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Fuji Acuity LED 1600 II vs Mutoh ValueJet 1638UH vs Roland LEJ-640

bigben

bigben

Not a newbie
I'm currently looking for an entry level hybrid UV printer. I will mostly use it on clear vinyl but will also print on coroplast up to 4X10. If possible, I would like to be able to print on 1/4in acrylic with a possibility to go up to 3/8. A majority of my print will go indoor (except for the coroplast) and people will see it closely, so details is more important than speed. I want a printer with white and varnish.

The 3 candidates so far are: Fuji Acuity LED 1600 II vs Mutoh ValueJet 1638UH vs Roland LEJ-640 (I'm open to other suggestions).

  • The Fuji is the only one to have a 6 colors ink set, but droplet size is bigger (10pl vs 3.7pl mutoh) and the maximum resolution is lower (1200x1200 vs 1400x1400)
  • The maximum speed of the Fuji is higher (355sf/h vs 220sf/h mutoh and 133sf/h roland)
  • The Mutoh won to award in the SIGA show (if it mean anything)
  • I've never work with Fuji and Mutoh in the past, but the reputation of Roland is very good.
  • For service, all three brand are close to me.
So? Did I miss something or should I look for something else?

Thanks for the help.
Ben
 
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Guest
bigben said:
I'm currently looking for an entry level hybrid UV printer. I will mostly use it on clear vinyl but will also print on coroplast up to 4X10. If possible, I would like to be able to print on 1/4in acrylic with a possibility to go up to 3/8. A majority of my print will go indoor (except for the coroplast) and people will see it closely, so details is more important than speed. I want a printer with white and varnish.

The 3 candidates so far are: Fuji Acuity LED 1600 II vs Mutoh ValueJet 1638UH vs Roland LEJ-640 (I'm open to other suggestions).

  • The Fuji is the only one to have a 6 colors ink set, but droplet size is bigger (10pl vs 3.7pl mutoh) and the maximum resolution is lower (1200x1200 vs 1400x1400)
  • The maximum speed of the Fuji is higher (355sf/h vs 220sf/h mutoh and 133sf/h roland)
  • The Mutoh won to award in the SIGA show (if it mean anything)
  • I've never work with Fuji and Mutoh in the past, but the reputation of Roland is very good.
  • For service, all three brand are close to me.
So? Did I miss something or should I look for something else?

Thanks for the help.
Ben
Click to expand...

Hi BigBen -

I could be wrong, but the speeds you are quoting on the machines are nowhere near quality, the top speeds each company lists for printers is alway the fastest - and nothing that is sellable in my opinion... Also if you add white or Varnish into the mix your speed drops to a small fraction of the print speed advertised. We have a Fuji Acuity a sellable print speed tends to be in the range of about 5 4x8 boards per hour onto foamBoard, Coroplast, Gator, Di-Bond, etc. If we are doing high-end work - like acrylic printing, then it drops down to about 3 boards an hour (96 sq. ft. per hour). Also, if we printed our white - it would take it down to about 1.5 boards per hour (45 sq. ft. per hour.) On the Acuity the white ink print isn't good, we use to sell direct print onto acrylic, but you had to buy a specific digital acrylic and it was extruded vs. cast - so it warped ALOT and had a bunch of other issues. The white ink would get clogged up and band often, so we stopped printing the white ink and use a white vinyl to flood the back of printed acrylic now. The newer printers are faster, but they are not substantially faster than my Acuity which is a few years old. The only way to get more speed that I've found is to look at higher end printers (which don't fit into the mid range or entry price point), like a Durst, VuTek, Scitex, etc.

Best of luck on your decision, I hope it works out for you!
 
bigben

bigben

Not a newbie
DSGI said:
Hi BigBen -

I could be wrong, but the speeds you are quoting on the machines are nowhere near quality, the top speeds each company lists for printers is alway the fastest - and nothing that is sellable in my opinion... Also if you add white or Varnish into the mix your speed drops to a small fraction of the print speed advertised. We have a Fuji Acuity a sellable print speed tends to be in the range of about 5 4x8 boards per hour onto foamBoard, Coroplast, Gator, Di-Bond, etc. If we are doing high-end work - like acrylic printing, then it drops down to about 3 boards an hour (96 sq. ft. per hour). Also, if we printed our white - it would take it down to about 1.5 boards per hour (45 sq. ft. per hour.) On the Acuity the white ink print isn't good, we use to sell direct print onto acrylic, but you had to buy a specific digital acrylic and it was extruded vs. cast - so it warped ALOT and had a bunch of other issues. The white ink would get clogged up and band often, so we stopped printing the white ink and use a white vinyl to flood the back of printed acrylic now. The newer printers are faster, but they are not substantially faster than my Acuity which is a few years old. The only way to get more speed that I've found is to look at higher end printers (which don't fit into the mid range or entry price point), like a Durst, VuTek, Scitex, etc.

Best of luck on your decision, I hope it works out for you!
Click to expand...

I understand your point about the speed and I'm aware of this. I'm just taking the maximum speed as a comparaison only.

Thank you about the white ink information. I'll look further into this aspect in my research. Did you ever print white ink on clear vinyl? If yes, how it come out?
 
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