50 www.signlink.co.uk Issue 253 - June / July 2024 as thick as 15cm, an intuitive OLED touch display for control, and dedicated intelligent interweaving technology incorporated into the machine. “The compact XPJ-461UF printer will fit into any regular office, home-based business, or small retail environment,” Mutoh says. An Improving Market Another supplier of DTO print technology, and indeed another FESPA exhibitor SignLink caught up with at FESPA this year, is Mimaki. Marc Verbeem, supervisor of product management at Mimaki Europe, explains that the DTO market is constantly growing due to the demand for personalisation and its versatility and cost efficiency in doing so. “By using UV LED technology when printing direct-to-object, the variety of substrates you can print on is expanded to even typically difficult-to-print on materials such as glass, plastic, wood, or metal,” Verbeem says, adding: “The demand for personalisation is not going away and I believe the market will go from strength to strength as a result. DTO versatility means that printers can look for work in areas such as signage, cylindrical items, promotional items, as well as on rigid materials. “It is important to remember that trends and technologies are constantly evolving in the DTO space, and it is important to remain ahead of these changes to give your business a competitive edge. Regularly investing in the latest kit is a proactive way of adapting to the trends of the market, meaning that you have all the capabilities expected of you at any time.” In terms of the solutions available from Mimaki, the manufacturer has several DTO options on offer to the market. Among these is the UJF-7151 plus II, which Verbeem says offers a high-end DTO solution in the wider UJF Series. Looking further into the Mimaki line-up, the manufacturer’s Kebab series are additional solutions for the UJF series, allowing for printing directly onto cylindrical objects. Using rotary rollers, the Kebab option rotates the object, printing on the entire surface of the cylindrical item, adding yet more versatility to our DTO options. “Innovation is a core principle of Mimaki and we are always looking to improve upon to add digital direct-to-object printing to their workflow and industrial printers wanting to add more versatility and colour to their services.” Also from Mutoh and shown at FESPA 2024 was the XpertJet XPJ-661UF, an A2+ UV LED DTO printer that the manufacturer says is suitable for personalised one-off print products and small lot production. The smaller-format printer can handle a wide range of materials including threedimensional objects up to 15cm thick, which Mutoh says means it can produce personalised items such as phone covers, photo products, pens, lighters, USB sticks, souvenirs, awards, small signs, and prototyping of packaging samples. Stand-out attributes include a print area of 483mm x 594mm, six-colour printing (CMYK plus white and varnish), active nozzle blocks to allow for uninterrupted production, and an optional rotary printing unit for 360-degree printing on cylindrical objects. Finally, the slightly smaller brother of the XpertJet XPJ-661UF is Mutoh’s XpertJet XPJ-461UF which, again, is suited to producing smaller-format work. The machine has a print area of 483mm x 329mm, with the same six-colour set-up as the larger model or a four-colour CMYK set-up, depending on the user’s preferences. The XpertJet XPJ-461UF has many of the same attributes as its bigger brother, including the ability to print on material DIRECT-TO-OBJECT PRINTING ◄▼ Mutoh had three DTO printers on its stand at FESPA 2024 Inkcups' Helix ONE benchtop digital cylinder printer launched last year 1 The quality and speed that can now be achieved printing onto more complex shapes is very impressive
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