Mimaki Engineering, a leading manufacturer of wide-format inkjet printers and cutting machines for the sign/graphics, textile/apparel and packaging/industrial markets, recently announced the release of the new ES3 metallic ink ready for release in South Africa in October 2010.
Shown for the first time at the Mimaki booth at Labelexpo Europe in Brussels last year September 22-26 2009, the metallic silver eco-solvent ink was used to digitally print attractive and eye-catching short-run digitally printed labels, POP displays, packaging, decals, seals and T-shirt designs.
This is thanks to the Mimaki innovation - Mimaki has introduced a unique solution to the problem of making consecutive contour cuts by integrating the award winning JV33 and CG-FXII series continuous crop mark detection ability, which not only ‘kiss cuts’ but also die cuts. CJV30 series is an integrated print and cut device that will automatically contour cut without any steps in between. This delivers a seamless workflow, which utilises Mimaki’s vast experience and expertise in print and cut.
Since the news of the new metallic inks at Labelexpo, Graphix Supply World, exclusive distributors of Mimaki in Africa, have sold a number of the CJV30 print + cut machines to the packaging industries, to use for samples and digital short run labels and packaging designs.
In addition, to the new metallic ink the CJV30 technology allows for printing with white ink which means that printing onto transparent substrates like water bottle labels are easily achieved. White Ink Overlay Print function uses high-density white ink and offers simultaneous white and full color printing. It creates vivid full color images on both opaque and transparent substrates.
‘The exciting thing is that the new ink is compatible with existing hardware,’ said Duncan Jefferies, Marketing Manager for UK Mimaki distributor Hybrid Services. ‘It’s another tool for our customers to add to their creative arsenals without having to make additional investments in new hardware.’
Jefferies added that Mimaki dealers had warmly welcomed the availability of the retro-fittable metallic ink.
The ink is compatible with the firm's JV33 and CJV machines, spanning a range of widths from 60cm all the way up to 2.6m-wide.
Although full details have yet to be released, he added that the metallic ink could replace one of the two white channels in machines running CMYK, light cyan, light magenta and two whites across eight channels.
Jefferies said there was no sign that the Mimaki metallics needed a pump to keep the particles in suspension, unlike some of the present competition.
‘The fact the ink runs on existing machines suggests it won’t need a pump,’ he said. ‘With the white inks, which themselves have large particles, we recommend you agitate the cartridge once per day, and that’s been successful for many years.’
Benefits of the metallic ink include:
Higher valued print products with a new silver ink
Metallic effects, such as gold or bronze as well as other colour shades, can be achieved by combining Mimaki’s new silver ink with full colour ES3 ink, thus realizing astounding and eye-catching effects on print products. Silver inks enable print service providers to offer higher value to their customer’s creative projects.
Compatibility with standard JV33 and CJV30 large format printers
Existing Mimaki’s standard printers such as JV33 and CJV30*1 are compatible with the new silver ink. It is not necessary to acquire additional devices or equipment. Just by switching to ES3 ink and updating the firmware and the RIP software, Mimaki’s silver ink can be used. Corresponding products: JV33-130/160/260, CJV30-60/100/130/160, TPC-1000.
Mimaki’s proven RIP software Raster Link Pro5 for simplified output
Printing with silver ink requires no special knowledge or technical skills. Users can just choose the appropriate colour from the metallic colour library in Raster Link Pro5 and print their jobs with silver ink. In addition, Raster Link Pro5 enables output of all shades of metallic colours by calling up the feature chart for silver ink. Users can also devise their own or the appropriate customers’ colours and metallic shades.
“Based on already successful solutions, Mimaki offers greatest choice ranging from small to large format solutions for our customers to expand their business opportunities. This must be a powerful tool to express their creativity in a wide variety of applications,' says Sjinich Uehara, General Manager of Graphics Division R & D. |
