Flora 2512

[rollerman]

I see they advertise and I have spoken to some owners and gotten good feedback, i am pretty much ready to pull the trigger based on my financing coming through and a print sample i have sent out and if my customer bites i think i can finalize my buy, i have heard they have a long history making parts and machines private label and and now going direct and of course i have seen similar from companies who are selling a similar or knock off brand but i want support

so what is the general concesous of members who have used, demo, tested or been involved with the flora line- good value for the money and good machine or is a used vutek with 0 warranty or a new machine from someone else worth seeing before i sign the contract

i expect to be printing in 3-4 weeks on a new unit and this is it, fish or cut bait time, not a fan of HP but been using the 500 and 700 with good results, share of problems but the flora seems to have all i want and need and i expect as the new toy in area to get more business

so

run like hell or look at some certain known issues or dollar for dollar is it a pretty solid machine for the price and will do well in a production enviroment

thanks is advance look forward to any shared knowledge and advise from someone

best

 

[artbot]

you're definitely not experimenting with an untested platform. the flora/CET/AOjet are all the same build down to the last bolt holes. anyone with a CET FK series will be able to lend you their years of experience with this printer. and when the warranty runs out, it will won't cost a lot to keep running. currently there's a flora demo unit on ebay as well as a CET xpress 1000 on globalgarage if you are
looking to compare some deals. since we were on a tight budget suiting out an entire massive shop all at once, we went with a used CET. in retrospect, i wish i was more patient and got the AOjet shipped from china. it was a great price for a new "FK". http://www.1833.dpes.com.cn/product/2013/03/7849.html

 

[rollerman]

you're definitely not experimenting with an untested platform. the flora/CET/AOjet are all the same build down to the last bolt holes. anyone with a CET FK series will be able to lend you their years of experience with this printer. and when the warranty runs out, it will won't cost a lot to keep running. currently there's a flora demo unit on ebay as well as a CET xpress 1000 on globalgarage if you are
looking to compare some deals. since we were on a tight budget suiting out an entire massive shop all at once, we went with a used CET. in retrospect, i wish i was more patient and got the AOjet shipped from china. it was a great price for a new "FK". http://www.1833.dpes.com.cn/product/2013/03/7849.html

thanks

i was told by 2 people there were some cet available and maybe a demo- i wanted the roll to roll so we got roll to roll and flat bed, man i could have used the last 4 weeks with my luck the work will dry up when this comes in but we are building some new sites and word of mouth has helped

ink costs and rip are great i am told and that 4 inch may not be needed but that door print and being able to do a lot of artsy non traditioal items seems to be a good market, i think wallpaper alone could pay for the unit but signage and banners are my goal, i have a roland for car wraps and i hear these are not great for wraps i like that uv coatings can be done too, not too many i have seen with that as an option i got some great pricing on look a likes but service direct ffrom overseas worries me i want sateside service,parts and support

u think parts and after warranty service will be pretty easy

thanks very much

 

[Stewart Cook]

CET vs Flora

Rollerman,
The current models from CET have nothing in common with Flora. The FK model is all but extinct. The current 500XPress and 1000XPress are vastly superior.

 

[rollerman]

Rollerman,
The current models from CET have nothing in common with Flora. The FK model is all but extinct. The current 500XPress and 1000XPress are vastly superior.

so the fk, is that like the flora or is the 500/1000 xpress the new line from cet that replaced the fk models- i am confused a bit now- the flora 2512 is not the extinct fk you are speaking of correct?

 

[Nameci]

The FK/RK's are similar to Flora's but the XPress are different, totally different.

Try to search more and ask more, and also try to get in touch with any rep from them and arrange a demo.

 

[rollerman]

The FK/RK's are similar to Flora's but the XPress are different, totally different.

Try to search more and ask more, and also try to get in touch with any rep from them and arrange a demo.

thanks i got my financing squared away and am pretty much ready to pull the trigger i have been outsourcing flatbed work for about a year and probably paid for 2 hps at this point for what i am spending, all i have heard about the flora has been good and i like the uv and thickness option, maybe i jumped too soon and should demo another machine, i am 2-3 weeks from a planned install

for making signage and doing large runs of banners i am not sure where i could go wrong the samples even in the cheaper production mode were great, the speed is great and that ink cost seems great

i guess everyone has plus and minus with their units but i have not heard anything bad about these and at this point really want to get up and running and with the price i paid and not getting from a one man shop importing from china i feel pretty comfortable, my buddy loves his hp and admits he has tons of trouble and the owners i spoke to have yet to see a tech, just few phone calls

hard to determine if i made a mistake, problem is if i did it may be costly and 1 i must live with for some time

 

[Biker Scout]

Artbot, I'm curious as to why you would want an AOJet over a CET? Are they the same undrneath, just sold and marketed in different markets? Cheaper?

 

[Nameci]

thanks i got my financing squared away and am pretty much ready to pull the trigger i have been outsourcing flatbed work for about a year and probably paid for 2 hps at this point for what i am spending, all i have heard about the flora has been good and i like the uv and thickness option, maybe i jumped too soon and should demo another machine, i am 2-3 weeks from a planned install

for making signage and doing large runs of banners i am not sure where i could go wrong the samples even in the cheaper production mode were great, the speed is great and that ink cost seems great

i guess everyone has plus and minus with their units but i have not heard anything bad about these and at this point really want to get up and running and with the price i paid and not getting from a one man shop importing from china i feel pretty comfortable, my buddy loves his hp and admits he has tons of trouble and the owners i spoke to have yet to see a tech, just few phone calls

hard to determine if i made a mistake, problem is if i did it may be costly and 1 i must live with for some time

You still have plenty of time to have some demo on some other brand of printers that could fully suit your needs. Have you tried to have a demo with CET yet? Or HP or Mimaki? Or got samples from them?

From what I am reading you already decided for a Flora printer.

One more thing that could upset an ownership is support. Flora is from China and probably most of the printers are we just don't know. H3ll even our phones are made in China. You must also think how robust is the support from Flora. Is the support coming from China or local? I would go for brands that have local service and parts support.

i would very much will go to a brand that will ship me parts next day.

My two cents.

 

[rollerman]

You still have plenty of time to have some demo on some other brand of printers that could fully suit your needs. Have you tried to have a demo with CET yet? Or HP or Mimaki? Or got samples from them?

From what I am reading you already decided for a Flora printer.

One more thing that could upset an ownership is support. Flora is from China and probably most of the printers are we just don't know. H3ll even our phones are made in China. You must also think how robust is the support from Flora. Is the support coming from China or local? I would go for brands that have local service and parts support.

i would very much will go to a brand that will ship me parts next day.

My two cents.

yes my support would be a dealer who is 5 minutes away which helps, parts are said to be abundant, its funny its not that i made my mind up because i went and looked at tons of printers, i know the hp pretty well as i have been using, i needed something that was big and would do my work and it fit the bill and dollar for dollar it seemed to be best fit, there are many knock off or variations from overseas that are cheaper but yes tech must fly from overseas and that is not good for me, i need quick response, i am told parts are abundunt and this company has been around for many years and has 600 plus employees so they are not new to game, i am open to cet or other but started looking at hybrids due to budget and realized a hybrid was not my answer so ended up here. I have heard nothing bad- someone pointed out hp complaints but there are certainly many more hp out there so law of averags is in play in my opinion

 

[rollerman]

flora is installed- we have printed about 40 liters of ink just cmyk in 10 days

i need another roland to support our banner department and i need a bulk ink system- flora has been great

can anyone tell me is there a place to buy uv flatbed inks by the gallon- for flatbeds- is there 3rd party flatbed inks?

thanks'

support from Graphix Direct has been great we have a new local dealer and we are running some cool stuff and whne these 3000 signs are done we going to try new things anyone have any suggestions on things to print to test the flatbed out and make cool stuff and where can i get mousepads in rolls?

thanks

 

[rturner381]

flora is installed- we have printed about 40 liters of ink just cmyk in 10 days

i need another roland to support our banner department and i need a bulk ink system- flora has been great

comment: What a great problem to have!

can anyone tell me is there a place to buy uv flatbed inks by the gallon- for flatbeds- is there 3rd party flatbed inks?

comment: Why mess with what's working? Use oem inks until the flora warranty expires, then check out the market for 3rd party flatbed uv inks.

thanks'

support from graphix direct has been great we have a new local dealer and we are running some cool stuff and whne these 3000 signs are done we going to try new things anyone have any suggestions on things to print to test the flatbed out and make cool stuff and where can i get mousepads in rolls?

comment: Try sourcing the bulk mouse pad material locally; a rubber supplier perhaps???

thanks

congratulations!

 

[Nameci]

flora is installed- we have printed about 40 liters of ink just cmyk in 10 days

i need another roland to support our banner department and i need a bulk ink system- flora has been great

can anyone tell me is there a place to buy uv flatbed inks by the gallon- for flatbeds- is there 3rd party flatbed inks?

thanks'

support from Graphix Direct has been great we have a new local dealer and we are running some cool stuff and whne these 3000 signs are done we going to try new things anyone have any suggestions on things to print to test the flatbed out and make cool stuff and where can i get mousepads in rolls?

thanks

i suggest that you source your ink from your equipment dealer.