Now Available: CF3 series Flatbed Cutting PlottersA new router head and altogether three exhangeable cutting heads enable the new CF3 series of flatbed cutting plotters to streamline work and achieve higher productivity and turnaround in contour cutting and other finishing tasks.
April 04, 2008
Mimaki Engineering, a leading manufacturer of wide-format inkjet printers and cutting machines for the sign/graphics, textile/apparel and industrial markets, introduces the new CF3 series of flatbed cutting plotters into the market. The first shipments from Japan have arrived in March.
Printers nowadays want to cut and print on different rigid substrates whereby contour cutting as finishing option is but one requirement. Diffferent finishing options for UV curable prints, easily exchangeable heads and precise cutting are some of the major tasks which can be executed with Mimaki’s new CF3 series which among others features a new router head.
The CF-1610 features a flatbed cutting area of 1.6 x 1 m, the CF-1631 a size of 1.6 x 3.1 m. Thus, both machines are primed to work excellently in conjunction with the JF-1631 and JF-1610 UV curable printers of the same sizes . As a pair this combination prints and cuts rigid substrates such as acryllic, aluminium or plastics whereby all feature a vacuum table with different zones to hold the materials in place. Air stream reversal for easier movement and adjustment of heavy materials is another feature of the machine.
A high-speed spindle using the M head is used for cuts of rigid materials up to 50 mm thickness whereby various optional endmills are available.
In addition a reciprocating as well as a tangential cutter model are available to provide further finishing options. The reciprocating cutter (R1) enables cutting of corrugated boards, thick and soft materials up to 20 mm in height employing an osculating cutter. It can also cut rigid materials with a cutting force of up to 5 kg if the creasing roller is changed to the high pressure tangential cutter. The set of tools is comprised of a pen/swivel cutter, reciprocating cutter and creasing roller/high-pressure tangential cutter.
Two different types of tangential cutters (TF2) for rigid and soft materials are available. One with a cutting force of up to 5 kg on up to 10 mm thick substrates, the other accomodates cutting force for up to 1 kg. Thus making it easy to control minute cutting forces. for e.g. thin rigid materials. The TF2 model comes with pen/swivel cutter, tangential cutter and high-pressure tangential cutter. All cutter heads can be easily and quickly exchanged by the user.
For detection of registration marks a colour photo sensor is employed. It detects printed registration marks on the substrate, no matter the colour. This enables fast and highly accurate contour cutting which not only adjusts alignment and distance but also serves to produce highly precise cuts.
In additon the new CF3 series comes with two very expedient and productivity enhancing software packages. Their ease of handling a multitude of different jobs is renown throughout the industry. Mimaki’s Product Manager software takes care of setting cutting conditions and problemes with the Wizard functions from a PC-workstation. FineCut 7 offers creation and import of cutting data from design programmes such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw.
"We are proud to offer printers now excellent and all encompassing finishing solutions for their rigid wide format prints with the newly developed flatbed cutting plotters CF3-1610/1631", says Sakae Sagane, Managing Director Mimaki Europe. "In combination both machines are the ultimate solutions for vivid and detailed print and highly accurate cutting of all jobs our customers receive. The high productivity of Mimaki’s solutions enables the businesses of our clients to grow and offer new services to their customers."
The first new CF3-1610 and CF3-1631 have been shipped from Japan in March.
