Sophie Matthews-Paul visits Mortsel, Belgium, to test the versatility of this new UV-curable machine.
For Agfa Graphics, the acceptance of its unusual M-Press platform took a little time but now, in its guise as the Tiger, it is proving to be a successful solution for high-end applications where the mix of inkjet and screenprinting is a bonus. Combined with its printing capabilities are high levels of automation and slick throughput, it’s now a platform which suits the specific requirements of users needing the best of both production worlds.
The latest addition to the M-Press family, the Leopard, is a little different, presenting as it does a lower investment level and the removal of the screenprinting capability. Agfa Graphics has its reasons for following this route and these are based on the fact that users like the modus operandi of the machine and its shuttle, but want to have a bit more control over the way it can be used.
Still benefiting from Thieme’s rugged table concept and construction, the Agfa M-Press Leopard has been designed to give greater operator intervention, which might seem a little odd at first consideration but, in fact, makes a lot of sense. Plenty of jobs actually need the user to be able to play an active part in production, and automation isn’t always as vital as the ability to add the type of versatility which is so much part of inkjet production’s short-run, variable capabilities.
The key to the M-Press Leopard is fast changeover and this is where the experience of the user comes into play. Having spent a short time with the machine it was easy and logical to operate and happily fitted my own capabilities of loading, lining up and printing double-sided jobs.
The unit is sophisticated, based on Agfa’s familiar inkjet shuttle, and able to work with flexible and rigid materials up to 5.08cm with accurate registration down to A3. The reason behind its precision on recto/verso jobs is its lay-on pins that make easy to place the media in exactly the right place before applying the vacuum to hold it down, and setting the job in action. It’s a deceptively logical process; the pins are identically placed to the left and the right of the bed which gives alignment to the same corner of the media. Think of it as a true mirrored effect, and it’s easy to see why front to back registration can be carried out to such an accurate level.
The M-Press’s universal print table incorporated into the Leopard features 55 vacuum zones to act as a powerful flattening device, making it possible to print to very thin materials. When working with heavier substrates, sensibly Agfa has arranged their positioning so that they work with lay-on pins at the rear of the table. From an operator’s perspective it is far easier to push rigid substrates into place to line them up accurately.
This is a CMYK machine which uses Agfa’s established UPH 2 greyscale printhead technology for optimised droplet volume and control, resulting in smooth highlights and mid-tones as well as good solid colours and fine text. This variable drop capability means that a four-colour inkset is more than adequate in terms of quality and gamut when outputting even tricky graduated tints, and the Leopard requires fewer passes to produce the necessary output quality which speeds up throughput.
The M-Press Leopard has a bed size of 1.6 x 2.6m and uses Agfa’s proprietary Anuvia UV-curable inks which allow for stability on all materials, fast curing and good outdoor durability. Suitable for coated and uncoated materials, strong adhesion is complemented by scuff and abrasion resistance.
In terms of throughput, rates for the Leopard in fine art mode are 194m2/hour, or 47 sheets/hour, at a resolution of 1260 x 720dpi. In its express mode, expect to produce around 116 sheets/hour (483m2/hour). In between these two options are photographic and high quality modes, each offering good speeds and quality. Agfa Graphics is supplying the machine with its Apogee workflow and Vibe, its VDP solution.
The Agfa M-Press Leopard is an interesting machine in that it provides a user to printer relationship which so often is deemed not necessary these days. But for operations where control of prints is high on the agenda, particularly for double-sided jobs where precise registration is vital, the flexibility and speed of this platform is only limited by the operator’s skill.
Launched via video link at Fespa Digital 2011, as a machine wasn’t actually present at the show, the Agfa M-Press Leopard is designed for all types of display, point-of-sale, retail and other high quality applications. Its guide price is €900,000.