HP has shown off a new web-fed inkjet press, the PageWide T700i, that’s designed for printing to paper-based packaging, namely pre-printing to the top liner for corrugated as well as folding carton. It’s a 1.7m wide press and comes from HP’s existing collaboration with Koenig and Bauer, which has already yielded the 2.8m wide T1100 series.
As such, this is essentially a smaller version of the T1195i. It uses the same water-based A30 pigment inks as well as the associated A50 bonding agent and P37 primer. It prints with six colours – CMYK plus violet and orange for extended colour gamut. The printheads are HP’s proven thermal heads, with the A35i heads for the colours and A53 heads for the bonding agent. These heads feature 1200 nozzles per inch and 8X nozzle redundancy.
It takes standard coated, uncoated, brown kraft, paperboard, and recycled papers, from 80 to 250gsm although some configurations will take media up to 500gsm. The rolls can be from 0.85 to 1.7m wide and the maximum printable width is 1.7m wide, with a printable frame up to 2.7m long.
Depending on the configuration, it can produce up to 305mpm. The drying unit comes immediately after printing and uses a combination of infrared light and forced air to remove the water content and dry the ink without damaging the paper.
There are various inline options including for manual or continuous unwinding, priming, varnishing, plus a web cleaner and a 100 percent inspection system as well as a sheeter and auto splicer. The Digital Front End is HP’s SmartStream Production Elite print server, which itself is based on a Global Graphics Harlequin RIP and is fast enough to deliver the RIP data in real time to the print heads.
Annette Friskopp, Global Head and General Manager, HP PageWide Industrial., commented: ”We listened to the needs of our customers and the market when designing the T700i Press. Now more than ever, converters need greater flexibility to respond to dynamic market trends and challenges, and digital packaging continues to fundamentally transform the packaging supply chain for high-volume and mainstream production.”
The T700i bridges a gap between the 1.06m wide T470S and the 2.8m wide T1195i and should give converters a better option for shorter runs.
Friskopp added: “The HP T700i Press enables customers to achieve production cost savings and shorter lead times and enables them to go after higher value print jobs”.
The T700i should be available in late 2023. You can find further details from hp.com.
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