The Swiss manufacturer said Karibu, which can print onto materials including textiles, banners, foils, vinyls and mesh up to 3mm thick, incorporates a raft of features aimed at high efficiency, reliability and versatility.

These include a cassette system that makes rolls fast and easy to load and the Light Box, which is positioned next to the printing area for immediate and continuous quality control of backlit prints.

Also featured is a Mesh Kit that is integrated with the print bed, which is said to make it easy to process permeable substrates, as well as full bleed printing, with neither additional setup work required beforehand, nor cleaning afterwards.

A dual roll option capable of handling two rolls each up to 1.6m wide can potentially double Karibu’s productivity. The roll holders are split into two sections with each half of the shaft driven individually, which ensures optimum web tension and perfect results on both rolls.

SwissQprint marketing services specialist Petra Fetting said: “With the big potential of the growing soft signage market, we thought that now is the right moment to launch a roll-to-roll printer, and we wanted to give a complement to our flatbed range.”

Karibu also has a patent pending feature called the Tip Switch Vacuum. The machine has 136 keys across the width of the print bed, each of which opens or closes a vacuum channel. The manufacturer said this eliminates air leakage, even in the gap between dual rolls. The entire vacuum area can be opened or closed within four seconds with a light tap on the switches.

Additionally, the machine has four status indicators affixed to the print beam that are observable at a distance and inform the operator about machine status and printing progress, so that it is always possible to keep an eye on it while taking care of other equipment or tasks.

Karibu can print in CMYK plus up to five additional colour channels (light cyan, light magenta and light black plus white and varnish) and can reach a maximum speed of 212sqm/hr.

It uses a specially developed inkset. The cured ink layer is flexible to ensure suitability for all roll media while the inks themselves are NVC-free and Greenguard Gold certified.

SwissQprint is now accepting orders for Karibu and deliveries will start in September 2019. The company is exhibiting at stand A5-H30 at Fespa, which is taking place at Messe Munich, Germany until Friday (17 May).