LED UV lamps pro and con?

[Andy D]

We're looking at buying a new UV flatbed that has LED UV lamps,
this will be the 1st printer with them for us.. Just wondering what other
people's experiences are with them.

What the salesperson told me: "They're instant on and off, cure as well as the bulb lamps, never have to be replaced."
He also told me that that the only drawback is that printers that use them are more expensive,
and while it used to be the case that you had to run your printer slower to get a good cure, that's not true anymore.

Any input?

 

[Solventinkjet]

I think it is going to be different for different models. Early LED machines were not great as they were slower. The Mimaki JFX200, which is a newer UV machine, uses LED lamps. They don't require shutters as they do turn on and off instantly. They also don't heat up nearly as much as regular UV lamps. The quality on the JFX is equal or better than I have seen on most UV flat beds. The speed is not what you would consider a production machine but it wasn't designed for that kind of work as it is entry level. The JFX500, one model up, was and also uses LED lamps. The warranty on the lamps is longer than the warranty on the machine which tells me, they are confident in the life of the lamps. I can't remember off the top of my head but regular lamps last about 500 hours where as the LEDs are more like 5000 hours. So over all I think the sales guy was being honest except that the LED's may need to be changed at some point. Just not nearly as soon as the mercury lamps do. I don't mean to sell you the Mimaki. It's just the machine I am most familiar with.

 

[ams]

I've heard good things about them. The instant on and off while printing is a big bonus, they can also raise the ink into textured.

 

[Andy D]

i don't mean to sell you the Mimaki. It's just the machine I am most familiar with.

I didn't take it that way at all, I appreciate the info. Believe it or not, we run our old Jeti's lamps for around
5000 hours but that ends up only being a year and half to two years..

I've heard good things about them. The instant on and off while printing is a big bonus, they can also raise the ink into textured.

interesting, I wonder how that works.. I have actually played around with that on our old flat bed by running a print with the lamps set real low,
wait a couple minutes, and then go back over the print with just the lamps.. This is a print of a drawing one of our artist did a few years back.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I just checked and Mimaki says 5 years+ on the LED lamps.

 

[Steve Weist]

Mimaki UV SPECIALIST

We're looking at buying a new UV flatbed that has LED UV lamps,
this will be the 1st printer with them for us.. Just wondering what other
people's experiences are with them.

What the salesperson told me: "They're instant on and off, cure as well as the bulb lamps, never have to be replaced."
He also told me that that the only drawback is that printers that use them are more expensive,
and while it used to be the case that you had to run your printer slower to get a good cure, that's not true anymore.

Any input?

PDS Equipment has installed over 135 uv led flatbeds over the last few years and have never sold or replaced a LED LAMP,. There amazing. I'm always available if you have questions. Steve Weist 615-812-3001

 

[ams]

I didn't take it that way at all, I appreciate the info. Believe it or not, we run our old Jeti's lamps for around
5000 hours but that ends up only being a year and half to two years..



interesting, I wonder how that works.. I have actually played around with that on our old flat bed by running a print with the lamps set real low,
wait a couple minutes, and then go back over the print with just the lamps.. This is a print of a drawing one of our artist did a few years back.

That looks cool. This is apparently what you can do with the LED UV's, I don't have one yet so I can't try it. It's just like DCS's printers.

 

[AlsEU]

Another advantage of UV LED is that you may print on substrates, which are very sensitive for the high temperature and not possible to be printed under standard UV lamps (because they could bend, wave or burn). Also energy consumption is very low (in comparison with standard UV systems).

 

[uvgerard]

LED’s hype and science

We're looking at buying a new UV flatbed that has LED UV lamps,
this will be the 1st printer with them for us.. Just wondering what other
people's experiences are with them.

What the salesperson told me: "They're instant on and off, cure as well as the bulb lamps, never have to be replaced."
He also told me that that the only drawback is that printers that use them are more expensive,
and while it used to be the case that you had to run your printer slower to get a good cure, that's not true anymore.

Any input?

Oftentimes sales oriented blogs about the benefits of LED-UV curing are filled with more hype than science. Items like low power consumption, long life and low cost are typical buzzwords. LED-UV does consume less power than conventional UV lamps, however this is only correct if you compare using special LED-UV inks to conventional UV inks. An LED-UV source cannot cure conventional UV inks while a conventional UV lamp operating at very low power can cure LED-UV inks exceptionally well. At this power UV lamp life increases to 2000 to 3000 hours. You are comparing apples to oranges. For those people looking for “second source” UV inks to save money, it is easy to switch to conventional UV inks from multiple sources. This is not the case with LED-UV inks.

The economics of LED-UV depends on many factors. Conventional arc-style lamps do not last as long but they are inexpensive to replace. Spending $200.00 and 20 minutes of your time restores your system to its original output. LED’s last longer but when any portion of LED array fails it is extremely expensive to replace. Poorly regulated LED power supplies, inadequate cooling and wire bonding issues can cause entire LED-UV segments to fail. Imagine your cooing fan filter clogging or fan actually failing; this could ruin the LED system and would not be covered under warranty.

LED-UV does offer benefits especially to small print shop owners. Conventional UV systems offer lower cost inks and varied list of suppliers.

 

[GaSouthpaw]

That looks cool. This is apparently what you can do with the LED UV's, I don't have one yet so I can't try it. It's just like DCS's printers.

Yes, it looks cool.
The reality, though, is that you could scrape that off with your fingernail- usually pretty easily.
Granted, I am speaking only from experience with the DCS UV24 (a machine that is a steaming pile of crap), but the idea that it's a feasible alternative to using applique is just ridiculous.
My experience with that same machine also leads me to believe that, were my current employer looking into a new machine (currently our flatbed is an HP FB700), I'd suggest that they insist on talking with others who'd bought the printer being considered (independent of the person trying to sell the new printer) as well as seeing real world demos (not YouTube videos) and being able to test the output against your current printer.
I'm not saying they won't work, I'm just sharing my experience.

 

[daetric]

best printer for my 15 year expierence tell me is vutek. efi.. has a gs2000 I have practice now and I have to say ... beside mimaki and roland and hp there is only vutek is as good as it gets.so my recommendation would be efi vutek... for you.... as far I know...