Canon has used Fespa as the launch platform for two new additions to its Arizona UV-LED flatbed printer range and a new version of the ‘high build’ software that allows full-colour dimensional effects up to 2mm tall to be built using multiple passes.
The new printers are the 2.5 x 3.5m Arizona 1300 XTF and the 1.25 x 2m Arizona 1300 VTF, and represent the fifth generation of the Arizona technology since its inception by Océ. Both embody Canon’s Flow vacuum bed technology that simplifies media changes and placement, doing away with masking and taping, and enables pre-cut items or media remnants that would otherwise be too small to load to be used. Pre-cut items can be assembled via virtual ‘jigs’ in the controlling software to optimise use of flatbed space and speed of printing.
Top quality mode runs at 15sqm/hr but Canon says the machines can produce sellable quality at 53sqm/hr. Two ink sets are offered to support different applications and the printers support an open interface to export ‘accounting’ information for end-to-end automation and costing applications.
The high-build printing capability is called PrismElevate XL and replaces the Touchstone technology. It is driven at the design stage by free Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop plug-ins which allows height and relief information to be added to PDF files for processing in the software. The build height is now extended to 2mm, which requires 40 passes, versus the 1mm in 50 passes achievable previously. As well as meeting requirements for Braille production, it allows a wide range of creative effects to be achieved, including artistic effects and relief-modelled geographical images
