| GERBER SOLARA ION ™ |
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| The Next Generation of UV Ink Jet Technology - “Think Green, Print Green & Go Green” |
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| The Gerber Solara Series is the result of Gerber’s continued dedication to the global sign making and digital graphic printing industries. Through extensive customer research and years of technological development, Gerber has created the Solara Series. |
| This innovative printing system is driven by the latest developments in electronics and software to provide speed, accuracy and consistency; all of which have been designed to support Gerber’s revolutionary, patent pending print engine technology. |
| This new printing system is further enhanced by an entirely new Cationic UV ink set which yields features and benefits unmatched by any other printer. The Gerber Solara Series is truly the most affordable, fully-functional outdoor durable wide-format printer in the world. |
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GERBER'S ION SERIES |
Roughly two years ago, Gerber introduced a new, UV-cure, print system that reawakened an
industry buzz-term – cationic ink. Gerber’s GerberCAT™ UV-cure, cationic ink requires much less activation energy and, therefore, generates very little heat. Called a “cold fire cure” system, it’s appropriate for all signage and heat-affected substrates.
All Solara ions use cationic inks, and this greatly expands a signmaker’s available media and substrate range. You can start with a basic model and upgrade as your need arises? The latest family member, the Ionz is fast, with spectacular print quality. |
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The GerberCAT Inks |
GerberCAT ink offers a broad, color gamut which helps produce intense reds and blues. The gamut’s wide range allows ion-equipped printmakers to produce eye-catching images with a four-color (CMYK) process. Additionally, the inks sailed through our scratch test, plus the inks’ aggressive adhesion properties make them ideal for film, plastic, acrylic and flexible-media applications.
The GerberCAT inks also offer simply unmatched chemical resistance, which fits well with most outdoor applications where the sign may be exposed to harsh conditions.
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Most UV-cure printer machines use a “free radical” ink that requires significant energy to cure and mechanically bond to media. As we mentioned above, the heat required by many free-radical ink printers can warp thin media, particularly plastic and metal. GerberCAT inks use a different chemistry, one that doesn’t require the same UV-cure frequency. Thus, the cure lamps operate at a much lower temperature, which allows you to print on such heat-sensitive materials as paper-based products, thin styrene and corrugated plastic.
The Cold Fire Cure system’s lamps run parallel to each side of the gantry. The lamps use less energy and easily outlive traditional, UV-cure lamps. |
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The Solara ion family |
Gerber’s Solara ion printers share a basic structure, and, as mentioned above, you can upgrade from a standard to a more featured version. The three models are the Solara IonV, the IonX and the most recent introduction, the IonZ. Typical of Gerber, the printers are well constructed; they comprise a solid table and a heavy-duty gantry, with a robust, stainless-steel belt and control cable. The gantry-located control panel allows you to manage gantry movements, maintenance modes and other features.
All ion printers’ vacuum tables accommodate flat media that measure up to 5 x 10 ft.; they also accept media up to 1 in. thick, 91 kg. All are four-color machines that apply vibrant cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks. You load the bagged inks into convenient, side drawers.
The main interface connection is an Ethernet TCP/IP port.
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The Solara Ion Z |
The Newest in the Solara family is the IonZ, with all Printhead that produces a significantly smaller drop size. The IonZ features eight printheads with a 14-pl drop size, which is significantly smaller than its predecessor, the 42-pl Ionx but with the same 720 x 720-dpi resolution. The smaller drop size and finer detail provides higher image quality at the same speeds as the Ionx.
Further, Gerber engineered and installed a multi-layer ink deposit process that causes more ink to be pushed through the 14-pl Printheads. Therefore, you get nearly the vibrancy of 42 pl, but retain the finer detail of the smaller 14 pl. And, because the denser ink retains color when backlit, it’s an excellent choice for double-sided printing on transparent acrylic and glass.
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The Solara Ion X |
If the IonV is not fast enough, or if your shop often prints flexible media, the Solara IonX, built on the basic ion design, is your choice. All the IonV print modes remain, but this model has double – eight – Printheads, which is a duplicate, CMYK ink set that significantly increases the printer’s output speed. The IonX will print the same 360 x 360-dpi, two-pass, uni-directional print mentioned above in seven minutes, as opposed to 14. The “best quality” run isn’t a speed demon, but completes in almost half the time mentioned above.
In addition, Gerber added a roll-feed/take-up mechanism to the flatbed table, which makes it a hybrid printer that accepts both rigid substrates and 63-in.-wide roll media that weighs up to 45 kg.
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The Solara Ion V |
Gerber’s IonV, a UV-cure flatbed printer, has four Printhead that issue 42-pl dots at resolutions up to 720 dpi. The machine’s nine print modes allow various speeds and resolutions. The print speeds depend upon your resolution choice. For production printing, the two-pass, uni-directional, print mode will image a 4 x 8-ft. media sheet in 14 minutes at 360 x 360 dpi, which is suitable for distantly viewed outdoor signs.
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