Oce Arizona 550 GT

Oce has announced the new Oce Arizona 550 GT flatbed printer, the most productive Oce Arizona model released to date. This new printer is capable of point-of-purchase (POP)-quality prints at 433 square feet per hour or thirteen four- by eight-foot boards an hour and offers much better value than other UV flatbed models currently available in the market.

The Oce Arizona 550 GT printer is the next generation model in the Oce Arizona Series. It uses UV curable inks and Oce VariaDot imaging technology to deliver near-photographic image quality for nearly any application. Designed as a true flatbed system, it can print on a wide variety of rigid substrates up to 49.2 by 98.4 inches in area and up to two inches thick. It also offers a Roll Media Option for printing onto flexible media up to 86.6 inches wide.

The Oce Arizona 550 GT printer features a Production print mode of up to 433 square feet per hour on rigid media. This enables users to print more than 100 four- by eight-foot boards in a single eight-hour shift. With this productivity, print providers can confidently take on peak demand and rush jobs. It reduces the risk for businesses wanting to make the transition from analog to digital printing by providing all the print quality they need at production speeds. An Express print mode will also be available with print speeds of up to 721 square feet per hour, or 22 four- by eight-foot boards per hour, nearly three times higher than the fastest print speed available on the previously-released Oce Arizona 350 GT printer.

Like all Oce Arizona printers, the Oce Arizona 550 GT model was designed using an efficient and simple engineering approach that makes it much more affordable than comparable systems. Print providers can own this high quality, high capacity printer for as much as 30 to 40 percent less than comparable, competitive UV flatbed systems. That reduces capital outlay for small- and medium-sized businesses and enables them to acquire the best-in-class print quality and application versatility. In addition the Oce Arizona 550GT printer continues to provide customers extremely low ongoing cost of operations through its variable dot imaging technology and associated low ink consumption rates with minimal waste.

With the Oce Arizona 550 GT printer, print providers can offer premium priced services and achieve more competitive prices for their work. The Oce Arizona 550 GT printer can print on irregularly shaped or non-square items, heavy substrates such as glass, or materials that have an uneven surface such as wood. This is an important advantage over competitive rigid-capable printers that use belt or friction-based media feed systems, as they can only print on square-cornered, lightweight materials of uniform thickness. The true flatbed architecture enables printing on anything that is reasonably flat up to two inches thick—from a hockey puck to a DVD to a door or a piece of painted aluminum.

A Roll Media Option is available, giving print providers the ability to print onto flexible media including vinyl, self-adhesive vinyl, scrim banner, paper and blue backed paper without compromising the rigid printing workflow. Print providers can use this system to expand into more exotic applications that command premium prices, from parts templates for manufacturing; CD covers and wallpaper to fast food menus and fabric; and anything needed for sign and display.

The Oce Arizona 550 GT printer uses Oce VariaDot imaging technology that enables a print head to produce ink droplets of variable size resulting in variable sized dots on the printed media. The ability to jet small droplets produces sharp images with smoother gradients and quartertones. The ability to jet larger droplets produces dense, uniform solids. The result is near-photographic image quality with sharpness only before seen at resolutions of 1,440 dpi or higher.