Quality Print Services (QPS) has started shipping a new roll-fed wide format printer into the UK from the Chinese company Longier.
The Longier Hunter RU3200 is a 3.2m UV LED roll-to-roll printer. It uses Ricoh Gen5 printheads with variable-sized droplets, which can produce resolution of up to 600 x 1,200 dpi while producing around 80sqm/hr. It prints CMYK as standard and there are options for white ink and varnish.
The first unit has already been installed at WAE Group, based in Leeds, which already operates a Longier FP3750 LED flatbed printer. WAE’s RU3200 has been specially adapted to print unbacked mesh banners and fabric graphics
Paul Austin, WAE Group’s Managing Director, said he was drawn to the energy-efficiency and sustainability offered by the Longier’s UV LED-curing technology. He added: “We’ve had minimal problems and those have been rectified very quickly – which is refreshing after experiencing long waits to sort things out from other service companies in the past.”
As it happens, a couple of years ago I tested a Longier FR3750, which is the standard flatbed printer, but with a roll feeder option built in. It was a fairly basic machine, but it produced quite good results for a relatively low price and was easy to use. Longier itself is based in Changzhou City, near Shanghai, having been set up in 2011 by Dan Wu who had previously developed the TS series of printers at Teckwin. Although they’re sold in the UK through QPS, these printers are actually imported into the UK by Gary Hall of Hallmark Equipment Service, who opted to match the printers with Nazdar ink, which seemed to produce very good results.
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