Océ demonstrated at the recent Graphics of the Americas conference in Miami a new entry-level hybrid ink jet printer that uses UV ink technology.

The hybrid, called the Océ Arizona 60UV, is designed for small print shops that want to be able to handle a variety of outdoor-durable large-format graphics without making an inordinate technology investment, the company said.

"The Océ Arizona 60UV gives lower volume shops some of the same capabilities as their bigger competitors," said Joyce Virnich, vice president of marketing for Océ’s Wide Format Printing Systems division. "The ability to print onto both rigid and flexible media gives these shops the ability to compete on price and turnaround time."

The 60UV uses piezo printing technology and UV-curable inks – rather than aqueous or solvent inks – to produce outdoor-durable graphics. It comes with collapsible, rigid-media tables that let operators print directly onto rigid substrates up to 60-in.-wide by 96-in.-long by 3/8-in.-thick, the company said. The printer is designed to make it easy to print directly onto a variety of uncoated rigid substrates, such as foam-core style mounting board, PVC sheets, styrene and aluminum-plastic composites. And because it also handles roll-based media, it can be used to print banner and PSA vinyl in widths up to 64 in., the company said.

The UV advantage

The printer uses UV curable inks rather than solvent inks. Since UV-curable inks cure instead of dry, nozzle dropout caused by ink drying in the print heads is avoided, reducing maintenance and increasing printer productivity, Oce said. UV-curable inks also image well on a wide range of media, and since they don’t emit fumes, they don’t require an expensive fume extraction system.

The hybrid uses Océ ColorBlend six-color printing technology to deliver an apparent resolution of 600dpi. Print speeds are up to 55 square feet per hour in four-pass mode. The printer requires Onyx Workflow Software Version 6.0 or later.

The Oce Arizona 60UV is currently in customer trials and is expected to ship in the second quarter of 2004. Pricing will be disclosed at a later date, the company said.