Screen Printing - June/July 2017 - 27

to the public in May at the Ligna 2017 woodworking show in
Hannover, Germany. Based on EFI Cretaprint's single-pass
line for the ceramic tile industry, Cubik is envisioned not as a
single model but as a family of single-pass printers built
for specific segments of the décor industry. As with the
Cretaprint line, EFI will be leveraging its printer, ink, and
color management capabilities to provide fully integrated
systems in each market it addresses.
Limited details about the Cubik unit displayed at the Ligna
show were available at press time, but it featured a 71.4-inch
print width and was printing images directly to a variety of
wood products and laminates at speeds up to 246 linear feet
per minute. The system used UV LED inks and can be configured with up to eight printing bars, allowing for a variety of
decoration effects beyond CMYK printing.

SPGPrintS Pike
As reported in the June/
July 2016 issue, four
companies are currently manufacturing
single-pass textile inkjet
systems: MS Printing
Solutions (the LaRio),
Konica Minolta (the
Nassenger SP-1), Atexco
(the Honghua Vega-1), and SPGPrints (the Pike). SPGPrints
recently announced two new Pike models for the décor
market at the 2017 Heimtextil show in Frankfurt, Germany.
Unlike the original Pike system, which uses water-based
inks for textile applications, the two new models both use
UV-curable inks. The Pike 700 printer uses a 27.6-inch central
impression cylinder with fixed-array printheads and curing
units to apply graphic images, textures, and protective coatings to the laminating foils used to make floors, wall panels,
and countertops. Surfaces such as stone, wood, brick, and ceramic tiles can be printed and then finished with gloss, matte,
satin, or silk coatings. Textures can also be added to enhance
the look and feel of the laminated surfaces. The second new
Pike model, at 51.2 inches wide, is designed to directly print
doors, tabletops, ceiling tiles, and panels.
Both new Pike printers use SPGPrints' Archer variabledrop technology. SPGPrints is currently working on a line of
printers for wallpaper manufacturers.

induStrial inkjet CP562
Konica Minolta and Industrial Inkjet have collaborated to
develop a single-pass inkjet printing system that they believe
could be competitive with conventional wallpaper printing
methods in terms of productivity, production speeds, and
cost per roll. At the 2017 Heimtextil show, the companies
invited wallpaper producers to see a demonstration of a
single-pass inkjet system for digitally printing typical media at
linear speeds up to 230 feet per minute.

John Corrall, managing
director of Industrial Inkjet, believes digital printing
of wallpapers will expand
beyond specialized applications such as wall murals:
"Our view is that wallpaper
printing is about to see
a massive shift to digital
technology thanks to the improvements in inkjet capability."
The unit displayed at the Heimtextil show was based on
the company's Print Engine CP562 (its standard color print
engine for applications such as wallpaper printing requiring a
22.1-inch print width). The company is also offering a larger
27-inch version designed for the second standard wallpaper
width. The CP562 uses Konica Minolta KM1024i grayscale
printheads with 360 x 720-dpi resolution. Unlike analog wallpaper printing systems, the repeat length is virtually limitless.
One big challenge in creating the demo system was formulating an ink that would not only work on a wide range of
common wallpapers, but would also meet indoor air quality
standards and durability tests. Corrall indicates that the solution came through a water-based polymeric formulation that
is thermally fixed onto the media after printing.
The unit was displayed printing matte images onto a
variety of standard wallpaper media including paper, PVC,
and non-woven materials. Textured and pre-embossed media
can also be printed on the system. The engines are available as standalone units with media transports, dryers, and
image-verification systems, or as retrofit digital modules to
be incorporated into existing production lines.

the lonG View
It might take years for manufacturers of décor products to fully
embrace what might be possible with high-speed, single-pass
inkjet printers. "The InPrint Décor Survey and Report" published
in 2016 by the organizers of the InPrint Show, I.T. Strategies,
TCM Conference Management, and IMI Europe confirmed that
décor is poised to be the next big area of growth for industrial
inkjet. But the survey also identified factors that may be delaying
adoption of inkjet technology. Factors include a lack of expertise by potential users, and concerns about perceived ink costs
and the ability to successfully print on challenging surfaces. It
may also take time for the manufacturers in these industries to
develop business models to leverage such dramatically different
production capabilities, though the tile industry offers a compelling example of how quickly a market can embrace these ideas.
For now, the one certainty is that we're just seeing the beginning
of single-pass inkjet for décor applications.
Read more about single-pass innovations and how
they're shaking up the graphics and signage market
at screenweb.com/singlepass.

june/july 2017

http://www.screenweb.com/singlepass

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Screen Printing - June/July 2017