solventprinter555

at fespa digital '06 this week, durst phototechnik ag is introducing its new, low-priced rho 600 pictor flatbed uv printer - a large format printer with a small footprint and an economical price tag that makes sense for digital print facilities, sign shops - virtually any commercial imager that produces output wider than 24 inches, the company said today.

like its big brother, the rho 600, the rho 600 pictor is equipped with proprietary quadro™ array print head technology for crisp, color-accurate images at true 600-dpi resolution. available with a proven white ink printing capability, plus special-effect varnish and spot colors, the rho 600 pictor can print ditrectly onto virtually any surface up to 62 inches wide and 1.58 inches thick - at print speeds of nearly 200 sf/hr. designed primarily for rigid substrates, the rho 600 pictor has a productive hardware-and-software option for printing small signs placed at close viewing distances, durst said. there's also a roll feed-and-take-up accessory.

"durst has engineered the best characteristics of its rho 600 large-format flatbed printer into a compact, affordable platform that makes durst quality, productivity and versatility accessible to a much larger audience of commercial imagers," said a. ron waters, president and ceo, durst image technology u.s., llc. "our new rho 600 pictor can do the job of several 24-inch solvent printers while providing new output capabilities, workflow efficiencies and business opportunities to the user."

the rho 600 pictor is controlled by the same advanced linux workstation that comes with the rho 600. the rip system is comprised of durst large format printer software with an integrated cheetah rip.

cyrious software has added commercial printing products to its new control out-of-the-box software.

the first two releases of cyrious software's control "out-of-the-box" version included pricing for wide-format printer, vinyl, routed letter, and screen printing products. with this newest version users will have pricing for solvent printer on-demand, quick copy, and print brokerage jobs.

"we were thrilled to be able to showcase this newest version at this year's graph expo in chicago," said danny tangredi, marketing director for cyrious software. "the new control out-of-the-box version allows us to provide a powerful, more simplified version to the commercial printing industry at half the cost of our flagship product cyrious control customizable."

the most important decision you are going to make as a marketer is to choose the right printer for your project. whether it is a professional commercial color printing company with the most expensive rates, or the guy around the corner that provides instant printing, your ad's success depends a lot on your commercial large format printer.

you have to understand that your commercial color printing firm is your partner in making your ad campaign successful. and once you give your trust to your printer, you have to be able to sit back and relax, and know that your project is in good hands.

it is therefore vital that you have a great working relationship with your printer. always remember that your printer is your partner in your marketing efforts; and trusting them is part and parcel of having this kind of relationship.

your choice of commercial solvent printer also depends on the needs you have. your requirements may be a business card or even as monumental as a billboard. you need to have the appropriate commercial printer working for your ad. factors such as costs, quality and turnaround times should be considered when deciding on the right printer for you.

here are some of the printers available out there that you can consider for your next print job:

the instant print guy

usually these printers are situated near your area, and almost every corner has them. they are commonly made up of family members that run the business. they often offer copy work, color, and black and white printing, and they would be very interested in fast turn around times because they are set up for that kind of printing. hence, they are more interested in providing you instant production rather than specialized services.

their price would be very reasonable, and since their mostly made up of family members, the atmosphere is usually friendly and casual. their equipment range from small offset presses and copiers to small format laminators. they are mostly effective for such projects as your business cards, as well as short run print ads.

the color copy and large format printer

this company often provides specialty printing, particularly short run color printing. if you are looking at services for 1 or up to 50 pieces of color printing, then this shop is for you. most marketers go to this large format printer for their trade show graphics and presentations.

equipment range from laser color copiers to large format large format printer, as well as laminating and mounting machines. thus, they are appropriate for large format posters, displays, banners, and most especially, short run color ads. the price' it is usually a bit expensive as they offer specialized printing for a few pieces of your ad.

the sheetfed offset printer

this is further classified as mid-size and full size sheetfed. the former is appropriate for booklets that have very few pages, while the latter offers the same service but the volume and size of the presses run a 16 page signature.

whether you look for your printer online or out, it depends on your budget, but more importantly your printing needs. knowing the type of printer you need to accomplish your goals can save you so much of your resources.

do you always know what is happening in your newspaper production' can you detect bottlenecks fast enough to fix them' with printnet monitor, man roland now offers you the tools that let you do just that, giving you an overview coupled with in-depth analyses.

printnet monitor detects discrepancies at once, by comparing planning and current figures. bottlenecks or problems can be detected and fixed at once. thanks to the core key figures, large format printers will always have an overview of the respective production status to forecast the estimated end of production. and all this is based on neutral, unaltered data, regularly and reliably. printnet monitor enables different views on the print production. production runs and productivity can be tracked. in combination with man roland's closedloop systems such as register and ink control, the quality of print runs is recorded. all presettings are analysed and all relevant data stored for further use in mis systems.

in combination with further tracking and analysis tools for prepress and mailroom, control of the whole production workflow is possible. necessary data are stored in a database for further automatic evaluations. using key data, press utilization can be compared.

adapted to the solvent printer's needs, he can choose from different modules. pressreport gives a detailed report on one or more finished production runs. in the logbook, the development of each production is displayed as a graphic. all operating notifications and counter readings are listed, and special occurrences are especially visualized. waste figures, production speed, utilization and data on consumables such as plates, ink and paper consumption are calculated. in combination with a planning system, large format printers can analyse potentials for optimization based on target/actual comparisons.

pressstatistic allows comparing key data and standard statistics over a given period, regarding production times, waste figures, web breaks, consumption data and more. presstracking mirrors the actual status of your production systems, gross and net, taking into account parameters such as waste, speed, downtimes, and the estimated end of production. the data can be retrieved in a clear screen view from any authorized workstation. pressquality gives a better calculation basis especially for ink presetting, automatically analysing and comparing presettings with current settings. finally, reportgenerator generates printable reports in all usual file formats such as pdf.

printnet monitor is based on man roland's pecom automation system and printnet's pressmanager. further enhancements in data analyses such as the documentation of reasons for downtimes can be done with the help of man roland's production data acquisition tool.

When Gerber Scientific Products rolled out their Solara UV2 hybrid large format printer last year, it was positioned for shops wanting to print durable outdoor and indoor signs, point-of-purchase displays, banners, and backlit signage that were instantly dry and ready to cut and apply. Building on a number of features from the original Solara UV design, the Solara UV2 offers the option to print either roll-to-roll or as a flatbed and can accommodate a variety of materials up to 60-inches wide including rigid materials up to .5-inches thick. With only a small conversion process of the included flatbed table, the unit can also be switched to accept different material types, enabling shops to run a full material portfolio for all kinds of output applications.

The first US shop to have the Solara UV2 was The Sign Shop of Birmingham, AL, who installed the unit in November 2005. "We are a medium sized shop with five employees," says Brad Ward, production manager. "We do a large volume of work with the small amount of people we have on staff. We handle a lot of real estate signage, wholesale signage, retail banners as well as metal signs."

Ward says that in the summer of 2005 they were discussing adding new equipment to their mix. "We were strictly a solvent printer-based shop but we decided we wanted move into other areas by adding a flatbed, so we started doing a lot of research on that market. We liked what we read about the Solara and its extensive color gamut. We were the first in the country to beta test and purchase the Solara UV2. We liked it right away when it was installed in November," reports Ward.

The major reason they went with the Solara was its color gamut. "There are not many printers in the UV market right now that can touch this large format printer in color reproduction. Gerber's inkset and multi-drop technology allow us to produce a broad range of beautiful and vibrant colors critical to the production of stunning signs and graphics. The colors we are getting out of the Solara UV2 are amazing'we are printing reds and other colors that our solvent large format printer couldn't even dream of hitting. Brilliant colors that really pop, really outstanding reds, oranges and greens. That was the main reason we chose the Solara over other products in its class," he points out.

The Solara UV2 comes supplied with profiles for various medias. "Creating custom profiles or downloading third party profiles will not be an issue with this large format printer. Gerber obviously took special care in developing quality media models. Because there is no ink evaporation there will be virtually no color inconsistency between substrates from different manufacturers. In addition, setting up for various changing material thicknesses is a breeze. It takes roughly three minutes to switch substrates. We have the option to print roll-to-roll on flexible materials. When jobs require rigid materials, we use the flatbed. The conversion from one printing method to another is a simple, one-man operation. With minimal training virtually anyone can run this printer," says Ward.

He reports that the unit has also helped speed up their production cycle. "Since we've had it in the shop it has allowed us to turn jobs around quicker with less labor involved. We can get jobs out in one day that used to take two or three days. We've taken what was once a three step process and made it into one. With some of our customers like real estate firms we now can just print it out and let it go to. Running the Solara UV2 takes only one man to do the job. In a shop of five that is very important. Plus the ability to hit vivid spot colors is invaluable to our company. Sign painters red is no longer a problem," he says.

Ward adds that the UV inks allow easy maintenance with low odor and no ventilation requirements or harmful VOCs. He also likes the large format printer's sturdy construction. "It is a very solid machine. It's built like a tank," he concludes.

Across the pond in Great Britain is another Solara UV2 user'Glen Titherington of Signmax. "We had the Solara UV2 installed in October 2005. We were asked to be a Beta test site by Spandex, who are the European distributors for Gerber. We chose the Solara because it is a cost effective introduction to direct to substrate printing. The print quality is fantastic," says Titherington.

Signmax is a sign manufacturer specializing in wide-format printing and CNC router work. "Our company was established 1996 we now have seven employees. Most of the work we do involves full color printing onto vinyl and banner as well as direct to substrate with the Solara."

Titherington is also impressed with the unit's color reproduction. "The unit's top features are the vibrancy of the colors compared to solvent printing and the ease of use because there is no drying time for the prints and no overlaying onto the substrate. The Solara has been a real time saver for us. It has helped my business in that I can now offer new services to my clients and because of the time saved on overlaying prints, the staff's time is freed up to do other things," Titherington concludes.