Best option for printing onto aluminum blanks in scale?

[Flatbedsigns]

We are looking to move to a True Flatbed, we have looked into these 3 models as what looks like our best options.

EFI Pro 30f
TRUFIRE LT/X2
Vanguard Digital VK300D-HS



In terms of what we will be using it for,
Caldera Rip software
approx 100-300 12"x18" .063 or .040 aluminum blanks a day,
we also do some sizes as small as 7"x10" but that's a small percent.
We will also be using them to do sheets of material but are mostly concerned with the day to day use when printing on the alum blanks.

our main concern is ease of use in terms of printing large amounts of individual jobs onto alum blanks,

Is it going to be easier to nest the jobs in pre-set layouts that fill a full bed in caldera or should we send over individual signs and fill out the jobs from the printer side?

Most of what we have seen online for these 3 printers has been about printing the same job on sheets over and over,but that is pretty far from how we will be using them actually.

Does anyone have one of these models that is using it more like we will be?

how easy is it to load a full table with blanks ?
how many tables full of jobs can you lay out and print per hour usually?
Do you use a jig for larger sizes too like the 12x18? at what size do you think a jig is useful?


any drawbacks to any of them? things that are a consistent headache about it for you?

Any insight is greatly appreciated, thank you for your help.

 

[Gino]

Quick question................ Why do you wanna pre-cut that many blanks a day ?? You'll spend more time baby-sitting the machine while you keep feeding it blanks than if you do a printed sheet, then cut it on another good machine.

 

[Boudica]

We recently got hit up for about 100 10x7" signs on ACM. I will be printing however many I can get up on a sheet (54) and then having them CNC cut.

 

[Flatbedsigns]

Quick question................ Why do you wanna pre-cut that many blanks a day ?? You'll spend more time baby-sitting the machine while you keep feeding it blanks than if you do a printed sheet, then cut it on another good machine.

We are not cutting the blanks then printing on them , we are buying blanks. Even if we did want to cut the blanks from alum sheets it would not a option for us in our current set up.

 

[zspace]

The Digitech prints great on aluminum. We run both full sheets and cut sheets of aluminum. If your job is fixed sizes you might be happier with cut sheets. We found that the router couldn‘t keep up with the printer on .063.

 

[bdw99]

If your using blanks, in your design software make a file as many outlined blanks you can on the bed. Then print the outlines directly onto the bed. Use those outlines to line up the blanks, scrape off the ink when done.

 

[d fleming]

I just saw a reel last night on a new flatbed that can sight read your blank position on belt and place art on each piece, kind of like some of the better lasers. The demo showed a fist full of guitar picks just randomly tossed on belt and machine found and printed each one where they were as they passed under print heads. Can't remember what the brand was (I was half asleep when I saw it) but might be worth a little research time, sounds like it might be just what you need.

 

[petepaz]

Quick question................ Why do you wanna pre-cut that many blanks a day ?? You'll spend more time baby-sitting the machine while you keep feeding it blanks than if you do a printed sheet, then cut it on another good machine.

yeah if you are doing that type of volume i would say look in to a cutter as well. lining up the blanks on the bed, removing them will be a lot of time. print a full sheet and then cut it, less labor and as Gino said babysitting the machine to make sure you don't have printing issues

 

[Flatbedsigns]

yeah if you are doing that type of volume i would say look in to a cutter as well. lining up the blanks on the bed, removing them will be a lot of time. print a full sheet and then cut it, less labor and as Gino said babysitting the machine to make sure you don't have printing issues

Yeah i want to make it clear we are not pre cutting the blanks, we are buying the blanks, we are not looking into cutting the alums ether.

 

[Bxtr]

We have a VK300DHS, its a great machine and the ability to grow as your business needs (add heads/speed)
We will print on blanks here when we have one offs, but like said above we nest up a full sheet and print and route.

We've made some jigs in the past, but never to fill the bed, more random shapes that we've need to next up.