UNDER THE HOOD / SWISSQPRINT NYALA 5 glass printing work. Both machines feature the Konica Minolta 1280i printheads specifically designated for swissQprint that were used in the previous generation. These offer up to 1350dpi addressable resolution, which the Swiss company claims is equivalent to a ‘visual resolution’ of up to 2540dpi. You might then wonder why the Nyala needed the uprated beam and linear drive assembly if its printhead carriage wasn’t getting heavier. Part of the answer is that the linear drives which come with the new design are responsible for the improved performance; the rest is to do with manufacturing efficiency and simplified support and maintenance. “There is a lot of expertise with the Kudu,” explains Stewart, adding: “We’ve sold 100 worldwide, with 14 in the UK. The common design and engineering simplifies service, using the same bearings across all models, for example.” The Nyala 5 also gains the field-upgradeable ten-channel capability. Perhaps surprisingly, one of the configurations that you might expect – a dual CMYK arrangement for maximum productivity – isn’t supported in the new generation flatbeds, though there were ‘speed’ variants in the previous range which had it. Stewart explains that the increased speed of the new machines enables similar or better levels of performance plus the flexibility of the ‘spare’ ink channels. This combination has been ‘uniquely’ successful in the UK already, Stewart says, with both the first Nyala 5 sale here and the most recent (at the time of speaking) both being fully-loaded with six ‘regular’ colours plus white, varnish, and both the neon inks. The latter are a particular driver for expanded colour setups, he adds. It’s Curtains for Crashes Safety and productivity are also better ensured through a new light curtain above and in front of the head carriage that detects objects – including people – in the way of the beam and head assembly’s progress and brings things to a safe halt before a head crash or worse can happen. The printer can also resume from exactly where it stopped once the obstruction is cleared, so minimising production delays. With all this productivity on tap, the question of automation arises. Again, perhaps contrary to expectations in this segment, the answer is ‘no’, or at least ‘not from us’. Stewart confirms that there are third-party robotics integration specialists who can build an automated media load/unload system around a Nyala or Kudu but that there isn’t a swissQprint branded solution. This is because of the range of work that the typical customer undertakes, he says. “There is a huge variety in the type and size of materials of customers print, a lot of variability in [their] work – the set-up time would be too long,” he notes, adding that for large amounts of highly repetitive work, such as printing corrugated boards or industrial applications such as glass printing, robotic systems have been implemented in Europe. On the software side, swissQprint continues to offer the Caldera or PrintFactory RIP and workflow solutions as previously, taking care of pre-flighting, colour management (including harnessing the expanded gamut made available with the orange and neon inks), batching, tiling, or nesting. If you need this kind of raw productivity from a true flatbed UV LED printer there aren’t too many alternatives. If you need that plus the flexibility of roll-feeding, long sheet print, and a range extra inks, including two neon inks, all at once, there simply aren’t any, demonstrating the uniqueness of this machine. Top Speed: 253 m2/h Addressable resolution: Up to 1350dpi Roll Width: Maximum 3,200mm Curing: UV LED Colour channels: Maximum ten Statistics ▼The Nyala 5 was announced in January 2025 31 www.signlink.co.uk June / July 2025 - Issue 259 The main difference now between the Nyala and the Kudu is that the latter can carry up to three rows of printheads while the former is limited to two
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