Domino unveils the N730i digital label press

Packaging Solutions

Domino Printing Sciences has launched the Domino N730i digital label press. This is a ground up development and the first to use its new Domino Generation 7 inkjet platform.

Philip Easton, director of the Domino Digital Printing Solutions division, commented: ‘This is the most significant new product we have launched since we started in the digital label press business. It has been a huge collaborative team effort, spread over five years, involving our colleagues at Brother Industries, supplier partners, our development team and our existing customers. Today, we are so proud of what the N730i delivers, as we truly believe it is setting new standards in high performance inkjet label printing.’

The N730i incorporates a host of new features including the Brother Bitstar 1200 dpi piezo printhead, the SunLight graphical user interface, and the latest automated Domino i-Tech intelligent Technology features i-Tech SetAlign and i-Tech CleanCap2.

Louise Adcock, global product manager at Domino Digital Printing Solutions, highlighted: ‘We have almost 1000 global installations already using our existing Generation 6 inkjet platform. During the development of the N730i, we really listened to our customers, so we are confident that this press will enable label converters to get the best return from their digital printing investment. Based on customer feedback, we focused on three key areas: providing consistent print quality at high speed, ease of use and flexibility.’

The N730i is designed to print all jobs, including those with ‘silkscreen- ike’ white at 70 metres per minute, but still with the same consistent high print quality.

The Brother Bitstar 1200 dpi printhead uses a combination of the smallest drop sizes of 2.1 pl and nominal drop sizes of 2.8 pl and 3.3 pl to provide consistent ink density across the image, with sharper edges and smoother gradients. Patented triple layer polycrystalline micro piezo technology minimises cross talk and delivers precise nozzle control for optimum drop placement accuracy.

Domino’s intelligent Technology or i-Tech features represent developments designed to measurably improve efficiency, use, function and reliability. i-Tech SetAlign is a new automated system that sets density and accurately aligns the printheads. The result is uniform and seamless print quality across the full web width. The company has also enhanced performance with i-Tech CleanCap2, an automated printhead cleaning and capping system, which is a controlled process reducing manual operator intervention and waste. Other i-Tech features include the established i-Tech ActiFlow, UltraMix, and WebRev.

Louise continued, ‘In basic terms, our customers win business against their competitors on the labels they can produce, they make a profit from delivering them efficiently. The N730i’s consistent high print quality will mean they will win more business, while high speed combined with reliability means they can also print it efficiently.’

The existing user interface has been completely rewritten for the N730i with the development of the new Domino SunLight. This flexible graphical user interface with its modern look and feel is completely intuitive and highly configurable. A new enhanced version of the industry standard Esko digital front end has been adopted, including improved variable data printing performance, and producing process colours including orange and violet, for lower ink use and an increased colour gamut. Support for the industry standard JDF/JMF data transfer format allows for automated job set up and reporting.

Offering label printers maximum flexibility, the N730i is available with optional flexo stations for priming to facilitate consistent quality even on the most challenging media types, and for spot colours or varnishing, increasing the range of jobs that can be achieved, or for reverse white for cost effective shrink sleeve applications. These flexo stations can be retrofitted, providing customers with greater flexibility as their business needs change.

The N730i includes Domino’s own in-house developed UV90 ink set with excellent fade resistance, achieving a maximum Blue Wool Scale of eight on certain substrates. It has excellent mechanical properties including abrasion and scratch resistance. The UV90 white ink is commonly used by customers as a silk screen replacement achieving an opacity of up to 76%. The Textures by Domino printing capability enables tactile three-dimensional label design effects to be created for greater shelf appeal.

Domino has an established global reputation for providing proven and reliable

Philip concluded, ‘When we introduced our N600i and then the N610i digital label presses, our focus was to be as good as flexo. With the N730i, we believe we are offering a quality of output that sets a new high performance inkjet standard, and perhaps now flexo needs to start catching up!’