SwissQprint has added a lower production variant to its established 3.2 x 2m UV flatbed printer platform, offering the same features and fifth-generation engineering base as the established Nyala and Kudu models. Michael Walker looks at what’s on the table EXPLORING THE MAJESTIC TOPI 5 VARIANT Trading on its home country’s reputation for engineering excellence, swissQprint has long been seen as a desirable highend choice in flatbed digital printers, offering precision and reliability but with a price tag to match. Now the company is extending its offering into the midmarket, with a lower productivity variant of the Nyala and Kudu line of 3.2 x 2m of UV flatbeds that aims to being the same virtues at a more entry-level price. The new arrival is the Topi 5, also named after a species of African antelope. It’s based on the same engineering platform as the faster Nyala 5 (which was profiled in the June/July 2025 issue of SignLink) and the Kudu, which was the forerunner of the current generation. The Topi offers speeds of up to 126sqm/hr and resolutions of up to 1350dpi which comes from a single row of Konica Minolta Q1280i printheads. Like its faster siblings it can be configured with up to ten channels, allowing a wide range of speciality inks in addition to standard CMYK and ‘lights’. These include white, orange, clear varnish, and still unique among wide-format printers, neon yellow, and pink. All of them are Greenguard Gold certified. While the printhead carriage is naturally smaller than those of the Nyala (one or two rows of heads) and especially the Kudu (two or three rows), the same improved rigidity beam and drive system is still used. UK managing director for swissQprint, Erskine Stewart, explains that standardising this construction across the models, even the Topi which arguably doesn’t need it, not only simplifies the company’s manufacturing and supply chain but also makes customer service better: the experience from an installed base of over 300 Kudu and other generation 5 models means that service engineers have a deep knowledge of the fundamentals of the new machine even as the first units are installed. So, the Topi should have the same accuracy, repeatability, and reliability that’s already been shown with the faster 21 www.signlink.co.uk Issue 265 - June | July 2026 UNDER THE HOOD | SWISSQPRINT TOPI 5 Michael Walker is a trade journalist, technical writer, and editor with over 37 years’ experience in the print, prepress, photography, and digital imaging sectors, with a particular interest in the digital transformation of processes. In addition to editing Desktop Publishing Todayand Digital Printer magazines, he is co-author with Neil Barstow of Getting Colour Right (Ilex Press, 2004) and Practical Colour Management for Photographers and Digital Image Makers (2009, self-published e-book) and winner of a Communicators in Business Gold Award. ▼SwissQprint exhibited at this year's FESPA exhibition in Barcelona
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