help me choose!

[kagekitsune]

hey guys and gals. thanks for adding me and helping point me in the right direction. new to all this but I did some research and for budget and first uv printer. I'll be doing acrylics, canvases, wood mainly. I've got it down to these 2: mutoh 461uf and the Mimaki UJF-3042MKII they both are around the 20k mark. each one has excellent features and each one has its own set of features to themselves such as the mutoh has the ability to put down clear and matte varnish at the same time and can do brail (not that I need that but its a nice feature) but its ink is limited to rigid cartridge based uv inks and 250ml, its printable are is slightly bigger too

the mimaki has multiple types of inks such as rigid, flex and some other one i forgot but they are bottle based so can go from 250ml to 1000ml. it also has auto leveling for materials while the mutoh is manual. it also can do bottles/thermos with an optional addon while the mutoh cant.

one other thing. the mimaki reseller said to me that they HIGHLY recommend getting an ionizer (which costs almost 2K) to remove static. while its not required they say i should have it. is static a problem with these uv printers or is he pulling my leg?

thank you all for the advice and if there is any other uv printer within those price ranges (or less) let me know!

 

[Pauly]

don't know how much of an issue it'll be on such a small flatbed, but we run one on ours Oce Arizona 2500x3000mm. makes a difference with dust getting stuck to the heads and stock.

 

[Sindex Printing]

I have the 626uf. I don't have an issue with static. I so have an issue with static on the 1638uh. To help with static we have a humidifier and use staticide. On the 626 we are using the uh (rigid ink) and the 1638 we are using the us11 (flexible ink). The biggest thing is getting you profiles correct. I found an amazing tech for large format printers and he recommended Mutoh printers over Mimaki due to the factory response, parts availability, and the owners ability to do minor repairs.

Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

 

[kagekitsune]

I have the 626uf. I don't have an issue with static. I so have an issue with static on the 1638uh. To help with static we have a humidifier and use staticide. On the 626 we are using the uh (rigid ink) and the 1638 we are using the us11 (flexible ink). The biggest thing is getting you profiles correct. I found an amazing tech for large format printers and he recommended Mutoh printers over Mimaki due to the factory response, parts availability, and the owners ability to do minor repairs.

Hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

so for small format uv printers I shouldn't worry about static issues. thanks for that info!

 

[Sindex Printing]

I haven't had issues with it. If you can try and keep the area with your printer consistent temperature and humidity.

 

[APCInk]

Yes, I would highly recommend getting the ionizer with the UJF printers, especially if you are printing on various objects. If you were printing on items with low susceptibility to static like wood then you probably could forgo. If you need any assistance we are also dealers with technicians in IN. The UJF is a great printer, do not go with the smaller bottles of ink, more expensive per ML and usually have low expire dates because no one ever buys them.

 

[Ronny Axelsson]

Hi!
New to this forum and I see this thread is some months old.

I have a Mutoh VJ-626UF and have had huge problems with static when printing extruded PVC, resulting in ink splatter.
Have tried all the simple solutions but not the ionizer, yet.
Other materials are usually fine but not these PVC sheets.

I have recently switched from rigid to flexible ink but have not had the time to test if it makes any difference.

 

[Sindex Printing]

Hi!
New to this forum and I see this thread is some months old.

I have a Mutoh VJ-626UF and have had huge problems with static when printing extruded PVC, resulting in ink splatter.
Have tried all the simple solutions but not the ionizer, yet.
Other materials are usually fine but not these PVC sheets.

I have recently switched from rigid to flexible ink but have not had the time to test if it makes any difference.

On my 626uf I am running a battery backup, a humidifier in the room it is in, pvc, acrylic and corroplast I wipe the boards down with staticide which has been worked very good.
What profiles are you using when you switched to the us11 ink?

 

[Ronny Axelsson]

Thanks for the information, Sindex Printing.
Have you got any tip for a good staticide?
I recently bought a bottle but haven't had the time to test and see if it helps yet.

When I first switched to US11, there was a huge difference in colors compared to the UH21 ink.
I made a few changes in my print settings and got a better result, but there is nowhere near the same colour space with the US11 ink.

I usually print from CorelDRAW, let the printer take care of color conversions, with Mutoh VJ-626UF US11 VJ-MF-3G profile and Relative Colorimetric rendering indent.
Compared to my UH21 settings (which gave very accurate results) where I had Adobe RGB (1998) profile and Perceptual rendering indent.

I see you mention Corroplast by the way.
Haven't UV-printed it myself but saw that others have had problems with ink falling off.
Is is a Polypropylene, right? These plastics are usually difficult but you say it is working fine.
Anything specific we need to know? ;-)

 

[Sindex Printing]

For the staticide I spray it directly on to the board and wipe it off with a lint free rag.

I have a 1638uh that uses the us11 ink and a 626uf that uses the uh21 inks. The colors come off using either ink.

Do you have a rip software that came with the printer like Flexi?

I print everything from a rip software where I can build or modify a profile and have the same profile easily to select and send to print.

For the corroplast I wipe it down with Isopropyl Alcohol then staticide and have never had any issues with ink falling off the.

The biggest thing I can say is making sure the maintenance is done on them.

I do have profiles for both inks that would just need small adjustments for your printer that I can send you for Flexi. Just shoot me a message with your email and I can send them over.

 

[Ronny Axelsson]

No I have no RIP for the VJ-626, but I saw a while ago that Mutoh have VerteLith that should work also with VJ-626.
I print directly from CorelDRAW (and also cut from Draw via the FineCut plug-in for my Mimaki plotter), and the colors were surprisingly accurate with the UH21 ink.

Thank you anyway, and thanks for the tips Sindex Printing.