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Flatbed Printers

K

ksc

New Member
ValueJET Hybrid 1608 - 64" Specs

• Drop-On Demand Dot printing in 4 colors with 8 ink bays
• High speed commercial outdoor printing -......... up to Highest Speed of 140 sf/hr
(Gerber Ion 639 Ft/Hr)
• Up to 2-year outdoor durability with MUBIO inks.
• EPA approved MUBIO inks. Inks do not require ventilation.
• 880ml ink packs
• Up to 1440 dpi resolution
• 1440 / 720 / 540 DPI; 10 Modes (resolutions & passes)
• Media Drying System: Individually controlled pre, platen and post heaters
• 63.97" Media width roll media
• 63.58" Print width roll media
• Prints on rigid media up to .39" thick (between 3/8" & 7/16")
• 51.18" Media width rigid media
• 50.78" Print width rigid media
• One-year on-site warranty service included
 
KR3signguy

KR3signguy

New Member
I suggest requesting prints of your own personal file from each. Compare vibrancy, color accuracy, longevity and flexibility. Then go to a trade show and get to know each machine's process & what speed you'll really be running at, not what they boast about.
Choose one with a vac table and not belt driven if you want accuracy.
Choose a well built one, for you get what you pay for.
 
K

ksc

New Member
UV lights burn out and in most cases cost $500.00 X 2 or more...each to replace...The uv bulbs lights go dead after 500 hours of use....(Thats 6.25 weeks divided by 52 weeks = 8.32 light changes per year (or $4160.00 per year) (IONs uv lights last longer than two years $0 dollars per two years (ink 20 cents per sq ft)
The ion Dual Cold Fire Cure UV lamps have been running non stop for over 2 years in lab tests...without a need to replace them yet...... Ive owned a flat bed uv printer similar to the Mutoh 1608 for almost two years , all the ridged stock has to be flatter then humanly possible and square as hell, not slippery... In some cases material wont feed ....You have to baby sit them or they will crash... The roller style technology is already obsolete and on its way out (just like windows 3.1-vista) on the ion the 5' by 10' materal wont move the vacuum table holds it down..and you can walk away from itt....
 
Graphix Plus Ink

Graphix Plus Ink

New Member
The Jeti is usually out of most peoples price range but is a NICE machine.

KR3:
Ron has come along way from the smaller building next door, which is quite admirable. He's making good moves and is definitely using top notch equipment which the Jeti is. My only issue is the ink longevity. I have had to redo quiet a few signs over for people who had work done, from what I would presumed printed from a Jeti, over with our printers simply because it faded pretty quick. I remember redoing a sign over after customer having it for only 8 months of the sun beating on it. I don't know, I like the big machines cause they are impressive and if you didn't have them you definitely wouldn't have Reebok and all the other big clients you got but i wouldn't like the 2hr start up and shut down everyday, Just my opinion. We almost bought a flatbed but it seems that unless you spend the doe you kinda get left mising something. The Gerber tries to fill that gap of price and ability. I just believe that Gerber is a good product but not a great one. At least that's what a very honest vendor of mine told me.
 
KR3signguy

KR3signguy

New Member
Howdy neighbor!
I don't mean to knock the gerber much here but honestly I wasn't too impressed with it. I'd stick with a 25k roll to roll & clear coats before going in that direction. Just my 2 cents.
As for the inks lasting only 8 months, I'm not buying it. I'm curious to know if there were any problems why a client wouldn't let us know about it and not give us the chance to correct it. The inks are rated for a much longer lifespan. We've even tested our products and the inks do hold up. Day in & day out we visit existing signage that we have produced & find no quality issues. Our clients are given a quality product.
That's all I can say.
 
Graphix Plus Ink

Graphix Plus Ink

New Member
KR3:

I am not knocking SD in any way. I'm just going by what the client claims. I really didn't want to believe it myself but there were a few of them. Nonetheless I know you guys are pretty top notch over there and there always are variables not accounted for. Most clients say different things whether it be to get on ones good side or what ever.
As for the Gerber, I'm not sold on it either. Just like I'm not sold om Mutoh's Flatbed either. How can you add a roller table give it a $5k in upgrades and justify a $25k increase in price. Than have the nerve to compare it to UV printers. The machine doesn't even have rails for media skewing lol. Again I say keep it up, I have no complaint about you guys.
 
KR3signguy

KR3signguy

New Member
ksc said:
UV lights burn out and in most cases cost $500.00 X 2 or more...each to replace...The uv bulbs lights go dead after 500 hours of use....(Thats 6.25 weeks divided by 52 weeks = 8.32 light changes per year (or $4160.00 per year) (IONs uv lights last longer than two years $0 dollars per two years (ink 20 cents per sq ft)
Click to expand...

Gandi's UV lamps will last for 2000 hrs.
Not too bad.

& Graphics plus, the strart up & shut down time is 3 min - 5 min tops.
Not too shabby either.
 
Typestries

Typestries

New Member
KR3signguy said:
Gandi's UV lamps will last for 2000 hrs.
Not too bad.

& Graphics plus, the strart up & shut down time is 3 min - 5 min tops.
Not too shabby either.
Click to expand...


I'll second that, start up and shut down is easy as can be, and averages less than 5 mins at night and less than 10 in the AM
 
wonsngis

wonsngis

New Member
KR3signguy said:
Gandi's UV lamps will last for 2000 hrs.
Not too bad.

& Graphics plus, the strart up & shut down time is 3 min - 5 min tops.
Not too shabby either.
Click to expand...


We got 2200 hous from our first set of lamps before we started to notice some extremely minimal curing issues. That was almost exactly 1 year of high-volume use. Though I can't remember exact numbers right now, I remember that Gandi's lamp cost is less than a lot of other manufacturers.
 
WYLDGFI

WYLDGFI

Merchant Member
what do Ghandi's lamps go for?? I know Vutek for my PV 200 is approx $500 a pair and we get about 1k hrs out of them.
 
supersignmart

supersignmart

New Member
What printer to buy?

Long story made short, I will be filing my lawsuit against HP Colorspan within the next 2 weeks, have already sent to letters with no response. I will be attending the SGIA show in Atlanta in October, to talk with Gandi, Vutek and maybe Durst. I am leaning to the Gandi. I have done a little research, but have searched for forums like this to see what people who own these printers think about them. So far it seems there is very little complaints about the Gandi's. I mainly print political and real estate signs, so I'm concerned with speed as much as anything else.
I would appreciate your comment on the following
1. Actual print speed on the production speed.
2. Cost of ink per liter.
3. Cost of ink per square foot.
4. What do you think about the service you are getting.
5. Have you ever had a problem that couldn't be fixed or was refused to be
fixed.
6. How long have you owned your printer and would you purchase the same
printer again, or would you do more research on other printers.

Thanks for taking the time, it will be a great help.

By the way if you are considering a HP fb910/ 9840 and want my thoughts I will
be glad to give it to you.
 
wonsngis

wonsngis

New Member
We run a Jeti 1224 with the 30pl heads at 300x600 dpi.

1. Actual print speed on the production speed.
-For the type of work you describe- 6 minutes per 4x8 easy. (about 320 sf/hr). On the other hand, ultra high detail at about 18min per 4x8 (about 106 sf/hr), though I rarely run that slowly. Having said all that, for your work I'd recommend getting the 80pl heads and sacrificing a bit of resolution for higher speed.

2. Cost of ink per liter.
-I'm not 100% sure since I'm not writing the checks, but I believe it's $125/ltr

3. Cost of ink per square foot.
-I think Gandi quotes $.15

4. What do you think about the service you are getting.
-While they could stand to develop a 'standardized' procedure or response to troubleshooting (it seems like they're trying to do that now), they do get the job done quickly. Having said that- the machine has never gone totally down so we have had ZERO production time lost due to technical issues.

5. Have you ever had a problem that couldn't be fixed or was refused to be fixed.
-There is a vacuum wiper for the head carriage that has never worked. Having said that, it is not an advertised feature of the machine and we didn't even know it was there until a tech showed us. Last I knew, they were still working on a software glitch to activate it. But since you really only have to wipe the heads once a day, I don't miss it.

6. How long have you owned your printer and would you purchase the same printer again, or would you do more research on other printers.
-We have one of the first commercial installations of a 1224. Rarely has a 'guinea pig' been so happy! We've had it for about 14 months now, and I still say it's the best piece of equipment we've ever bought. We're likely to buy a second one before too long.
 
Typestries

Typestries

New Member
supersignmart said:
Long story made short, I will be filing my l
I would appreciate your comment on the following
1. I see you print a lot of election signs. We typically run these with a combination of settings that yields print speeds just under 3 min per sheet. Very sellable! It's been dubbed subway mode, because the carriage moves so fast, it's like a subway train going by. You would also probably be expecting just under 6 minutes per sheet if you want to step it up a bit image wise. If you need good quality for real estate signs, expect 9 mins per sheet. There are some other variables, like if you are printing 4 pt type on your real estate signs you will need to slow the carriage, which will increase sheet time. When you go to the show, take an election sign and RE sign file and ask them to run it, on 3 pass mode specifically, with an 1800 carriage speed. Time it, and make the determination of it will work for you. If you go to the show, go to their booth first, they get busy.
2. Cost of ink per liter. About $125
3. Cost of ink per square foot. Although they quoted .15, it's very hard to quantify, im my opinion, there are tons of variables
4. What do you think about the service you are getting. it's awesome, call tech, and talk with the guy that actually designed the printer to get your answer.
5. Have you ever had a problem that couldn't be fixed or was refused to be
fixed. No in fact, so far we have only had a few bad fuses.
6. How long have you owned your printer and would you purchase the same
printer again, or would you do more research on other printers. since April 08, will be getting another Gandi soon.
Click to expand...
 
KR3signguy

KR3signguy

New Member
I have plenty of times but don't think it's worth the hassel.
The white can be useful especially when backing up a contour graphic on clear acrylic.
Sometimes you gotta double strike it to produce a nice white but you gotta have a job that's really worth the money in order to flush the lclm. That's what other flatbeds have over gandi but it's quite a nitch workflow. I'd rather be running boards all day long.
The clear coat also serves as a great "ghost" image or sheen that can appear on selective parts of a graphic as oppsed to the whole flood coat.
Playing with the lamps produces a glossier or duller look depending what your going for.
You can produce some sweet stuff with these options but there's too many people looking for standard boards to be printed. It's all good
 
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