Multi-function magic with Mimaki

Choice can prove to be both a burden and opportunity. When you are looking to add capacity to your print department, you can scan the market looking for an investment to meet your needs or requirements. You sometimes find one piece of equipment has elements you desire, only to find another has others. You are torn; should you go left or right, which process is best and what is really needed to fill the gap in production capacity you have identified?

Process choice is always one of the biggest issues to tackle. Should you pursue dye-sublimation options or solvent for instance? Both have specific markets and uses, and there remains a need for them and reliance on them will endure.


As a press manufacturer, this conundrum provides more issues to you than it does to your client. The purchaser can easily move to another manufacturer should they wish to switch process. There is a very old sales adage that it is much cheaper to retain your customers rather than find new ones. To this extent, the equipment we choose to lift the covers on this month comes from Mimaki who have developed a very ingenious solution to the problem of retaining your client. Rather than produce two machines to cater for sublimation dye and solvent inks separately, why not produce one machine that can do both?

This is where the JV300 and the smaller JV150 make an entrance. Both machines can produce with either medium—sublimation dye/solvent—choose the machine you want, decide on what you want it to do, and once it is commissioned you are up and running.

What is on offer?

So, what sits under the covers of these machines and why is it so adaptable?

Focusing on the JV300, the machine is a thoroughbred solvent printer and can produce at a high resolution at high speed. It has a staggered head design where there are 1,440 nozzles in eight lines of 180 in an area of 25 x 31mm per head, which is duplicated and then staggered in position. This means in an area of 100 x 50mm there are two, 880 inkjet nozzles. Various resolutions are deployed from 360 to 1,440dpi.


Added to this clever array of nozzles, there are two other functions of the head to ensure high quality vibrant quality. Large 35 picolitre ink dots are deployed to fill gaps in high speed mode to ensure there are no gaps between each.  Mimaki’s Uninterrupted Ink Supply System (UISS) works by linking each colour nozzle in tandem in four colour mode, so if one cartridge runs out of ink, the other takes over to ensure continuous production. However, with an enormous 2l ink tank, it would be unlikely to drain overly quickly.

The JV300 can run a large number of colour combinations. In the very basic form, the C, M, Y, K ink set in draft format can run at a very respectable speed of 32.7sq m/h.



There is an eight-colour mode that adds light C, light M, and light K along with a patented orange to extend the colour gamut considerably allowing you to hit exacting corporate special colours. The claim from Mimaki is this orange will deliver nearly 92 percent of the Pantone colour range and the light black will give significant grey colour balance. In this format the JV300 will produce at 22.7sq m/h in draft and 10sq m/h in standard format.


 
The JV300 has a six-colour combination that can be used for two-layer printing and in addition to the process colours, has a light C and M plus two white colours. All these colour combinations can be run in two modes, PVC and banner—with the latter capable of a mind blowing 105.5sq m/h in super draft mode.

Ink deployment is also enhanced by another interesting gadget, the Mimaki Advanced Pass System (MAPS). MAPS disperses the ink pattern on the sheet in such a pattern in a very specific array to allow the even drying of the product. Obviously the even drying of the sheet means consistency across production and happy clients.

Further to MAPS the JV300 comes equipped with a patented Waveform Control Technology (WCT). This clever function ensures the ink droplets are precisely controlled and fired in a straight line, which retains an almost perfect round shape. By maintaining the line and profile of the droplets, the printed production is then clean, sharp, and edges are not lacking in definition.

Sublime quality

Finally, there is a Nozzle Check Unit (NCU) that checks and cleans each nozzle automatically and Nozzle Recovery System (NRC), which monitors and swaps nozzles when any become clogged or blocked. Both NCU and NRC allow the Mimaki to keep production stable metre upon metre.
 
So much for the solvent application, what about the second string to this JV300 bow, sublimation inks? Obviously the technology such as MAPS and WCT and the format of the nozzle array is exactly the same and the changes come in the colour formats used.

There is a seven-colour mode that uses a M, Y, K, and Blue along with a dark black, light blue, and Light M ink formula and M, Y, K, and Blue in four-colour mode. Speeds of 112.5sq m/h (super draft) and 15.4sq m/h (high quality) for four-colour output and between 58 and 7.9sq m/h in seven colour format.

Obviously, due to the application of water-based sublimation dyes, they are used for direct skin contact and other apparel applications, the inks are all compliant with the exacting Oeko-Tex standard.

Clearly in either of the processes you choose, the Mimaki JV300 is a thoroughly reliable and high quality production tool. Commonality across the two processes can help reduce costs and simplify service and maintenance.


Added to all of the above, as we stated earlier in the review this machine comes with a smaller sibling, the JV150. The JV150 has half the number of heads as the JV300 and half the speed, but both printers fit into a very impressive line-up of inkjet printers Mimaki can supply.



Brian Sims, principal consultant, Metis Print Consultancy, www.metis-uk.eu


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