Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. has announced a new digital embellishment press, the JETvarnish 3D 52L. Its B2 format targets a wide range of customers, such as commercial and package printers. As the successor model to the JETvarnish 3D, this new digital embellishment press provides sensory print applications for printers of every size.

The JETvarnish 3D 52L will allow printers, finishers and converters to have an in-house full production and prototyping print embellishment system without screens, dies or plates. The all-purpose patented varnish formula allows both flat 2D Spot UV highlighting and sculptured 3D raised special effects on a wide range of substrate stocks and up to 600gsm, from offset and digital inks to lamination films and aqueous coatings.

The JETvarnish 3D 52L provides printers with the ability to generate more high-impact printed communications and profitable decorative embellishments on all commercial and in-plant applications including booklets, brochures, business cards, mail pieces, book covers, sheet-fed labels, small folding cartons, retail display signs and posters. Sheet sizes range up to 22.4 inches by 47 inches, and the coating thickness can vary from a traditional flat spot UV coating of 7 μm (microns) up to 232 μm for 3D raised texture effects and a tactile finish all in a single pass.

The JETvarnish 3D 52L offers a fully integrated, inline option to add to the iFOIL L Hot Foiling System. The scalability of foil customization and personalization enables printers and trade finishers to expand into profitable new market segments. Spectacular and unique effects are now available within a 100% digital process, including 3D embossing, multiple colored foils applied in one pass, variable data foiling (VDF), foil over foil to create dramatic special effects, and the unique capability to foil and emboss on plastic (including on Polypropylene/PP). Automatic inkjet head cleaning technology, along with the AIS SmartScanner intelligent registration system, creates a simple, convenient path for developing new digital finishing applications and diverse new application-based revenue streams.

"Decorative embellishment continues to be a huge growth area for our industry, with tremendous opportunities for commercial printers to differentiate themselves and yield a high profit for the service," said Dino Pagliarello, senior vice president of product management and planning, Konica Minolta. "Our full line of digital embellishment devices delivers dynamic performance for the most demanding applications, adding extra value and sensory dimensional textures to printed output for finished products that are simply remarkable."

The new JETvarnish 3D 52L joins Konica Minolta's existing series of sheet-fed and roll-fed digital special effects presses, which feature 2D/3D UV dimensional textures as standalone finishing hubs for digital, offset, gravure and flexo printed materials. Other enhancement presses include the JETvarnish 3D Evolution (29 inches by 47 inches), JETvarnish 3D Web (17-inch roll width) and the new AccurioShine 3600 (14.3 inches by 29.5 inches), which also features embossed variable data foiling capabilities.

"The traditional printed product has become a commodity, often awarded to the printer with the lowest price," said Bill Troxil, president of the industrial print and production print business, Konica Minolta. "Savvy print service providers are seizing the opportunity to offer their customers elevated print products that drive higher margins and set them apart from their competitors. The JETvarnish 3D 52L will aptly serve designers and brands looking to differentiate their products with more than just color images on paper."