The K600i White, which only prints white ink, is available for purchase now but will be launched at Labelexpo, Brussels, taking place from 25 to 28 September, along with updates to its DFEv2.0 workflow solution, which were announced last week. Depending on workflow configuration, it is priced between £180,000 and £200,000.
Domino said it is targeted at printers looking for a digital alternative to screen printing, and that it offers instantaneous job change, minimum maintenance and variable data printing capability. It is ideal for printing in small point sizes onto personal care labels and for other transparent label applications.
The white ink module attached is an evolution of the Drop on Demand system utilised by the K600i, but it uses a heavily pigmented UV-curable white ink incorporated in a new ink system, which continuously mixes the inks, overcoming the issue of pigments settling.
The system was initially developed for the seven-colour N610i label press and was incorporated with the machine in early 2016, which Domino Digital Printing Solutions director Philip Easton described as “part of the continued improvement programme we set ourselves as targets to improve products”.
The first K600i White was installed as beta in North America in Q3 2016 and there has since been a second beta site in Germany, although none in the UK.
Easton said that the design of the white ink module overcomes the issue of the white ink thickening and causing blocked nozzles, which can lead to longer maintenance times. It runs at a maximum speed of 75m/min in lower coverage mode, taking sheets 330mm wide.
“The reason we developed this was that customers were making reference to buying the N610i because of its white. We had a lot of customers saying ‘I just wish we could have your white on a flexo press, we could replace our screen printing’, and that’s what has kicked it off,” he said.
“This is the first time that there has been a digital inkjet screen replacement as an alternative technology that sits between screen printing and flexo printing but has those benefits of no plate and setup times, the job change is instant.”
Last year, Domino Printing Sciences launched its Ax-Series of continuous inkjet printers.
