Looking to buy Chinese UV Flatbed

[customquint]

IMO the size you want 24 x 36, i dont find it practice. What do you plan on printing?
IMO again, the most practical size is 48" x 96" or 4' x 8' how ever you read it. Because you can throw a standard sheet on there and print it. Most things come in that size

I'm not a High Production shop. Would like to use it for smaller interior signs, ADA signs, acrylic displays, smaller signs on acm, maybe custom printed faces on letters we cut out on the CNC. But to introduce to the shop it and keep it busy we sell a lot of 24"x36" foamcore signs, and I can print 2 - 18"x24" coroplast yard signs at a time. I also like the footprint of this size machine. I'm afraid that a 4x8 would have to be out in the dirty part of the shop near the CNC router where we are doing a lot with HDU, Extira, PVC's and would the Flatbed loaded with dust.

 

[Pauly]

I'm not a High Production shop. Would like to use it for smaller interior signs, ADA signs, acrylic displays, smaller signs on acm, maybe custom printed faces on letters we cut out on the CNC. But to introduce to the shop it and keep it busy we sell a lot of 24"x36" foamcore signs, and I can print 2 - 18"x24" coroplast yard signs at a time. I also like the footprint of this size machine. I'm afraid that a 4x8 would have to be out in the dirty part of the shop near the CNC router where we are doing a lot with HDU, Extira, PVC's and would the Flatbed loaded with dust.

I see it's more of a space issue also, and you really don't want a flat bed out in the open. If you can find a local (country wide) supplier who can get you that size with full support, i'd go that route even if you do pay more.

 

[GaSouthpaw]

As most everyone else said, my opinion is that you get what you pay for. And service is a major consideration, now matter how technically proficient you are. My supervisor is able to make machine repairs I wouldn't think of touching (and I like to consider myself pretty handy, thanks to experience) and we still call in techs to do some of the work on our printers.
I also see you mentioned ADA. Only one flatbed company (that I'm aware of) claims to be able to do this, and I would advise you to not even consider them, as their machines are garbage. Now, if you are talking about just printing on the backers, that's one thing- but if you're thinking you can produce the raised copy and raster braille- you'd be better served buying a rotary engraver.
My .02.

 

[customquint]

As most everyone else said, my opinion is that you get what you pay for. And service is a major consideration, now matter how technically proficient you are. My supervisor is able to make machine repairs I wouldn't think of touching (and I like to consider myself pretty handy, thanks to experience) and we still call in techs to do some of the work on our printers.
I also see you mentioned ADA. Only one flatbed company (that I'm aware of) claims to be able to do this, and I would advise you to not even consider them, as their machines are garbage. Now, if you are talking about just printing on the backers, that's one thing- but if you're thinking you can produce the raised copy and raster braille- you'd be better served buying a rotary engraver.
My .02.

2 cents taken, thanks!

 

[customquint]

As most everyone else said, my opinion is that you get what you pay for. And service is a major consideration, now matter how technically proficient you are. My supervisor is able to make machine repairs I wouldn't think of touching (and I like to consider myself pretty handy, thanks to experience) and we still call in techs to do some of the work on our printers.
I also see you mentioned ADA. Only one flatbed company (that I'm aware of) claims to be able to do this, and I would advise you to not even consider them, as their machines are garbage. Now, if you are talking about just printing on the backers, that's one thing- but if you're thinking you can produce the raised copy and raster braille- you'd be better served buying a rotary engraver.
My .02.

So what brand would you advise not to buy?

 

[ikarasu]

Line up a couple chinese printers, book a flight out there and go take a look at them. You'll likelly spend $6-700 on a ticket, couple hundred for a few days... But we'd never buy a printer without seeing it in action, so the same goes for a chinese printer. Check out the quality of it... see how it prints in real time, not some sample they send you that likely wasnt even printed on that printer.

You'll add $1-2000 to the cost of the printer, but you'll get a trip / mini vacation. You still wont solve the lack of support issues... But if your insistent on buying a printer from China... It's worth the effort to go take a look.

24 x 36 is kind of small.. But 75% of the jobs we do are that small, or smaller. Most real estate signs are that small, most temp signs... etc. It'd be nice if companies made smaller flatbeds, I'd have one in my home! I think for your needs / wants, you're pretty limited in your options.

 

[Pauly]

Could

Line up a couple chinese printers, book a flight out there and go take a look at them. You'll likelly spend $6-700 on a ticket, couple hundred for a few days... But we'd never buy a printer without seeing it in action, so the same goes for a chinese printer. Check out the quality of it... see how it prints in real time, not some sample they send you that likely wasnt even printed on that printer.

You'll add $1-2000 to the cost of the printer, but you'll get a trip / mini vacation. You still wont solve the lack of support issues... But if your insistent on buying a printer from China... It's worth the effort to go take a look.

24 x 36 is kind of small.. But 75% of the jobs we do are that small, or smaller. Most real estate signs are that small, most temp signs... etc. It'd be nice if companies made smaller flatbeds, I'd have one in my home! I think for your needs / wants, you're pretty limited in your options.

couldn't agree more.
Funny enough, most of my flatbed stuff is over 1m sq.

 

[chinaski]

I've owned a Chinese flatbed since 2011 (Docan). Technical support is limited but we do get some help through Teamviewer even still today without a service contract. I believe we spent 35k and that included on-site install and training. The lack of on-site support after install is the biggest issue. Also finding parts is time consuming and crucial parts, such as carriage board and main board are no longer supported and cannot be found. No schematics either, which makes electrical work even more difficult. This was my first printer and we weren't too reliant on it and so issues that would take a couple weeks to resolve were not so important, we could afford for it to be down.

Over the years, I've changed from Chinese parts to Western parts for consumables such as air/ink pumps, filters, UV lamps, and inks, and noticed improvements to where machine is more reliable in day-to-day printing than anytime prior. In the end, the prospect of one of my boards going bad and more reliance on the printer today than 7 years ago is why I've just purchased an Arizona 460XT. I can't afford for the printer to go down for any extended period of time. Also, with a larger userbase, the Arizona has much more support and any issue you have it's most likely someone else has already had that issue and documented it online.

If your dead-set to purchase Chinese, then make sure you budget a good amount for spare parts, because they most likely will not be available in a few years. More of a personal decision and depends on the level of your business. Expect the machine to not have any resale value as well. My machine is supported by Caldera/Onyx RIP, most Chinese printer aren't. I would take that as a positive sign when searching. At least find a Chinese company with track record. Have you considered a used Western build?

IMO the size you want 24 x 36, i dont find it practice. What do you plan on printing?
IMO again, the most practical size is 48" x 96" or 4' x 8' how ever you read it. Because you can throw a standard sheet on there and print it. Most things come in that size

Agree, hardly any savings getting a smaller bed, and speed will suffer.

 

[customquint]

I've owned a Chinese flatbed since 2011 (Docan). Technical support is limited but we do get some help through Teamviewer even still today without a service contract. I believe we spent 35k and that included on-site install and training. The lack of on-site support after install is the biggest issue. Also finding parts is time consuming and crucial parts, such as carriage board and main board are no longer supported and cannot be found. No schematics either, which makes electrical work even more difficult. This was my first printer and we weren't too reliant on it and so issues that would take a couple weeks to resolve were not so important, we could afford for it to be down.

Over the years, I've changed from Chinese parts to Western parts for consumables such as air/ink pumps, filters, UV lamps, and inks, and noticed improvements to where machine is more reliable in day-to-day printing than anytime prior. In the end, the prospect of one of my boards going bad and more reliance on the printer today than 7 years ago is why I've just purchased an Arizona 460XT. I can't afford for the printer to go down for any extended period of time. Also, with a larger userbase, the Arizona has much more support and any issue you have it's most likely someone else has already had that issue and documented it online.

If your dead-set to purchase Chinese, then make sure you budget a good amount for spare parts, because they most likely will not be available in a few years. More of a personal decision and depends on the level of your business. Expect the machine to not have any resale value as well. My machine is supported by Caldera/Onyx RIP, most Chinese printer aren't. I would take that as a positive sign when searching. At least find a Chinese company with track record. Have you considered a used Western build?


Agree, hardly any savings getting a smaller bed, and speed will suffer.

Thanks for the info, Someone from OCE called me yesterday and is supposed to get their more local rep to contact me. I also have another US supplier calling me tomorrow, not sure what brand they offer yet.

 

[customquint]

All right after some thought, I realized I was being a hypocrite on this. Every time I see someone wanting to buy a Chinese cutter I always recommend they by Roland or Graphtec and stay away from the cheap ones. So with that said I need to take my own advise on this one too, unfortunately I can't yet afford a good one. Guess I'll keep printing vinyl and applying or farm it out.

Thanks for all the input. Guess when I was tempted by this Chinese vendor and heard I could buy it between $6800 and $7800 depending on the type of printhead, I got excited that is was something very affordable. After further investigation, there is not a single one of these printers in the US, and he didn't even have an English speaking client using one. Big red flag!

If anyone wants to take the risk I will give you their contact info, he was very friendly to chat with on Instant Messenger.

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

I would look into Taimes or Sinocolor as they both have great printers with good support, If you find a manufacturer in Shenzhen, let me know and I will go check them out for you.

 

[Weizhen Wu]

I would look into Taimes or Sinocolor as they both have great printers with good support, If you find a manufacturer in Shenzhen, let me know and I will go check them out for you.

Taimes is a manufacturer of Eco solvent printer not professional in UV flatbed printer. But they are helping other factories selling UV flatbed printer.

 

[gnemmas]

We have a Compress IUV 1200 for about a year now. Printer made in Sigapore(Chinese parts), Owned by Australia company, distributor: ColDesi, Inc. Don@compressuvprinter.com in Florida.

- Bed size 29" x 45". Can fit 12" height objects (such as tool box or basketball)
- Epson DX5 printhead.
- RIPs: Wasatch & Kathari (popular in DTG)

We considered this printer for very similar reasons as yours: small footprint, can do 75% of our jobs.

It is not cheap at $45,000. Very slow. Support is not acceptable.

We should have bought CET 250 hybrid or HP Scitex 550 even for twice the cost.

 

[Atari]

How big do you need it to be? These guys are pretty good for smaller format and DIY / bring-your-own-printer.

 

[jtinker]

Ive purchased at least two high value machines from china. And they've worked great, I haven't had any major problems with them and any problem I did have I called tech support and it was resolved in a day or two. Any parts I needed could be shipped in 24hrs and I could get support on Skype to walk me through anything I didnt understand. It really depends on who you go to, there are two types of Chinese companies. Trading Companies and Technology Companies. Pick a company thats been in existence for more than a decade and only does one thing. What trading companies will do is sell you something that they bought from someone else for a cheap price. They dont have any facilities to back up the equipment and really only act as middlemen and will give you the run around until you give up. If you see effort being put into the business like a nice website, support on call, going to trade shows, investment in new technologies, brand expansion and things like that they are legit and will more than likely give you a quality product.

 

[2B]

there are several order threads about foreign printers, would suggest searching there.

also try contacting artbot he seems to have good luck and know what to look for with foreign printers

 

[Weizhen Wu]

Ive purchased at least two high value machines from china. And they've worked great, I haven't had any major problems with them and any problem I did have I called tech support and it was resolved in a day or two. Any parts I needed could be shipped in 24hrs and I could get support on Skype to walk me through anything I didnt understand. It really depends on who you go to, there are two types of Chinese companies. Trading Companies and Technology Companies. Pick a company thats been in existence for more than a decade and only does one thing. What trading companies will do is sell you something that they bought from someone else for a cheap price. They dont have any facilities to back up the equipment and really only act as middlemen and will give you the run around until you give up. If you see effort being put into the business like a nice website, support on call, going to trade shows, investment in new technologies, brand expansion and things like that they are legit and will more than likely give you a quality product.

Can't agree more

 

[JWEI]

I am serving a Chinese company for flatbed digital cutting tables, something like ESKO or Zund. We have good relationship with some flatbed UV printer manufacturers in China. They are: Docan, Handtop, JHF, TechWin, AllWin etc.

Take some time to check and may you find one suitable for you.

 

[JWEI]

Besides, you can try to reach Dr. Nicolas Hellmuth from Flaar Reports for their professional advices. They are focusing on reporting, researching, testing printers, inks, etc. for quite a long time and have huge connections in the industries globally.

 

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Thanks for the Information. I agree not all from China is bad, I own a Chinese Laser, It's paid for itself and was the only was I could afford to add a laser for a small production shop.

Brian, a laser doesn't have heads to clog up, and parts are relatively generically swappable. (we have 2 chinese & one USA laser) A printer is a different beast altogether. UV is different again, and flat beds, also.