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New flatbed digital- 110,000 sqft/hr

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RycckG

New Member
Hello folks, I have always found help here. Here is something exciting. We are considerring a new aqueous digital printer built for a specific industry. I cant say too much yet, but it will be announced in Oct. It prints on paper based rigid material only, in 1 pass at tremendous speed up to 45" wide. This printer will produce 300 x 600 dpi 4 color process ... what markets might I explore?
-Rycck
 
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jmcnicoll

New Member
Interesting! Would like to learn more about the printer!!! Looks like a good price, but we currently don't have a flatbed.

jim
 
James Burke

James Burke

Being a grandpa is more fun than working
Is this an effort to take down the market, as we know it?

110,000SF/HR...was that a typo or just an attention getter?

At ten cents a sf, that has the ability to produce eleven grand an hour. At a full 48 inches wide, a printer that fast would have to chuck out media at a rate of 458 feet per minute....hmmmm.

I'd say the racing industry is where you need to focus. You could set up along pit road and do full wraps during tire changes.

Seriously, I'm skeptical beyond words...tell us more.
 
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Vinylman

Vinylman

New Member
I am wondering WHY???

Is a "preppie" asking questions that should be restricted to the PAID Premium section, or better yet as a MERCHANT MEMBER???:thankyou:
 
Rooster

Rooster

New Member
Probably using memjet heads.

http://www.memjetwideformat.com/

How exactly will it dry the ink if it's using an aqueous ink? It would need ovens and a very long media path like a web offset press. Probably why it will only handle paper based substrates, so they can be clay coated or at least a touch more receptive to ink than a plastic/vinyl product.

Given the limited lifespan of any aqueous inks when used outdoors, I'd be going after the cardboard box and packaging industries.
 
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RycckG

New Member
My appologies regarding breaking the Merchant Rules.. The listing has been modified.

This printer being developed for the packaging industry. It can not print on any flexible materials. The material handling requires a rigid surface. The running speed is actually 500 ft/minute, I have watched it run on several occasions. It is designed with a 90 ft media path and will incorporate a coating process after the 4th down with dryer.

I cant discuss pricing (sorry) but I will say that it is designed to use inks and coatings that are less than 2 cents sqft. I am looking to find additional markets for this printer as I do not wish to only sell packaging as many corrugated runs are over 10,000 sheets, and even after absorbing tooling, traditional flexo is still the most cost effective.
 
artbot

artbot

New Member
about two years ago, there was a video of a water based wide format printer made by HP that was a solid array. the printer was in an r&d lab. it was pouring prints out as fast as you would usually see paper advance itself from a machine. a 4'x4' took about 10 seconds. i went back to look at the video again weeks later, and the page had been taken down and there was some blah blah text about legal whatever.
 
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andy

New Member
Working with coated media and water based ink sounds like a giant leap backwards IMO. Encads and ColourPix machines used the same technology and they were frickin useless for sign work...you could sell the output ONLY because there was no other ink/ media option on the market.

The market for Encad style prints vanished as soon as proper solvent machines arrived.
 
jasonx

jasonx

New Member
andy said:
Working with coated media and water based ink sounds like a giant leap backwards IMO. Encads and ColourPix machines used the same technology and they were frickin useless for sign work...you could sell the output ONLY because there was no other ink/ media option on the market.

The market for Encad style prints vanished as soon as proper solvent machines arrived.
Click to expand...

55 Gallon ink cartridges :)
 
Typestries

Typestries

New Member
should this turn out to be real, it will undoubtedly change the packaging industry the way solvent inkjet changed the sign industry. Corrugated and board stock does not need UV cure inks, it's largely a waste of expense and curing energy. Aq. would do just fine for medium to short run pizza boxes, pallet wraps, POP displays, endcaps, and mass customized packaging. add a digital cutter to the finishing line and a small shop could really tap the doors of some major flexo/corrugated houses. been tried before by scitex but it was all wrong from the beginning. This should be interesting.
 
National Sign Co. - Print

National Sign Co. - Print

Merchant Member
No way a flatbed digital press can print at 110,000 s/f/h. Not going to happen and even if it was possible machine has got to be several million dollars.

Even the Inca Onset is 3 million and top speed is about 9000 s/f/h

at 110,000 s/f/h that is over 3,400 beds in one hour. NOT POSSIBLE!!! That is .0176 seconds per bed no machine can even load or unload that fast let alone have heads fire ink and all the other mechanicals work in sync.....

Even stranger, Why on earth would you even consider a machine like this real or not if you do not know what markets to explore in order to keep it running??
 
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mark galoob

New Member
we looked at a paper printer/copier with similar characteristics. it could print 200 pages per min full color and even do this with variable data...it was a Riso machine. and the cost per copy was VERY competitive. the machine was fairly expensive at the time and we were really looking at it for our shop, but the color quality left LOTS to be desired. it was extremely faded. i would be willing to bet the printer you are looking at as similar tech in it. i would also be willing to bet color quality is severely comprimised with it.

mark galoob
 
MachServTech

MachServTech

New Member
Sounds like an R&D project that is looking for a market...good luck.

At speeds in the neighborhood of web offset quality control will be a nightmare and the finishing systems would have to be huge.
 
saktrnch

saktrnch

New Member
The only challenge, that I see, for a small shop is building enough docks and getting enough trucks to to keep the thing running all day. I wonder if nascar has done any r&d on fork lifts?
 
R

RycckG

New Member
I accept your 'doubt' regarding the capabilities of this printer. I suggest that you look at what HP has done with the T300 or Agfa has done with the Dotrix. Imagine 2 or 3 of these aligned with each other.

Yes, this is several million dollars and it is not a bed printer. The Inca is not a one pass printer, nor is the Dotrix or any of the digital web printers are. Packaging printers routinely run at 5-10,000 sheets per hour and material handling systems are standard equipment.

My question to the group, was what other product lines might I consider as an addition to packaging that would meet these specs of 300 x 600 dpi where cost is more important than image quality. I specifically wonderred if anyone has experience with political signage? Exterior use is questionable... but likely accpetable for less than 90 days with the finishing top coat that is applied.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
As far as I can tell, this only prints to a paper product. Not suitable for outdoor use in the sense that we in the sign industry can use.

All the literature promotes a 30" wide media at 400' a minute..... that's 60,000 sq ft an hour based on your facts and information provided so far.

So, let's take for example we need 150,000 political signs. You're gonna print them on paper than we have to manually paste 150,000 pieces of paper to some rigid stock ??

How does this sound cost effective ??
 
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