i've spent the last three days looking and getting quotes on chinese printers and such. i'm noticing a lot of standardization. there are really only a few basic chassis designs. it seems, because the chinese are smart, there is a gantry manufacturer mass producing gantries, a capping station factory, etc. the chinese printer builders are outsourcing to these specialized parts makers and just assembling. and i'll bet the firmware code to the printer that is a...mutoh, or mimaki, or roland chassis is just as stolen as the shapes, sizes and tolerances of the machines being copied.
i am coming to the conclusion that i will probably buy one. i don't need the extreme tolerances that vehicle wraps and graphics require. i just blaze on ink. the crustier the better. so i'm a perfect guinea pig. i'm thinking i'm going to go with a dx5 hybrid flatbed. i know hybrid flatbeds don't feed well (i've built/modified three) but this one i will tilt downhill a few degrees. did that with an encad back in the day and it fed perfect. you'd think that before scrapping the pinch roller designs, an engineer might ask if they can just tilt the platen and let the wonders of gravity do it's part. on the encad without the pinch rollers engaged, the sheet would just fly downhill and crash on the ground. that's not a lot of friction. worked better than my massive air tables that i use now.
