BLOG: First Look at the new Mimaki UJV100-160 LED UV Printer
With plenty of excitement surrounding the launch of Mimaki’s all-new UJV100-160 LED UV wide format printer, we were delighted to receive our demonstration unit in the run up to Christmas. The 1.6m printer has enjoyed significant interest since its announcement in November with the price / performance ratio looking highly favourable, but there’s a lot more to the £15,995 machine than a simple equation.
An ideal window graphics solution
A significant amount of this interest comes from the performance of the new printer when running it with white ink alongside the process colours. Mimaki has been at the forefront of development of white UV cured inks for a decade and a half and this experience shows in the print quality, opacity and brightness of the new LUS-190 white along with the speed at which the printer can produce a two-layer print onto either clear material or a coloured substrate. This makes the UJV100-160 an ideal solution for printing window graphics, with a reverse colour print backed up with the opaque white produced in a fast, single process that’s instantly dry and ready to trim and install.
The new printer uses a similar print engine to the hugely capable, and understandably popular Mimaki UCJV Series, with its built-in cutting capabilities and advanced multi-layer printing features. However, the new UJV100 delivers that core technology in a simpler, print-only solution that sports a highly attractive price tag. Offering instantly dry ink with a vibrant colour gamut, the UJV100-160 is ideal for producing indoor and outdoor work onto a considerable array of media.
Helping businesses diversify
At Hybrid we’re already noticing that the printer is being seen as a solution that will really help businesses win more business. Because of its ability to offer up such a range of applications, it’s the ideal tool for companies that are looking to achieve flexibility and diversity in their end product offering. Be it a textile lightbox, recycled PVC banner, polyester pop-up, paper, or even canvas, it’s a remarkably adept bit of kit.
Equally, because of its capabilities, it could just as easily fit into a more specialist operation that requires the printer to perform consistently on one specific material – such as within a manufacturing environment where the instantly dry inks enable artwork to be printed without holding up the whole process waiting for it to dry. Of course, this impressive trait is of huge benefit to signmakers and print providers too, with the need to be able to speedily “print and apply” or even “print and ship” continuing to heap pressure on digital workflows. Any way of removing this brings time and control; so trimming banners, laminating prints if required or simply rolling a print inside a postal tube the minute it comes off the machine are big, big bonuses.
Find out more
All in all, we share the excitement we’re seeing from our reseller partners and prospective customers and the interest we’ve enjoyed confirms the potential the new Mimaki UJV100-160 has to help businesses produce more and different products, win new customers and improve workflows. For a further introduction to the printer, have a look at this short video on our YouTube channel, download the PDF brochure or contact the team at Hybrid to discuss it further.