By Cassandra Balentine
Part two of two
Desktop and tabletop style digital label printers are well suited for a wide range of businesses. They enable print providers to accommodate short-run label requests, allow marketers to create prototypes for clients in house, and for manufacturers and smaller businesses to handle label needs on their own.
Product Round Up
In part one of our series on desktop/tabletop label printers, we offered key features of these devices as well as the benefits and limitations they tend to offer. Here, we provide highlights of these products in the market today.
For mid-level production, Afinia Label offers the L501 Duo Ink Color Label Printer. With a medium initial cost and ink cost per label, it is well suited for durable applications, gaining in-house production flexibility and reducing long-term labeling costs.
Allen Datagraph Systems, Inc. offers the QL-300 tabletop digital label press. It delivers premium 1,200×1,200 dpi, five-color labels with durability, water fastness, and UV-resistance. With label widths ranging from one to five inches and roll-to-cut or roll-to-roll operation, the QL-300 also allows for flexible, short- to long-run print jobs.
AstroNova offers a complete suite of digital printing options, from desktop to tabletop and larger, industrial presses. Its newest advancements in these technologies include the QuickLabel QL-120X, QL-850, and QL-300.
Colordyne’s 1600 Series digital benchtop printers enable print-on-demand applications to become more efficient, accurate, and cost effective. The 1600 Series C produces labels at up to 60 feet per minute (fpm) in normal mode and 30 fpm in premium mode at 1,600×1,600 dpi.
A more industrial tabletop solution, the Colordyne 1800 Series is a label and tag printer that provides brand owners and private label manufacturers with in-house digital inkjet print capabilities. It offers print speeds of up to 60 fpm in normal mode and 30 fpm in premium mode, as well as 1,600×1,600 dpi. It supports media from two to nine inches in width.
Colordyne continues to innovate by expanding beyond its dye-based inks. In September of 2019, it announced the development of a new aqueous pigment print engine that uses Memjet’s DuraFlex printhead technology. The company says DuraFlex offers a longer printhead life and provides enhanced durability through greater water fastness, light fastness, and rub resistance, compared to other water-based inkjet technologies. Using aqueous pigment inks allows for better substrate compatibility and use in a wider range of markets.
Epson’s newest ColorWorks inkjet color label printers are the first designed as a color upgrade to black-only thermal transfer printers. Available in both four- and eight-inch models, the ColorWorks CW-C6000A and CW-6500A come standard with an automatic cutter and the CW-6000P and CW-6500P are equipped with an automatic peeler for fast hand or automated label applications. The new ColorWorks models deliver dependable, commercial inkjet printing with fast drying, durable color inks and enhanced productivity while offering cost and inventory reduction compared to using pre-printed labels. They are compatible with ZPL II, major middleware, SAP Windows, Mac, and Linux for simple integration. Engineered for mission-critical applications, the reliable printers speed through labels at up to five inches per second and enable industrial and commercial organizations to produce high-volume color labels for production use.
Gerber Technology offers the GERBER EDGE production system, which is a matched system that includes the GERBER EDGE FX thermal transfer printer, Gerber OMEGA software, Gerber 15-inch sprocket plotters, more than 30 EDGE READY materials and substrates, more than 75 GerberColor foils, and Gerber service and support.
Primera Technology, Inc. recently announced the LX600 desktop color label printer. LX600 is a compact, highly-capable desktop color label printer. With its maximum print width of five inches, it can print a 4×3-inch label with 50 percent coverage in less than six seconds. Also, ink costs are low due to the printer’s ultra-high-capacity ink system.
UniNet presents the new IColor 200 desktop label printer, featuring continuous roll-to-cut and optional roll-to-roll production printing. The printer is designed to solve short-run print needs simply with this affordable, innovative solution. The IColor 200 is a groundbreaking label printer that features a single high-capacity ink cartridge—CMYK—printing solution for both pigment and dye-based applications.
Labels, Covered
Desktop and tabletop style digital label printers are well suited for a range of businesses. They enable print providers to accommodate short-run label requests, allow marketers to create prototypes for clients in house, and for manufacturers and smaller businesses to handle label needs on their own.
Read part one of this two-part series, Labels for All.
Aug2020, DPS Magazine
