World’s first ever sheet fed inkjet multi colour digital printing machine

For the last 78 years Fujifilm has been continually involved itself in research and development in highly versatile fundamental core technologies. In the printing front Fujifilm has come out with the world’s first ever sheet fed inkjet multi colour digital printing machine that produces full color printing  with high speed offering benchmark productivity, print quality, and economics in cost. In the year  2005, Fujifilm bought Sericol Ltd., a UK-based printing ink company specializing in the inkjet, screen, and narrow web print markets and in the year 2006 Avecia Inkjet Ltd., a UK ink manufacturer of dyes used in inkjet printers was also acquired  followed by the acquisition of  Dimatix, a US manufacturer of piezoelectric print heads and fluid dispensing micro pumps in the same year. Combined with  the  three technologies, Fujifilm manufactured ‘J Press 720’ sheet fed production inkjet printing machine which produced prints similar to the one produced by the Offset Printing. This machine was first unveiled in Drupa in the year 2008. From then on Fujifilm  began manufacturing digital printing press to web presses including the one that uses UV inks.

The world’s first sheet fed inkjet model ‘J Press 720’ is based on Inkjet Principle for inking instead of inking the plates for printing with series of roller as found in normal printing machines. Though Inkjet inking Fujifilm claims that this machine meets the quality, versatility, productivity, and efficiency they demand. The ‘J Press 720’ machine can effectively meet the demand of print runs of just one or few thousands where traditional offset and digital printing fail to perform. The ‘J Press 720’ is set to open new opportunities in the market for short-run, general purpose commercial print using 29.5″x 20.8″ sheet with an output of 2,700 sheets per hour. The versatility to handle even the shortest of press runs is its main advantage. With a half-size format and a production speed of up to 1.3 seconds per sheet, this revolutionary machine is faster and more flexible than any other digital inkjet sheet fed press found on the market. It looks like a normal sheet fed  Offset machine.  

The ‘J Press 720’ looks a lot like any other normal sheet fed offset machine at the outset if you look at the feeder and delivery ends of the machine. It operates at 2700 sheets per hour with a maximum sheet size of 20.8” x 29.5” with a printable area of 20.5” x 28.3” which is not possible on a normal printing machine as sufficient margin is needed for gripper and tail edges besides side margins. The speed of 2700 sheets per hour thus translates the output to over 10000 single pages per hour. The minimum sheet size it accepts is 15” x 23.1”. In addition to the feed and delivery, like an offset press, it uses drum and grippers for transport. The machine has temperature control system to ensure production consistency. As the paper moves towards the priming unit an anilox roller system applies Fujifilm’s Rapid Coagulation Primer (RCP) across the entire sheet. This pre-coating helps the inks bind to the paper surface with minimal dot spread. After priming the coating is dried and moisture is extracted out to ensure paper control throughout the print process. 

The cornerstone of the Fujifilm inkjet technology is the SAMBA^TM piezoelectric drop on demand (DOD) print head technology. Fuji film’s MEMS manufacturing technology allows the head to achieve resolutions of 1,200 x 1,200 dpi with 4 levels of grey scale. This machine gives an impressive true 1,200 dpi x 1,200 dpi resolution on both coated and uncoated standard Offset paper stock with four-level gray scale unobtainable on any other inkjet press. High-precision inkjet nozzles that are both mechanically and chemically stable to work with great accuracy and spray good density of ink.