Agfa Anapurna M2540fb Flatbed White ink

[dasigndr]

I am looking at purchasing a Agfa Anapurna M2540fb Flatbed White ink printer. Just want to know what kind of issues any other AGFA users have.
for example...
what is the maintenance like?
any costs associated with regular maintenance?
can you do your own maintenance or do you need agfa to do it?
Is this a good printer to be purchasing? or do you recommend another and why?

need answers and direction quick!!

 

[klmiller611]

I cannot speak to your specific printer, but we have an Anapurna Mv that will be 9 years old in December. Generally speaking, I think they are decent machines with some issues. White ink opens up its own set of issues, I am sure. Several things I would changed if it was my design, one being a sprocketed belt. Our belt, no matter how much I adjust it, twists more than I'd like, perhaps I just don't have the knack for setting it. Which makes it tough to back up a board when it twists 1/8 of an inch on a 8 foot board. Again, perhaps that is just me.Ours has had another issue since the beginning of a "Wait Data" error, it can be printing along fine, dedicated cable. Then it pauses with the said error on screen, sometimes it will pick back up, most times not, and will usually, if I don't get over to it quick enough, then fly over to the capping station end and hit the bumper pretty hard. Then it is a total new start over. The error was reported to Agfa in the beginning, and no real help was offered or suggested. The error can occur with any kind of file, from the simplest text only prints to complex images, and it is not repeatable.

I don't know about this model and the ink sets it uses, but ours is stuck using the first generation ink sets, and its ability to adhere to coro and plastic stuff on cut edges is not very good with heavy coverage. I'm working on a job right now with a black background with white type that I know will have to retouch virtually every one due to flaking ink on the cut edges.

The other issue I have with plastic media is static. On this same job with some large areas of black or dark blue, the static charge pulled cyan or black ink vapor out of the air into the white letters on more sheets of material than I'd care to count. Again, with our ink set, on smooth coro, if I wipe with denatured alcohol, and use light color, I can see every towel mark in the print job, or every finger mark. Perhaps the newer ink sets are better.

Maintenance is fairly simple, after the first year, we've done everything in house. We've done head change outs, ink lines, and managed to figure out other issues without having to bring in a service tech.

Best
Ken

 

[dasigndr]

thanks Ken,
we do a lot of coroplast real estate signs. Have you ever had any coroplast signs come back because of peeling or flaking ink?

 

[Corwin Steeves]

thanks Ken,
we do a lot of coroplast real estate signs. Have you ever had any coroplast signs come back because of peeling or flaking ink?

Coroplast is notoriously difficult to print to (sorry, it's easy enough to print to, but getting the ink to stay on is the problem). When selecting a flatbed printer use coroplast as the unlitimate test of ink adhesion, especially if that's a large part of your biz.
That all said, I just got back from New Orleans SGIA show and Agfa really put on a pretty good showing. I know they had a rocky start but they've solved most the issues that Ken mentioned. (Ken you should definitely change inksets if you're still getting fingerprints, that's a 2012 problem)

 

[klmiller611]

Hey Dennis

The flaking issues I have were only on the edges where I had to cut and stretch the ink with the cut, and where it was heavy coverage, like with a black or dark brown, dark blue, etc. I've not had any real issue with flaking or peeling other than that. It is not restricted to just coro either, it happens, not as badly, but with gator foam or any hard substrate that you have to flex pretty hard to cut. Now with foam board, it does excellently.

Best
Ken

 

[klmiller611]

Coroplast is notoriously difficult to print to (sorry, it's easy enough to print to, but getting the ink to stay on is the problem). When selecting a flatbed printer use coroplast as the unlitimate test of ink adhesion, especially if that's a large part of your biz.
That all said, I just got back from New Orleans SGIA show and Agfa really put on a pretty good showing. I know they had a rocky start but they've solved most the issues that Ken mentioned. (Ken you should definitely change inksets if you're still getting fingerprints, that's a 2012 problem)

Corwin

I wish I could change ink sets, I spoke with Agfa Technical support on the matter just this past Friday, as a matter of fact. Unfortunately, he forwarded me a spec sheet on the various printers and ink sets as to what will work in what machine, and it appears that I am stuck with the original ink set.

Now, a few years ago, I spoke with Fuji about a changeover to their inks, and was close to doing so, but talked with, on their recommendation, a couple other Agfa owners who had switched, both had some issues, which were resolved. I really can only go to a changeover in December, when our work is really slow, so by the time I was satisfied, I was in busy season again, and had to wait until November to start the process, I emailed my contact, several times, but never heard back from him.

Accordingly, the Fuji inksets had a more vivid red reproduction, and was a much more flexible set for coro as well. We had looked at both an Acuity and the Anapurna when we purchased, but in the end, the cost savings of about $40K won out, simply because I knew the white ink was a larger effort to keep maintained, and I honestly did not then, or now, see a major need for us to have the option vs. the maintenance.

Best
Ken

 

[Corwin Steeves]

Corwin

I wish I could change ink sets, I spoke with Agfa Technical support on the matter just this past Friday, as a matter of fact. Unfortunately, he forwarded me a spec sheet on the various printers and ink sets as to what will work in what machine, and it appears that I am stuck with the original ink set.

Now, a few years ago, I spoke with Fuji about a changeover to their inks and was close to doing so, but talked with, on their recommendation, a couple other Agfa owners who had switched, both had some issues, which were resolved. I really can only go to a changeover in December, when our work is really slow, so by the time I was satisfied, I was in busy season again, and had to wait until November to start the process, I emailed my contact, several times, but never heard back from him.

Accordingly, the Fuji inksets had a more vivid red reproduction, and was a much more flexible set for coro as well. We had looked at both an Acuity and the Anapurna when we purchased, but in the end, the cost savings of about $40K won out, simply because I knew the white ink was a larger effort to keep maintained, and I honestly did not then, or now, see a major need for us to have the option vs. the maintenance.

Best
Ken

Okay wow, you've definitely done your homework on this! Yes, the acuity inks are pretty kick ass. We're running Oce flatbeds and the inks are all Acuity and we don't think about fingerprints or adhesion anymore, but a few years ago, it's all we thought about. The only other thing I'd suggest, especially if your Fuji rep is not being responsive, it going to a third party ink. They've just copied the formula of the Acuity inks and are selling it for half the price. The only reason not to used them would be if you had a machine that was still under warranty because the manufacturers use this as an "out".

 

[johnnysigns]

It's definitely not an apples to apples comparison looking at the MW or MV line in comparison to the 2540i. The speeds on the M lines appear much slower from what I've read. Mind you I'm not running one to provide my experience, I'm basing it off the specs I see available on those models. Banding and ink issues were all major problems on those models also from what techs and first hand users have told us. Long term feedback on the 2540's is something we've been hard pressed to find. The larger picoliter sized white heads with the recirculation components look more in line with other companies that have figured white printing out. I believe the newer Fuji/OCE's also do the same.

Did you look at the Fuji/OCE or the Vanguards?