Canon Australia has launched a new 64” roll-to-roll wide format printer, the Colorado 1640, the first printer using the company’s new UVgel technology.
Canon says the new wide format printer is designed for high quality indoor and outdoor graphics. It has fully automated media loading of multiple online rolls and prints unattended with on-the-fly quality assurance.
The company says the UVgel ink technology takes the best of eco solvent, latex and UV to produce a high quality wide gamut odour free instant drying ink.
Canon also claims the Colorado is the fastest 64” printer on the market. It has a top speed of 159sqm per hour in production mode, and delivers high quality POP prints at 40sqm, faster than any competing system in this segment says the company.
The Colorado 1640 also produces instantly-cured prints on a wide variety of media including heat sensitive media and saves money with segment leading low operating costs.
Canon is pitching it between the lower cost eco solvent printers and the high cost UV inkjet systems. Pricing has not been finalised but will be between the two, so somewhere between $40,000 and $150,000. Ink costs per litre will be comparable with other inks, but Canon says in real terms printers will be paying between 20 per cent and 40 per cent less for their ink.
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Adrian Morris, general manager for display graphics, Canon Australia says, “We can now offer an industrial production machine, suitable for even small to mid-size shops who have peak demand, or fast turnaround demand.
“At the same time, large shops with high volumes now have an option with lower cost of ownership and operation. We have had great success over the last decade with Arizona flatbeds and now we welcome Colorado as its roll to roll stablemate.”
Garry Muratore, product manager display graphic markets, Canon Australia says, “We are thrilled to debut the Colorado 1640 at Pacprint in Melbourne in May. This will be part of a global introduction that sees the printer coming to our part of the world only a few weeks after Europe and the US introductions.”
It features a heavy-duty drawer mechanism that holds up to two rolls of media simultaneously, each weighing up to 50kg. The two rolls can be of the same media type and size or different media and either can be fed into the print engine without operator assistance.
Canon says the Colorado 1640 caters for both indoor and outdoor applications. It delivers a large colour gamut, similar to solvent inks but combines this with the environmental benefits and safety profile of latex and UV-cured systems. Resulting in odourless, VCL-free, durable, colour-fast, high quality prints even on the thinnest, most heat- sensitive media. The UVgel technology features thin ink dispersion with almost no discernible physical profile on the media surface.
The UVgel technology features ink consumption much lower than competitive technologies, as much as 40 per cent lower.
The new UVgel technology is a UV curable ink that instantly gels on contact with the media. Canon says it is has an advanced self-aware piezoelectric printhead technology, an LED-based UV system curing without adding any damaging heat to the media and continuous printhead nozzle monitoring with performance compensation.
The UVgel printheads incorporate patented continuous nozzle monitoring to detect and correct any underperforming nozzles. In the event of nozzle failure, corrective maintenance is automatically performed.
Orders can be made now with installations to be made in the second half of the year. The Colorado 1640 will be showing at Pacprint from May 23-26 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.
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