Board option

Board option © swissQprint

The flatbed printer can be equipped with the ingenious board option, holding oversized panels and difficult roll media firmly in place under full-power vacuum during the printing process. When the printing beam reaches the end of the table, a sophisticated feed system takes over and advances the substrate automatically. Printing continues seamlessly as soon as the substrate is positioned exactly at the new origin.

Impala Board Option © swissQprint

The appeal of this process lies in a combination of absolute precision and high efficiency. Flawless end-to-end printing on rigid media up to 4 metres long is a standard routine. The large format inkjet printer really comes into its own when handling stretchy, heat-sensitive or very slippery substrates. Materials weighing up to 100 kg literally float across the table on an air cushion generated by reversing the vacuum system. Heavyweight substrates are thus effortlessly positioned.

Intelligent feeding

Transporting print media with high precision by purely mechanical means is one thing. The underlying intelligence is something else, because every print job is different. The best moment to feed the substrate and the optimal choice of printing origin must be carefully considered if results are to be impeccable all the time. And this is just what the controller of our large format inkjet printer are capable of automatically.

Cropping

Situation: a print subject that exceeds the length of the printing table and requires building-up in multiple layers. Intelligent solution: the controller of the large format inkjet printer identifies the optimal crop and origin points, then processes the first segment: starting with primer, for example, then ink, and finally an effect varnish. The print medium remains stationary until all of these process steps are completed; then it is advanced with high precision and the printing process for the next section begins – without any visible transition between them, of course.

Clustering

Situation: a variety of print images arranged in over-length rows. Intelligent solution: the controller of our large format inkjet printer identifies the optimal nesting and masks out other print images. After the printing pass is completed, the controller advances the media, unmasks the next group of images, and sets the machine to continue. Result: each and every print image is laid down on the medium in a single pass.