Graph Expo: A Digital Printing Redux
Presstek has been contributing to the "big iron" at Graph Expo in recent years by having its 75DI on the show floor, but this year it opted to display just a single tower of that press in its booth along with a four-color 52DI digital offset press. Another carryover demonstrated in the U.S. for the first time was Virtuoso, an in-line color management and sheet inspection system for the Presstek 75DI that inspects each sheet as it passes through the press at full speed.
MGI brought its multi-substrate Meteor DP8700 S to Chicago for its U.S. debut. It can accommodate formats up to 13x19˝ at speeds approaching 4,260 full-color A4/letter pages per hour, and offers quality up to 3,600 dpi. Prints can be re-run through a desktop laser printer with no smudging or ghosting.
Labels and Wide-format Printing
EFI launched its high-speed Jetrion 4900 inkjet label printer at Labelexpo, weeks before Graph Expo, but also brought it to Chicago. It combines UV inkjet printing and laser finishing in a modular, upgradable system. At Graph Expo, the company showed the Fiery FS100 Pro DFE for the first time in the U.S. New features include HyperRIP, a performance-enhancing technology, and Fiery JobMaster, an advanced makeready solution for producing complex jobs.
Epson did not bring its new SurePress L-4033A label press to McCormick Place, but the SureColor S50670 wide-format model earned a Must See 'Ems award. Introduced just prior to the show, the solvent inkjet S50670 and companion S70670 model are 64˝ printers incorporating the manufacturer's MicroPiezo TFP printhead technology for increased print quality and performance.
Wide-format printing also took center stage in Agfa's booth, which showcased the new :Anapurna M2540 FB entry-level, flatbed UV inkjet printer (six colors plus white) and :Jeti 3020 Titan hybrid model for high-volume and high-resolution applications. The M2540 FB, a flatbed machine, is designed to print on rigid substrates, while the 3020 Titan is field upgradable from a base configuration with 16 heads to a maximum 48 heads for outputting at up to 2,432 square feet per hour.
John Parsons (john@intuideas.com), former Editorial Director of The Seybold Report, is an independent writer, ghostwriter, and editor. He is the co-author of the interactive printed textbook, Introduction to Graphic Communication, on the art, science and business of print, which has been adopted by Ryerson, Arizona State, the University of Houston, and many other schools and vocational training centers. Custom editions of the book are under consideration by major printing companies and franchises for internal training purposes.
