Wide-format printing has experienced some key developments in the past few years in India. The essential traits have improved, such as reliability and better color reproduction, without straying from the all-important price viewpoint. To address these needs of the burgeoning Indian industry and to meet the ever-increasing demands of its loyal customers, Ricoh India has launched the upgraded version of its Pro L4100 printer series. The new roll-to-roll large format printer is launched with Ricoh’s aqueous resin (AR) latex ink. It is available in two sizes—130 cm (53 inch) wide and 160 cm (63 inch) wide—and supports up to seven colors in various configurations.
The Ricoh Pro L4100 series is aimed at printing large signage, billboards, banners, flexible wrap solutions and point-of-sale displays, due to its superior print quality and color-matched output. Seven-color printing, which encompasses CMYK, orange, green and white aqueous latex inks, enables it to offer an increased color gamut and the ability to print on clear print media such as transparency, translucent and textile.
The Ricoh Pro L4160 and L4130 printers come with Ricoh piezo electric print heads, which help to control the rate of ink being ejected from the nozzle and create smaller drop size of ink, which results in smoother printing as compared to a thermal print head. Overall, this feature will generate better print output.
The new AR latex inks have been awarded GREENGUARD Gold Certification by UL Environment (UL is a global independent safety science company), in recognition of low chemical emissions and improvement in the air quality. This makes the new models fit to be used by the education and medical facilities. The inks have minimal volatile organic compounds (VOC) and odor, eliminating the need for special ventilation. Moreover, ink is delivered in reusable ink cartridges and eco-friendly ink packs. It also has a low curing temperature of 60°C ink that enables both quick drying, for a fast job turnaround, and the ability to print on many heat-sensitive substrates without damaging them.
AT Rajan, managing director and chief executive officer of Ricoh India said, “We have a long and rich heritage in the world of inkjet technology dating back over 30 years. We now foresee a shift of conventional solvent print-based machine to environment-friendly latex ink-based machine in this large format printer market. With this launch, Ricoh’s legacy in ecofriendly and green products has been expanded to large format printers, as they reduce the environmental impacts of printing and consume 25% less power as compared to other models available in the market. We are confident that our new offering will enable our clients to boost their brand visibility at a reduced total cost of ownership.”
Ricoh latex inks offer outdoor durability of up to three years depending on the media used and lamination. The new series comes with high productivity printing of four colors up to 33.1 sq. m an hour with choice of two print widths at 1361 mm and 1610 mm. These models are capable of handling wide media range from PVC to paper to textile and more.
The Ricoh Pro L4160 is priced at Rs. 19 lakh while the Pro L4130 is available at a price of Rs. 18 lakh. Ricoh India is also offering various accessories and color management solutions for enhancing production and print quality.
