solventprinter555

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.

The Durst Rho 600-series is the first wide-format printer with Quadro array printhead technology. Array drop ink delivery for wide-format is an industry first, and results in quality that is the closest to traditional or digital photographic prints.

One of the problems common to rigid piezo UV solvent printers is banding due to failure of drop placement. Durst has solved this problem with its Quadro array system. The arrays produce a better drop breakup to reduce banding and result in near photographic quality. The Rho 600 series produce a variable drop that masses between 40 and 55 picolitres for resolutions up to 600 dpi. The user can select the quality print level and the printer will adjust the drop size automatically.

According to Durst, their UV ink delivery system "results in a consistent ink droplet that creates extremely smooth, rich and clean solids and a very fine text; the Rho 600 can easily print six point reversed text."

In commenting on the Rho 600 design, Chris Howard, Durst VP marketing and CEO of new business development says: "The key from a design standpoint is how we feed the nozzles with ink. Any ink array needs a good system to keep the nozzles from starving for ink and causing nozzle dropouts. Durst's feed system is a straight line and we use an osmotic filter to keep air from getting to the ink feed for the nozzles." Durst's Quadro arrays are the first print arrays made by Durst and utilize nozzle plates from Spectra. Durst also has designed the firing pulse for the arrays.

The color function is the same on all three Rho 600 models; the difference is in the number of Quadro arrays that allow for greater speeds as you move up the models. The Rho 600, like the Rho 160 and 205, use the same UV-curing inks and allow the user to print on a wide-range of materials, uncoated and absorbent stock, and cardboard, canvas, plastic, wood, aluminum, etc. The 600 printers have 12 UV lamp intensity levels in order to adapt the curing properties to different substrates that operate at 40 degrees Celsius (one-half the temperature of other UV curing lamps). The significance of the lower curing temperature is the ability to run a broader variety of substrates through the printer as the heat on the material is lower and the materials do not warp or bend. One example is .015 Styrene.

Do not confuse the Durst Quadro arrays with traditional piezoelectric print heads common to current UV and solvent flatbed printers. UV piezo printers often have failure of drop placement that causes banding. Variable-dot technology is not new, although it is a recent innovation. Durst Quadro arrays can print from 400-600 dpi, utilizing variable ink drop sizes. These dpi settings are user selectable.

The Durst array print technology looks at one pixel at a time and is quite different from other scanning array systems. A linear array combines all pixels into one line to write one line at a time that can result in undesirable dropouts. Linear arrays are stationary when used in copiers and are a used in large format printers such as Eastman Kodak's NexPress, but these are toner-based printers. The Agfa Dotrix is the only narrow format single-pass linear printer that uses UV curing inks.