With a product portfolio already boasting an extraordinary range of printing technologies, Mimaki has announced the addition of their latest range topper in the UV curing field. Benefiting from pioneering technology that features in the award winning and much heralded hybrid LED UV curing UJV-160 model, the new Mimaki JFX-1631 is a quite stunning grand format offering, marking the company out as real innovators in the print technology arena.
Featuring a low power consumption, long lasting and low heat emitting LED UV curing system, the JFX ticks all the right environmental boxes from the off. Saving some two-thirds the energy of alternative machines, the LED technology has many other advantages – not least of which is the massive reduction in running costs. Drawing so much less power is an obvious saving, but with the lifetime of the LED being around 5 times longer than regular metal halide bulbs, it's a big saving in consumable items too. With typically reduced ink usage compared to solvent machines, Mimaki's UV offerings run at lower costs - and for jobs that need lamination, total turnaround time is a fraction of that needed for solvent prints, as no gassing off is required.
One inherent feature of the LED technology is that it requires no 'warm up' time, so relatively instant printing can be achieved - switching on and off as required. Whilst this further reduces the energy consumption of the printer, it also extends the life of the LEDs even further - to somewhere in the region of 5,000 hours.
Creatively, the JFX leads the way as well - benefiting from the LED UV curing system drastically reducing the amount of generated heat, which allows the machine to print to a broader range of heat-sensitive media; such as foam boards, PVC and styrene panels that would typically be prone to bowing under heat.
The JFX-1631 incorporates eight new print heads to achieve a print speed twice that of previous models, and whilst very quick, Mimaki's new head positioning system uses high resolution linear motors for ultra-fine step accuracy and dot placement. The use of this technology results in further enhanced printing of solid colours and even allows output of legible, 3 point text.
Mimaki offer two types of UV ink for the machine - either the proven flexible ink set; created in conjunction with 3M, that features on the UJV-160, or a hard set that also features a white for printing to clear or coloured substrates. The flexible inkset stretches up to 200% (dependent upon media) and can be cut through, creased and scored after printing - meaning printed packaging substrate can be produced, or full bleed display graphics that could challenge alternative UV technologies on other machines.
With a bed size of 1.6m x 3.1m, the JFX-1631 falls firmly into the high end, grand format category of machines, and with its ability to print to substrates up to 50mm thick, offers a vast array of creative possibilities. Mimaki has a primer to improve ink keying to certain materials - expanding the capabilities of the JFX beyond the basics of display graphics output, towards glass, metals and other more demanding substrates.
Available through Mimaki's exclusive UK & Ireland distributors, Hybrid Services Ltd, their National Sales Manager, John de la Roche said; "Mimaki extend their heritage in the performance UV market with the launch of the JFX, and the features that we've added to this machine are immense. It simply confirms our commitment to innovation, and meets the needs of our customers both environmentally and when it comes to sheer out-and-out performance and print quality."
