Joint-Venture Printer From Agfa and Mutoh

Agfa and Mutoh Europe have
partnered to develop a new
wide-format printer that will
be branded the Agfa :Anapurna
100 and the Mutoh
Cobra 100uv for the respective
companies. Mutoh
Europe will manufacture all
equipment for both systems
at its facilities in Oostende,
Belgium, while Agfa will manufacture
the UV-curable inks
and supply its UPH inkjet heads (designed
in conjunction with Xaar, and badged the
OmnniDot 760 by that company).

The joint-venture printer brings both
companies something new to their printer
portfolios. For Mutoh, it's the first UV-technology
based inkjet printer in its wideformat
lineup. For Agfa, it becomes its
largest inkjet system.

The :Anapurna 100 and Cobra 100uv
are both 100-in. piezo drop-on-demand
flatbed/roll-to-roll printers that can handle
rigid media up to 2-in. thick. The 4-color (2 x
CMYK) machines feature eight UPH printheads,
which contain 764 nozzles per head.
Ink comes in 1-l cartridges; 2-l cartridges
are optional. The machines offer print resolutions
of 360, 720, and 1440 dpi at production
speeds from 151 to 1044 sq ft/hr.

Features include: a Flush Brush system,
which is a head cleaning station that
applies the solvent and brushes and cleans
the heads; 3 UV lamps for on-the-fly curing;
a closed-loop ink circuit for properly conditioned
ink and less ink waste; walking floor
(which includes one static and 2 dynamic
vacuum tables) and a clamping system for
accurate roll/rigid media transport; a headpositioning
device to ensure the printhead
nozzle plates are 100% parallel with the
loaded media; and automatic media edge
detection and thickness/cockle control.
Optional 100-in. roll trolleys with docking
functionality are available.

The :Anapurna 100 and Cobra 100uv
are specifically designed to handle heavy
workloads”?up to 5382 sq ft/day. Application
possibilities include indoor and outdoor
posters, billboards, fleet graphics,
P-O-P displays, exhibition panels, stage
graphics, construction barriers, and
advertising panels.

Price: The :Anapurna 100 is $249,000
US; it will begin shipping around the world
in Q1 2006. The Cobra 100uv, initially to
be sold only in Europe, is “??179,950; it will
begin shipping in Q1 2006. (Agfa: www.agfa.com; Mutoh: www.mutoh.be)