Open Date Equipment will showcase two additions to its range of coding and marking equipment on stand A45 at the PPMA Show in September. The company will feature the AutoPilot® high resolution ink jet printing system, made by Squid Ink Manufacturing of Minnesota, following an agreement to distribute the system. Plus Open Date's latest hot foil coding development, the E-Coder will be demonstrated for the first time.
AutoPilot® is offered as an entry-level machine, printing high-resolution characters on both porous and non-porous materials. It uses Xaar piezo technology to produce razor-sharp text up to 18mm high, or logos at 180 dpi, says the company. The system can also print scannable bar codes as standard and offers multiple formats.
The printer features a revolutionary new ink system incorporating vacuum tension technology, which eliminates costly ink lines and fittings, according to Open Date. Ink is supplied in 200ml cartridges; almost five times the volume of competitive systems.
Designed to operate in harsh industrial environments the printer uses both oil-based and solvent-based inks, for a variety of substrates. Print speed is 4lm/minute at 180 dpi. Programming and editing can be done on the line using the user-friendly 12" colour touchscreen or via a remote PC and uploaded to the AutoPilot® via a USB.
Also making its debut on the stand is the latest development in Open Date's hot foil coder range. The E-Coder is a high quality attachment, particularly suited to overprint batch and lot numbers, expiry dates, use by dates and prices onto flexible materials - including films, labels and cartons.
"Hot Foil coding has been around a long time, but is still used very widely and we continue to develop new, more resource friendly models," said Gary Cowlard, UK CEO of Open Date. "The E-Coder will appeal to the budget conscious user who does not want to compromise on quality." he added.
An external digital control unit allows fine setting adjustments to maximise print performance, while an accurate foil adjustment system ensures minimum wastage. The E-Coder's digital display controller allows precise control of print dwell times and operating temperatures. These features help to reduce energy and material consumption without affecting the quality of the print.
The company will also demonstrate its extensive range of thermal transfer printers, including the latest model, the iQ, as well as other machines in the established Thermocode series. In addition to its hot foil equipment Open Date also offers highly versatile thermal ink jet coders. CleanCode is available in two models and comes in both on-line and hand held versions.
A full range of foils, ribbons, dies, types and cliches is available. Information on all Open Date's products will be available on the stand.