Although a new player in the Australian market, swissQprint has a long heritage manufacturing UV flatbed printers, and are now sold in Australia by Positive Camtec
A philosophy of ‘One machine for the future…’ has led manufacturer swisssQprint to a modular design for its Oryx and Impala models, which share a common platform and allow for all features to be added on at any time. At any time, users can add features such as a 2.5m roll-to-roll, an oversize board option with precise automatic indexing, white, varnish, primer and expanded gamut colours like orange, green and violet. Both units offer single head configuration with the ability add on more heads for extra speed as the workload increases.
The Oryx and Impala offer a standard print size of 2520mm x 1520mm and a maximum sheet thickness of 50mm. The Oryx offers up to eight colour channels, and uses a 512 nozzle print head with a maximum print speed of 67sqm per hour. The Impala allows for nine colour channels and utilises a larger head with 1024 nozzles. It boasts a 100 per cent speed increase over the Oryx with a top speed of 134sqm per hour.
With the roll-to-roll add-on, the operator can print flexible rolls up to 2.5 metres wide. Adriano Gut, manager of Australian supplier Positive Camtec, says, “Equipped with the Board option, the machine automatically indexes rigid sheets with precision. Sheet sizes up to 2.5 x 4 metres and 100 kilograms can be printed with the standard support tables. Longer sheets can be used with the addition of extra tables.
“The swissQprint Roll-to-Roll system allows the machine to work in two ways. In standard fixed beam printing mode, the gantry is stationary and the media moves after each pass of the print head. However, for heat sensitive or stretchable media, picture wise feeding mode combines the best of flatbed and roll-to-roll into one seamless production. The flexible roll media is printed with full vacuum suction on the table with the print head moving in both X and Y directions just as it would for a rigid sheet. After the segment has printed, the media is precisely rolled forward and printing continues. Both modes allow for unattended operation, increasing productivity and efficiency.”
The Board option allows for the printing of oversize sheets (sheets larger than the print bed size) on the same machine without permanently using floor space. Gut says, “By automatically indexing rigid sheets, swissQprint has created an endless flatbed. No conveyor belt is required, resulting in full vacuum table operation, precise edge-to-edge printing, and overcomes common issues like slipping and lifting of sheets.
Once the machine has printed as much of the sheet as the bed size allows, the vacuum arm picks up the sheet and precisely indexes it to the next print position and printing continues. This procedure is replicated as many times as required to complete the entire sheet.”
Extra colour
Both Oryx and Impala have extra colour channels so you can choose from channels like white, varnish or primer. The colour gamut can also be extended by the addition of orange, green and violet inks, and any Pantone spot colour can be purchase with a minimum quantity of five litres.
The company has paid particular care developing its white ink system. Gut says, “White ink is renowned for settling and separating, and requires special maintenance for trouble free printing. The printer is constantly monitoring the white ink system, keeping the inks circulated and in motion right down to the nozzles in the print heads.”
He adds, “Varnish printing by swissQprint offers a range of effects, allowing two-dimensional prints to jump off the page with a three-dimensional feel. You can feel the ripples in a football, the petals in a flower or beads in a necklace. You can accentuate a logo or product with a high gloss finish, or protect your prints with a tough matte digital guard. Varnish allows you to go beyond standard digital printing, and it is available as a simple add-on with swissQprint.”
Gut says, “Digital Primer was developed by swissQprint to increase ink adhesion on glass, anodised aluminium and stainless steel. Digital primer is only applied where required, so there is no change to the look and feel of non-printed areas of the substrate. Another string in the bow of Impala and Oryx users; ready to add-on at anytime.”
Swiss precision
Based in the Swiss Rhein Valley, an area renowned for its technical expertise, swissQprint emerged as a new company in 2008 after the withdrawal of Zünd from the UV printer market. Established by the former Zünd development and manufacturing team, swissQprint continues a 10 year success story with a new generation of UV flatbed printers.
Adriano Gut says “Maintaining the same team that was responsible for the original, highly successful UVJet-Combi printer was a key factor in the success that swissQprint has enjoyed over the past four years.
The united experience of over 500 Zünd installations worldwide and attention to end user requirements, combined with Swiss precision and engineering have led to rapid growth.”
In 2011, the company doubled the size of its manufacturing facility, and now has more than 200 installations.
