The LA series of laminators and laminating films will be launched at the end of this year, becoming immediately available from Mimaki’s UK distributor Hybrid Services. Pricing is yet to be finalised.

Initially comprised of the 1.6m-wide LA 160W and 1.7m-wide 170W, Hybrid national sales manager John de la Roche said that the new machines work as an accompaniment to the newly launched UCJV series LED UV print and cuts, being shown for the first time at this week’s The Print Show in Telford.

De la Roche said: “If you talk to laminating companies, the bigger names, they are all rushing to market to find laminators for UV print, which has taken off like crazy. 

“So what Mimaki has done now is released another gamechanger. It’s not for Mimaki to get into the laminator market it is to have a Mimaki turnkey system for the signmaking and graphics professional. It will take the ordinary signmaker into new markets and lamination is part of that.”

Operating at speeds of up to 7.5m/min, the laminators are heat-assisted devices with a maximum temperature of 60°C, improving overlaminate film adhesion particularly to surfaces printed with UV-curable inks, according to Hybrid.

The Mimaki Vision Laminate films, initially rolled out in 1.4m and 1.5m widths but with more to be released next year, have also been designed for use with UV-curable inks, offered up as a cost-effective alternative to cold laminating films.

“If you look at any printer on the market for various technologies, be it a solvent or latex printer, they tend to have and be restricted on the materials because you need the chemistry between solvent, or with latex there can be heat issues,” added De la Roche.

“Because the UCJV is a surface printer it means we can print to almost anything in theory. 

“We envisage that there will be a whole rage of new materials that we can print on that will need lamination.”

Mimaki has launched a number of other machines this year, including its first 3D inkjet machine and a new industrial textile printer.