Raft of vehicle wrap solutions from Mimaki		1 May 09
Mimaki's UJV-160 offers an innovative approach to vehicle wrapping, but forms only part of their range that includes a number of solvent machines.

The groundbreaking Mimaki UJV-160 is the first hybrid large format printer to use UV LED (Light Emitting Diode) curing technology, and also features an innovative, flexible inkset developed jointly with 3M Corporation. The inks are designed for printing and postprocessing - including bending without the ink cracking - for applications such as fleet marking and vehicle wrapping due to their ability to stretch by up to 200%.

The Mimaki UJV-160 received one of the highest acclaims in the industry recently - an EDP award for best Wide Format Printer up to 1.6m. The EDP awards recognise innovation and this approach to vehicle graphics is certainly innovative. One of the great advantages of producing a print that requires over-lamination (as vehicle graphics often do) on the Mimaki UJV-160 is that UV cured inks don't require any time to gas off; as a solvent print typically would. Therefore the 'total job time' of a print is greatly reduced, aiding productivity and increasing throughput.

Whilst the introduction of such an innovative machine is exciting, there's still an enormous amount of vehicle liveries produced with traditional, high quality solvent printers. Their speed of output, ease of use, low entry costs and the vast array of material available for full solvent machines such as Mimaki's JV33 and CJV30 ranges, means that they still form the core of the market.

Hybrid's marketing manager, Duncan Jefferies, says: "As Mimaki's exclusive distributor, we acknowledge that, although there's been tremendous growth in popularity of UV-curable inks, there is still a strong demand for solvent-based products. Mimaki is instrumental in narrowing the gap between the way these different ink technologies perform across various materials and end applications.

"The collaboration with 3M to produce a more flexible product with the new Mimaki UJV-160 with its LED UV-curing is demonstrative of this bridge," Jefferies endorses. "But, in effect, what Mimaki is achieving is broadening the choice available to end users with different ink types able to perform similar tasks. I think this a healthy way for printer and ink manufacturers to proceed with new developments."