Mutoh has announced a new eco-solvent printer, the 1625 mm-wide XpertJet 1641SR Pro II, which is more of a refresh of the original Pro model announced back in 2022, rather than a completely new machine. As such, it’s aimed at the same applications, namely display graphics, vehicle wraps, and retail signage.
Mutoh has updated the AccuFine printhead to a new AccuFine HD Pro model, although I believe that this is a change from the Epson i1600 to the Epson i3200 PrecisionCore. Its advantage is that it doubles the number of the PrecisionCore dies, giving eight rows of nozzles, each row having 400 nozzles. This is a greyscale head, with resolution varying from 900 x 1800 dpi to 900 x 600 dpi.
As with the older model, the new 1641 SR Pro II uses a single printhead, with four colours, so the new head, with its eight channels, has allowed Mutoh to use two channels per colour. This has led to a significant improvement in speed, with the new model delivering 17.63 sqm/hr in the Production mode that should cover most jobs. There’s a faster banner mode of 25.60 sqm/hr and a Quality mode with 13.19 sqm/hr.
Mutoh has also updated its weaving algorithm with a new i-screen EX System, which offers smoother gradations, improved color uniformity, and finer detail reproduction.
It prints CMYK, with Mutoh having upgraded the MS41 ink of the older model to the new MS51, which has been reformulated to eliminate the use of some chemicals, such as GBL, that had been reclassified. The ink, which is supplied in 1000 ml packs, carries a Gold Greenguard certification. This ink is said to be usable outdoors under sunlight for up to three years without lamination, though Mutoh does recommend lamination for applications that will be subject to environmental conditions, such as vehicle graphics.
Mutoh says that it has improved the drying system, which is now 20 percent more efficient than the older Pro model. Naturally, the new model uses a number of other Mutoh features, including DropMaster2 for more accurate drop placement, FeedMaster to manage media feeding, Nozzle Area Select for mapping around missing nozzles, and Media Tracker to print barcodes on short ends for reuse.
There’s a choice of three types of winder, including a standard 30 kg torque winder, a 40 kg torque winder, or a 100 kg heavy-duty feed & take-up system. The printer comes with Mutoh’s Vertelith RIP, which is based on a Helix Harlequin Host Renderer RIP.
The XpertJet 1641SR Pro II is available in the EMEA region now.
