Colorspan 9840

I've had one since 12/2006. Feel free to ask questions. We have literally seen nearly every possible problem on this machine, so I can tell you just about anything you want to know =)

 

Ive got a Vutek PV 200/600 and its been rock solid for me. Ive learned the quirks of the machine over the past 10 months!! Now its producing awesome prints...let me know if you ever need to discuss issues. Always good to bounce things around like that...

 

sign shop owner

Do not !purchase a hp / colorspan flatbed uv printer i have had mine for about 11 months with onley 60 hrs on it The printer has had over 60 in shop man hours on it (warranty repair time) and is not fixed yet....the printer was purchased 1/07 im having my lawyer return it for me....... Kitsap SignCo 360-479-9200 Kitsapsignco@bigstring.com

call me......

 

colorspan uvx continued

Kitsap SignCo has been dealing with colorspan for a 11 + months now, my 98 uvx has been basically been all most non functional. Media feed grit rollers have been replaced 3 times bearings 4 times they even broke some of the new grit roller bearing and super glued them back together o ya color spans own tech. did not know how to install them it took over 5 days plus a late evening shift
to reinstall the 3rd grit roller ...my lcd screen blinks / freezes up thay replaced the lcd screen and 2 control boxs ( screen is not fixed yet. ))
vacuum pump was replaced twice,,, 4 media drive motors replaced, Almost all the parts have been replaced 2-4 times everything except the print head... Printer has ink drop out problems, media feed on most slippery substrates dibond etc .... Three weeks before Thanksgiving through christmas o yaa new years
colorspan has over 80 tech man hours trying to fix the printer (a grand total of 160 hours of repair and testing time lots of ink and media lost)
over a eleven month period So buyer beware
Dennis kitsapsignco@bigstring.com

 

We have one and its great. But yes, expect a lot of repairs. About one day down every 8 weeks

 

There is no comparison. Like saying I have a Harley and I am thinking of getting a Vespa.

Vuteks are intended for 24/7 production.

 

help

Has any one had ink drop out problems.
Seems to be worse on large substrates panels (i have a flooded purple back ground with large text and shadows) large and small areas on the print works fine, thin i get 2-3 in areas end to end of print that shows ink drop out or back ground substrate showing through... colorspans fix has been media feed... (replace Grit rollers, 3x.., Bearings 3-4x Control box 2X, Ribbons and cables 1x., Drive motors 3-4 times, vacuum pump 2-3 x note the only print mode that works fine is back lit or sign white high Quality one directional,,,,some small 2' x 2' prints work some what ok in production mode put not correct....my 1st year warranty runs out the 2nd part of jan 08 colorspan wonts to come again jan 2n 07 and replace control box, replace some repaired grit roller bearings, test etc i think Maybe a ink pump? thy seem to keep going back to media feed.. if it was media feed won't it do it all the way through the print.. line after print line..???

 

Are you saying that color span is a like a Harley or a vespa ?

 

The 9840 is like a Vespa run on batteries.

No comparison to a real production machine like a Vutek

 

I'm also curious what types of problems you are having. We've had our 200/600 about a year and have been very happy with it.

A major point with any machine is which tech did your setup??

How long have you had the machine?

 

The printer is 11 months old with 60 uv hours on it ...three tech. have worked on the printer and have not fixed it yet.... over 120 man hours of repairs to date and 70 hours between Thankgiving new years 08 they left today after 20 man hours of testing and repairs printer is still not working.......1/4/08

 

KSC, What's your printer doing? or not doing?

 

again....what types of problems are you having?

we're trying to help but you're being incredibly vague.

 

It's starting to sound like operator error

 

A vinyl/trophy/awards shop that I worked for had an overbearing owner that thought going straight from a Roland ColorSpan to a UVX98 was a wonderful idea. No training on our part. Put it in the shop and I had to teach myself, other than the 20 hours or so that ColorSpan sent.

I had a lot of problems with lining up, printing double sided, color matching (reds being reds, blues being blues, etc). I was there about a year and just found out that they ditched the UVX and went to a View something or other. Can't think of it now. I guess it was going from a Vespa to a Harley.

 

Finally my lawyer got a response today from hp colorspan they want to give me a new printer in place of the existing 98uvx.....does any one know if hp makes a 8' (non colorspan) hybrid type uv flat bed printer that functions correctly.....????? ideas any one.....???????

 

Same (Lack of) Service

KSC, make sure you keep in good with your lawyer, you may need him again.
I purchased a 9840 or HP FB910 late Nov. 2007 and have had over $95,000 worth of parts put on it, to only be told it doesn't print blues any better than
it is printing them. I have vertical and horizontal banding. You name it and
they have replaced it. I've also talked to an attorney, and am looking at my
choices now. I will not, ever purchase an HP or Colorspan again, I've been
treated better by McDonalds workers for buying a .99 hamburger than I've been treated by HP. I've also purchased a couple of website addresses (www.dontbuyahpprinter.com, www.dontbuyhpfb910.com, www.noservicefromhp.com) to
hopefully start a user group of unhappy HP or Colorspan owners. Maybe we
can educate them on hiring the right attorney.

 

@supersignmart - I feel your pain, honestly, I've been through it all as well. Just a note however. HP decided to purchase ColorSpan for the technology and so they inherited the mess. It's not truly fair to judge them on ColorSpan alone. There are tons of excellent HP machines that are just rock solid, it's just the dang ColorSpan's. As far as support and everything else, nothing has changed but the name, so you're still dealing with the same people and the same issues.

Though I'm not pleased overall with our FB910 (9840) it's finally running now with no errors in 1 month. That's a first for us after installing it in 12/06. Came down to the fact that they never informed us that they discovered that you cannot use isopropyl alcohol to clean the encoder strip, it eats away at it. We were trained to clean it that way, as we have been as well on our 72s for the last 4 years. Our machine would cancel mid print with no errors or anything, just quit and it was a total crapshoot if you were going to be able to make it through a 4x8 sheet. I had a job of 35 4x8 sintra panels and it died on 8 sheets. We've had nearly 40 sheets of MDO wasted.