Having the ability to grow your printfor-pay

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1 Océ Arizona 600 New and Improved Arizona The Océ Arizona 600 solvent-based printer is a good bet for the growth-minded business. BY NORM GOBERT Norm Gobert co-owns and operates a Signs Now franchise in downtown New Orleans. He has been working with large-format PostScript printing since 1994, and prior to that spent 14 years as systems engineer and printing systems specialist for IBM and IBM Printing Systems Co. Having the ability to grow your printfor-pay business is very important but growing profitably should be the ultimate goal of each print shop owner. Having said that, Océ would like to ask you the question: Are you ready to grow, but wondering which graphics printer best meets your printing needs? Today, Océ believes the Arizona 600, a 75"-wide, solvent-based production printer, is a good bet to help you take your business to the next level. I recently had the opportunity to Test Drive a pre-production beta model of the Arizona 600 in my shop in downtown New Orleans. ARIZONA 600 SPECIFICATIONS Technology: Piezoelectric inkjet with four printheads per color (CMYK,lm,lc) Resolutions: 618 x 618 dpi addressable; 309 x 309 dpi addressable Print speeds/modes: Up to 500 square feet per hour (2-pass mode); up to 250 square feet per hour (4-pass mode); up to 200 square feet per hour (8-pass mode) Inks: 3M ScotchCal Ink Jet Inks Series Solvent-based pigmented inks; bulk ink (1 gallon) bottles ($155 per gallon) Media: Variety of uncoated vinyl films Media width: Min. 36"; max 75" Image width: Media width minus 1.04" Image processing: Onyx ProductionHouse or Onyx PosterShop Print & Go module: Provides roll-to-sheet capability Price: $ (printer only) Contact: Océ North America, Inc., 5450 North Cumberland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60656; phone ; or visit IMPROVED FAMILIAR FEATURES Just like it s successful predecessors (Arizona 180 and 500 models), the Océ Arizona 600 builds upon a self-contained print environment. The enclosed design of the Arizona 600 minimizes operator exposure to ink fumes by removing them to an outside source using a customer-supplied duct and exhaust fan. This self-contained system means that the printer can be located in the same work area as other printers. It does not require a custom-fabricated HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) room, but more importantly, this design ensures the print area is free of airborne dust, reducing the chances of marred prints due to environmental contamination. The control panel looks and feels like the previous product lineup, displaying common tasks and functions such as Copies/Reprints, Operator, Ink Menu and Configure I/O. This is where you communicate with the printer through a large 75 GB on-board hard drive, enabling multiple images to be saved without reprocessing and resending from the workstation. And, just like the Arizona 180, the unit is connected via a long SCSI cable to the workstation driven by Onyx ProductionHouse RIP software.

2 Other familiar features include a new, improved implementation of the maintenance cloth station, stepping motors, dancer bars and a capping station which now caps the printheads in a horizontal resting state and includes replaceable capping station pads to better seal ink nozzles (see Figure 1). The Océ Arizona 600 uses industrialgrade Piezo inkjet technology designed for high-speed production printing. On several occasions during this Test Drive we pushed the unit for 16-hour print days and it stood up to the challenge. We learned (by mistake) that the new capping station design and printheads are a little more forgiving than the heads used in previous models. Once, we ended our work day without performing end-of-day maintenance on the Arizona 600 (don t try this with your Arizona 90 or 180). The following morning we wiped the heads in typical fashion, ran a few ink purges and Bam!, we were printing crisp text and sharp images. I m not sure, but I think the Océ folks refer to this as wet printheads. Once you ve dabbed/cleaned the heads with the traditional long-stem cotton swabs dipped with solvent cleaner (coupled with the auto solvent pump which soaks the sponge pads in the capping station), the printheads practically never run the risk of drying out a common challenge faced by solvent-based printer owners. By the way, the Arizona 600 includes four industrial-grade printheads per color (that s 504 nozzles for each head) for the six-color print engine. The Océ Arizona 600 uses an intermediate ink reservoir system fed by one-gallon bulk ink bottles (see Figure 2). The bottles can be replaced on-the-fly, without stopping the printer. Of course these bottles are filled with 3M Piezo Ink Jet Figure 1: The newly designed capping station on the Arizona 600 contains a horizontal grid that uses solvent-soaked sponges to ensure printheads are always sealed, preventing nozzle clogs. Figure 2: The Arizona 600 uses an intermediate ink reservoir system fed by one-gallon bulk ink bottles. The bottles can be replaced on the fly, without stopping the printer.

3 Ink Series 5500 inks. When used with select 3M media, the Océ Arizona 600 can produce 3M Scotchprint Graphics, backed by the 3M MCS Warranty. THE NEW STUFF The Arizona 600 provides increased output speeds (up to 500 square feet per hour) and a wider print width (up to 75") all the things I wanted from this machine just a few short years ago. Add the new AccuTrax technology an automated adjustment system which maintains media feed, printhead height and print-gap adjustments and you can start printing double-sided banners, or do double printing for extra color density (especially good for those backlit applications). The Océ Arizona 600 also utilizes a new dual heating system. The first heater, mounted in the printhead carriage, immediately starts drying the ink as it is deposited on the substrate. The second heater, located farther down the media path, applies additional heat to speed the drying process. This design allows the Arizona 600 to run at higher speeds, while still drying multiple types of media. The drying temperature is controlled to prevent negative affects on adhesive-backed pressure-sensitive vinyl films. The Dual Drying System feature uses Figure 3: The unit s Print & Go module seen here provides roll-to-sheet capability, enabling immediate access to printed graphics without having to re-web the printer. radiant heat, which Océ says predominately heats the ink and media, and not the air, resulting in a highly focused system that targets specific areas to ensure proper drying. Lastly, the unit s new Print & Go feature adds an alternate media exit path (also called roll-to-sheet ) which enables immediate access to printed graphics without stopping the printer to unload the take-up roll. Océ Arizona 600 owners can continue to use the printer s internal take-up roll, or choose to feed the printed media through a specially designed slot in the front panel onto the external Print & Go take-up reel (see Figure 3). The external take-up system includes a motor and is mounted on locking wheels for easy portability and storage. This immediate access to printed graphics speeds throughput by reducing the time between printing and finishing. For shops like mine, a heavy volume of one-off jobs is the order of the day. This translates into time and cost savings. When using the Print & Go module, re- Figure 4: The strong suit for the Arizona 600 is its ability to print full bus wraps such as these, which we printed for a national trade show last spring. When used with select 3M media, the Océ Arizona 600 is capable of producing 3M Scotchprint Graphics that are backed by the 3M MCS Warranty.

4 COURTESY: Océ North America - Arizona 600 printer Onyx Graphics - ProductionHouse 6.0 RIP software 3M Commercial Graphics - IJ160C-10 material Herculite Inc. - Bantex Banner Media Avery Graphics - MPI1007, MPI3401 and MPI2003 films Seal Graphics - AquaSeal liquid laminate Dell Corp. - Dell Precision 650 Workstation computer webbing to the internal take-up reel is unnecessary, and there is less media waste between prints. After describing all the bells and whistles on the new, improved Arizona, here s how it performed in the field. REAL-WORLD PROJECTS Bus Ride As stated earlier, the Océ Arizona 600 can produce 3M Scotchprint Graphics while utilizing 3M Series 5500 inks and 3M IJ160C 10 media. So we did several bus wraps for a recent national trade show here in the Big Easy (see Figure 4). It was a nobrainer. Initially, we set up the bus wraps while utilizing an older Pentium II computer workstation running Windows NT and a SCSI adapter connected directly to the Arizona 600. This configuration worked great for small to mid-sized graphics, but soon the large files for the 10.5' x 45' bus graphics began to bog down the RIP station, so I had to come up with an alternate plan. After installing a powerful Dell Precision 650 workstation running a PreFlight version of Onyx ProductionHouse, I was able to quickly RIP several full bus wraps and send them to the workstation RIP attached to the printer. This was my first experience with Onyx s ProductionHouse Print Forwarding connectivity option, which allowed me to send RIPed files to a remote print station. During the setup stages I decided to run the prints at 309 x 618 dpi in four-pass mode. This gave me a nice combination of speed and quality for our bus graphics. In this print mode, I was able to achieve print speeds of about 200- to 250 square feet per hour. Keep in mind that these prints must be dried before they can be removed from the printer. Additionally, these prints were produced using the unit s Print & Go module, which enabled us to remove prints from the machine without stopping it. Once I got the RIPed files to the printer s on-board hard drive, I simply began accessing and sending copies of the bus images. In this case, I had approximately ' x 50" panels per bus to be printed within several weeks. Needless to say, this was a good endurance test for the Arizona 600. In the end, that was about seven hours of printing per bus (considering time to load and unload media). The Arizona 600 could have run faster, but I was comfortable with this time frame and preferred the higher resolutions. During this long run, we did have a minor hiccup when a pulley began to grind metal shavings and produce a very squeaky sound. Fortunately, a quick response by the Océ support team kept us running without any downtime. During a long run like this, ink buildup and normal wear-and-tear can take their toll on a machine, so remember that good maintenance is key to optimal speed and performance. If you follow the manufacturer s recommended maintenance schedule of cleaning the printheads and capping station at startup, followed by cleaning the media roller and dancer bars, everything should be business as usual. I found that cleaning the unit twice daily (taking about one man-hour) was ample for even the toughest jobs. Additionally, the Arizona 600 automatically pumps solvent into the capping station pads every 20 minutes which keeps the pads moist. No need here to put plastic wrap on the capping station in hopes of preventing nozzle clogs. Inside the Show We also had a chance to print some interior trade show graphics with the Arizona 600. The ability to handle trade shows inside and out is an example of the Arizona s versatility. While utilizing 3M s IJ3555 and Avery s MPI3001 media, my staff produced beautiful trade show panels in record time. For example, a last-minute order rolled in around 10 am on a Friday, and was needed by 4 pm the same day. Our task: download several large Photoshop files from a client s FTP site, and then print and mount to Sintra board. No lamination required. Done. And the prints looked great. For Figure 5: With its 75" print width, the Arizona 600 can produce oversized full color banners with ease.

5 Figure 6: I was able to run several types of thirdparty media through the printer. In this case, we used third-party media to produce transit ads for a local outdoor campaign. these trade show graphics, viewed up close, we printed in the high-quality print mode (eight-pass at 618 x 618 dpi). Name in Lights The Océ Arizona 600 can also print onto translucent film for great-looking backlits. Backlit applications, like the taxi tops and on-premise signage we produce, require high color density to achieve the desired effects. We pressed the Arizona to produce Taxi top ads on a somewhat difficult 3M media. While utilizing the IJ3555 media profile we were able to get the right colors, and the Océ AccuTrax technology enabled precise registration for the doubleprinting we needed to do to achieve the high color density we were after. Double printing is ideal for media that has low dot gain, like the media. We have utilized this process on several occasions, but I must admit the process tends to be slow. To get the desired effect, we had to print at half speed. The good news is that I sent the job to print and was able to walk away from it 100 prints later, at the end of job, the machine automatically capped the heads and waited for the next print job. The Onyx ProductionHouse 6.0 RIP software system performed well with the Océ Arizona 600 printer. The system s Print Forwarding connectivity option allowed me to send RIPed files to a remote print station. Double Sided And of course we would be remiss if we didn t produce full color banners with the Arizona 600 (see Figure 5). Banner profiles created for 3M 8451 and Herculite Bantex Banner Material worked flawlessly for all our banner printing needs on the Arizona 600. Again, my favorite print mode was fourpass at 309 x 618 dpi printing at 250 square feet per hour. The Arizona 600 did a fine job with double-sided printing of street pole banners. At the time I tackled this project, the details of how to accomplish this task was a work in progress. By enabling the double-sided printing mode from the control panel, we managed to produce 40 2' x 5' double-sided street pole banners for a local non-profit organization. Third Party While using third-party media, we had the following experience: We produced transit ads for a Harry Potter outdoor campaign on bus backs, commonly known as bus tails. This was a rather tricky project, since we used third-party media with an existing profile (3M IJ3555). As you might expect, the output was of acceptable print quality, however, the drying parameters were a bit off. This caused a slight matting issue on the heavy ink coverage areas. So, in order to restore the finish on these transit ads, we coated them with a thin coat of AquaSeal liquid laminate from Seal Graphics. The end result was terrific (see Figure 6). On the other hand, the correct procedure would have been to build a new profile using the ProductionHouse Profile Generator function and set the proper ink limits. But I was pressed for time and, yes, I took a short cut. While running third-party media I did notice different print results when using fourpass mode at speeds in the neighborhood of 250 square feet per hour, versus eight-pass mode, which produced less banding, better drying and overall better print quality on the third-party products. WORTH IT? The Océ Arizona 600 is a real workhorse printer, and it s backed by some of the bestknown warranties in the graphics business. The Arizona 600 printer produced the bestlooking graphics I have ever seen utilizing the 3M Scotchprint ink and media combinations. Our bus wrap project drew rave reviews from the trade show producers. If I had a wish list, it would be that the print system would be more open. By that I mean, would it be possible to offer a thirdparty ink and media source as a compliment to the 3M MCS? Just a thought. Otherwise, I give this solution a thumbs up for existing Arizona users and others looking to further evolve their production printing businesses. DG