Belcom Introduces Aprion Digital Ink Jet Printer for JIT Corrugated Market
Belcom North America LLC (Bellwood, IL), one of the first companies to pioneer the Digital Airbrush Printer in the USA in 1992, has launched of the BEL2000 Flatbed Ink Jet Printer, developed with a focus primarily on the corrugated paperboard and fiberboard packaging and display markets.
Privately held, Belcom signed an exclusive OEM agreement and contracted Israeli-based Aprion Digital, an affiliate of Scitex Corp., a world-class digital equipment manufacturer, to build its printing device that produces a 63-in. x 102-in. sheet in less than a minute at 600 dpi resolution using six-color process water-based inks.
Coming on the heels of Drupa in Dusseldorf, Germany last month, the BEL2000 will be shown for the first time in the United States, October 23-27 at SuperCorr 2000 in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Challenging flexo
This non-impact, plate-less device requires no films or special pre-press. Belcom believes that the technology will at some point challenge the flexographic industry, which in recent years displaced letterpress.
Belcom, which began digital equipment distribution in 1992 with the introduction of the 10-foot wide, Japanese made Michelangelo Digital Airbrush Printer, established markets in North, Central and South America, the Caribbean, the Philippines, the Middle East and Africa, marketing digital solutions to display, exhibit and billboard companies. The company has developed systems for printing on over 100 surfaces and successfully produced photographic imagery on wood, metal, carpet, plastics, glass, ceramics, textiles and stone to name a few.
The 28-foot long, 12-foot wide and 7-foot high BEL2000 is being targeted towards corrugated packaging and display printers that wish to focus on just-in-time, short-run production printing. Apart from its proprietary drivers, the system employs the use of standard software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, PageMaker and Quark Express to create its files, and easily transfers them with any number of available recommended RIPs without the worry of high pre-press costs.
To maintain economic viability, the output of the BEL2000 could vary from as few as a single 63-in. x 102-in. sheet or at half size and cost as little as $4.25 (half size) to $8.50 to produce, inclusive of the material, ink, labor and amortized overhead cost. With short-run production of displays and header cards as an example, a semi-skilled operator could produce 500 sheets in a 12-hour shift and yield revenues of over $10,000 at a selling price of just under $0.50 per square foot.
The BEL2000 is designed using Aprion's patented core technology, known as ‘MAGICTM' (Multiple Array Graphic Inkjet Color), based on ink jet heads having a multi-layer construction. These are only a few millimeters thick and can be formed into virtually any length and width of printing area. Its current generation of products is rated at 25,000 droplets/sec, however Aprion ink jet heads have demonstrated a potential of being capable of speeds up to four times as fast at 100 kHz. This represents printing speeds of around 800 running ft/min.
Aprion has developed ink technology that can be tailored to suit a wide range of standard substrates. These include water-based inks that can even print durable images on difficult materials such as vinyl. Water-based inks that demonstrate water and light fastness as well as high abrasion resistance and inks that match high speed printing capabilities of up to 33KHz.
A series of UV curable inks that do not require any evaporation during the curing ("drying") process have been developed and are currently being long-term tested. This type of ink is used for industrial applications in markets where light and water fastness, high solvent resistance or extra abrasion resistance is required, will allow the display printer to produce goods on ethylene, propylene and styrene products as the inks become available.
For more information: Belcom North America LLC, 1638 Westchester Dr., Suite 103, High Point, NC 27262, Tel: 336-841-1160, Fax: 336-841-5366, Email rkd@belcomcorp.com
Edited by Bill Noone