Easibind - Developing a high-speed digital inkjet print bridge head for flexible and rigid substrates

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We are developing a novel high speed digital inkjet print bridge head for printing ontoflexible and rigid substrates from 200 – 1000 microns in thickness. High speed digital printing is a growing segment of the print market because:- the market is moving toward just in time production requiring smaller volume printruns with fast turnaround and- it enables product/packaging differentiation and personalisation which digital printersare able to produce economicallyThis versatile approach to printing is also leading the adoption of new substrates, particularly plastics and synthetics, to provide further differentiation through aesthetic qualities. However, no high speed digital printer can cope with this variation is substrate thickness at present.Our approach is the development of a “floating” print bridge head that will automaticallyadjust to the thickness of the substrate and the use of a precision engineered print bed that can move the substrate to an accuracy within 5 microns. These two innovations enable us to provide high speed, large format printing at up to 5,600 sheets per hour whilst maintaining fine print quality. We will achieve this using state of the art components from world-renowned OEMs.The project will output a commissioned alpha press that can serve as a demonstrator to the print industry. From this we expect to attract interest and early adopters for the beta model, with a target to sell 50 commercial machines within 5 years of project end.Easibind have a track record of working with the latest technology from OEMs and havesought the expertise of two UK SMEs to bring this project to fruition.