So what's so special about the Océ ColorWave 600?

PrintWeek.com had a detailed review of the Océ ColorWave 600 a couple days ago. This remarkable device is a 42" wide high-speed plotter and printer that we use in-house and sell to clients as part of our Océ dealership. Here is the full article from the UK:

With its ability to print on a broad range of substrates, this machine appeals to many niche markets, says Barney Cox.

It used to be easy if you wanted a workhorse roll-to-roll wide-format printer - you chose an eco/light/mid*-solvent machine (*pick preferred marketing term according to vendor) and off you went. But due to the increased environmental awareness - both in the print shop and in the shop, office or exhibition where the graphics are going to be used - and concern over how the graphics can be recycled after use, there has been a push for alternatives to solvent inkjet. The Océ ColorWave 600, along with HP's Designjet L25500, the Kip Color 80 and some of the lower cost UV-cured hybrid machines, is filling a gap in the market where the need for low production costs, substrate flexibility and low-odour prints may preclude solvent from the running.

Océ launched the ColorWave 600 nearly two years ago, targeting CAD users, and map makers using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). However, once quickprinters had their hands on the machine for those applications, they wasted no time in trying to put work through it. These pioneers found the ability to print onto standard uncoated, and therefore cheaper substrates, along with low costs, ease-of-use and vibrant colours, made the ColorWave 600 ideal for a number of graphics applications too.

"The quickprinters took us into point-of-sale (POS) and point-of-purchase (POP)," says ColorWave senior product manager Ian Guiver. "We were concerned about the inks fading for external applications, but they told us that for the expected lifespan of an outdoor campaign, it wasn't an issue, and it certainly isn't for interior work."

Niche potential

With the machine proving itself a success in CAD and GIS and showing potential in several display graphics niches, Guiver has been set the task of developing graphics applications. "My task for 2010 is to push the ColorWave 600 in display graphics for POP, POS, banner stands and exhibition markets," he says.

So what's so special about the ColorWave 600? For a start, it uses a very different imaging technology to the other machines, which Océ calls CrystalPoint. This is a hybrid of inkjet and toner technology, which the group believes plays to each process's strength, while eliminating their weaknesses. Essentially, toner is supplied in balls roughly 1cm across (toner pearls in Océ speak); making them safer and easier to handle than either liquid ink or finely divided powder toner. Inside the machine, these are melted and then applied using what to all intents and purposes is an inkjet head, but in Océ-words is called an ‘imaging device'. Once on the substrate, the toner cools and as it does so crystallises - hence the CrystalPoint name. This phase-change technology is not totally unique (see ‘Ink's rubber soul', PrintWeek, 19 June 2008), but Océ is the only company exploiting it in wide-format. One of the benefits of CrystalPoint is that the toner sits on the surface of the substrate rather than being absorbed, which produces sharp, bright results with minimal and consistent dot gain across a wide range of substrates, simplifying process control and profiling. In use, there are no solvents and no ozone produced, meaning there doesn't need to be any extraction and the finished prints are odourless and water-resistant.

The need for speed

Apart from being a novel technology what does the system itself bring? It's fast. In economy mode, it'll produce a whopping 105m2 per hour, while in production mode it'll churn out 60m2 per hour and in its highest quality presentation mode a still sprightly 30m2 per hour.

Guiver says that, although Océ recommends using presentation mode for the majority of graphics applications for maximum quality, the majority of customers are happy to use production mode.

He cautions that in this mode there is some striping - the lawnmower pattern that can be seen under some lighting conditions caused by bi-directional printing.

However, for output that is going to be laminated, the use of warm (around 65°C) laminating has been found to soften the image enough to eliminate the effect without causing it to bleed. Not that much work needs laminating. The print produced is waterproof, so depending on the substrate and the application, it can be used straight off the printer without any further treatment. In addition, there is the range of substrates it can print onto. Basically anything uncoated can be printed from recycled paper, through plastics and non-wovens such as Tyvek.

Even the sometimes troublesome polyethylene can be printed untreated; in fact untreated and uncoated media often work better.

"Sensitisation softens the surface. For CrystalPoint, it's best that doesn't happen. We want a tough surface to prevent scuff marks on the finished print," says Guiver.

There are a couple of types of substrates that the machine can't handle - any glazed high-gloss coating causes a problem with toner adhesion and also with a differential finish due to the toner's satin finish. The other is canvas, which can't be cut by the built-in cutter. However, Océ offers a canvas-textured paper instead.

Aside from those restrictions, any stock up to 160gsm weight and 140micron calliper can be used. Océ has a range of its own red label stocks, but there is no restriction on third-party media within those broad guidelines for finish and weight. Media is loaded into front-loading drawers and, depending on the configuration of the machine, it can support between one and six rolls, with automatic switching.

The price is right

Costs are low. The list price for the machine starts at £30,000, going up to £39,000 for a fully-configured machine capable of holding six rolls. While that may be comparably high for a roll-fed solvent machine, the ColorWave 600 is a workhorse designed to work flat out, in one approval test it worked flat out over three days without a hiccup. "It's an Océ, it's been engineered, not just built," says Guiver.

The price of the toner pearls is £130 per 500g. As a toner-based technology it's also got the same business model - the click charge. Precise clicks depend on your anticipated volumes, but a standard is £0.13 per m2. Clicks combine the area printed with the percentage coverage.

A square metre of CAD drawing with 3-4% coverage would use 0.65 of a click, whereas POS may represent "six or seven clicks per square metre" due to the higher coverage. It's possible to cut the click by reducing toner coverage using Under Color Removal (UCR) and Grey Component Removal (GCR). Océ's Onyx Postershop and Production House RIPs have the necessary profiling tools built in. While a print made with composite blacks could cost £3 per square metre, one with GCR or UCR could be as low as £0.80.

Océ defines users' throughput in terms of thousands of clicks per quarter with low-volume users up to 5,000, high-volume up to 10,000 and extremely-high-volume 60,000 per quarter. For POS, 10,000 clicks might represent 1,000m2.

So far, the ColorWave 600 is Océ's only product using the CrystalPoint technology but, having spent around a dozen years developing the technology, it's likely to appear in other products over time. The group won't be drawn on whether they will be wide-format or cut-sheet, or continuous feed, but Guiver says customers have already been asking for a wider roll-fed machine, a flatbed and additional colours, including white. All Guiver will say is that "this technology is only at the beginning of its product lifecycle. It will be exploited fully over the next decades".

Barney Cox, PrintWeek.com

To learn more about the ColorWave 600, call A/E Graphics toll-free at 1-877-314-7047.

Océ unveils 'single footprint' ColorWave 300

Océ has launched what it claims is the world's first single footprint wide-format print device that can produce both color and mono prints as well as featuring an integrated scanner.

The ColorWave 300 can print at a resolution of 600dpi and, by integrating both color and black and white into a single operation, the Dutch manufacturer says users can cut floorspace usage in half.

Océ is pitching its latest print engine at commercial printers, as well as users in the engineering and construction industries.

The wide-format machine, which relies on thermal inkjet technology, has been designed for adding color to technical documents, and the printing of display and promotional materials.

...Océ chairman Rokus van Iperen said that: "In order to further strengthen our competitive position and drive sales under difficult market conditions, we will continue to introduce innovative products."

Tim Sheahan, www.printweek.com

A/E/C Events

Jan 19 - 22: International Builders Show and NextBuild - Las Vegas

Jan 20 - 21: Leadership on Design Strategy - La Jolla, CA

Feb 1 – 5: World of Concrete – Las Vegas 

Feb 3 – 5: Grassroots Leadership – Washington D.C.

Feb 22 – 24: International Roofing Expo – New Orleans

Mar 17 – 20: AGC Convention – Orlando

Apr 28 - 29: AIA Wisconsin Convention – Madison

A/E/C News to Use

Best of 2009 in the Midwest

LEED does not necessarily mean energy efficient. What’s wrong with this picture? Why don’t green buildings have better energy performance? What is being done about it?

How about a return to steam power?

Steam Engine photo

The world's first hybrid diesel-electric bulldozer

NREL’s new $64 million building is smart and net zero, but will still require on-going green ‘police’ to keep it net zero. Among its interesting features: most employees will work in cubicles with waist high partitions; employees will not be able to control overhead lighting but will have a 10-watt personal LED lamp on their desks; and the building has no central air or heating.

Community garden atop Madison’s library?

U.S. Department of Energy officials say Clean Tech Partners of Madison will get $14.5 million to install energy efficient equipment in pulp and paper mills as well as printing, corn milling, plumbing and small engine manufacturing facilities.

Milwaukee testing LED street lights. Racine is already installing 900 of them

Zoo interchange bridges need immediate replacement

Companies shaking their heads at lack of conclusive agreement in Copenhagen

Explaining the Golden Ratio

Moveable Subway Shop to follow workers up Freedom Tower

Some Museum projects are moving forward:

The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum to sprout a 145’ tall temporary (twice a year) bubble meeting hall that looks like a Robin’s egg. Designed by Diller Scofidio+Renfro.

Marble cladding on the I.M. Pei’s East Building of the National Gallery of Art is failing and will have to be reinstalled, at an estimated cost of $85 million.

An extensive review of this year’s Autodesk University can be found here and here.

Is Cloud Computing secure?

And the cloud can be used for some nefarious tasks too.

The new United States Mission to the United Nations in NY is variously described as grim, a medieval fortress, a monstrosity, etc…but it is reportedly secure. 

United States Mission to the UN in NY

AIA national award winners: The American Institute of Architects has announced the winners of its top annual awards. Its Gold Medal, the institute's highest recognition of individual achievement, goes to Peter Bohlin of the Pennsylvania firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. The Architecture Firm Award is bestowed upon Pugh + Scarpa of Santa Monica, Calif. And Princeton, N.J. postmodernist Michael Graves receives the Topaz Medallion honoring a distinguished educator.

20 up and coming major projects in the US

Update on the Economy

Economic recovery slow but moving ahead

Quarterly report from Dept of Revenue projects a rebound in income and the job market in 2010 with more robust growth in 2011.

Leading indicators continue to rise

Jobs are being added, albeit slowly

Obama says focus on jobs

Jobs are in ‘new tech’

A Look Around the World

The opening exhibits for Zaha Hadid’s Maxxi museum aren’t scheduled until March, but the incredibly complex building itself is a work of art both inside and out, which is worth contemplating and will certainly be a ‘destination’ when in Rome.

All photos here are from Luke Hayes and shown here and here. Many more photos of the museum can be seen here and here.

Dubai - the Burj is set to open in January but many other projects will probably disappear. Here is an overview of some.

Burj Photo by Imre Solt

We know density is a good thing, but then there is Hong Kong, at the extreme in density: Could you live in a 100 sf apartment? Amazing photos of some here.

Hong Kong Skyline, photo by David Iliff

By contrast, Finland is just preparing to build its first skyscrapers.

Helsinkis skyscraper

In Brazil, an interesting look at how people don’t always follow the planner.

Brasilia photo

Subways began in 1863 in London. Now they are everywhere, but they definitely do not all look alike.

This subway in Moscow

And this one in Stockholm

The exterior of a Subway station in Japan

Once an arms factory in France, now an innovative design center powered by solar panels integrated into the building.

Solar LIN

Words of Wisdom: a Small Design Firm’s Experience with BIM

Gilchrist Ross Crowe Architects (GRC), consisting of 3 principals and 4-6 staff members, originally went ‘digital’ through the use of DataCAD, then switched to ArchiCAD in 1998. Their interest in BIM stemmed from the idea of concentrating on creating a model, then letting the software create the needed documents.

Most of GRC’s early projects were relatively simple, but they found the new technology profitable almost immediately. They were in fact able to triple the firm’s income over a three year period without the need to expand staff.

At a recent graphisoft webinar, GRC Principal Richard Crowe, AIA, recently shared some insights into what has made it work for them. Traditionally the firm needed more staff involved the farther they got into their workflow, which he describes as Design to Design Development to 50% CDs to 100% CDs. With BIM, creating the model becomes more important and takes longer so more time and expense is required earlier, thus ‘flattening’ the workflow process. If the model is well built, everything afterward flows smoothly and fewer staff are needed later in the process. Their watchword has become ‘Model more, draw less.’

They have successfully completed some projects with very, very few problems. Others have been more problematic, but with each project Crowe explains that they learn a little bit more.

On their first 3D project – a 90,000 sf building for the College of Engineering at Florida A&M – everything went very smoothly. But the approach had been fairly willy-nilly and the subsequent lack of standards resulted in a disorganized process with a plethora of disorganized files. Subsequently GRC implemented processes and a template system which have served them well.

GRC have completed projects up to 200,000 gsf with small teams of 2 to 5 persons. The Project Manager/Principal must fully understand process. They always start with a template file, then import site survey drawings. The model must be properly maintained from the beginning. The project architect may or may not be the model architect but a strict adherence to process must be maintained to ensure the integrity of the design. Hotlinks to other existing models may be used if appropriate. All attributes brought in must stay organized in order to maintain control.

Remodeling an existing building can be more complicated than designing from the ground up in terms of creating a good model. Decisions must be made about how much of the existing structure should be modeled. On-site measuring must be exact in order for the subsequent modeling to be accurate. A project in 2003 taught them the value of obtaining a laser measuring device.

Another lesson was learned in a 2007 job after GRC had lost most of its existing staff. The project was further complicated by having two different clients for the same project and the two clients did not always have the same priorities. The inexperience of the staff resulted in errors in the model – with unpleasant problems like wall protruding through the roof! GRC realized that too many people, especially if not appropriately trained, working directly in the model can result in extreme problems. As a result, most of the staff now stay on the 2D side, working with drawings created from the 3D model. There is no replacement for experience! Crowe finds it takes a new employee 3 – 4 projects to really ‘get it’.

A virtual building model – letting owners ‘stand’ inside the model before construction - has been an immensely successful tool for GRC, but Crowe strongly advises the use of pre-scripted scenarios for presentations. Wandering around randomly in the model can have unexpected and unpleasant results.

GRC has found it profitable to refine its templates about every two years, incorporating new concepts/processes. They also have ongoing ‘CAD’ lunches every 2 weeks for all people involved with the software to share insights and updates. Originally had manuals but found that updating took so much time, and few read it anyway. so eventually the manual got left behind.

For schedules, GRC typically creates door/windows schedules inside the model. They export finish and other schedules at around the CD50% level and tweak them outside.

Looking to the future, GRC is experimenting with Eco Designer but haven’t used it yet in a project.

Specific advice to use:

1) Model More – Draw Less
2) Use templates – find and use prebuilt resources as much as possible.
3) Set up standards and a process and strictly adhere to them
4) Training is extremely important. Mentoring one of the best training methods!
5) One really good employee is worth more than 3 or 4 so-so ones.
6) Keep the model as simple as possible. Crowe says that if in doubt about modeling a detail, they use a general rule that if it is important in more than one dimension, model it. If in doubt, they tend to go ahead and model.
7) Use the power of the model to impress the client.

New Materials, New Possibilities

Material Connexion has just introduced its awards for the best new materials of the year. The grand prize went to concrete cloth, which can be formed into shapes including temporary structures, then turned into concrete by adding water. It can be draped or formed like cloth before being set, so the uses and shapes are practically limitless – with roofing, asbestos covering, water tanks, flood defense, shotcrete replacement, tunnel lining, building cladding, ditch lining, pipe lining, concrete culverts among them. It is waterproof, fireproof, chemically resistant and will not degrade in UV.

The humble carrot takes center stage in Curran, a new product by Cellucomp. Carrots are used to produce a high-strength biofiber with a stiffness that rivals carbon fiber. Currently, the company can make materials which are around 80 per cent carrot, with carbon fiber making up the remainder. Their current product is fishing rods, but the material appears to be suitable for use as a fiber reinforcement in many other sporting goods, automotive, aerospace, and consumer products.

Quin Media Arts and Sciences creates textured cladding for buildings, which change colors based on lighting and depending on where the viewer is standing. Digital images are translated onto an array of optical tiles. Each optical tile is a beveled, cylindrical "pixel" with an angled surface that reflects a particular, precisely determined amount of light. This array of optical tiles literally sculpts the reflected light into an image.

Any image can be cast or machined into concrete, glass, metal, composites or fabrics at any scale - as large as the side of a building or as small as the sole of a shoe. The result is a sensory active surface: a dynamic image that transforms in space with the viewer's movement and the changes in light levels.

Vestige Veneer's patented Infigure process allows for custom 3-dimensional patterns to be placed inside wood veneers without changing the surface texture. Patterns and images can be incorporated into veneers through this process making the veneer appear 3D but actually maintaining a perfectly smooth surface.

Other notable materials, some of which are sure to become workhorses in our industry, were given honorable mention and can be seen by clicking here.

In other areas:

A new metal coating technology is being developed that uses “infrared light to fuse nanocomposite metal-ceramic and polymer coatings onto steel. By using infrared light, the new process would bypass the need for electroplating, chromate primers, galvanizing, fusion-bonded epoxy, and other coatings that involve hazardous chemicals. The end goal is a fully portable, end-to-end system that uses high intensity white light to strip old coatings with less waste and lower volatile organic emissions, before fusing on the new nanomaterials.”

A new high strength rebar can reduce placement costs

Photo credit: Cary Kopczynski and Co

Happy New Year!

Our offices will be closed on New Year's Day. We will reopen Monday morning to usher in 2010. You can download bid plans and specs 24/7 at http://bit.ly/4L6O8z 

18 Architecture Firms Showcase Projects Never Built or Seen Before

Looking for something different to do over the New Year's holiday? The Eisner American Museum of Advertising & Design is currently exhibiting "UNSEEN Architecture: MKE" through March of 2010. Eighteen local architectural firms are showcasing projects from the Milwaukee area that have never been built or seen before. This exhibition is co-sponsored by A/E Graphics. THE EISNER is located at 208 North Water Street in the Third Ward. Phone 414-847-3290.