Industrial build quality gives the Acuity Prime Hybrid capacity to hold reels up to 100kg
Fully Flexible Production
Fujifilm has been extremely successful with its Acuity Prime series of printers with the manufacturer pushing the envelope of both quality and production, carving a name for itself for being able to print on both flexible and rigid media.
Never one to sit on its laurels, Fujifilm released at FESPA 2023 a new model in the form of the Acuity Prime Hybrid which clearly expands the capability of this series of printers.
The Acuity Prime Hybrid has one major and significant difference (it might seem obvious but does need saying), it can print on both flat materials and now can print on reel-fed substrates too. This now greatly expands the ability and scope over that of the Acuity Prime model.
However, when you look at the printer, Fujifilm has been clearly investing significant time and energy to ensure the new machine retains a small footprint. It would have been very easy to add the new media handling equipment expanding the capability at the cost of both the aesthetics and size of the printer.
This has not been the case with the Acuity Prime Hybrid, the printer does not look any bigger, and the media handling tables for rigid substrate seamlessly fit into the body of the machine. Should you wish to switch to a reel-fed substrate, you simply remove a table front and rear of the printer, fold them up, and wheel them to some convenient place in the shop. With the tables removed, the media handling system is directly in front of you.
Should you wish to switch to reel-fed substrate, you simply remove a table front and rear of the printer, fold them up, and wheel them to some convenient place in the shop”
Just because the reel handling is tucked away under the table of the printer, it is by no means undersized or lacking the ability to hold media. The Acuity Prime Hybrid has the capacity to hold reels up to 100kg in weight and this is down to Fujifilm retaining proud reference to maintaining ‘industrial build’ quality within the machine, not only in the media handling but throughout the machine.
Ready To Go
Fujifilm logically made no significant changes from the Acuity Prime when it designed the Hybrid model. Both models have the same robustly engineered overarm which carries the printhead.
The Acuity Prime Hybrid is the printer that focuses on a CMYK inkset but with very good reason. As with any printer of this nature, there are six printing modes you can run production on depending on speed and colour laydown and there is image smoothing to ensure the highest quality of image regardless of production mode selected.
Fujifilm is confident in the fact that printing in one of the quicker production modes does not change the colour gamut, which can be an issue with a number of other printers. The manufacturer can demonstrate that regardless of the speed, there is no need for additional light cyan or magenta ink to fortify the image as the colour gamut is just as wide.
The major upside to this is the cost of operation as utilising a process set keeps costs down. However, should you require it, the Acuity Prime Hybrid has up to seven channels which can include the use of clear, white, or a primer if there is the need for the use of additional image support.
The printer contains the market-leading Ricoh Gen 5 printheads which can have variable droplet sizes from 7 to 21 picolitres depending on the production mode selected.
The use of this printhead obviously sets the Acuity Prime Hybrid in the direction of quality output. The ability to do this comes not only from the inkjet heads themselves but the investment that Fujifilm makes in the production of the inks.
The Uvjet HM LED inks are developed and manufactured in the UK by a large group of technicians and due to this the Acuity Prime Hybrid can lay down a low film of ink but the strength, high pigmentation, and vibrancy means the colour gamut is wide as claimed. With this in mind, the manufacturer is keen to demonstrate the machine initially in the top speed mode to win over the potential client with print quality, only then to advise there is potential for more.
Highly pigmented inks mean higher production speeds do not affect colour gamut
Being LED UV in nature, the colour is not the only benefit, as we all know the LED aspect of the curing means energy consumption is very low and the product is not only dry on demand but heat does not affect the more delicate flexible substrates you are likely to be printing.
Another feature pulled from the Acuity Prime and one that Fujifilm is particularly proud of is the Automatic Printhead Maintenance System (APMS). Fujifilm has designed a system for the printhead that allows the machine to make the decision as to when the cleaning cycle should take place.
Through market research, the manufacturer found that printers were spending time at the start of production preparing and cleaning the printhead, which they claim was costing printers around 30 minutes at the start of the day or week.
The Acuity Prime Hybrid uses the APMS to prepare the printer when it is idle, it cleans and cycles the inks in the device such that when you come to use the machine, it is set and ready to print as soon as you are.
Users In Mind
Fujifilm goes to great lengths to ensure that the design of all its equipment has the operator at its core. This is the same for the Acuity Prime Hybrid and one of the key features of the flatbed version is a very user-friendly GUI which means the operation of the printer is clear and easy. To ensure the maintenance of the printer is equally as simple, there are status lights for the ink levels and access to the printhead, when needed, is straightforward.
There are a number of less prominent features on the Acuity Prime Hybrid that makes the operator's life easier without them really knowing. Equipment built into the print carriage such as ionising static bars will make printing on some more troublesome substrates easier. This type of function on a printer is not overly obvious but it all shows the focus and investment Fujifilm makes to ensure its equipment runs smoothly with the minimum of operator intervention.
Overall it is clear to see why the Acuity Prime Hybrid has been brought to market; it relies on proven equipment with the addition of new features expanding capability.
Statistics
- Colours: CMYK/W/Cl/primer
- Max print width: 2000mm
- Production speed: 141 m2/hr.
- Max reel weight 100kg
Brian Sims Principal Consultant, Metis Print Consultancy, www.metis-uk.eu
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