they go a lot further, but often are higher cost. Mimaki has not stinted on its own armoury in this area and has developed LUS150 for the JFX, which is claimed to be flexible by up to 150 percent. This means in theory that you could design a tray type sign and fold it once printed. Mimaki says this feature of the ink also means it is possible to route finished work without risking chipping the ink off the edges.



In practice, panels are loaded onto the bed in the usual way and registered up using push-in pins, which allows a range of panels to be laid up on the table and the positions identified in the RIP. The downside though is that it is perhaps not as easy to print a multitude of different sized panels on the JFX as it would be on the belt systems employed by HP and EFI. A work round to this would be to create a nesting pattern in whatever design software you use, lay some paper onto the bed, and print the lay-up pattern onto it. You could simply lay the panels on top of the printed sheet and the optional, but essential, vacuum is strong enough to hold them in place.

Mimaki has chosen not to offer a roll option on this machine, probably down to the fact that they can service this need with a whole range of dedicated roll-to-roll printers if you need one. And so all in all the JFX 200 appears to be a great all-rounder with white ink and now clear varnish. However, if you want true production speeds, then the JFX500 with speeds of up to 60sq m/h and a larger print area is the machine for you. So, although I have still not tipped my cap at one piece of flatbed technology quite yet, I am very much closer to choosing our next profit generating machine with the versatile facets of this nifty bit of kit.

 

Allen Signs is an established family run business with over 100 years of combined experience.

It provides a complete sign, display, and vehicle livery solution from concept and design through to final installation and maintenance.
 
For more information on the issues discussed in this article please visit www.allen-signs.co.uk or tel: 0115 704 3017

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