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Following their much publicised global launch that Hybrid was proud to host at The Print Show last autumn, Mimaki’s Plus series printers, cutters and integrated printer/cutters have been very warmly received, with many already installed in sign making businesses and graphics producers across the UK and Ireland. Here’s an exclusive in-depth look at the cutting-edge technologies included in the new range.
Mimaki has long been synonymous with digital textile printing. It was back in 1998 when the company’s first digital textile printer – the Mimaki TX-1600S – was launched. Since then Mimaki has continued to innovate, enhancing its portfolio and capabilities even further in the digital textile printing industry. In fact, Mimaki has launched an abundance of ground-breaking new products and solutions, such as the JV5 in 2006 or the TS5, the first industrial printer that reached 30-40 linear meters/hour, in 2009, just to name a few. And now Mimaki is doing it again! Following the acquisition of Italian company La Meccanica, Mimaki launched the Tiger series, high-volume digital textile printing systems. The latest model, the Mimaki Tiger-1800B MkII, is yet again revolutionising the textile printing market.
Mimaki has long been famous for its SS21 solvent ink; a great all-rounder that has stood the test of time due to its vibrant colour reproduction and lasting durability. Over the years, the SS21 ink range has expanded from CMYK to include light black, white, orange and metallic to offer a full spectrum of colours across far reaching applications. The outdoor durability of these inks is superb, with unlaminated prints lasting up to 3 years and that can be up to 5 if lamination is carried out. Like all of Mimaki’s ink ranges, the solvent inks are available in small cartridges for short runs and smaller production setups, but there’s a bulk ink system available that provides huge capacity and can be left unattended, even overnight.
The release of Mimaki’s MUH-100-Si metallic ink for the UJF-7151Plus brings a strong competitive edge to Mimaki customers, allowing them to provide added value to the brands who use their services. The world’s first metallic UV ink is created by mixing a bright pigment into the ink, MUH-100-Si can place metallic ink directly onto the product without the need for a separate manual transfer process, as is the case when applying glitters or foils to produce a metallic effect. Decorative options such as printing both gloss and matte tones, texture expression with embossing effect, and full-colour metallic expressions can be achieved by printing coloured ink overlaid on metallic ink.
Mimaki leads the way with LED UV technology and continues to evolve its already substantial and award-winning range of innovative flatbed printers along with the more recent additions of UV roll-to-roll print and cut as well as grand format roll to roll. This solid portfolio of LED UV hardware feeds a number of buoyant markets including direct-to-object, rigid signage, industrial prototyping, personalisation, soft signage and exhibition graphics. However, along with spearheading the LED UV hardware technology, much of what is creatively achievable is only possible with the phenomenal UV inks Mimaki has brought to market.
The medical industry increasingly generates 3D patient data with MRI, CT and ultrasound equipment. Dutch software company PS-Medtech specialises in the 3D visualisation of these scans of the human body by means of their own imaging software Vesalius3D. The company teamed up with Mimaki to print the images their software generates in full colour. The results are astonishing.
Mimaki has long been at the forefront of print technology when it comes to hardware, having a heritage that dates back to the 1970’s, but its breadth and pedigree of inks is well worthy of discussion as Mimaki continues to pioneer the way with new ink types and special effects. A company that is never at rest, Mimaki is continuously developing new technologies in inks, hardware and software, not just because they can but because there is a drive to move the industry forwards.
The Mimaki UJV55-320 LED UV printer uses Mimaki’s latest flexible LED UV inkset to produce banners, backlit and point of sale graphics at up to 3.2m wide. With all the benefits of LED curing, including low running costs, the printer also features the option to run two narrower rolls concurrently, an inline lightbox for checking backlit output on the machine and the capability to run roll media up to 100kg in weight. Packed full of advanced features and Mimaki’s core technologies, the UJV55-320 makes light work of large retail and exhibition graphics with the help of its Soft Media Transportation Kit.
