Eagle UV LED 30 and the Eagle UV LED 60, developed by Italian manufacturer DPI DG Printing, print CMYK and white as standard on to substrates and objects up to a depth of 25cm making it suitable for flat signage, 3D promotional products and gadgets.

SSE managing director Scott Armitage said: "Eagle 30 is essentially a quick turnaround, short-run machine. The larger Eagle 60 is a production engine that can play a key role in a developing print business.

He added: "A key advantage is accessibility, which makes this kit fast. With standard machines you would load it up, send the file, RIP it and let it print. But you can’t get into the machine: a lid comes down and there’s no accessibility.

"But these machines have a winged design for ease of access," he said of the kit, which costs from £35,000. "You can load and unload it without danger to anyone. It’s particularly good for print on promotional items made out of wood or slate."

He added: "Speed of the machine is not a crucial factor when you’re printing maybe a series of numbers on materials like deep industrial mouldings. You couldn’t do this on screen printing; it would be too uneconomical."

Both machines use UV inks suitable for a wide range of flexible and non-flexible substrates, while the use of LED UV drying lamps allows users to print on to heat-sensitive substrates.

"The Eagle has been engineered to maximise flexibility, quality, production efficiency and return on investment," he said.

Features include Epson DX5 printheads, delivering one of the smallest ink drop sizes of any inkjet printer - three picolitre - to produce sharp text and clear images.

The dedicated RIP, Whiterip, has been developed specifically for the printer to optimise print quality and kit performance. And a web-to-print front-end allows users to offer a personalised online shop front and streamline their product ordering and production workflow.

Armitage said: "The Eagle is versatile and affordable and enables companies to print on to a wide range of materials to open up new markets for added-value printed products."