The Maidenhead-headquartered business unveiled its UV Light hybrid inks, which combine the benefits of both solvent and UV inks, and accompanying Lightbar - a shielded UV lamp tube with a vertical slot for the media to be fed through, in November 2012.
At its launch the technology was compatible with any 54" or 64" Roland wide-format machine that used Epson DX4 and DX5 printheads, although the UV640PC incorporates Epson's latest DX7 printheads and is Colorific's first conversion of a Roland print and cut device.
Colorific's UV Light inks are one of the new breed of hybrid inks that aim to combine the best bits of UV and solvent inks while eliminating their drawbacks.
As such they retain the vivid colours and flexibility associated with solvent inks, while eliminating the nasty fumes and potentially hazardous VOCs; they also offer the instant curing and durability of UV without the inflexible finish, which can lead to cracking.
The ink itself is a mixture of primarily UV curing polymers carrying pigment, with a small amount of solvent that in effect dilutes the polymer and helps key it to the media's plastic surface.
This best-of-both-worlds approach eliminates the need for outgassing and significantly reduces media shrinkage, from 2-3mm with solvent and eco-solvent engines to less than 1mm, in line with natural post-production media shrinkage.
“Solvent, eco-solvent and latex have been a mainstay for wide-format houses producing print-and-cut applications, but none is really the perfect solution," said Shaun Holdom, business development director at Colorific.
"The UV640PC addresses their conventional disadvantages and turns them into major positives. We’re confident that the extension of Lightbar into print-and-cut will offer phenomenal advantages, and we look forward to taking the UV640PC on tour this year."
The UV640PC will begin shipping in March and will be on show at Sign & Digital UK in April and Fespa Digital in May.
The Roland vs640i has a maximum resolution of 1,440dpi in high-quality mode and can print at 21sqm/hr in production mode.
