Imaging giant Canon has motored into the cut sheet inkjet market with the launch of its i300 A3 printer.
It uses Kyocera heads, with imaging taken from the ColorStream, while the paper path comes from Océ in Venlo. Tim Saleeba, general manager for production print at Canon Australia says, “The new Canon i300 will be available in Australia in about 12 months, and is designed to sit between toner based systems and roll fed inkjet. The quality matches toner and the productivity is high. It will be positioned as an affordable inkjet printer.”
Canon has also shown a B2 sheetfed inkjet press, which it intends to have available the year after next. The new Océ ColorStream 6000 Chroma also launched at drupa, featuring a new ink flow to prevent nozzles from blocking when not in use. Also new, the latest version of its Arizona flatbed UV printer, the 2200 Series, and its new cut sheet toner printer the imagePress 10000VP
The company has placed examples from its entire portfolio of production print solutions on the stand, integrated within more than 25 different live production workflows, many involving variable data processing and finishing. Canon says visitors can see more than 300 individual print applications.
Other launches include the new ColorGrip option and new inks for the Océ VarioPrint i300 cutsheet inkjet press, enabling high quality colour reproduction on standard offset coated media; the first showing at a public exhibition of the Océ ImageStream 2400 continuous feed inkjet press.
In 3D print offering, Canon has several systems working with the Materialise Magics workflow software following Canon’s recently announced partnership with Materialise.
Canon has divided its stand into seven zones: commercial print; business communications, including transactional and direct mail; publishing, including books, magazines and newspapers; advertising and creative; functional/industrial, including 3D printing; packaging; and photographic products. Each zone features a series of live workflows.
Canon has also announced new partnerships with Plockmatic and BDT, alongside solutions from both companies demonstrated in conjunction with Canon imagePress colour production presses.
The Océ Arizona 2200 Series of UV flatbed printers reach speeds of 63.4sqmhr. They feature six colour Océ VariaDot grayscale printing technology; pneumatic registration pins, an automated printhead maintenance system for hands-free printhead cleaning in less than 25 seconds per colour; a new Onyx Thrive workflow solution couples with the Océ ProCut digital cutting system; and the addition of Light Cyan and Light Magenta.
Canon says a new UV curing system with improved efficiency and heat output reduced by 15 per cent. This allows a wider range of heat-sensitive flexible media, including thin film and self-adhesive PVCs. It supports scalability as users can add additional ink channels at any time to further improve print quality and extend the application versatility by adding white ink and varnish.
Key Arizona 2200 specifications from Océ include:
• Océ VariaDot grayscale print quality, with optional support for six and eight colour printing using CMYK, light Cyan, light Magenta, White and Varnish
• True flatbed architecture for the best possible printing results on rigid media and objects
• Roll Media Option for unattended overnight printing on almost any flexible media up to 2.2 meters wide
• Delivers printed graphics and objects at print speeds up to 63.4 m2/hr
• High definition mode printing for industrial applications requiring dot positioning
• Suits rigid media and objects up to 50.8 mm thick and as large as 250 x 308 cm, printing at four, six or eight colour channels
• Standard automated maintenance system features hands-free printhead maintenance, restoring nozzle function in mere seconds
• A six/seven zone vacuum system, optimised for standard rigid media sizes
• Pneumatic media registration pins for easy and precise rigid media loading
• Works with the Océ ProCut workflow to create a seamless end-to-end process for printing and finishing.
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