COLORSPAN UNVEILS HIGHSPEED 12-HEAD INKJET PRINTER.

MacDermid ColorSpan, Inc., a provider of the wide-format digital color printer market, has unveiled its DisplayMaker Mach 12 printer. Designed around twelve (12) state-of-the-art, nearly one-inch wide, high frequency printheads, the Mach 12 can be configured with the broadest combination of multi-density and gamut-extending inks to achieve fastest print speeds, wider color gamut and better apparent resolution. The Mach 12 gives its users unprecedented flexibility in meeting the output requirements of their customers. The printer can be configured with one or more 4-, 6-, 8- or 12-color ink sets to balance the need for speed, up to 400 sq.ft./hour, with print quality, up 1800 dpi apparent resolution. An enhanced generation of ColorSpan's "Automation Eye" on-board camera and diagnostic firmware afford the user unparalleled confidence in delivering consistent quality, print after print.

Phil Hursh, vice president of sales and marketing, stated, "The DisplayMaker Mach 12 represents a new milestone in performance leadership within the wide-format printing market. The increased output speed, ease of use and lower cost of production of these printers make them ideal not only for print-for-pay operations but also for anyone who wants an improvement in price, performance and profitability. No other company offers this combination of precision image quality, speed, and reliability at this value. See it to believe it, and own it to profit. The Mach 12 has no equal."

Product Features

12 Printheads -- Users have the choice of printing with 4, 6, 8 or even 12 colors: full strength cyan, magenta, yellow, and black; augmented with medium cyan and magenta, or medium plus light cyan and magenta for smoother gradients and higher apparent resolutions; extended with orange, green, red, and blue for maximum gamut.

Fast Print Speeds Without Sacrificing Quality -- User selectable print modes automatically regulate the number of print passes, two up to sixteen, to give the Mach 12 owner the widest possible choice of "sellable quality" at optimum productivity. From band free "economy" mode, 600 dpi output at 400 square feet per hour, to "film quality", 1800 dpi apparent at 200 square feet per hour, all the way to "fine art" 1800 dpi apparent at up to 50 square feet per hour, the Mach 12 does it all. Imagine the unrivaled performance of a 24" x 36" photo-quality poster printed in under one minute, a 30" x 40" backlit in two and one-half minutes, or an 18" x 24" fine art reproduction on canvas in under 4 minutes.

Modular Ink Delivery System -- Redesigned for higher productivity and lower cost of operation, the Mach 12 Modular Ink Delivery System includes high-capacity ink supply reservoirs, semi-permanent ink supply lines and state-of-the-art thermal inkjet printheads. Sets of high capacity, 960 ml ink reservoirs provide thousands of square feet of printing between ink changes, but are built to be 'hot-swapped' while printing to prevent job interruption. The semi-permanent ink supply lines, while normally are not exchanged, are user replaceable to allow the printer to be set up with a variety of ink configurations. At the heart of the ink system are twelve high-density printheads, designed to jet two or more 960 ml reservoirs, and replaced only as the user determines is necessary based on his performance requirements, not ours. Higher throughput per printhead yields lower cost per print.

QuickScreen Touch Pad -- A simple user interface via the LCD touch screen presents all frequently used functions on a single screen. Detailed menus are available to allow for full control of all features.

Tilt-Up Carriage -- For easy access, the carriage assembly can be tilted up to expose the bottom sides of the printheads and Automation Eye image sensors for periodic cleaning without affecting printhead alignment and calibration.

Advanced Automation Eye -- This technology, pioneered by ColorSpan, is taken to a new height to make the DisplayMaker Mach 12 the most advanced, yet easy-to-use printer available at any price. The Automation Eye consists of two high-resolution image sensors and highly proprietary software to enable on-line and automatic measurements and adjustments to maintain accurate printing and predictable color.

-- AutoSet Calibration -- Using the on-board image sensor, the Mach 12 analyses dot placement of printed patterns and automatically aligns all twelve printheads with digital accuracy.

-- AutoJet Calibration -- The Mach 12 uses data from the image sensor to map out jets that are not up to performance requirements. This not only eliminates banding in prints it greatly prolongs printhead life, which translates into lower cost of operation.

-- Linearization -- The image sensor is also used to measure the density of color swatches. The result is available to the external RIP and color management software to linearize the color curves and to compensate for printhead wear.

-- Color Profiling -- New with the Mach 12 is the colormetric photo diode image sensor. Used with an external RIP and color management software, the Mach 12 can print and automatically read hundreds of color swatches to create ICC and other color profiles for custom ink and media combinations.

Automatic Printhead Height Adjustment -- When loading media, the printer senses the media thickness and automatically adjusts the printhead height to accommodate media up to 0.125" (1/8") thick while maintaining maximum print quality.

Unattended Printing -- The DisplayMaker Mach 12 comes fully equipped to support unattended lengthy print runs. Users benefit by eliminating damaged prints and wasted time with these features:

-- Motorized Take-Up Spool -- rolls prints under controlled tension, image-side in or image-side out, onto 2" or 3" cores for convenient handling and finishing. Closed loop drive system provides accurate advancement and media movement fault detection.

-- Heated Forced-Air Dryer -- properly dries prints, even at the highest print speeds.

-- Humidity Sensor -- automatically paces dry-time in higher humidity conditions.

-- AutoTune Scheduler -- allows AutoJet calibration to be scheduled to run between a determined number of print jobs. Jets found to be absent, misfiring or misdirected are mapped out and replaced with adjacent spares. To further extend printhead life, if adjacent spares have been mapped into service, AutoTune will sequentially increase the number of passes to ensure consistent, band-free output through long print runs.

ColorMark inks -- Dye and pigment inks will be available for the Mach 12. EnduraChrome long-lasting dye-based inks are available in CMYK, light and medium cyan and magenta, plus orange, green, red and blue process colors. PermaChrome pigmented inks are available in CMYK, plus medium densities of cyan and magenta.

AutoInk Swapping -- The twelve-printhead design allows users to have both dye-based and pigmented inks loaded simultaneously to allow job-to-job switching from one to the other without changing ink.

RIP Options

The DisplayMaker Mach 12 is driven by a proprietary ColorSpan RIP, the new ColorMark Pro 1G print server, which features a powerful 1-Gigahertz processor to offer fast, efficient file processing and user-friendly operation. Third-party software RIPs that will be available for the Mach 12 include products from ColorGATE, Image Technologies, Onyx Graphics and Wasatch Computer Technology.

Markets

The high speed, high resolution, and low cost of operation of the DisplayMaker Mach 12 make it ideal for photo labs, sign makers, and other service providers that produce signs, photo displays, trade-show and point-of-sale displays, and digital fine art reproductions. Advertising and design agencies, exhibit, and display houses, and in-house graphic design and marketing departments will all benefit from the Mach 12.

The DisplayMaker Mach 12 is positioned as the "best in class" of the industry's wide-format printers and at the top-of-the-line in ColorSpan's product line up. One size doesn't fit all, however, so concurrent with the Mach 12 introduction, ColorSpan has reduced the suggested retail prices of its DisplayMaker Series XII and DisplayMaker Esprit models, to yield a "good-better-best" lineup of price and performance to be tailored to each customers needs.

The DisplayMaker Mach 12 72" model has begun shipping to ColorSpan resellers and international distributors, with 60" and 42" models.

About MacDermid ColorSpan, Inc.

ColorSpan Corporation, the recognized creator of the Big Color graphics market and designs, manufactures and markets large-format digital color printing systems, supplies, software and services. The Company's line of wide-format digital color printers includes the fastest, highest quality printers available on the market today. ColorSpan distinguishes its products through patented Big Ink Delivery System and ColorMark 8 and 12 color printer designs, and an Automated Eye for easy setup and unattended printing. ColorSpan products are available through worldwide network of distributors and value-added resellers.

ColorSpan can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.colorspan.com.

For more information, call 952/944-9457.