Part 2 of our series on wide-format inkjet printing technology reviews characteristics of flatbed printers and hybrid flatbed/roll-to-roll printers.

1. Wide-Format Inkjet Printing - Part 2: Flatbed & Hybrid Printer
The previous post on ​wide-format printing technology provided an overview of roll-to-roll
wide-format inkjet printers​, including print-and-cut wide-format inkjet printers. This post
discusses wide-format flatbed printers that can print directly on rigid materials and ​hybrid
flatbed/roll-to-roll inkjet printers​.
Wide-format flatbed printers have replaced the need to use large-format screen-printing
presses to print graphics directly on 4 x 8 ft. sheets of foam board, coroplast, acrylic, metal,
wood, and other sign and graphic materials.
When wide-format flatbed printers first hit the market around the year 2000, users of
roll-to-roll wide-format printers could eliminate the extra production step of mounting
self-adhesive flexible graphics onto the rigid sign and display boards. Some flatbed printers can
hold irregularly shaped objects or heavy items that would be difficult to print directly with any
other method.
Hybrid wide-format flatbed/roll-to-roll printers ​enable print shops with limited floor space to
print graphics on both rigid sheets and flexible rolls of materials.
How Flatbed Inkjet Printers Work
Flatbed printers use vacuum tables to hold sheets of rigid or flexible materials in place while the
ink is jetted from an industrial-grade printhead. These tables also keep substrates flat to
maintain a consistent distance between the printheads and the substrate. Some vacuum tables
have multiple print zones, so the system can print to different sizes of materials at once.
Some flatbed printers can vary the size of the ink droplets and produce high-quality images with
fine details and smooth gradients between tones. Ink droplets can be placed in precise
locations, even over images printed on other types of presses.

2. Most flatbed printers use “scanning” printheads that travel back and forth across the width of
the printed sheet.
This video of Mimaki’s JFX500-2131 flatbed printer shows how variable-drop printing increases
print quality and discusses the advantages of using UV-LED light to cure the inks. It also shows
how the use of flatbed inkjet printing compares to the standard screen-printing process for
large-format graphics printing. ​Video: Mimaki JFX500 UV LED Flatbed Printer.
On “bridge-type” flatbeds, the rigid sheets make multiple passes beneath a fixed array of
printheads that spans the width of the print area. HP Scitex and Inca Onset flatbed printers are
bridge type flatbed printers.
In this video about the HP Scitex 9000 flatbed printer, the sheet makes multiple passes beneath
the fixed-array of printheads (above) that distribute inks across the width of the media (as seen
below). ​(Video: HP Scitex | HP)

3. Hybrid Flatbed/Roll-to-Roll Printers can be equipped with roll-feed mechanisms that enable
flexible materials to quickly be positioned beneath the moving printheads on the vacuum table.
This video shows EFI’s H1625 LED UV hybrid flatbed/roll-to-roll printer in action. This printer
uses printheads made by Konica Minolta. ​(Video: Konica Minolta: EFI H1625 LED UV Wide
Format Printer)
Types of Inks
Most flatbed and hybrid printers use piezo inkjet printheads with UV-curable inks, in which
controlled intensities of UV light cause the droplets to “cure” into a thin film on the surface of
the substrate.
UV-curable inks and clearcoats can be applied in layers to create dimensional effects, such as
Braille letters, textured surfaces, or eye-catching details. For instance, a clear gloss varnish can
form glistening water droplets that appear to pop-off the surface of an image of a rain-splashed
window.
The HP Latex-R series of hybrid printers use thermal inkjet printheads and latex inks. These
printers use heat instead of light to dry the inks. Because the dried latex inks don’t form an
opaque film on the print surface, the natural grain of a wood substrate or luster of polished
aluminum enhances the aesthetics of the print.

4. This video shows the HP Latex R series of printers in both flatbed and roll-to-roll print modes.
(Video: Transform Almost Any Surface with HP’s Latex Rigid Printing)
Color Gamuts: ​Flatbed printers can apply multiple combinations of inks. The color gamut a
printer can achieve depends on how many ink channels are used to apply different colors.
The chosen inkset varies depending on whether the machine will primarily be used for fast
production of lower-cost outdoor graphics, high-quality photographic displays, or packaging
materials that must match brand colors.
Photographic images achieve a higher level of image detail when light cyan and light magenta
inks are added to the standard CMYK inks. Nine-channel Swiss Qprint flatbed printers can
include orange, green, and violet inks to meet the wide range of spot colors used by brand
marketers.
Some ink channels in the printhead deliver white ink, a clear varnish, or a primer to aid ink
adhesion on films. White ink can provide a base layer for images that will be printed on
non-white boards. Or, white ink can be used as a spot color. A white flood layer on clear film
makes it possible to create graphics that can be backlit at night and bright and visible during the
day.
Substrates
Flatbed printers can print on the huge variety of materials used to make temporary and
permanent signs, displays, and décorative products.
Depending on the ink chemistry and availability of inline primers, flatbed printers can print on
acrylics, aluminum, aluminum composite materials, artboards, composite cardboard (such as
Re-board), corrugated board, foamboard, MDF (medium density fiberboard) melamine, metal,
particleboard, plastics, polycarbonate, fluted polypropylene (coroplast), PVC, styrene, and
wood. Some flatbed printers, such as the HP Scitex FP series was specifically designed to print
on a narrower range of sheets used to make folding cartons, cardboard boxes, indoor retail

5. signs, and point-of-purchase displays. Other flatbeds use specialized UV-curable ink sets to print
highway traffic signs or materials that can be processed into thermoformed plastic signs.
The Ricoh Pro T7210 flatbed printer for industrial decoration printing can print directly onto
decorative glass, wood, steel panels, and bricks up 4.3 inches thick. ​(Video: Ricoh T7210)
The Roland VersaUV LEJ-640FT flatbed printers can print directly on heavy, rigid materials up to
6 inches thick and weighing up to 220 pounds.
Hybrid flatbed/roll-to-printers can not only print on rigid sign substrates, but also the flexible
display films, synthetic papers, and adhesive vinyl used to make window graphics, posters,
banners, labels, and decals.
Prepress
Every flatbed, roll-to-roll, or hybrid wide-format inkjet printer is sold with a RIP
(raster-image-processor). The RIP software converts data from the design files into the layout,
resolution, color, and print mode data that each different printer needs to eject the ink droplets
with the proper timing, sequence, and screening patterns.
To reduce the need for operators to set up jobs at each printer, production wide-format RIP
software from Onyx Graphics, Caldera, ColorGate, Ergosoft and Wasatch can coordinate print
production on the multiple brands of roll-to-roll and flatbed wide-format inkjet printers, digital
cutters, and color measurement devices that might be used within a single print shop. .
Today, many large-format RIPs use the Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE) to help convert the
design files to print data. This enables wide-format inkjet printing workflows to be more like the
PDF-based prepress workflows commonly used in commercial offset and production inkjet
printing.
Finishing
Like scanning flatbed printers that carry printheads across the surface of the media, ​flatbed
cutters use moving carriages with different sets of tools to crease, score, engrave, and
straight-cut or contour-cut different types and thickness of prints. Flatbed cutters also use
vacuum tables to align and hold the printed materials in place.

6. Esko’s Kongsberg series of flatbed cutters can be used to cut rigid and flexible materials into
high-volume of smaller prints, such as square or oval labels (above) or cut-out images for
stand-up displays or signs. ​(Video: The Kongsberg Cutting Table as Game Changer)
Depending on which tool units and materials are used, a cutting table can be used to make the
creases, holes, contour cuts, or engravings need to convert the printed substrate in a sellable
product. For example, a cutting table can be used to:
● Create ready-to-fold boxes and cartons
● Make free-standing point-of-purchase displays and trade-show booths
● Contour-cut labels and decals
● Cut fabrics, canvas, and mesh materials for banners, décor, and apparel
● Make smaller promotional products such as coasters
● Engrave acrylic for signs and decor
● Carve (“route”) designs in wood panels
● Add braille lettering to signs and displays
When files are set up for printing on a sheet or roll of wide-format material, the software can
also send cutting instructions for the printed graphics directly to the automated cutter.
Advances in Technology
The total cost of operating flatbed printers is going down, thanks to advanced technologies that
reduce energy consumption, improve print speeds, automated material handling, and minimize
ink usage.

7. This video shows the automated sheet-loading and unloading system used with the Inca Onset
series of flatbed printers. (Video: ​Inca Onset Full Automation for Display Graphics​)
Flatbed inkjet printers with LED-curing systems use significantly less energy than
first-generation UV flatbed printers that used mercury-vapor lamp systems originally developed
for screen-printing presses that used UV-curable inks.
To boost throughput speeds. Inca Digital has just announced a high-speed “single-cycle” mode
for their Onset X flatbed printers.
As commercial print firms diversify into wide-format printing, they want unified, automated
workflows that can simplify prepress, preflighting, color management, proofing, scheduling, job
costing, and production oversight on different combinations of offset and flexo presses,
production inkjet printers, roll-to-roll, and flatbed wide-format inkjet printers, and finishing
devices. Software from companies such as Agfa (Apogee and Asanti), Kodak (Prinergy), and Esko
(Automation Engine) can help accomplish these goals.
Innovations such as the PrintFactory Super RIP software from GMG Color can help users of
multiple types of wide-format inkjet printers streamline the production of color-consistent
materials. Print Factory automatically adjust the color in the print files based on which printing
process, inkjets, and materials will be used for each element of a multi-part job.
Follow Us on Social Media
This post is part of a series we are publishing to help you understand the many types of analog
and digital printing processes now in use.
Follow Ordant on ​LinkedIn​, ​Facebook​, or ​Twitter to learn when the next post in this series has
been published. Our next post will discuss grand-format inkjet printers.

8. Related Posts
● Digital Press Technology-Part 1: Electrophotography
● Digital Press Technology - Part 2: Production Inkjet Printing
● What is offset printing?
● What is Screen Printing?
● What is Flexographic Printing?