With the HS upgrade, Port Melbourne, Vic, based Omnigraphics now operates its Inca Onset at up to 1,450 square metres per hour - the fastest in Australia. In addition, automation and robotics have reduced job handling and change-overs to one-fortieth of what they once were. it was supplied by Fujifilm and made in the UK by the Screen-subsidiary Inca Digital.
The Inca Onset X3 with robotic loading & HS upgrade at Omnigraphics' Port Melbourne facility
The 20-year old Omnigraphics continues to be a pioneer in the large format digital print industry, leading in technology and investing in new equipment.
The Inca Onset X3, upgraded to HS spec, is the world’s fastest flatbed printer. With a maximum print bed size of 1600mm x 3200mm, the standard capacity of the X3 is 915 sqm per hour and with the HS upgrade, a blitzing 1,450 sqm per hour. That's around 283 full-size beds per hour.
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Robotic sheet handling is key to productivity |
With 3 separate rows of CMYK Fujifilm Dimatix Spectra print heads, the machine is effectively printing 3 layers of the image per pass. The printheads jet a 14 picolitre droplet (40 picolitres for white ink) size providing the perfect balance of quality and volume for the display & POS market. With the addition of automation including the loader and robotic unload, Omnigraphics can maintain this sort of print speed across numerous products and ensure accuracy within microns, allowing perfect reproductions, paneling and double-sided applications. With specialty modes such as spot colour gloss, finish contrasts within the same print can be created, allowing a satin background and highlighting certain areas with a gloss finish.
With the HS upgrade and automation, Omnigraphics will reduce a 20 minute material change down to 30 seconds. This 20 minutes saving enables the operator to print an additional 480sqm and with this happening on average 8 times a day, equates to an extra 3,840sqm per day or 1 million sqm a year, an enormous amount of additional throughput potential.
The HS comes with a new version of Fujifilm Uvijet ink, designated OX, specifically designed to be more accommodating towards plastics, especially Polypropylene other and PVC-free products and to ensure that the ink cures properly at maximum speed.
Fujifilm Speciality Ink Systems is the former Sericol company, based in Broadstairs, Kent UK. Sericol and Inca Digital co-developed the first flatbed UV machine - the Eagle - in the late 1990s and Sericol was acquired by Fujifilm in 2005 - gaining with it worldwide distribution of the Inca Onset products.
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| Publisher Andy McCourt at FSIS in 2017 |
Wideformatonline publisher Andy McCourt visited the FSIS plant in 2017 and found it to be a truly remarkable centre for UV ink excellence.
Of the new OX inks, David Burton, Commercial Director, Fujifilm Specialty Ink Systems, said: “The launch of the new Uvijet OX ink set marks what we at Fujifilm believe to be a milestone in ink development for the inkjet industry – a high performance specialist ink with the strongest adhesion to the widest range of challenging rigid plastic substrates.
"This adhesion is achievable even at the highest speeds of the new Onset X HS, without an impact on the quality of the finished print. We believe the combination of the Uvijet OX ink set and the Onset X HS platform represents the most powerful, high performance, wide format inkjet system in the industry and once again sets a new standard in terms of quality, productivity and versatility."
