Flatbed Printer First Buyers Advice

[faroun]

Good day all, i am glade i found this forum to help me avoid any mistakes in the futture.
One Good advice Can save thousands of dollars of loss to a new flatbed buyers.

I am asking, if it is possible to advice me on what is the best flatbed printer to buy based on my consumption.

i only need to print 3 sheets of 4'x8' plexi glass per 8 hours
the size to fit a 4'x8' sheets.
I do want it to print white ink on dark material
from what i read on this forum, it seam to be that epson heads DX5 is prefered, is that a good assumption?
The printer can a used printer, because my budget is arround 25k

i am looking forrward for your replies.
regards

sam

 

[kanini]

Take a look att globalgarage.net, they have some used flatbeds and if you shoot them an e-mail they could guide you right perhaps?

 

[petepaz]

i never really searched the used market but i am not sure you will find something at that price point. seems kind of low.
we have the roland lej640. it would do what you want to do. prints white and a 4x8 sheet will take approx 45-55 minutes

 

[knucklehead]

Someone has a Gerber flatbed for sale in the classifieds.

 

[WB]

Unless you plan on using the white ink on a daily weekly basis Stay away for it.

especially if your going with a used machine. I've had a flatbed for 2 years now and I've only ever had 1 job where it would have been nice to have. The maintenance costs that come with the white ink option far out way the ability to print white UNLESS you use it everyday.

 

[faroun]

Great...Great...Great feed back.
i will check out the sites, the machines and i may acutaully stay away from white, i was planing to use very little.

good stuff guys, keep the advices coming. you guys saving me all kinds of headaches, thank you very much.

sam

 

[bgraphics]

White Ink

I think not having white ink would be a huge disadvantage...

We have a JF-1631 and have had no issues with white ink... we don't use it too often, but without it, we would be at a loss. Imagine being able to print on clear, dark, colored or metallic surfaces!

Make sure you have good humidity at your location~ you need to have at least 45% even in the winter. Also, find out about self-maintenance... they take a lot of maintenance!!!

 

[genericname]

I've no advice regarding what equipment to get, but you should check out what's available with The Equipment Guy. He's a merchant member here, and depending on where in Ontario you are, could be in your neck of the woods.

 

[CET Color]

Hello faroun,

Have you considered a CET Color flatbed? We have a unit in Toronto running white. Would you like to come by for a demo?

 

[Hzone15]

Heard Gerber is very close to discontinuing there ink! If that is indeed true I would stay away from Gerber.

 

[earplug]

If you are shopping for a used, true Flatbed, you will have moving costs in the $5000 to $8000 range. You will need a tech to de-commission the machine, crating, shipping (3000 pounds and a specialized truck) and reinstall. You will probably need to purchase a complete set of startup supplies like ink and cleaning solution.

After spending a couple of weeks trying to purchase a used Fuji and all of the coordination problems we decided to purchase a CET from Advantage. For a little more money we got a new machine, warranty, GREAT support from both Advantage and CET and we didn't have to worry about getting a potential "boat anchor"

Jack

 

[Robert Gruner]

JHS

Jack,

Faroun has a budget of $25K? You guys really have a flatbed running white ink for $25K?

He could buy a Mimaki UJF3042FX with an 11'x16" bed for around $25K; but, can you imagine his problems printing 4'x8' sheets of plexi glass?

Bob

 

[Banners Signs Etc.]

You don't need white ink I hear it is a hassle...We've got a used Jeti 1224 flatbed and absolutely love it. We saved money hauling it ourselves...and found it on ebay...stay away from gerbers and try to find a true flatbed and you will be good.

If you need to use white you can just print on vinyl with your solvent printer (or flatbed).

I can't imagine getting a flatbed without first having a solvent printer.

Keep in mind that you will probably have to profile it (1-2k for the equipment/software) as canned profiles suck for these machines.

 

[iprint]

Good luck finding a flatbed in your price range that will not be a money pit. Gerber = garbage, rastek = garbage, there are plenty other garbage printers out there as well. Once you find a printer that is in your price range, research that particular model to death.
If you know you are going to print 3 boards a day, why not get a quote from a wholesaler and compare that to the cost of owning and operating your own printer. You may see that outsourcing would make more sense, or on the other side you may see that you can afford much more of a printer than you think. Also if you have steady work, leasing a new machine might be great option. Expect a little over 2k a month for every 100k on a 5yr lease with $100 buy out at the end of the lease. Take your 25k and you have almost a year of lease payments on a nice Oce Arizona 318gl that will produce some awesome prints on acrylic. Oh and for all of the white haters, mine works just fine and I only use it a couple of times a month.

 

[earplug]

JHS

Jack,

Faroun has a budget of $25K? You guys really have a flatbed running white ink for $25K?

He could buy a Mimaki UJF3042FX with an 11'x16" bed for around $25K; but, can you imagine his problems printing 4'x8' sheets of plexi glass?

Bob

Bob,

I did notice that the budget was 25k. That's why I pointed out the "hidden cost" of of shipping with buying used. That will reduce the budget to 20K.

Jack

 

[artbot]

i'd give it about $10k+ for install. maybe $15k. you'll need proper power, a line conditioner, freight, rigging, ink, software. please get an exhaustive maintanence kit. that is a mistake we made. these things don't like to be unplugged. tubes get rigid when empty, you'll need line filters, check valves, more filters, ink line, fittings, a lamp or two, and get at least one head. otherwise you'll "take the pill" and you might need to afford a lot more to get it turnkey.

all that said, installed, debugged, trained.... just think long term. keep the purchase reasonable. don't go as cheap as possible. if you need to go that cheap, just job it out and let a larger shop keep such a complex/expensive machine running.

 

[Robert Gruner]

Just Funning Jack.

Hope things are well with you.

 

[earplug]

Found this little worksheet when we were shopping

Mimaki Printer 20,000
Shipping 5800
Tech uninstall/ install/ train 3500
Shipping Riggers on each end 1500
Electrical work 700
Update RIP Software 800
Cleaning Cartridges 800
Spare UV lamps 2200
Spare Primt Head 1500
inks 2000

Total 38,800

 

[faroun]

Well, that is why I posted my information request.
I see all kinds of great and helpful info. none of the feedback is negative.
For some of you I will check out your printer recommendations.
Now that I see all your comments, I realised that I am excepting way too much from my budget.
So to be realistic, my budget needs to be around 50k plus 8k delivery and setup.
Based on this new info and from what some of said suggested, i think lease is a more of an option for me. But so far, the best option is to contract the work to a print shop, my work load will not support that kind of Budget at this time.
Buying a smaller size printer is not an option for me.
I am glade I started this post, I am sure others will find this post helpful

Best Regards
And thanks