Epson SC-S60660L/S80660L
Ideal for the production of work like point-of-sale, signage, and wrapping graphics, Brian Sims explores two printers from Epson’s SC-S range and what makes them stand out from the crowd
Principal consultant, Metis Print Consultancy
Wednesday, 04 May 2022 16:15 GMT
The SC-S60660L is ideal for producing work including point-of-sale and signage
An explosion of colour
Epson, as we all know, has a large number of printers that can produce high quality print on any number of substrates. When it comes to producing work such as point-of-sale (POS), signage, vehicle wrapping graphics, and advertisement hoardings, it has a portfolio of five printers in the SC-S range which stand out as market leaders. Specifically, the Epson SC-S60660L and SC-S80660L (two from the range) have a substrate width of 1,626mm (64") so sit comfortably in the arena to serve the advertising industry.
The difference between the two machines is mainly the ink configuration. The SC-S60660L comes with a dual bank of process colours (CMYK), however the SC-S80660L comes with the same process set but with the ability to print light CMK but also orange, red with metallic, and white if needed.
Regardless of which printer you choose, both come with inkjet heads containing the now proven Epson Thin Film Piezo (TFP) technology. The technology contained in the head is deemed by Epson to be a market leader and is in a large number of its printers. In 2007 the company came to market with this new concept TFP technology which is used across the complete range of printers and is now truly tried and tested.
The Piezo element of a print head is common to all printers using this technology and has to be produced in very thin sections. Epson chooses not to follow this path and they actually use a proprietary process to form a dense piezo crystal element that is just one micron thick on a silicon wafer.
The heads are produced with what Epson calls Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) which means elements of the head are placed 84.7 microns apart on silicon or glass. With ink channels and nozzles produced by the MEMS process, Epson claims the PrecisionCore TFP print heads can produce almost perfectly round dots with great precision.
The PrecisionCore TFP print heads have a print chip less than one hundredth the width of a human hair in thickness. By using materials this small you can have a relatively small print engine and large ink deployment.
The PrecisionCore TFP print head can place dots extremely accurately in both size and position in the colour gamut which is why Epson claimed in a 2013 PrecisionCore White Paper that the raw specification of DPI is now an “obsolete way to compare print systems”. Epson also argues that resolution measured in dots per inch (DPI) is not necessarily the best way now to quantify print quality. The company does agree that DPI is part of the methodology and greyscale and accurate dot placement is also a key consideration.
Supporting ink technologies
The dot is laid onto the substrate in a combination of three patented technologies; Multilayer Halftone, Look-up Table (LUT) and Micro Weave.
The purpose of the use of the Multilayer Halftone is to ensure the banding, which can be an issue with inkjet technology, is overcome by using three different layers of halftone ink dot deployment. In doing this, the random nature of the placement of the dot means the boundary between the screens are not produced.
The purpose of the use of the Multilayer Halftone is to ensure the banding, which can be an issue with inkjet technology, is overcome by using three different layers of halftone ink dot deployment”
LUT technology has been developed in collaboration with the Munsell Color Science Laboratory at the Rochester Institute of Technology in the US. The purpose being to increase the colour fidelity and give a smoother graduation between colours.
Finally, the Micro Weave technology ensures smooth lay down of the ink compensating for any issues that come from the print head moving perpendicular to the substrate. With all three technologies, the images produced are vibrantly coloured.
The Piezo electric print head uses the well proven specially developed inks which are known as the UltraChrome GS range. This range of inks are developed to be Nickel free and low odour meaning the SureColor range of printers can be installed in office environments which mostly now have air conditioning for air flow.
The UltraChrome GS range of inks are also developed with the ability to print up to 98.2% of the PANTONE solid coated colours which greatly enhance the printer’s ability to produce the eye-catching effects needed for advertising products. UltraChrome GS inks can print on a wide range of substrates also demanded for POS products such as vinyl, clear film, canvas and speciality papers.
The UltraChrome GS range of inks can print up to 98.2% of the PANTONE solid coated colours
Colour and the accurate deployment of dots is nothing without the substrate itself being controlled. The Epson S60660L/S80660L both come with Advanced Auto-Tension Control which is a system to ensure that the substrate is always under control regardless of it being fed to the machine printer, whilst it is being printed on and rewound or dispatched.
Ease of operation
All printers in the range come with Epson Edge Print which is a software solution to make preparation and production as simple as possible.
The SC-S60660L features anti-static pressure rollers and an electronical pressure control system
The main interface shows you a list of the current and past jobs for you to review and edit if needed. A set of tools sit in the toolbar at the top of the page and to the right of the split screen is a pane to allow the manipulation of the image needed for the job under preparation. Each Epson Edge Print solution can control up to four printers at a time, with tabs at the bottom of the screen detailing what each is doing.
The Epson Edge Dashboard is an integrated product where you can download up to 250 different media profiles ensuring the printer is set at an optimum performance level so the most demanding client is satisfied.
To be sure you have done all this work and remained in profit, the Epson SC-S range of printers are equipped with an LFP Accounting Tool measuring ink and substrates so you can account for the cost of each print down to a penny.
Coupling all this technology with laser-welded solid construction of the printer itself, anti-static pressure rollers and an electronical pressure control system all wraps up the Epson SC-S60660L/S80660L printers into very capable machines.
Brian Sims Principal Consultant, Metis Print Consultancy, www.metis-uk.eu
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