Headquartered in Minneapolis MN, Delphax, an industry leader in the digital print space for over 30 years, was one of the pioneers in the development and manufacturing of production class EBI (Electronic Beam Imaging) electrophotographic printers. Delphax Systems was initially started in 1980 as a joint venture between Dennison Manufacturing and Canada Development Corp. In 1981 Check Technology Corp. was formed in Minnesota to produce printers that banks could use to print their own checks. Over time it expanded through buyouts and joint ventures with Xerox and Olympus, which led to development of its EBI technology. They ultimately bought out Xerox. Delphax develops and manufactures both cut sheet and continuous roll-fed solutions in its Canadian facility.

Delphax is currently the leader in worldwide market share in security check applications, and claims to have the lowest toner-based running cost and highest speeds in its EBI devices. Its devices are also used for transactional, book, legal and financial, direct mail, and packaging insert applications. Thus, Delphax understands what is required for a high-speed printer to meet the demanding requirements of a production print environment.

In addition to developing and manufacturing the printers, Delphax also has a software development group that creates process solutions to support its printers in different market applications. Delphax has subsidiary offices around the globe, and its products, along with a support infrastructure, can be found in over 50 countries. Interestingly, the current products being reviewed are not Delphax’s first foray into inkjet print technology. Its CR2200 product currently offers a hybrid option that uses a Kyocera head to get increased production speeds for monochrome operation.

In this article, we will look at the new Delphax production inkjet offerings. This currently includes 2 sheetfed presses; the elan 250 and elan 500.

A primer on Delphax elan Production Inkjet technology

The new Delphax elan printers use the Memjet ‘Waterfall’ inkjet technology, which currently centers around the 8.77” wide printhead that can deliver up to 700 million 1.1 picoliter drops per second. It prints through 70,400 nozzles at either 6 inches per second at 1600 x 1600 dpi or 12 inches per second at 1600 x 800 dpi, making it one of the fastest inkjet systems available. The head includes 11 integrated circuit (IC) chips and five ink channels that can print CMYKK. Delphax has also incorporated additional printheads to enable up to two spot colors. Delphax has also added a patent pending pigment based MICR option to support the security needs of its client base. Delphax uses 2 of the print heads across the width of the sheet in the 250 model and an array of 4 heads in the 500 to double the speed (still 2 across) for a 17.4 inch print width. The 250 is field upgradable to the 500 to double the speed if production requirements change. The heads requires minimal warm-up time and print in one pass without moving back and forth across the sheet as some other printheads do.

The basic consumables are the ink and the printheads. Currently Memjet inks are water-based dye inks that are specifically designed to work with Memjet printheads. The inks and drop size allow significant ink laydown and quick drying on inkjet compatible papers. The ink densities and resultant print contrast provide an impressive production print product. Printhead life expectancy is based on the volume of print and ink used in a production print environment. The approximate cost of a Memjet replacement head currently falls at less than $550 for Delphax.

Head maintenance is delivered through a cleaning system that, on command, suctions the heads and cleans and primes them. A quick clean takes about 30 seconds and a full cleaning can take a few minutes. The frequency of cleaning is very dependent on the type and cleanliness of the substrate, although it is recommended that you do a cleaning at least once a shift at a minimum. Delphax has engineered a patent pending paper and transport cleaning system in an effort to minimize the need for frequent head maintenance.

The Press Transport

Delphax offers two primary duplex configurations for its new elan line of sheetfed production inkjet presses. The elan 250 prints at 250 inches per minute, while the elan 500 prints at 500 inches per minute, which translates into approximately 15,000 letter size pages per hour.

The elan presses accept sheet sizes from 8” x 8” to 18” x 25.2”, at paper weights from 60 gsm to 350 gsm, although it will only duplex at up to 250 gsm. Delphax used its expertise in high speed EP transports to develop a new patent pending transport system for the elan, one that will handle the speeds, duplexing, and sheet size the press requires. Interestingly, the elan prints with a different aspect ratio than one would expect. They feed the short end of the B2 sheet, not the long end. Delphax developed the transport and the press as a whole to require minimal maintenance that can usually be handled by the plant staff. There are 4 optional paper bins to feed a variety of sheet combinations during a run. The large capacity feeder and stacker can handle 5,000 75 gsm sheets, and plans are to support a roll-to-sheet option is also available that would allow support for longer runs by sheeting a roll on the fly. 

Delphax incorporated an inline pre-coating station to allow for the support of most substrates. The presses also include 4 variable temperature IR dryers inline after the pre-coater, and in each of the front and back printing units. The Real Time Vision system is an inline camera system that identifies imaging defect problems in the print and can activate a head cleaning process, readjust the nozzle output to overcome the problem and/or notify the operator of a problem, depending on the issue. There is an auxiliary inspection tray for preview, error recovery, or utilitarian purposes like performing device calibration or color management characterization.

The elan includes a remote diagnostic support system that allows Delphax to log in to the machine to identify and troubleshoot problems that might occur, and work with the operator to fix them. The elan DFE also includes a visual indicator of paper path status as well.

Delphax Front Ends

Adobe PDF technology is at the core of the new elan front end. Delphax has developed its DFE with a very open standards-based architecture to facilitate flexibility in workflow requirements and integration with existing production systems. As in the case of many of the other production inkjet systems we reviewed, the elan DFE is based on a scalable hardware system. As needed, you can add server blades, RIP instances, and memory to support the needs of complex variable data projects at machine speed. It supports JDF communication as well as a comprehensive reporting system that can deliver detailed metrics on job production and the printing system itself.

Delphax has worked with many 3^rd party workflow solution developers to ensure that its open architecture would support the variety of needs and workflows of its broad customer base.

Putting it to use

The primary consumables for the presses are the inks and printheads. Delphax offers a range of maintenance contract options depending on specific requirements. The company expects to install its first elan printer later this year 

In the next article, I will continue this pre-drupa educational series with Part 2 of the ‘Are you prepared to acquire production inkjet?’ Part 2 will cover transport technology and DFE’s. You should find this article as well as the whole series useful if you are looking at purchasing or implementing production inkjet, and for pre-planning your visit if you are attending drupa. It will help you sort out your priorities as you undertake the mega-experience that drupa always represents. Following and/or during drupa, watch WhatTheyThink for news on new announcements about production inkjet that we have not been able to cover in this pre-show series.