Unveiled in public for the first time today (14 May) at Fespa, the new 64in (1.62m) SC-S60600L and the SC80600L models have been introduced to sit alongside the existing SC-S60600 and SC80600 printers, which use cartridges.
The 1.5-litre ink pouches run with Epson’s established UltraChrome GS3 eco-solvent inks, which have key environmental certifications including Greenguard Gold and AgBB.
Epson senior product manager Richard Barrow said: “We are seeing more and more that these printers are going into higher print volume environments, bordering on being used for industrial use. So acknowledging this, we decided to develop a bulk ink solution for the existing models.
“This solution is essentially a tray system and each tray holds a 1.5-litre or up to 1.5-litre ink pouch.”
He added: “There is a sweet spot for usage in terms of what model you would use. We’re hypothesising that if you are using more than 10 litres of ink per month, it makes financial sense or a better cost of ownership equation to go with the bulk ink solution versus the cartridge model.”
Aside from the ink system, all other technical specifications on the new devices remain the same as the cartridge models and therefore produce 1,440x1,440dpi output at up to 95.1sqm/hr in single-pass banner mode and at up to 12.5sqm/hr in eight-pass film modes.
The machines can run nine or 10 colours: CMYK, light cyan, light magenta, light black, red and orange, and can also be configured to use white or metallic silver.
They can print on a wide range of media up to 1mm thick, from clear film and photographic paper to wallpaper, canvas and vinyl, and are suited to large scale signage and displays, POS applications and billboards, back/front-lit signage and car wrapping.
Both devices feature Epson PrecisionCore TFP printheads and will be supplied with Epson Edge RIP software and the LFP Accounting Tool, which the manufacturer said provides for accurate job costing data.
The SC-S series printers also offer customers access to the Epson Edge Dashboard with over 250 EMX profile downloads for a wide range of media manufacturers and media types.
European commercial availability for the new models will start in October, with the exception of Russia, where Barrow said availability will likely begin one to two months later.
While pricing has not yet been disclosed, Barrow said “the general rule of thumb is there is a premium of about 10% on the hardware compared to the cartridge model and a TCO [total cost of ownership] advantage of about 20% for the ink”.
Epson will exhibit at stand B5-G10 at Fespa, which is taking place at Messe Munich, Germany from 14-17 May.
Other printers on the manufacturer’s stand will include the SureColor SC-S60600, SureColor SC-P20000, SureColor SC-F9300, SureColor SC-F6200 and SureColor SC-F2100.
“Historically, Fespa is without question the best tradeshow for us, not only to engage with as many different visitors from Europe, but the influence to sales is second to none,” said Barrow.
“So it’s really a no brainer for us to use Fespa as the key platform for all signage and sign and display launches.”
