Posted on 10th May 2012 @ 4:46 PM

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WIDE-FORMAT PRINTER of the year, Hollywood Monster, has announced the purchase of a Solent/Miller Weldmaster 112 Extreme combined heat welding, eyeleting and cutting, finishing machine.

The installation enables Hollywood Monster to weld a wide range of materials (including eco friendly) which its previous HF machines were unable to finish and managing director Tim Andrews says: “The new equipment will also eliminate bottlenecks and provide a new cutting resource.

” LARGE CONTRACT WIN “We first saw the 112 Extreme at an American show and since then we always had it in mind to invest at some point in the future. On winning a £1m contract to supply and install a large amount of digital print in London during May and June producing vinyl and PVC dressings/graphics, large-format banners and street dressings in eco friendly materials, we didn’t need to look at anything else; it was obvious it was the right machine for the job and the future direction of the company,” added Andrews. “It wasn’t just the high quality and tremendous improvement in speed of the welding that convinced us, we were also impressed by the semi-automatic cutting, eyeletting, rope inserting and the general increase in efficiency it brings to the business.

” TECHNOLOGY FOR THE FUTURE Andrews went on to say: “More and more eco friendly materials will replace the current PVC ranges and therefore hot wedge or hot air welds may become the all round preferred route. Also, automated cutting technology for large-format banners solves a big issue. We need to get people off their hands and knees on the floor. So all in all, as with most printers, the finishing department has always been a bottleneck and this will give us at least double finishing capacity, an improvement in quality of cutting, allows us to print onto a wider range of materials and generally increase throughput.

” SOLENT/MILLER WELDMASTER Solent provides a comprehensive range of finishing solutions for the wide-format printer including the market leading Miller Weldmaster range of heat welders for banner printers and Texsew/Bannersew, a new low-cost/high-speed solution for sewing textiles and banners.

SOLENT/MILLER WELDMASTER 112 EXTREME The 112 Extreme is the perfect machine for the fabrication of large and grand format banners and billboards. The 112 Extreme has a wide range of production capabilities and is easy for the operator to use. Customers use the 112 Extreme to cut, hem and eyelet all on the same table. With precisioncontrolled welding parameters, simple recall settings and an ergonomic design, the 112 Extreme is built to take production and efficiency to the next level and is available from 3m to 30m long! Solent Sewing and Welding has been in the business of industrial sewing and fabric handling for 50 years, with a history of manufacturing attachments and modifying sewing machines with different arm lengths and configurations. Where once sewing was the focus of the business, welding and heat sealing has taken over. Now much of Solent’s business focus is with the wide and grand-format display market, an area that now accounts for 80% of its business. “However, our Texsew and Bannersew Pro with conveyor solutions appeal to customers where their applications do not suit welding and who use sewing machines for banners and digital textiles,” says Ian Jenkins, MD at Solent.

Read the full story in Image Reports here IMAGE REPORTS.