Rapid-X Digital, the Australian developer of low-cost digital label printing systems using Memjet technology will release a new one pass print and finish label press in the first half of this year.
Nick Mansell, general manager of Rapid X Digital says, “It’s PDF files in and finished labels out the other end.”
That will be followed by a universal finishing system for digital label presses, which Rapid says will enable label printers using virtually any digital label press to create inline one pass print and finish.
Named the Rapid XL220 the new 220mm web width design will reflect an all-in-one approach, similar to that found in the production cut-sheet digital press market, where data goes in and finished products come out.
Mansell says, “The growth in short run digitally-printed labels is such that sections of the market are calling for a simplified but efficient end-to-end press solution. This means a machine where files are sent over a network and the job can be set up from a central console, for all parameters including die-cutting, matrix stripping and laminating or coating.”
The new Rapid XL220 press will retain its Memjet printhead heritage but will look like a single unit rather than a modular three or four-piece ensemble. Touch-screen control will access all functions. Variations will include the Rapid XL220C with coater and XL350, a 350mm web width version now under development.
A significant new development will be the option of an inline flexo coating station. Mansell adds: “Coating digitally-printed labels is becoming essential. Our long experience in making flexo presses and all of the ancillary unwinding/rewinding units that go along with flexo, has served us well in designing the new label press. Whether digitally or conventionally printed, labels are still about converting and embellishing so we are fusing digital and flexographic technology in this new press option.”
The new Rapid XL presses will sell for under AUD$100,000 and are expected to be available from March 2014. The first XL220 has been manufactured and will go into a beta customer soon. The XL220 will run a 220mm web at 18 metres per minute at 1600 x 800dpi or 9 metres per minute at 1600 x 1600dpi. It prints on any inkjet-receptive self-adhesive label stock, producing finely detailed full colour labels with exceptional vibrancy, using Memjet water-based inks.
The new inline finishing system for digital label printers is currently under development at Rapid's Chatswood centre. When ready it will be able to plug onto the back of virtually any digital label printer up to 330mm wide. Mansell says, "There are many great digital printing systems coming onto the market, such as those from the likes of Epson, EFII and Screen, and the new Rapid inline finishing system will enable one pass producion on these presses.
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