The Paignton, Devon-based photographic and wide-format business, which has been offering wide-format digital printing for 17 years, opted for the Screen machine due to its "photographic quality", according to managing director Jim Thomson.

"I wanted a photographic quality machine, and it took two and a half years until the Screen came along to find one," said Thomson. "The quality off the 1600UV-F is incomparable to other flatbed machines with its reproduction of 3pt text, photo quality and spot on registration."

He added that the cool running of the LED UV curing had clinched a £40,000 per year contract to print onto black acrylic, which could not be done on machines using conventional lamps as the expansion and contraction of the sheets made it impossible to hold the precise register required.

"Another advantage is that you don’t need to replace the bulbs every 5,000 hours," he added.

The firm is the first in the UK to order the 1600UV-F with the flexible ink formulation.

"Flexible inks will help us open up the fabric and flag markets, without investing in a dye-sub machine, which we couldn’t justify," he said.

In addition to fabric the machine will be used to print onto a number of rigid materials including acrylic, glass, metal and wood, and onto leather, to produce high-end coffee table "Australian" photo albums and other direct-to-substrate prints for photographers, in addition to graphics and signage.

The seven-strong firm already has Epson and HP water-based and Mimaki solvent roll-fed machines.