by Lara Copeland, contributing editor, Plastics Decorating
Located in Shires of Vermont in the Battenkill River Valley that separates the Taconic and Green Mountains, Engineered Printing Solutions (EPS), East Dorset, Vermont, has been part of the decorating and marking fields for more than 30 years. EPS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xaar PLC, the industrial inkjet head manufacturer. With a team of more than 60 individuals, EPS works to offer a full line of pad printing equipment, and more recently, a full line of ink jet printing equipment as well. The Roto-Jet is the company’s latest advancement in its lineup of industrial inkjet printers.
Positioned as a mid-tier volume system, this multicolor, UV-LED, high-resolution printer offers digital printing technology that is designed specifically for decorating cylindrical objects – including flat walled or tapered objects – with average speeds around 750pph for a full cylindrical print. The actual pph will vary with cup diameter and length of graphic. It features synchronized printing and curing operations at full CMYKWW, with optional primer and varnish heads available.
Easy to load and unload, the Roto-Jet can accommodate either manual or automatic operation with inline pre-treatment. The elliptical-style race track conveyance and vertical design keeps the printer within a manageable footprint.
According to Senior Mechanical Engineer Arthur G. Coons, the Roto Jet is a step above what has been offered by EPS previously. “The machine offers several advantages for the user and provides added value,” he explained.
The machine’s control system offers customers the ability to add to its memory and then recall unique recipes for printing various items in their product lines – a “convenient ability,” according to Coons. It also has the flexibility to offer pre-treatment ancillary equipment, such as a flamer or corona unit, as well as inspection stations.
Tim Scully, vice president of sales and marketing, said the unit was conceived out of what the company felt was a need to fill a market segment that other printers could not satisfy. The system is suitable for special promotional runs, smaller craft brewers, wineries and advertising specialty companies looking to offer customers short-run option at higher production rates.
The system is currently being put through production scenarios to complete final debugging and confirm reliability of all components used in the design. Once the process is completed, production will begin on the first units of committed orders. “There is a lot of interest in the potential capability of the machine,” Coons said. It is too soon to ascertain customer response, but the outlook is good.
Technical details
The Roto Jet’s footprint is 82x70x84″. It can accommodate objects from 1.5″ in diameter to 6″ up to 10″ in length. It offers direct-to-shape cylindrical printing at speeds up to 2,000pph on glass, metal or plastic.
