Vanguard VK3220T-HS: Moving On Up

Imagine the scenario of a quite well-trodden route of happily progressing with your business. You notice an increase in business and a change in client profile as to what they want from you and over a coffee, it dawns on you or your directors that new equipment is needed.

No one immediately jumps to the website looking for new equipment as firstly it is not a cheap option and equally you face another more troubling issue – how do you go about egressing one printer prior to installing the new version?

As the second coffee time board meeting takes place, several other issues start getting added to the ‘Why do we need to change?’ list which seems to be getting larger than the ‘Look at all these new machine benefits’ list. All in all, your heart is saying, we can’t do with the hassle of a new installation, but the head says, we must update and upgrade.

Upgrading to new equipment is never an easy task but with the Vanguard VK3220T-HS, the hassle of this is removed

Well, if you had the presence of mind to have installed a VK3220T-HS from Vanguard (part of the Durst Group of companies), your problems may have all been solved by the end of coffee number one.

The Vanguard VK3220T-HS is a 3.2 x 2m UV LED flatbed printer that can be configured in different specifications be that single, double, or triple rows of printheads. This obviously gives an increasing range of printing outcomes depending on which are selected.

The key principle of the Vanguard VK3220T-HS is that these updates can be completed on-site, post-installation. This means the hassle of deciding which machine you need, the space it needs, the power required, the new software needed, and every other possible angle of new equipment installation no longer needs a thought.

Vanguard does not however just expect you to call them up and ask for the upgrade, they have embraced the whole process in what they call the Growing Your Business Together Program where they take you through the process, step by step.

Growing Together

The program has five elements to it and support is available throughout the desired upgrade. Firstly, the obvious point is the printer can be updated on-site with the minimum amount of disruption to your business, compared to installing a new machine.

The second element is the hands-on workshops Vanguard can provide at its Digital Experience Center giving support on the changes to the machine. During the upgrade, and after, to ensure it is seamless there is multi-level support available from certified Vanguard engineers to give you peace of mind.

To ensure the correct upgrade is selected, Vanguard can provide its partners with up-to-date market trend guidance to ensure your thoughts on what to do are matched against or ahead of what the market direction takes. Finally, at any time, Vanguard can support its printing partners with technical information via consultative sales, marketing, and technical aspects of any of the equipment.

Printhead Configurations

Regardless of what machine is selected, at the heart are the industrial standard Kyocera KJ4A printheads which can deliver ink droplets as small as 4 picolitres. The base colours available are the process CMYK but there is the option of moving up to adding white and varnish if this is the upgrade route taken. As mentioned earlier, the Kyocera printheads can come as either single, double, or triple configurations with the maximum being 15 printheads provided by three rows of five.

Regardless of the configuration, the Vanguard VK3220T-HS uses an electro-magnetic drive and variable dot technology to ensure there is a very confined placement of each dot making lines much sharper and text clearer at even the highest of print speeds at up to 1,800dpi.

All of the inks and varnishes are cured by integral LED UV systems and the eco-credentials are nailed down by them all being Greenguard Gold compliant. This means they are VOC- and NVC-free meaning they meet strict criteria allowing them to be used on products needed in schools and healthcare facilities.

This combination of colours and varnishes enables a wide range of applications which can be applied to an equally impressive series of substrates such as papers, acrylic, aluminium, composite panels, wood, banners, polyester, polycarbonate, polystyrene, (high-density) PVC, flexible foam panels, glass, and many other materials.

The size of the substrates that can be printed extends to the largest extremities of the printer being 3.2m x 2m in width and length and up to 100mm in height. Given the size of this substrate, avoiding damage to the printing head is paramount and the VK3220T-HS comes with integrated anti-collision systems.

Speed and quality with inkjet printers are always competing against each other but the flexibility of this type of printer is one of the unique selling points. Each of the configurations comes with four different speed selections: draft, express, production, and high quality.

The output of various configurations then depends on the number of heads you selected but as an example, a single row machine in draft mode will produce up to 2,637sq ft per hr whereas a triple row machine will produce up to 3,875sq ft per hr. At the other end of the range, the values for the same machines in high quality mode are up to 215sq ft per hr and up to 559sq ft per/h respectively.

Holding Tight

Size is nothing without control and the security of the substrate on the VK3220T-HS bed itself has been considered as much as the inkjet systems themselves.

The printer has a seven-zone vacuum table which is made of aluminium and each of these zones can be selected wherever needed to ensure the substrate is held fast – a vital component when you need high-quality printed materials. With the aforementioned size of substrate possible, another element of the printer that Vanguard considered carefully was the flatness of the table. It is controlled during manufacture within +/-50µm across the whole width and length which considerably adds to the accuracy of the dot placement.

Vanguard has clearly looked to see how it can build long-term relationships with printing partners and the VK3220T-HS and the associated Growing Your Business Together Program clearly seem to provide a plan for success.

Statistics

Resolution 1800dpi
Colours CMYK, W, and varnish options
Printheads Kyocera KJ4A
Printhead configuration Up to 15 in 3 rows
Maximum substrate thickness 100mm
Maximum print area 3200 x 2050mm

Brian Sims Principal Consultant, Metis Print Consultancy, www.metis-uk.eu