Three Linx 7900 continuous ink jet printers have been installed by Australian manufacturer Bambach Wires & Cables after the company was impressed with the printers’ speed, print quality and ease of use.

Bambach manufactures specialist and industrial cables for industries, including marine, defence, rail and road, sound and lighting, solar, power and transmission.

Cables are printed at varying intervals, from simple number codes just a few centimetres apart to greater distances with long alphanumeric messages.

However the company found increasing printer downtime and reliability issues were impeding output and end-product quality. Coder breakdowns sometimes affected product, and rework was not always possible, leading to costly waste.

Bambach needed to reduce downtime, cut product wastage due to coding errors, and eliminate rework. The printing needed to be clear, using black or white ink onto cables in a variety of colours and diameters of 1-30mm, on fast production lines. A variety of substrates are used, mainly PVC, polyurethane and XLPE.

After comparing equipment and technology from different suppliers, Bambach chose the Linx 7900 for its excellent print quality, ability to keep up with line speeds easily, flexibility to print on the full cable diameter range size and ease of use

The Linx 7900 coders sit next to the extrusion line, printing onto cables as they are extruded with information such as product identification, company branding, customer information (including their logo if requested), information relating to standards compliance, and factory numbers for traceability.

Bambach says installing the Linx 7900 coders has eliminated rework and product wastage, resulting in large savings.

The coders’ simple set-up has also allowed Bambach to change over lines very quickly, increasing uptime. The coders work an eight to 10-hour shift, five days a week, at speeds of up to 200m/min.

Supply and installation of the printers was carried out by Linx distributor partner Matthews Australasia Pty Ltd.

Michael Ng, Operations Manager, Bambach Wires & Cables, confirms: “We get excellent print quality with these coders.”

Launched in July 2012, the Linx 7900 offers a wealth of features at no extra cost, including state of the art Linx Insight® software. This remote web interface allows users to monitor and control their Linx 7900 printers through a web browser, either via a PC or a webenabled smartphone.

New ink system technology enables the Linx 7900 printer to run for up to 9,000 hours or 18 months between services.

And as the Linx 7900 is one of the most reliable CIJ printers on the market, it also comes with a warranty of up to 18 months at no extra cost.

Linx Insight means that with a few simple keystrokes on a remote computer connected to the internet, an operator can start, pause or stop the Linx 7900, change messages from prestored selections and download messages from the PC to the printer.