UV ink smell

[njohnston]

I'm looking at UV flatbeds and would like some feedback from the forum...

I need a UV ink that doesn't smell. We sell to a lot of grocery stores and they will not accept stuff that smells funny. Here is my current opinion but would love to get some feedback from everyone.

Oce GT350 - Smells a little when it comes off the machine but seems to go away after a day in open air.

HP FB500 - Smells rather strong and can take a couple weeks in open air before it's undetectable.

Agfa M2 - Doesn't really smell at all. Seems to be the most odder free UV ink out there.

I need a device that prints 6-8 boards an hour. Am I missing any obvious options here? These seems like the top three.

 

[HulkSmash]

I'm looking at UV flatbeds and would like some feedback from the forum...

I need a UV ink that doesn't smell. We sell to a lot of grocery stores and they will not accept stuff that smells funny. Here is my current opinion but would love to get some feedback from everyone.

Oce GT350 - Smells a little when it comes off the machine but seems to go away after a day in open air.

HP FB500 - Smells rather strong and can take a couple weeks in open air before it's undetectable.

Agfa M2 - Doesn't really smell at all. Seems to be the most odder free UV ink out there.

I need a device that prints 6-8 boards an hour. Am I missing any obvious options here? These seems like the top three.

If you're looking for something without smell, it seems you answered your own question. I would recommend the OCE, but that's just a personal preference, i have no experience with the others

 

[ForgeInc]

We have an FB, and haven't noticed any smell at all, though I never really sniffed em up close. You don't even have to vent them.

 

[Gino]

If you're producing signs for multiple grocery stores, you probably have some time before they go out to the stores. I would venture to say that almost all flatbed printers will lose their odors within 24 hours, thus making any of them safe for food stores.

We use a Dilli... or known in this country as an Agfa. We've never experienced any odors or smells other than stinky armpits at the end of the day after lifting the panels on and off from the printer onto racks.

 

[RycckG]

We deal with this issue every day. The substrate you choose will have more to do with the odor than the brand of ink you choose. Any substrate that is porous, such as most paper based substrates, will adsorb some ink. This absorbed ink will not cure under UV lights, and thus it will smell. We operate a Gandi and use their lo odor ink from Sun Chemical. It is only slightly better than their standard ink. The best UV option I have ever seen is Durst lo odor ink. But, everything from Durst is expensive, and they will not sell it to you unless you own their printer.

IMHO, You may need to be looking at one of the water based or latex ink printers.
Rycck

 

[njohnston]

Thanks for all the feedback. The comment about the ink soaking into the paper and not curing makes a lot of sense. A lot of the samples that smelled bad were paper boards.

I may just need to build a rack and let everything sit for a day before shipping it out. Maybe toss a Pine Tree air freshener in each package just for good measure.

 

[Gino]

Are you making paper window posters or in-store POP's ??

Most of those will fit on screen racks. We have four of them. Two at 38" x 50" and two at 48" x 60". We used to use these for all of our screen printing jobs. They have springs strong enough to hold solid pieces of duraply [MDO] on each level. They will hold paper, gator and foamcore projects just fine.

Years ago, when we hand-painted all of our signs, we literally had wash line ropes hanging all over the shop at about 7' in the air with clothespins through them. We just would paint the posters and then hang it up to dry, just like washing clothes. In a day's time, with three of us painting.... we could have 100's of paper posters hanging.