Axzyra AX-Ultra: Small and Swift

There is a big swing from plastic packaging over to paper and more environmentally friendly packaging products. Couple that with the changes in modern equipment and clients are becoming more demanding as to what it is they want on their packaging.

It is not unusual now for the smallest of bakers or café owners to want to have the name of the shop or outlet emblazoned all over the paper bag containing the donut or pastry you have just purchased.

Depending on the market you are in, this can throw up a number of issues, most importantly if you are a café or a baker, how safe is the product you are about to wrap the donut in? So, this begs the question, how do you satisfy these two key points from your client: low volume but bespoke, food safe, printed products?

One company that may be able to help with a solution is Axzyra, a growing company based in Cambridgeshire with very good connections with a manufacturing base in China. What the company can supply is a flatbed inkjet printer in two formats, water-based or UV inks, but with a number of USPs which put it in a very good place to tick the boxes discussed.

Size Matters

At the heart of the Axzyra AX-Ultra is a transport belt that can transport the product under a printhead which, in a single pass, will deploy four colours (CMYK) when printing water-based inks, or an extra channel of white when you have selected the UV model available. With this technology, you essentially have a moving flatbed printer.

You could still be thinking “this seems just like any other flatbed inkjet printer”, but here is the twist. The transport belt is capable of producing a product 2.5 metres long and at a speed of 40m/min, which for a small machine, is unexpectedly quick.

This means you can pass the product under the inkjet head at exceedingly good productivity rates, and whilst these machines are generally hand-fed due to the nature of the product, keeping up might be an issue so Axzyra can supply an automated feeder to add to the option list.

The substrate or raw product is guided under the head by a number of guide strips and registered on a sensor so the printhead knows exactly where to start printing. Once it has passed under the head the printed product drops into a tray or whichever collation device you choose to use.

This is one key difference the Axzyra AX-Ultra has over its competition in as much as typically this type of printer has each individual piece of substrate or product placed there prior to printing and then when printed, requires removal by hand. This machine, with the transport belt, allows for continuous operation.

The inkjet head is positioned over the belt on a substantially engineered carriageway allowing the dual row of inkjet heads to deploy either water-based or UV inks anywhere on the moving belt. The clearance over the transfer belt is 80mm which makes the Axzyra AX-Ultra very capable of printing a wide range of different substrates and folded box products to mention a few.

A maximum height above product of 80mm makes the AX-Ultra capable of printing on a wide range of products and substrates

The head itself uses CMYK colours for the water-based inks and the same plus a fifth channel for white inks if you want to print in UV. The UV curing is completed with the now ubiquitous LED curing systems adding low power credentials to the Axzyra AX-Ultra. Regardless of the inks you choose to use, the ink is deployed from 3.5-litre containers which are cleverly engineered in a compartment under the printer.

To ensure the highest quality of printed product, the Chinese manufacturer uses the latest Epson i3200 inkjet heads which can produce quality of 600 x 600dpi if the belt is running at the maximum speed or if the belt is running at 15m/min the resolution goes up to 1,200 x 600dpi.

Many Combinations

With the basic understanding of the product, a client can look to specify the printer they are seeking to match the work they intend to produce. Again, this is another clever way that Axzyra looks to develop a market for the AX-Ultra.

There are a number of combinations of inkjet heads and transfer belts that can be ordered for a variety of products. The standard specification is a head width of 236mm which will cover a significant number of products such as paper bags, boxes, and other smaller consumer packaging.

However, if you are thinking larger bags, tote bags, or pizza boxes, then Axzyra can specify inkjet heads of differing sizes including 472mm, 708mm, and a maximum size of 944mm. Belt sizes change from a standard width of 1.2m but a 2.5m belt is also available on request. The overall machine design and configuration are exactly the same in each model with just the width of the head and belt being the difference.

Easy Operation

Operation of the Axzyra AX-Ultra is accomplished by the use of a large monitor and keyboard mounted to the side of the machine. The operation station allows the operation of all functions of production from processing the image through the RIP printing first and then ordering work for the rest of production. Standard software supplied with the AX-Ultra is SAi Flexi but Axzyra can supply the machine
with variable data options should you need it.

This machine sits very neatly between smaller flatbed printers and large fully automatic inkjet printers. Whilst the machine may be produced in China, Axzyra and its partner have set up local expertise to ensure the machine will be fully compliant with European market requirements for either safety or build quality.

Axzyra seems to have found both a gap in the market and a product to fill it, the AX-Ultra is going to be a very positive asset in any small-to mid-sized printer and will certainly add to capacity well above the physical size of the machine.

Statistics

Maximum speed 40 m/min
Colours CMYK + W (option)
Inks Water-based (CMYK)
UV LED cured (CMYK W)
Max. substrate height 80mm
Resolution 600 x 1,200dpi

Brian Sims Principal Consultant, Metis Print Consultancy, www.metis-uk.e