Canon has continued its busy 2020, introducing the Arizona 2300 series for the wide-format graphics market.

The company, which unveiled the ProStream 1800 in July and the VarioPrint iX series in April, says it is ‘building on its rich heritage in flatbed printing,’ to help customers ‘speed up production, improve operational efficiencies and fuel growth opportunities through new applications.’

The new series includes three compact GTF models, the 2340 GTF, 2360 GTF and 2380 GTF, and three larger XTF models, the 2340 XTF, 2360 XTF and 2380 XTF. The former have a flatbed area of 1.25 x 2.5m, with the latter boasting an area of 2.5 x 3.08m.

The 2300, which can print at speeds up to 95sqm/hr, is built around Arizona FLOWtechnology, an airflow suction technique that combines a zoneless, multi-origin table layout with pneumatic registration pins to better secure the substrate in place on the table.

Productivity is also 20% greater compared to previous generations of Arizona printers, as no operator time is required for masking the table or taping the media down, enabling faster changeover between jobs, shorter set-up times and hassle-free job switching.

The FLOW technology also makes printing on more challenging media such as cardboard, wood and glass, or even printing large images tiled over multiple large boards, easier than before. 

‘The large format graphics market is driven by innovation and we are fully committed to the research and development programme of our Arizona flatbed solutions,’ said Dirk Brouns, vice president, large format graphics. ‘With the Arizona 2300 series, we are introducing new revolutionary flatbed technology: a unique airflow system that simplifies customer workflows and speeds up production processes. We’re excited to bring this product to the market to help our customers fuel new growth opportunities.’

Another new feature of the series is an automated maintenance system, which offers hands-free printhead maintenance and reduces downtime by restoring nozzle functionality in seconds, including for white ink.

The 2300 also offers an instant-on capability through its LED-UV curing system, enabling quicker turnaround for last minute jobs, LED-UV curing, an optional air filtration system and third-generation VariaDotprinthead technology.

‘We’re confident that the Arizona 2300 series will enable our customers to boost profits, expand their application possibilities and open up new market opportunities, while achieving operational excellence,’ added Wouter Derichs, Canon Europe’s sales and marketing director, large format graphics. ‘With the addition of this new flatbed printer series to our portfolio and alongside our Colorado UVgel roll-to-roll printers, we have a range of large format solutions to suit any and every customer’s needs.’

The series comes with Arizona Xpert software, which allows for self-learning so the customers can design and repeat complex, multi-layered projects. Also available is the newly launched Arizona Xpert 2.1, which comes with ‘new features and recipes to further enhance productivity.’

In terms of the environment the series, which is manufactured in Germany,  has passed both the GermanTÜV (Technischer Überwachungsverein) and DGUV (Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung) assurance tests, ‘which confirm that the product range is in line with health and safety regulations for minimising environmental impact and guaranteeing a safer working environment.’ Its UV inks are UL Greenguard Gold certified, so prints are suitable for use in schools, hotels and hospitals.

Finally the Arizona’s Roll Media Option allows for printing on hard plastic materials such as acrylic, polycarbonate and thin, heat-sensitive media up to 220cm. This allows customers to easily switch between rigid and flexible media jobs with no machine preparation and means 24/7 production ‘becomes a reality for safe, unattended overnight printing.’