HP has launched the Latex 300 series low-volume printers and introduced two new 60in aqueous ink printers. It has also upgraded its FB500 and 700 UV printers.
There are three models in the Latex 300 line-up, with the 310 and 330 targeted at entry-level customers and the 360 meant for small bureaux.
The 310 is a 1371mm machine with a production speed of around 10m2/hr. It costs 13,500 Euro. The 330 is a larger version, taking rolls up to 1625mm wide and costing 17,500 Euro. Both of these come with SAi FlexiPrint Rip and have four inch touchscreen displays that show the operator the job details and the status of the printer, as well as instruction manuals and videos. There's a QR code that lets users pull up the full manual on their smart phone for reference.
The 360 is also 1671mm wide, but prints at speeds from 5-91m2/hr, with 14m2/hr as a likely average production speed. It includes a built in i1 spectrophotometer and has an eight inch touchscreen display. The 360 comes with an ink collector, which can easily be used to replace the ink platen and makes for better image quality when printing to porous materials, including some textiles, obviating the need for a dedicated dye sub printer. This will cost 22,500 Euro.
These machines use the third-generation latex inks that were first introduced last year with the Latex 3000 mid-range printer. They include an optimiser, which is essentially a primer that helps attract the ink to the right spot for greater dot placement accuracy.
The new aqueous printers are the Z6600 and Z6800. Both print at up to 140m2/hr but the Z6600 has six colours for lower ink consumption while the eight-colour 6800 is targeted at photo bureaux. Both print at 2400 x 1200dpi resolution and have a built-in i1 spectrophotometer. The Z6800 will cost 15,900 Euro, while the Z6600 is 12,400 Euro.
New spindles and a new interface, plus disk drives to store more jobs, have been added to the FB500 and 700 UV printers. They can also now do multiple layer images - up to nine layers - for applications such as backlits.