The Italian manufacturer previewed the initial design of the 3.2m wide press last year, featuring mercury lamps. But these have now been replaced by a cool curing LED system of the firm’s own design.

The printhead carriage has also been redesigned to make access easier for maintenance, and for higher precision when printing. 

The flatbed NoeCha1 is printing live on the firm’s booth (9-X60). It has a vacuum bed with a maximum print area of 3.2m x 2m. It uses Kyocera piezo drop-on-demand heads printing at 600x600dpi native resolution, with four greyscale levels from 3pl to 14p to deliver an apparent 1,200dpi “photo-realistic” quality, the firm said.

The maximum print speed is 700sqm/hour.

“The big difference with our printer is the specification of the heads, and the low ink cost,” said marketing and communication specialist Stephanie Duvivier. “Being a fixed bed it can also handle delicate materials, such as glass.”

The ink formulations is NoeCha’s own, and Duvivier said the ink cost per square metre can be below €0.40 (29p), depending on the amount of ink coverage. “We have a small drop size and very low consumption of inks.”

The target market is high-quality point-of-sale and display graphics, industrial applications such as wood and glass, and packaging.

Five configurations are available, with up to eight channels for optional pre- and post-white as well as special colours. Price ranges from €400,000-€800,000.

“Users can start with the entry-level NoeCha1-10 and upgrade to the top specification NoeCha1-50 by adding heads to their existing carriage,” Duvivier added.

The NoeCha1 is available immediately. The machine being shown at Fespa is being shipped to Large Format by Trimline, part of Italy’s Logo Group, after the show.