The new Arizona 135 GT flatbed prints on rigid or flexible media - including glass, aluminium and other metals, canvas, wood, MDF, cardstock, ceramic tiles and plastics - producing excellent image quality due to VariaDot grayscale technology.
“This smart technology investment offers sign makers, print service providers and offset and screen printers, among others, new ways to fulfill business opportunities,” says a press release from Canon USA. “Whether starting out in the rigid applications, large format graphics industry or looking to diversify into new applications, the Arizona 135 GT delivers the proven benefits of the award-winning Arizona series – high image quality, impressive productivity and reliability, application versatility and excellent total cost of ownership – at a smart investment level.”
Manufactured in Poing, Germany, with the same industrial-build quality as other Arizona models, the Arizona 135 GT handles substrates of up to 125 x 250 cm in size and up to 50.8 mm thick, with speeds of up to 34.2 m²/hour.
“Productivity is enhanced by easy-to-use functionality, including nesting, batching of complex jobs, step and repeat, mirroring and re-assignment of print modes,” Canon says. “Accurate print registration avoids errors, an Automated Maintenance System provides hands-free printhead maintenance and selectively restores nozzle function in seconds, and On Remote Service allows the user to authorize remote assistance by experienced service technicians, leading to outstanding uptime.
Access high-margin applications on a wide media range
“Thanks to Arizona flatbed technology and its UV-LED curing, a vast range of durable applications are achievable on rigid or flexible media with standard or porous surfaces, including glass, aluminium and other metals, canvas, wood, MDF, cardstock, ceramic tiles and plastics. The optional Arizona Static Suppression Upgrade Kit also enables the Arizona 135 GT to print on hard plastic materials, such as acrylic, polycarbonate and styrene, while the Arizona Classic high-pressure vacuum system provides extremely reliable media hold-down during printing, even for warped rigid media. Even more opportunities are accessible with the flatbed printer's field-upgradeable Roll Media Option. This allows users to produce flexible media applications up to 87 inches (220 cm) wide or 110 pounds (50 kilograms) in weight, including thin and heat-sensitive media, and to run roll-to-roll jobs unattended overnight.”
The Arizona 135 GT comes with Arizona Xpert prepress software, allowing users to exchange recipes directly with customers, so that designers can preview the end product with a virtual 3D view within the Arizona Xpert Extensions, minimizing design errors.
The VariaDot technology uses variable drop sizes from 6 to 42 picoliters. “Not only does this produce pin-sharp images, but it also means that the Arizona printing process consumes as much as 50 percent less ink than regular 6-colour, (CMYKcm) fixed drop size flatbed printers, making the Arizona 135 GT environmentally and economically attractive,” Canon says.
Environmental credentials include the use of UL GREENGUARD Gold certified inks for indoor applications, such as in schools, hospitals and retail stores. The Arizona 135 GT also features low-energy consumption as a result of its Instant-On functionality and minimal warm-up time, thanks to its LED lamps.
"The Arizona has become renowned for its image quality, productivity, reliability and application versatility, winning multiple awards and resulting in over 7,500 installations worldwide," said Shinichi Yoshida, executive vice president and general manager, Canon U.S.A., Inc. "In bringing the Arizona 135 GT to market, we're looking to make the ideal flatbed platform for printing multiple applications on both rigid and flexible media available to any interested party. As the newest member of the fifth generation of Arizona printers, the Arizona 135 GT offers users the same core technology and benefits of its mid-volume siblings at an attractive investment level and we're confident that it will again prove to be as popular with customers as its predecessors."
