Kodak is hoping to tip the balance in favour of inkjet printing with the latest members of the Prosper inkjet family. Eight years after introducing the Prosper 6000 in two versions, it has announced the Prosper 7000 with three versions targeting different applications, the fastest achieving speeds of 412m/min. This is the Turbo mode for applications where limited quality is acceptable with low ink coverage. Effectively this means newspapers with 100lpi equivalent images, namely 600x450dpi. While inkjet has had limited impact in newspapers in the UK, there has been headway in other countries, where average paginations can be lower. Kodak is hoping that the Prosper 7000 expands this opportunity.
The press in Performance mode delivers the equivalent of 133lpi (600x600dpi) at 300m/min for books and medium coverage applications and Quality mode running at 200m/min (“roughly comparable to offset printing” says Kodak) at the visual equivalent of 200dpi (600x900dpi) resolution making it suitable for direct mail, catalogues and magazines.
For higher quality applications there is now the Ultra 520, using the 900x1800dpi Ultrastream printhead. This will print on coated as well as uncoated papers with equal alacrity and will spearhead Kodak’s drive to replace litho printing. This is now deliverable following successful trial period. Kodak is also accepting orders for the Prosper 7000. It has not published pricing.
The inks are four-colour-only pigmented aqueous inks which thanks to the simplicity of continuous inkjet are at the lower end of price. These presses are four-colour only.
The paper is dried by eight NIR units placed after each printhead array. The NIR technology avoids heating the substrate while energising water molecules in the ink to evaporate these from the paper. This can be from newsprint to silk and gloss coated, from 42gsm to 270gsm on web widths from 520mm to 648mm.
Kodak executive chairman Jim Continenza says that leap in speed is game changing which “will help commercial, publishing and newspaper printers increase efficiency by shifting more long run jobs from conventional printing processes to inkjet.
“We believe digital technology will grow in importance as a complement to offset as ongoing supply chain issues continue to increase the cost of prepress. This new press reflects our continued commitment to investing in innovation that helps our customers succeed as the industry evolves.”
The press runs reel to reel or to sheet with an image cut off length of 1,372mm. It will support a automatic reel splicer, supplied by a Kodak partner rather than Kodak itself. Finishing is anticipated to be near line, running from a printed reel, rather than inline.
Features carried over from the previous Prospers include the DFE and Intelligent Print system which handles stitching, register and colour control.
A challenge will be in press ancillaries. Kodak’s engineering partner for the Prosper press is CSS which has built the unwind, paper transport and rewinds for the press. Currently none of best established providers of ancillaries for continuous feed presses has equipment able to run at the Turbo press speeds. This rules out Hunkeler, Tecnau and even Contiweb which according to spec sheets only reach 300m/min.
At this throughput rate, a zero speed paster at the feed end and rapid reel change at the delivery will be needed to make full use of the fastest inkjet web press in the world.
