Xerox has announced a new press, the Iridesse, that can print metallic gold or silver dry ink plus CMYK and clear dry ink in a single pass to create truly stunning effects relatively easily.
It’s a dry toner sheetfed press that appears to have been designed around the iGen chassis. There are six colour channels, of which the middle four are the standard CMYK colours. But it’s the other two special effects channels that make the difference. The first of these can be loaded with either gold or silver dry toner, while the last can be set up with gold, silver or clear. This way the metallic tints can be laid down first with the colours on top, or you can put the metallic tint on last. The metallic toners are said to have both a high sparkle grade and high reflectance. The clear toner can be used to add spot varnish or textured effects to the overall design. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to change over the special toners – there’s no manual flushing but the press does have to recognize the new toner type.
It can print at up to 120 A4 ppm, even with the special colours and with the heavier stocks. Xerox says that it’s good for up to 475,000 impressions per month. The press can run stocks from 52 – 400 gsm and will take a variety of media including coated and uncoated papers, window decals, synthetic papers and polyesters. There’s a stock library that contains profiles and optimizes settings such as fuser temperature specifically for each media.
The standard configuration is two trays taking 4000 sheets but the Iridesse can be fitted with two Dual Advanced High Capacity Feeders, Bypass and Inserter options that allow it to be loaded with up to eight different stocks with a total of 12,500 sheets, albeit that this limits it to running 360gsm media at full rated speeds.
There’s a new High Definition Emulsion Aggregate (HD EA) Toner, with a small particle size of 4.7 microns, which should help deliver very fine detail. The press can RIP files at 1200 x 1200 dpi x 10-bit and can print at 2400 x 2400 dpi x 1-bit, which Xerox says will allow for smooth tints and gradients.
The press comes with a new EFI Fiery EX-P 6 Print Server that’s capable of pushing more data to the press than previous models, which should help to improve the image quality and the productivity. It’s been designed to run the metallic effects. It can also be used to add those effects to the design file, which means that the print service provider can offer the metallic effects to any customer, even if the customer does not have the design capability to add the metallic effects into their designs. Xerox has also worked with Color Logic, which has created a swatch book to show off the metallic tints that the press can produce.
A variety of finishing options are available including the new Xerox Crease and Two-sided Trimmer, which creates a durable crease fold and gives booklets a premium quality edge when used with the Xerox Production Ready Booklet Maker Finisher and Xerox SquareFold Trimmer Modules.
Ragni Mehta, vice president and general manager of Xerox’s Cut Sheet Business, commented: “We created the press to produce these special effects and digital enhancements cost effectively and in a simplified workflow so our customers can seize the market opportunity and grow their businesses.”
The Iridesse has been beta tested for the last six months by IPW1, based in London, UK. Glen Robins, sales director at IPW1, explained: “With Iridesse, we can create remarkable and eye-catching ads, cards, and posters with a simple setup and at high speeds. It’s a clear differentiator for us and it is what our customers are looking for.” The company also runs litho and wide format but Robins says that the advantage of the Iridesse is that he can add effects to jobs in a single pass without having to use another process to complete them.
The Iridesse is available to order now. You can find more details on the Xerox website.
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