Page 25 - Print21 Magazine March April 2021

Print Profile
to large billboards and such products as building wraps. Its larger dot size, 9.0 picoliter, makes it incredibly fast.
The latest addition to the Cactus printing arsenal is a third Fujifilm Acuity Ultra, being installed when I visited in February. Three Ultras in a row present a decisive vote of confidence in favour of Fujifilm as the brand du jour. “Ultra is some of the newest technology on the market. We saw it first at Fespa in Munich two years ago. It had its issues and there have been many upgrades since then. It’s now a far better machine,” said Ferrel.
On the morning it was busily printing two rolls of backlit posters. With a 2.5 picoliter dot, it can output incredibly fine images for close up viewing. Its UV ink makes it ideal for imaging on a wide range of substrates. However, Ferrel is adamant that he’s not committed
to any one brand, that he’s open to the next development in the sector regardless of the badge on the machine. He speaks approvingly of an anticipated renaissance of EFI in the region. He also sings the praises of the Durst technology.
Such is the reputation of the business as a proving ground for
new technology, Ferrel relates that manufacturer reps have told him they can expect to sell three to five more machines into the industry on the news of a Cactus investment decision.
Eliminate the
bottleneck
While undoubtedly enthusiastic
about the advances in inkjet printing, he is just as keen to praise the new automated finishing equipment investment. “It’s a bit of a furphy about print capacity because you’re only as fast as your slowest point. Sometimes printing capacity is overrated. We’ve automated a lot of our finishing to give us more efficiency,” he says.
A fourth Fotoba trimmer is the latest addition to the finishing process. It joins a big Aristo five-metre flatbed cutter, which was another Australian first. Opposite is a Miller Weldmaster, another Australian
first that has radically transformed production. According to Ferrel, it used to take two workers 34 minutes to finish a supersize billboard, which the Miller now does in three minutes under the control of one individual.
...continued on page 26
Dark horse inkjet
It’s fair to say... no one saw inkjet coming.
The computer-controlled precision of placing a micro droplet of ink exactly where it should be
has developed with surprising speed over the
past couple of decades. Previously dismissed as incapable of sharp, imaging, non-contact printing, ie inkjet, is now a precise method that can compete on the finest detail with high-end offset.
From its earliest development in continuous inkjet (CIJ) where a stream of ink is broken up and diverted by electrodes, the technology has settled into two main camps: thermal and Piezo. HP and Canon are among the main developers of thermal, while Epson, Fujifilm, and Konica Minolta, among others, carry the flag for Piezo. As the name implies, thermal heats up the ink to expel a droplet while Piezo relies on a vibrating membrane to create drops of differing size.
There are optimal technologies suitable for every requirement. CIJ is still in use today, notably with Kodak’s Stream Inkjet Technology, providing high density coverage, especially in packaging print.
Then there is the question of what type of ink to use. The choice is between solvents, water-based, Latex, and UV cured, all presenting different
values and advantages. It comes down to horses
for courses. Early on solvent-based inks were the choice. In recent years the arrival of eco-solvents has reduced the complaints about solvent odour but it still requires ventilation in the printing room and a cooling off period, anywhere from six to 12 hours or more to allow the solvent fumes to evaporate.
The undoubted virtues of solvent-based ink include the wide gamut of colours with bright vivid repro. Because it cuts into the substrate to bond
it is immensely flexible. This makes it ideal for such jobs as adhesive products and canvas. It also costs less than other inks and has proved to be a workhorse of the wide format industry since its advent. Despite environmental objections it seems assured of a continuing life.
HP Latex ink for wide format started off
with a misnomer. It’s not made from latex, the natural product from the rubber tree. Its make- up is a closely kept secret. It’s best described as a synthetic polymer. There are plenty of imitators all sharing the same latex branding, for example from Canon and Mimaki.
It’s virtues include being able to process directly from print without any ‘curing.’ Because there’s
no smell it’s promoted for indoor applications, wallpapers, in-store posters etc. Initially there were some issues with colour vibrancy and even still solvent aficionados claim the technology is better and delivers sharper colours. But there’s no doubt that latex has made a huge impact in the market with the range of applications expanding all the time.
UV curing has a foot in both camps. It’s more expensive but it prints on the widest range
of substrates, dries instantly and has good flexibility when it comes to wraps. It’s recognised as being best for boards, glass and white prints. Consistency of results, along with resistance to abrasion and good flexibility, make UV inkjet an increasingly popular choice among printers.
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