The manufacturer was unable to reveal the identitiy of the company that had placed the first UK order for its £250,000 machine, officially unveiled at Fespa in June, but said that last week's launch had generated a lot of interest and that it was also "close to orders" in Europe.
The W3200UV is commercially available now with a 4-week delivery lead time.
The machine, a joint venture with Screen subsidiary Inca Digital, has been beta-tested since June by Letchworth-based display print specialist The Larger Profile (TLP), which has also bought the device.
TLP managing director Gary Orsman said the beta-testing experience and impact on the business had been extremely positive.
“We started with an Océ Arizona 550 UV flatbed and it was ideal, however none of the printers at the time could do white ink, and we wanted that. So, earlier this year, when Screen asked me to be the beta site for this new machine with white – I jumped at the chance.”
Orsman said the W3200UV, which has a top speed of 85m2/hr, had enabled the business to output high-quality, volume work that it could not previously handle, such as a major project printing Foamex wall panels and acrylic signage for 250 in-store supermarket pharmacies in the UK, at a rate of five or six stores a day.
The top configuration installed at TLP features eight ink channels for CMYK, light cyan and magenta and two white channels.
“Even for top quality with maximum passes, we rarely drop below 66sqm per hour,” he said. “Also the Truepress’s bed size means we can handle 3 x 1.65m panels and fill the bed with several panels if we wish to get maximum use.”
“What I always wanted from a digital printer with my background in quality packaging, we are now getting from the Truepress,” he says. “It gives me the quality and speed that I couldn’t get anywhere else.”
The moving-bed device, which uses Fujifilm Dimatix print heads, can handle rigid board or paper sheets up to 3.2x1.6m up to 50mm thick and features a 14-picolitre droplet size.
“Carrying the Screen name gives certain guarantees about build quality and servicing that customers can rely on,” said Bui Burke, vice president of sales at Screen Europe.
“Inca Digital makes fantastic high speed printers, and we at Screen have the experience of supporting our existing large format UV printers and inks, from the Truepress Jet 2500UV onward."
He added that Screen was "very close to signing first orders for the W3200UV in Europe".
