Durst exhibited the five-metre Rho 512R UV inkjet roll printer and Rhotex 322 UV inkjet soft signage printer at SGIA Expo 2013, which was held from 23-25 October in Orlando.
Both printers made their North American debut at the expo, and joined the Rho 1012 continuous inkjet production system in Durst booth #2001. They are the first Durst printers equipped with the company’s new 12-picolitre Quadro Array print heads – plus its breakthrough Variodrop™ printing technology, with its critical implications for precision imaging such as grayscale printing.
The Rho 512R: is the latest addition to Durst’s Rho 500R Series of superwide UV inkjet roll printers and sets the standard for high-end industrial inkjet quality and productivity. Its very small drop size of only 12 picolitres combines with a precision carriage system, linear motor drive, advanced Quadro Array technology, and print heads with more than 30,000 nozzles each to achieve optimum print quality without loss of speed. Unattended printing of large rolls, low production costs and low ink consumption make the Rho 512R one of the most economical and efficient printers ever. It also can simultaneously print three 1.6m / 5-ft. rolls side by side.
The Rhotex 322: is the most productive soft signage industrial inkjet printer available. Its exceptional print quality, based on a drop size of 7-21 picolitres, is not compromised by speed. Designed for printing textiles for use in the home, wall coverings, domestic textiles and interior design, as well as fashion applications, the Rhotex 322 is the ideal solution to digital printing of the widest range of soft signage. Polyester fabrics printed with Rhotex water based dispersed dye inks are entirely environmentally friendly, recyclable and disposable.
Variodrop strictly controls drop size modulation by utilising a Durst process called ‘multipulsing’. This technological breakthrough delivers two voltage pulses – with the second pulse pumping a precise amount of ink into the droplet before it detaches from the head’s nozzle plate. This is all done without forming any ‘satellites’.
Christopher Howard, Senior Vice President of sales and marketing for Durst U.S. said, ‘We’re very pleased to offer this important new imaging capability on a range of Rho production printers to the SGIA audience to satisfy the industry’s most demanding output and operational requirements. Our multipulsing process at the heart of Variodrop addresses the challenges of grayscale and other highly precise printing applications with impressive results and at production speeds. Compared to the often uneven droplets formed by most available technologies, the drop shape we’re able to produce is uniform, and placement is always evenly spaced.’
