Having been shown at Drupa 2012, Ricoh will finally make its Pro L4100 latex large-format roll-to-roll printers available in the UK as of this March.
The L4160 (63in print width) and L4130 (53in print width) support up to seven colours (CMYK, orange, green and white) in various configurations.
Stephen Palmer, director, production print, Ricoh UK & Ireland, said: “Following the early reveal, at Drupa 2012, of our intention to grow our portfolio with the system, the Ricoh Pro L4100 series has been through Ricoh’s rigorous quality assurance process, and we have been assimilating the positive customer feedback we received. As well as being ideally suited for the specialist signage market, we are particularly excited to be able to offer print services providers in the UK another solution to support their business growth and offer new services such as display and signage to their clients.”
The Ricoh Pro L4100’s latex ink is an aqueous (water-based) ink that contains a low level of VOCs and a low curing temperature of 60°C. The printers can run various media including PVC, tarpaulin, synthetic paper, coated-paper, uncoated paper, film and textiles. Ricoh expects to expand the range of compatible substrates through its continuing media profiling and testing programme in partnership with Colour Concepts, an industry standard for media validation.
Using Ricoh’s latest generation of stainless steel multiple jetting piezo inkjet heads, three different drop sizes are produced at once, with drops as small as four picolitres. The Ricoh Pro L4100’s Uninterrupted Ink Supply System (UISS) adds to the productivity of the printer. “When one CMYK ink cartridge runs out of ink, the system switches automatically to the second cartridge of the same colour for unattended printing,” said Palmer.
The Ricoh Pro L4100 is available with the ColorGate Rip. “We are providing ColorGate as a bespoke menu-driven RIP that allows users to choose the exact feature set they need,” Palmer added. “It is intuitive, reducing the learning curve and improving productivity. And it includes excellent colour management tools ideal for demanding commercial print environments.”