The machine, which is available with immediate effect for £25,999, is a larger and faster equivalent to the existing Versa UV LEF-12 and LEF-20 printers, which enable printers to customise a range of ordinary items to turn them into profitable gifts.
The device can print on a wide variety of substrates including acrylic, wood, board, plastic, metal and glass plus fabrics and soft materials such as leather and 'eco-leather'.
It prints directly onto items including pens, mobile phone cases, customised corporate merchandise, signs, personalised awards, giftware, industrial goods and product prototypes.
Roland DG EMEA president Jerry Davies said: “The trend for highly personalised items is growing and customers are using Roland’s VersaUV LEF printers to build profitable businesses by providing on-demand custom printing services for a range of personalised products through e-commerce sites and retail kiosks or as an addition to their existing print shops.
“The launch of the LEF-300 model brings the VersaUV series into the mass production environment with a number of features to facilitate the customisation and decoration of items in high volumes.”
Features of the machine include an enlarged printing area of 770mm wide by 330mm long, which is 50% more than the previous model, and it can accommodate items up to 100mm in height and 8kg in weight. Thin and soft materials are held in place by a vacuum table.
In CMYK ink configuration the device, which has four printheads and two UV-LED lamps, enables bi-directional printing approximately 60% faster than the LEF-20.
In addition, the number of white and clear (gloss) ink nozzles have been doubled for faster printing, increased density and opacity and faster build-up of multiple layers for textured effects.
The machine, which comes equipped with the new Roland VersaWorks Dual RIP software, uses Roland DG’s Eco-UV ink in CMYK, White and Clear (gloss).
The firm said this ink ensures high-quality durable print and reduces the shrinkage of thin film materials. All colours are available in 220ml ink cartridges and CMYK and Clear (gloss) are also available in 500ml cartridges.
