HP introduces T485 web press

HP has introduced a new inkjet PageWide web press, the T485 HD, which appears to be the existing T480 with the addition of the newer printheads and Brilliant inkset first seen on the T250 that was announced back in 2020.

It’s fitted with HP’s High Definition Nozzle Architecture printheads, which are thermal inkjet heads capable of firing two different drop sizes. These particular printheads are the new B62 type that are used on the T250 (unlike the rest of the T400 series, which use the older A53 printheads). These heads have 2400 nozzles per inch and up to 8x nozzle redundancy and are said to be more finely tuned leading to smoother colour transitions. There are five sets of printbars, one each for the Optimiser primer and the CMYK colours,

Otherwise, the T485 appears to have the same basic specifications as the T480, producing 244mpm in its Performance mode in either colour or monochrome. HP says that it’s good for a maximum monthly duty cycle of 170 million images, colour or monochrome.

The main improvement comes from the ink, which is the same B60 Brilliant ink as the T250. This is designed to print directly to both coated and uncoated media with just the inline Optimiser but without requiring any separate primer. HP also claims that the colour gamut is roughly 30-50 percent higher than the older inks. Both the ink and the Optimiser comes in 200-litre ink containers.

It will take a range of standard offset coated substrates, including, glossy, silk, and matte, as well as uncoated media, and inkjet-optimized coated media in weights from 40 to 350 gsm up to 130-lb cover stock. 

Annette Friskopp, global head and general manager at HP PageWide, explains: “The HP PageWide T485 HD with HP Brilliant Ink was designed to provide offset-class quality and to help increase return on investment for our customers, allowing them to improve their profitability and growth.”

The T400-series machines are 107cm wide presses with a printable width of 1060mm. It’s a twin engined press for duplex printing with a turn bar between them and with a Contiweb winder and rewinder at either end. Each engine uses infrared heat with convected air to dry the inks. 

The T485 is sold both as a new press, and as an upgrade from an existing T400-series machine. It should be available in the first half of 2023. 

HP has also tweaked its entry-level T250 inkjet web press. This still runs at 152mpm for colour printing but the speed has been increased for monochrome to 244mpm. 

Meanwhile, HP has also installed the first of its new Advantage 2200, which appears to be an alternative to the T250-series. The customer is DataOne, part of Groupe Diffusion Plus, a French company specialising in transactional and targeted marketing programs. Loïc Lefebvre, Development Director for DataOne and Groupe Diffusion Plus, said: “Our objective is clearly to reduce our carbon footprint, while developing new products and experiences, particularly for our direct marketing activities.”

He added: “We are completing the proactive program of migration from plastic film wrapping to paper, which began more than three years ago. As with the contents, the enveloping containers now are fully customisable and manufactured directly in our production sites without additional transport. We will thus produce more volumes of very high quality in much less time, on standard papers and this will allow us to stop the operation of several toner-based machines, creating substantial energy savings. Our relationship with HP is a creator of CO2 savings, energy sobriety and innovations to explore new markets.” 

In addition, HP has claimed that its customers have now printed 750 billion pages. Friskopp, commented: “Print service providers utilising HP PageWide presses are printing almost double the annual market growth rate, which is a testament to the quality and reliability of PageWide presses.”

You can find more details on the new T485 press from hp.com.