High-speed, water-fast, wide-format prints

Paul Boughton

Oce is launching what it describes as a fundamentally new printing technology called Oce Crystalpoint. The first product based on this new technology is the Oce Colorwave 600.

Oce Crystalpoint technology combines the best of both toner and inkjet printing. The Oce Crystalpoint process converts colour Oce Tonerpearls toner into a gel that is jetted and crystallised onto any type of paper, producing crisp, water-fast, high-quality images with extremely accurate dot placement.

With the Oce Colorwave 600, customers can print both colour and black and white on lower-cost, untreated and recycled paper. In contrast, most existing colour wide-format printers require specially coated inkjet paper.

The Oce Colorwave 600 also prints an E-size sheet in half a minute, which is said to enable wide-format prints to be output at least twice as fast as conventional inkjet prints. Moreover, the prints dry instantly so they can be handled immediately, and there is no longer a significant difference between colour and black and white output with regard to productivity and print quality. Oce says colour output enables projects to move more quickly through regulatory and approval processes, thereby cutting costs and saving time.

Rokus van Iperen, CEO of Oce, comments: "With the introduction of Oce Crystalpoint technology, we are unleashing an important wave of innovation that is changing the face of the wide-format printing industry. We will deliver high-quality colour on plain paper and recycled paper. Since the mid-90s, we have been developing this groundbreaking technology. Oce has invested approximately EUR150million in developing this technology and anticipates for the coming 15 to 20 years it will be fundamental for developing new generations of Oce colour printing systems. Oce Crystalpoint technology represents a major milestone for our company in a market segment we have led since the 1920s. Customer trials with the Oce Colorwave 600 began in March of 2008. Based on these trials, market demand for the product is already very high."

Oce Crystalpoint technology is also claimed to offer significant environmental benefits. The solid Oce Tonerpearls used in toner gel jetting release no ozone, odour or fine powder. Furthermore, because it prints an even semi-gloss finish on uncoated paper, the technology reduces the use of paper coatings that impact the environment.

Oce Colorwave 600

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