Wide Format Imaging

Gerber Scientific Products, Inc. has announced their newest offering in the wide-format UV inkjet printer marketplace – the Gerber Solara ion. The Gerber Solara ion is the culmination of Gerber's growing expertise in field of inkjet printers. Capitalizing on their experience and success with the Gerber Solara series of inkjet printers, GSP has developed a technologically advanced printer format that meets the varied needs of wide-format, outdoor durable digital printing applications. The result is the merger of a true flatbed and true roll-to-roll printer – the Gerber Solara ion.

“The Gerber Solara ion is built on a robust flatbed platform that provides the best possible foundation for printing rigid materials,” explained Curt Brey, director of digital solutions for GSP. Material up to 1"/25.4mm thick and 64"/1.6m wide is mounted on a vacuum table which provides the ultimate in stability, while a gantry moves the print head over the substrate during printing. This design eliminates the alignment errors that can occur when moving rigid substrates through a printer. The result is precision printing on a wide variety of rigid materials.

“Gerber was not satisfied to stop with a flatbed printer,” explained Brey. “Wide-format applications require printing on flexible roll stock as well. So a true roll-to-roll system was designed into the Gerber Solara ion.” Flexible material is pulled across the dedicated roll-to-roll platform by a series of precision crafted friction cylinders. Unlike other industry flatbeds that added a simple roll holder, the Gerber Solara ion has incorporated a fully engineered, heavy-duty roll system and a winding unit for media up to 64"/1.6m wide.

“You get the best of both worlds with the Gerber Solara ion – the dependability of a flatbed printer and the ability to print on a wide range of rigid, semi-rigid, and roll stock materials,” commented Brey. “The Gerber Solara ion dual printing system eliminates the capital expense of purchasing two separate printers as well as minimizing the amount of valuable floor space that is required by the equipment.”

Not only is the Gerber Solara ion exceptionally well designed for maximum versatility, the printer features Gerber's patent-pending, Cold Fire Cure technology. This unique UV curing process uses low energy and low temperatures to cure the proprietary GerberCAT inks. “The Cold Fire Cure system provides features in inkjet curing that are nothing less than revolutionary,” commented Brey. “Cold Fire Cure offers a vast array of benefits over any competitive curing process in the areas of material compatibility, cost of operation, and even environmental, health, and safety.”