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Aprion
M.A.G.I.C., a technology for grand format printer for signs
and billboards
From
the time of DRUPA printer trade show onward people occasionally
have asked us what we think of the Aprion and its M.A.G.I.C.
technology.
Basically
we need to see this in production printers, in the real world,
and then we will get end-user reports. Otherwise it is premature.
After all, look what happened with the Crystal-Jet technology.
One of the great printer technologies of its day, yet it never
survived a reality check. Same with the Kodak 5260... Kodak
spent millions developing it. Kodak spent several more million
dollars with full-page ads claiming it was fast as a yellow
Ferrari. And then at SGIA '02 tradeshow, the printer disappeared.
Indeed a search for the Kodak printer on the Encad website
does not even bring up a farewell notice.
In
the year 2001 we saw all kinds of advances in UV curable printer
technology, so we made a special effort to check out all the
UV curable ink flatbed printers at SGIA (late October 2002).
Already in 2003 we are doing additional research on UV curable
flatbed printers.
We
are also beginning to check out actual installations of flatbed
printers with UV cured inks. There is a Zund and a Durst Rho
just a few minutes from our university, so we are starting
with those two models. We also spent plenty of time at Photokina
2002 looking at the few UV curable ink flatbeds which were
there.
As
a result FLAAR has now issued Nicholas Hellmuth's report on
flatbed printers with UV cured inks. It is part of the set
of reports by Dr Hellmuth, in the new Series format.
If
your company is thinking about sinking a quarter of a million
dollars into a flatbed printer, you might want to pick Professor
Hellmuth's brain for some tips. A day with him as consultant
could be a good investment.
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reports by Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth
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UPDATED:
July 06/2001, revised May 13, 2002, updated November 18, 2002;
last
updated May 26, 2003
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