Burscough - Evans Graphics is awaiting delivery of a new Longier Hunter FR3900 wide-format printer after signing on the dotted line on Quality Print Services's (QPS) stand at Sign and Digital UK.

The robust, energy efficient Longier range has been designed to be virtually future-proof. The Hunter FR-3900 UV LED printer utilises up to 14 printhead sets to enable high-speed (up to 70sqm/hr) yet low-heat printing with six colours plus white ink, and a varnish option is available. It offers a generous maximum flatbed size of 2500mm x 1530mm and roll-to-roll at 2500mm wide, while its controllable UV LED system allows long-term maintenance-free operation and reduced running costs. A separate RIP and Print Console configuration boosts user efficiency by ensuring a rapid workflow.

As a supplier of Longier LED UV printers in the UK, QPS teamed up with Longier's UK arm, Hallmark Equipment Service Ltd, to demonstrate a machine from the range at April's Sign and Digital UK show in Birmingham. Steve Tilbury, Managing Director of Evans Graphics, attended the event and agreed a deal for the Longier Hunter FR-3900 with Hallmark Equipment Service Ltd ahead of his company's move to larger premises.

He comments: "I specifically chose the Longier table as it gave us a 14 head capability including a superb white facility, complete with roll-to-roll printing which will complement our existing solvent-based roll-to-roll print capacity.
 
"We first saw the Longier FR3900 Hunter at the Hallmark Equipment Service Ltd demo suite in Great Gransden and knew then that there was something good in prospect. With a clean laydown of ink, zero banding and impeccable ink-to-substrate curing, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take one of these new tables on board."

The machine is currently being constructed and is due to be installed at Evans Graphics in mid-July, where it will run Nazdar digital inks. Developed as extremely reliable, vibrant and affordable, Nazdar products have won loyal customers across the wide-format print industry.

The Longier Hunter FR-3900 also features an ink system with 1-litre refillable containers for a streamlined production process and less wasted ink, making the pairing with Nazdar even more economical.

Steve Tilbury adds: "We have been using Nazdar inks for the past eight years, so combined with the fact that the new Longier is destined to be using Nazdar's latest LED cured ink set and benefitting from all of the improvements they have made, the decision was quite an easy one."

Founded in Maidenhead in the early 1970s, Evans Graphics evolved over the following decades to become an expert in wide-format display graphics, exterior signage and industrial labelling, using solvent-based and UV-cured digital inks. The new Longier will be used to cater for its diverse client base, primarily in B2B market sectors.

"We were delighted to welcome Evans Graphics to the world of Longier printers at Sign UK," comments Chris Bailey, Managing Director of QPS. "The combination of Longier technology and Nazdar inks makes for a production workhorse that creates excellent quality, durable prints at a lower price point than that offered by traditional market-leading flatbed printers and their OEM inks."