A substrate preparation chamber is described herein. The substrate preparation chamber comprises an enclosure, a rotatable substrate support disposed within the enclosure, and an atmosphere replacement system coupled to the enclosure. The substrate preparation chamber can be used with an inkjet printing system, where the substrate preparation chamber is coupled to a printing enclosure such that a door is operable to place the enclosure of the substrate preparation chamber in fluid communication with the printing enclosure.

An inkjet printing apparatus 1 includes an ink-jet head 23 that ejects UV curable ink to a medium M, an irradiation lamp 25 that irradiates the UV curable ink ejected to the medium M with ultraviolet rays, and a heater 37 that heats the UV curable ink after the ultraviolet ray irradiation by the irradiation lamp 25 and thereby stabilizes color fixation of the UV curable ink. The UV curable ink after the ultraviolet ray irradiation is heated at least at 35° C.

A staged printing system includes: a printing station for printing an image upon an object; a curing station, operatively connected to the printing station, for curing the image printed upon the object; and a pretreatment station, operatively connected to the printing station, for pretreating the object before printing an image upon the object. The printing station includes a plurality of vertically mounted print heads for ejecting ink and a rotating platform for rotating the object as the plurality of vertically mounted print heads eject ink upon the object.

A printing apparatus includes: a printing unit which performs printing on a medium, a main body; a conveyer which conveys the medium; a post-processing unit which performs a post-processing for the medium on which the printing has been performed by the printing unit; a first cover rotatably supported by the main body and in which at least the post-processing part is installed; a second cover arranged to be adjacent to the first cover and supported by the main body such that the second cover is rotatable coaxially with the first cover; and an engaging mechanism which changes a state of the first cover and the second cover between an engaged state and a non-engaged state.

A heater includes an irradiator configured to irradiate a heating object including a liquid attachment region, onto which a liquid is applied, with an active energy ray, and circuitry configured to control an output of the active energy ray emitted from the irradiator to an edge portion in the liquid attachment region of the heating object to be larger than an output of the active energy ray emitted from the irradiator to a non-edge portion in the liquid attachment region excluding the edge portion.

An integrated vertical inkjet printer for printing on a vertical substrate, comprising: a controller; a main trolley carrying a main trolley body; and a printing assembly, comprising: a plurality of inkjet printing head assemblies mounted on a platform; a vertical telescopic tandem beam system comprising: a first printing beam, wherein said platform is slidable along said first printing beam; and a second printing beam detachably insertable between said first printing beam and said main trolley body, a first motor configured to drive said platform vertically; and a second motor configured to drive said first printing beam along said second printing beam.

Both stability and high glossiness of a glossy ink used for printing can be achieved. A printer is provided that performs inkjet printing for a medium. The printer includes a glossy ink head as an inkjet head that discharges droplets of a glossy ink, a heater, and an ultraviolet light source. The glossy ink includes an ultraviolet-curable resin curable by being irradiated with ultraviolet light, a glossy pigment, and a solvent added to disperse the pigment. Particles of the glossy pigment have particle sizes less than or equal to 0.5 μm. The heater heats the medium to volatilize and strip the solvent in the ink. The ultraviolet light source irradiates dots of the glossy ink on the medium with ultraviolet light after a preset waiting time has passed subsequent to a timing of the droplets of the glossy ink landing on the medium.

An inkjet recording apparatus and an inkjet recording method are provided that facilitate designing of units for subsequent treatment in terms of their shapes and/or positions, while suppressing variability in image quality resulting from subsequent treatment. Two or more recording heads are disposed in a staggered arrangement in X and Y directions. The paired units for subsequent treatment are disposed in parallel to each other along the X direction, and the recording heads are interposed between these units. The length of each of the units for subsequent treatment in the X direction is greater than or equal to the ink-dischargeable extent in the X direction of the recording heads in one scan. The recording heads are arranged, so that nozzle groups, from which the droplets of the same color are discharged, are disposed symmetrically with respect to an intermediary line between the paired units for subsequent treatment.

A raster image conversion device is inputted with printing data and converts this printing data into raster image data to be outputted to a printing device. A storage unit stores printing environment data stipulating conditions for converting the printing data into the raster image data. An operating unit sets or edits the printing environment data. A conversion processing unit converts the printing data into the raster image data, based on the printing environment data. The printing environment data includes printing template information having a plurality of printing slots. The operating unit comprises an operating mode enabling the printing template information to be generated or edited. The conversion processing unit is inputted with or creates printing data made up of a plurality of pages, and, based on the printing template information, allocates a printing position and printing range of each page of the printing data to the printing slots.

A device cures a UV-curable fluid, such as offset or inkjet printing ink, on a substrate by way of an emitter. The emitter includes at least two flash lamps which are disposed in a row. This provides a cost-efficient way of evenly and homogeneously curing UV-curable printing fluids at low environmental impact. There is also described a printing machine with a device for curing UV-curable printing ink.