Innovative Variodrop^™ Print Head Technology Ushers in Next-Gen Print Platforms

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Durst, the leader in innovative industrial digital printing platforms, is exhibiting several next-generation production UV inkjet printers – based on remarkable advances in the company’s proprietary Quadro^™ Array print head technologies – at this month’s SGIA Expo ’13 trade show and conference, Oct. 23-25 in Orlando.

Durst, once again a Platinum Sponsor of the specialty graphics industry’s premier annual gathering, also will conduct a press conference during the show to introduce these noteworthy new production digital printers.  It is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, in Room S220B of the Orange County Convention Center.  Durst executives will be on hand to discuss their new printers and technologies and answer questions.

The five-meter Rho 512R UV inkjet roll printer and Rhotex 322 UV inkjet “soft signage” printer, both making their North American debut at SGIA Expo ‘13, will join the Rho 1012 Continuous Inkjet Production System in Durst booth #2001.  They are the first Durst printers equipped with the company’s new 12-picolitre Quadro Array print heads – plus its breakthrough Variodrop^™ printing technology, with its critical implications for precision imaging such as grayscale printing.

Variodrop strictly controls drop size modulation by utilizing a Durst process called “multipulsing.”  This technological breakthrough delivers two voltage pulses – with the second pulse pumping a precise amount of ink into the droplet before it detaches from the head’s nozzle plate.  This is all done without forming any “satellites.”

“We’re very pleased to offer this important new imaging capability on a range of Rho production printers to the SGIA audience to satisfy the industry’s most demanding output and operational requirements,” said Christopher Howard, Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Durst U.S.  “Our multipulsing process at the heart of Variodrop addresses the challenges of grayscale and other highly precise printing applications with impressive results and at production speeds.  Compared to the often uneven droplets formed by most available technologies, the drop shape we’re able to produce is uniform, and placement is always evenly spaced.” 

Rho 512R

The Rho 512R, the latest addition to Durst’s Rho 500R Series of superwide UV inkjet roll printers, sets the standard for high-end industrial inkjet quality and productivity.  Its very small drop size of only 12 picolitres combines with a precision carriage system, linear motor drive, advanced Quadro Array technology, and print heads with more than 30,000 nozzles each to achieve optimum print quality without loss of speed. Unattended printing of large rolls, low production costs and low ink consumption make the Rho 512R one of the most economical and efficient printers ever.  It also can simultaneously print three 1.6m / 5-ft. rolls side by side.

Rhotex 322

The 126-inch Rhotex 322 is the most productive soft signage industrial inkjet printer available.  Its exceptional print quality, based on a drop size of 7-21 picolitres, is not compromised by speed.  Designed for printing textiles for use in the home, wall coverings, domestic textiles and interior design, as well as fashion applications, the Rhotex 322 is the ideal solution to digital printing of the widest range of soft signage.  Polyester fabrics printed with Rhotex water based dispersed dye inks are entirely environmentally friendly, recyclable and disposable.

Rho 1012

The 96-inch Rho 1012 offers customers the highest print quality available in the production flatbed printer segment, featuring the new 12-picoliter Durst Quadro Array technology that prints at speeds up to 5,000 s.f./hr.  The small drop technology implemented delivers unrivalled quality at these print speeds, giving the user the ability to meet both quality and volume requirements normally reserved for high-end lithographic applications.