Ricoh has announced a new monochrome press, the Pro VC40000, which is a variant of the existing VC40000 four-color inkjet press.
Confusingly, Ricoh has opted to keep the same name, though I would have renamed it the Pro V40000 to distinguish between the color and Mono versions and to fit in with Ricoh’s other mono inkjet press, the V20000 (which itself is a rebadged Domino K630i).
It’s possible to run the existing color version as a mono press simply by parking the color printbars. However, this latest variant is a separate model. Nonetheless, Ricoh told me that the VC naming is to reflect its color heritage, even though it’s a mono press!
The Pro VC40000 models are based on a Screen Jet520NX, and all these machines use Epson PrecisionCore printheads. The color models use two printbars per color but for this variant, Ricoh has taken out the CMY bars and added a third row of printheads for the black ink. This has increased the maximum speed, up from 120 mpm to 180 mpm. There is a speed upgrade option for the existing CMYK models that will also allow those machines to run the black ink at 180 mpm.
Customers can choose between dye and pigment ink. The dye ink is best suited for transactional printing, while the pigment inks can also be used for book printing. Ricoh says that the pigment ink gives higher optical density and sharper text quality than the dye inks, qualities that should appeal to the book market.
As mentioned, the standard configuration is 600 x 600 dpi resolution, which allows for a running speed of 180 mpm. However, the dye ink variant can also be run at 600 x 300 dpi resolution, allowing it to achieve a higher speed of up to 225 mpm. There are some minor differences in the parts used related to the choice of ink, but Ricoh says that there are no major variations.
Otherwise, this is a neat way of reusing what is otherwise a relatively old press to create a reasonably productive but cost-effective mono machine. Moreover, it gives Ricoh a solid portfolio of monochrome document presses, starting with the recent Pro 8400 dry toner device, through to the entry-level inkjet V20000 and now this new higher volume press Pro VC40000 mono.
First published on Printing and Manufacturing Journal
Republished with permission
