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Press Release For Immediate Release |
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| MUTOH UNVEILS “INTELLIGENT INTERWEAVING” PRINTTECHNOLOGY FOR SPITFIRE & ROCKHOPPER 3 PRINTER SERIES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rockhopper 3 & Spitfire to become Rockhopper 3 / Spitfire “Extreme” … |
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Oostende, Belgium, November 29th, 2006 – Belgium-based wide-format inkjet printer and sign cutting plotter manufacturer Mutoh Europe nv announces its new Intelligent Interweaving print technology - called “i²” - for the Spitfire 65/90 mild-solvent and Rockhopper 3 eco-solvent printer series. This new Mutoh proprietary printing technique brings about a substantial printer performance increase with regard to print speed and print quality, together with an unprecedented level of user comfort. Along with availability of its new intelligent interweaving technology, Mutoh Europe also announces a redubbing of its Rockhopper 3 and Spitfire 65/90 printer series into “Rockhopper 3 Extreme” and “Spitfire Extreme”. Rockhopper 3/Spitfire Extreme printers are the result of an engineering program involving both hardware and firmware modifications. The new Rockhopper 3 Extreme and Spitfire 65/90 Extreme printers will offer - next to the benefits already offered by the new i² printing technology - a major speed boost. |
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Mutoh Intelligent Interweaving Print Technology Mutoh’s patent pending Intelligent Interweaving printing technology, called i² [pronunciation: I square / ae skwer], is a revolutionary new way of laying down ink onto a substrate. |
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Whereas wide-format printers commonly lay down ink onto a substrate in a “straight line”, Mutoh’s intelligent interweaving technology will enable the printer to lay down the ink in a totally different way, e.g. in a “wave form pattern”. |
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| Traditional Ink Placement (Mutoh or not) |
Intelligent Interweaving (Mutoh Pat. Pending technology) |
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In doing so, depending on the application or media used, the new i² printing technique will vastly reduce or neutralize typical shortcomings inherently linked to inkjet printing, such as horizontal or vertical banding, missing or misfiring nozzles, step mismatch, mottle, etc.., since subsequent printing swaths are seamlessly “interlaced”. For its Rockhopper 3 and Spitfire 65/90 printers, Mutoh has predefined two new “weaving modes” called “Sign/Quality” and “Picture/Speed”. Whereas “Sign/Quality” should be used for signage and poster applications, containing big areas with solid colours, typography or critical gradients, the “Picture/Speed” weaving mode is a preferred setting for non sign images, pictures & photographs. |
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| Example of “Picture/Speed” weaving mode on Rockhopper 3/Spitfire 65/90 printer. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mutoh’s i² technology offers a twofold benefit. At first, the technology offers an overall better printing quality. Secondly, the feature boosts user-friendly operation, since the user hardly needs to spend time to fine-tune his printer to obtain TOP output quality on a wide variety of media. Mutoh’s new i² technology will be a standard feature on the new Rockhopper 3 / Spitfire 65/90 “Extreme” printers. The feature is also perfectly retrofittable on any installed-base Rockhopper 3 and Spitfire 65/90 printer via a simple firmware upgrade of the machine. Mutoh Europe is recommending the end-user to arrange upload of the new firmware onto their unit on the occasion of a periodic maintenance visit carried out by a Mutoh authorized technician. On installed-base Mutoh Rockhopper 3 / Spitfire 65/90 printers, the new i² technology will offer the same 720 x 720 dpi production speed levels as before - 6 m²/h on uncoated vinyl with Rockhopper 3 and 13 m²/h on uncoated vinyl for Spitfire 65/90 - but moreover at an overall better printing quality, especially on critical media. Reprofiling of media is not immediately required, even though reprofiling with activated weaving mode will bring a significant gamut boost. |
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NEW Mutoh Rockhopper 3 Extreme and Spitfire 65/90 Extreme printers Next to the new i² printing technology, the new Rockhopper 3 and Spitfire 65/90 Extreme printers also incorporate a NEW 540 dpi high speed production printing mode. |
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Incorporation of the new 540 dpi print mode was made possible through hardware modifications on the existing Rockhopper 3/Spitfire engines. Hardware modifications involved integration of a newly designed main board incorporating a processor offering twice the speed as before, as well as redesign of the head carriage suspension to enable faster movement of the head carriage required for 540 dpi printing.
Next to the significant improvement in overall printing quality made possible with the i² printing technique, the new Rockhopper 3 / Spifire 65/90 Extreme engines will offer a significant speed increase at 540 x 720 dpi. In 540 x 720 dpi print mode, Rockhopper 3 Extreme is able to reach speeds up to 8.25 m²/h on uncoated vinyl (versus 6 m²/h at 720 x 720 dpi on Rockhopper 3), whereas Spitfire 65/90 Extreme delivers speeds up to 16.5 m²/h on uncoated vinyl (versus 13 m²/h at 720 x 720 dpi on Spitfire 65/90). The speed difference between both engines is related to the characteristics of Mutoh’s Eco-Solvent Ultra inks (Rockhopper 3 Extreme) and Mutoh’s Spitfire mild-solvent inks (Spitfire Extreme). “The true benefit of our new i² technology is printing quality reproducible by an end-user and moreover IMPECCABLE production speed quality,” says Arthur Vanhoutte, Managing Director of Mutoh Europe nv. “Impeccable production printing quality means a more than acceptable printing speed on a wide range of uncoated and coated substrates at which NO inkjet printing artefacts such as banding, mottle, media step mismatch, misfiring nozzles, are present when viewed at close distance.” “Whereas we are able to offer the new i² technology to both existing and new users, the new 540 dpi print modes on Rockhopper 3 Extreme and Spitfire 65/90 Extreme will set a new quality standard in wide-format digital inkjet printing”, Vanhoutte continues. “The problem in our industry is that there are no real standards to express printing quality. As an example, a wide-format printer incorporating fixed drop head technology and printing at 720 x 720 dpi - 4 pass will never match the quality of an engine incorporating variable drop technology and printing at 540 x 720 dpi - 2 pass, even though both engines might be able to print at the same speed”. “Unlike some of our competitors often promoting top engine speeds at low resolution modes, we prefer to promote IMPECCABLE print quality at production speeds, effortlessly reproducible by an end-user on a wide range of uncoated and coated substrates. Our Rockhopper 3 Extreme / Spitfire 65/90 Extreme machines can also reach speeds of more than 35 m²/h, but we leave it up to the user of the printer to judge on the applicability of these speeds, rather than creating false expectation levels”, Arthur Vanhoutte concludes. As their predecessors Rockhopper 3 and Spitfire series, Rockhopper 3 Extreme and Spitfire Extreme printers will be offered in a 1653 mm (65”) and 2280 mm (90”) version. Printing widths are respectively 1643 mm (64.68”) and 2250 mm (88.58”). Application possibilities encompass production of mid-term outdoor durable signs (up to 3 years), such as corporate signs, production of stickers, stage and window graphics, POS displays, backlit box signage, vehicle graphics, etc… The office-environment friendly Rockhopper 3 Extreme series is targeted at printer users with moderate print volumes, who have a mix between indoor and outdoor prints and who require high quality output rather than high speed, high-volume printing. The Spitfire 65/90 Extreme printers perfectly address the needs of typical sign makers, focusing on volume production of outdoor prints, who require mid-term outdoor use, high and medium printing speed on standard available outdoor uncoated substrates and who have no objections against using mild solvent inks. For more details on Mutoh Europe and its products, visit www.mutoh.be About Mutoh Europe nv Mutoh Europe nv, Oostende, Belgium, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mutoh Industries Ltd, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1991, Mutoh Europe's activities encompass development, manufacturing and distribution of CAS hardware (professional sign cutting plotters, apparel marking/cutting plotters and large-format full-colour piezo printers for commercial inkjet printing and sign making applications). Employing 300 people, the company markets Mutoh products all over Europe, the Middle-East and Africa through its extensive network of authorised distributors. |
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