Kudu is a 3.2×2m UV LED machine that complements the company’s existing flatbed range – Nyala, Impala, and Oryx.

The device can reach maximum print speeds of 300sqm/hr, achieved through three rows of printheads, and offers ten colour channels compared to nine on the other models. It has an addressable resolution of up to 1,350dpi.

“We saw a need from our customers where they were growing beyond the productivity that we could achieve with the Nyala base and the Nyala S models, where they wanted to have increased capacity without adding additional machines,” SwissQprint UK managing director Erskine Stewart told Printweek.

“So we wanted to create a platform that could achieve that increased productivity and we also saw a huge demand for as much of the available colour options that we have.”

The machine stands on a newly designed mechanical foundation and operates using the latest linear drives to ensure precise droplet placement at high speeds.

“The innovation is not only on the fact that we’ve got an additional row of heads and an extra channel, but in order to do that we’ve had to significantly increase the load-bearing of the beam, and redesign the full head carriage, the entire base, and all of our ink systems,” said Stewart.

Kudu features the Tip Switch vacuum, like SwissQprint’s other flatbed and roll-to-roll printers, and is divided into 260 zones to give the operator very simple and selective control of the vacuum.

The newly developed Greenguard Gold-certified universal ink is available in CMYK, light cyan, light magenta, light black, white, effect varnish, and primer as well as the spot colours orange, and neon yellow and pink.

The machine, which is also expandable with a roll-to-roll option, was shown running for the first time at Fespa, while personal customer demonstrations will take place in September and the first installations are expected from December.

At Fespa SwissQprint also showed an add-on for its Nyala and Impala systems that enables direct printing on glass.