Flatbed Opinions Wanted

[scottg]

we went with the Anapurna-M a few months back, and are very pleased with the image quality. You will not regret your decision. It should do a very good job for you.

 

[SignManiac]

What not to buy:

http://www.ourhpdesignjet.com

 

[Digitall]

I would agree with the Vutek UV part. I just came back from a visit of the Vutek plant today and was blown away by what they got going on.

UV curable technology yes. Flatbed technology No. We own 2 Gandi Flatbeds and our loyal HP/Scitex Clients that have just purchased a Vutex UV roll to roll machine. Funny how things work in a technology driven industry.

Vutek has the best Hybrid flatbed but not the best bed only dedicated flatbed.

The HP/Scitex FB 6100(Nur Tempo) hands down is the best flatbed machine that exists. Unless of course you want to layout 1+ million to step into the new faltbed arena (No thanks).

For the Mid end machines I would by all means go with the Agfa(Dilli). Plus I think Kmiller your rep for Agfa is Steve Potthoff formally of HP/Scitex. He is a great guy to work with and knows the game and how to make you a serious return on your purchase. Trust me on that....

Thanks, your post was extremely helpful and timely

 

[niksagkram]

We recently purchased an Ion, in fact, the techs are here right now installing and training, and from what I've seen, this will be a great investment.

Any updates from people who have had one for a few months??

 

[akalvarez]

We are going with the ion we have owned other type grit roller UV flat bed printers the material has to be flat or the heads hit... Coroplast all most wont print at all we wast a lot of ink and materials (dibond is to slippery) Meteral won feed properly ((( (time) (just like dos to (windows) is behind the times so is the grit roller type uv printers) (please see my other posts under flat bed printers) Ion or similar type printers are best...if you look in to gerbers back ground thay are the most stable corporation around ,,, do yo know gerber invented the first vinyl ploter not to mention the large format printer.....

Please enlighten me what machine are you talking about? I thought the xerox 8954 cactus was the first large format printer?

 

[N Design]

We have a Colorspan 72uvx. Runs ok. Quality ok. Wouldn't hang anything printed on a flatbed in a museum. We mostly print coroplast and banners on it. Banding is an issue but we have accepted that you can't completed get rid of it. We do run into issues of large 1 color areas not printing correctly all the time. Might need to get a new pump.

 

[SignManiac]

I've learned a few things. You need to decide what type of work you need a flatbed for. The hybrids with grit wheels are okay for print for pay poster type work but not practical for commercial sign related work.

For sign shop type of work you want a true flatbed printer i.e. stationary material or belt drive. Price will determine print quality and speed. All flatbeds have their pros and cons. Figure out what you can afford to spend and decide what kind of printing you want to do first.

 

[Flame]

do yo know gerber invented the first vinyl ploter

Unless I am mistaken I believe it was Datagraph? Allen systems or something of the sort.

I know, way off topic. I had to chime in though.

 

[JS]

Hp 45000

Does anyone have any experience with the HP 45000. I am looking at one and have not heard good things. Any help would be good.

Thanks

 

[Pat Whatley]

What not to buy:

http://www.ourhpdesignjet.com

Gee Bob, thats really interesting that the web address now forwards directly to the official HP website. :ROFLMAO:

 

[mmorse]

Have you gotten your Ion? If so how do you like it? Any problems?

 

[niksagkram]

Yes, we have it. There were a few initial problems, but they were easily fixed. The major one was the bed of the printer. It wasn't level with the roll to roll end of the machine, so when we tried to print a full 10 foot coro, we were getting head strikes. Gerber sent techs to install shims under the table itself, and that fixed the problem. Apparantly it's a common problem. ½" crezone can be a chore also. If it's not TOTALLY flat, don't bother trying to print. We had a few sheets that were only slightly bowed, but we still got rubs or head strikes. Taping down helps some, but it's still frustrating. Other than that, we love it. If you need more info, there is a Yahoo user group for the Ion.

Mark

 

[ScotJ]

We have a Colorspan 72uvx. Runs ok. Quality ok. Wouldn't hang anything printed on a flatbed in a museum. We mostly print coroplast and banners on it. Banding is an issue but we have accepted that you can't completed get rid of it. We do run into issues of large 1 color areas not printing correctly all the time. Might need to get a new pump.

I have a 72uvr and thought the same thing- until I saw the new Oce Arizona / Fujifilm Accuity. It rivals even my 1440dpi solvent machine. The quality is phenomenal and it does around 250~sq ft/hr in very presentable quality mode. It also has a roll-to-roll option which is nice. I'm thinking it will be our next purchase for sure, unless we get a used Inca Eagle 44 in the mean time.

 

[sharukh]

Hello all there, We bought a CUBE260 UV printer six months back, going really well, we print around 30 to 50 sq.mt daily, excellent quality, great and consistent results on almost all of the medias we have tried so far. Colour matching are no issues at all (Thanks to Caldera also).

 

[seaserpent]

These negative posters about the Gerber Ion must be doing something wrong. After owning one for only 3 weeks, it is a great machine. Prints to almost every substrate and sticks. Using strong 3M masking tape the ink does not pull up from the material except on SOME styrene and Diebond type, and polycarbonate materials. We've been experimenting with different Diebond type materials and there are those that stick fantastically. Coroplast (and other brands), painted aluminum, Alumacor, Alumilite, Painted MDO, expanded PVC all stick fantastically with any tape peel test. The samples I received from Gerber are stuck. Can't scratch with your fingers. Cannot peel with tape. I'm loving the Gerber Ion. The speed is acceptable and we print all day long - making money off this equipment.

 

[salyerb]

Flatbed Printers

Quality, reliability, ease of use, diversity of applications, cost of operation, and yes "price" are all points to consider. A recent survey at the Drupa show in Europe (350 participants) showed that over 50% of the attendees there agreed that quality was thier most important determining factor in the next UV Curable Inkjet Printer they were going to purchase. The other catagories were price, adhesion, ease of use, and a few other catagories as I'm paraphrasing here to make the point that quality is far and above the leading factor. Another key element is service, servicability, and the expertise of the people servicing your printer. What kind of application support is available? How soon will someone respond to a service issue or concern? If I've had a digital roll to roll printer that prints exceptional quality that my customers are used to then how am I going to get them to accept a lesser quality? On the other hand, if my volumes are 3000 to 4000 square feet per month I can't justify a $300,000.00 printer. My advice is go for quality first, then look at your cost to performance ratio, and equally as important do business with a solid manufacturer (not OEM, not 3rd party) committed to the Display Graphics Industry.