Océ Colorado 1640 64” roll-to-roll printer

Canon Australia is proud to announce a “game changer” for production printing in the sign and display market. A new 64” roll-to-roll printer ready to make its debut at Pacprint in May is designed to deliver unprecedented productivity for high quality indoor and outdoor graphics. Customers will be able to easily handle peak periods with fully automated media loading of multiple online rolls and confidently print unattended with on-the-fly quality assurance. The Océ Colorado 1640 also produces instantly-cured prints on a wide variety of media including heat sensitive media and saves money with segment leading low operating costs. The Océ Colorado 1640 will revolutionise 64” roll-to-roll sign and display printing.

Canon Australia’s General Manager for Display Graphics Adrian Morris said we can now offer an industrial production machine, suitable for even small to mid-size shops who have peak demand, or fast turnaround demand.

“At the same time large shops with high volumes now have an option with lower cost of ownership and operation. We have had great success over the last decade with Arizona flatbeds and now we welcome Océ Colorado as its roll to roll stablemate.”

UVgel Technology
At the heart of the new Océ Colorado 1640 is Canon’s recently announced UVgel technology. This technology combines a radically new UV curable ink from Canon that instantly gels on contact with the media; an advanced “self-aware” piezoelectric printhead technology; an LED-based UV system that cures without adding any damaging heat to the media; and continuous, on-the-fly, printhead nozzle monitoring and performance compensation. These unique technologies come together to create a 64” roll-to-roll printer that sets new standards for quality, productivity, automation, application range and operating costs.

Breakthrough Productivity
The new Océ Colorado 1640 is the fastest 64” printer on the market. It boasts a top speed of 159 m²/hr and delivers high quality, POP prints at 40 m²/hr, faster than any competing system in this segment. The new, technologically advanced UVgel ink instantly gels on contact with media resulting in precise dot gain and positional control, perfectly repeatable images and instantly-cured, durable prints. The state-of-the-art low temperature LED-UV curing system moves independently from the printing carriage thus enabling uniform, post-print UV curing that further contributes to print speed and print quality. Confident unattended printing, automated quality assurance, unattended roll change and reduced print waste, significantly contribute to overall productivity.

Innovations in Automation
The Océ Colorado 1640 sets a new standard in industrialisation and automation.  It features a heavy-duty drawer mechanism that holds up to two rolls of media simultaneously, each weighing up to 50 kg.  The two rolls can be of the same media type and size or different media and either can be fed into the print engine without operator assistance. If an unknown media is loaded, the printer will automatically measure its thickness and adjust the print gap accordingly. This ensures the best possible print quality and eliminates the risk of printhead crashes. This information is then stored in the media library along with other media parameters so that the next time this media is loaded, the printer knows exactly how to handle it.

The UVgel printheads incorporate patented continuous nozzle monitoring to detect and correct any underperforming nozzles. During each and every printing pass Canon’s patented nozzle monitoring technology automatically checks all nozzles using acoustic sampling and even detects whether nozzles are going to misfire before they actually do! In the event of nozzle failure, corrective maintenance is automatically performed.

Broad Application Range
The Océ Colorado 1640 caters for both indoor and outdoor applications.  It delivers a large color gamut, similar to solvent inks but combines this with the environmental benefits and safety profile of latex and UV-cured systems.  The result is odourless, VCL-free, durable, color-fast, high quality prints even on the thinnest, most heat-sensitive media.  Canon’s unique UVgel technology features ultra-thin ink dispersion with almost no discernible physical profile on the media surface.  Prints feel uniquely smooth, unlike any other latex or UV ink technology and satisfy the highest environmental standards for indoor usage featuring a virtually odourless profile.

As with all roll-to-roll printers, an important factor in print quality, and subsequently application range, is the accuracy with which the printer advances the media.  Built on a heavy, robust frame for class-leading rigidity and equipped with industrial components, the media handling system uses an optical feedback loop that continuously monitors media advance.  Using virtually invisible printed index marks at the edges of the media, the system measures media advances in real-time to automatically correct the subsequent step size as needed.

Lowest Operating Cost
The Océ Colorado 1640 leads the way in terms of low operating costs.  Canon’s unique UVgel technology features ink consumption much lower than competitive technologies, as much as 40 per cent lower. This obvious technical advantage is matched with a market-competitive ink price, making the ink cost of production significantly lower than competing technologies.  Looking beyond the easily measured cost savings found in every print, additional savings are realised through unsurpassed automation features that reduce operator-machine handling time by up to a third compared to competitive products and by a fair and transparent service cost model.

Canon’s Product Manager for the Display Graphic Markets Garry Muratore said we are thrilled to debut the Colorado 1640 at Pacprint in Melbourne in May.

“This will be part of a global introduction that sees the printer coming to our part of the world only a few weeks after Europe and the US introductions.”

Canon expect the first Australian installations to take place in the second half of the year.