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UV Printer Newbie Question
- Thread starter txhotrod
- Start date
Pauly
Printrade.com.au
signheremd
New Member
We have a FluidColor Flatbed printer with Ricoh Gen 6 heads. Great combination of durability and resolution for the price. (The Gen 6 Ricoh heads are great.)
Prior to that we had a CET with Gen 4 Ricoh heads. Definitely a more demanding beast to keep quality up.
Both are HandTop machines. They take a bit of learning up front so you can pull daily maintenance and be able to calibrate when needed - but training comes with purchase. FluidColor is a company that started out by refurbishing these types of printers. So they have beefed up some things based upon that experience - inks are formulated to not clog the nozzles, some components are beefier. If you want to print right onto 4x8ft substrate, these machines will make you some money and save you lots of labor (MDOs, Komatex/Komacel, Aluminum, Magnets, PET Banner material, Coroplast, Aluminum Composites).
Prior to that we had a CET with Gen 4 Ricoh heads. Definitely a more demanding beast to keep quality up.
Both are HandTop machines. They take a bit of learning up front so you can pull daily maintenance and be able to calibrate when needed - but training comes with purchase. FluidColor is a company that started out by refurbishing these types of printers. So they have beefed up some things based upon that experience - inks are formulated to not clog the nozzles, some components are beefier. If you want to print right onto 4x8ft substrate, these machines will make you some money and save you lots of labor (MDOs, Komatex/Komacel, Aluminum, Magnets, PET Banner material, Coroplast, Aluminum Composites).
SGC
New Member
Depends on your opinion of entry level.
The cheap China machines that are built on epson engines will have you replacing heads frequently. The properly made machines running higher end epson heads, or Ricoh heads will last longer. Quality of the ink is another conversation.
CMYKENGINEERING
New Member
Agreed, entry level can mean many things. Avoid UV printers with Epson heads if you can as they are not designed for UV ink (that is, they do not have an in-built heater). Ricoh heads are great, Kyocera heads are better.
Since I'm not sure what you have in mind, check out our Sova UV printers. There's not much that can compete for entry-level, wide-format UV printers.
Tim Corbitt
New Member
Depending on budget, EFI Pro16H is a great starter machine. Tim
Hi Signheremd,
Can you share what price (range) you paid for the FluidColor?
Thanks
signheremd
New Member
We got the 4x8ft and between 90&100k for CMYK plus White and one row of Ricoh Gen 6 heads. They have promotions sometimes and I think we caught one. Now the price included setup, ink, and training. Be advised you need to be able to get it off a box truck and into your building. We used a flatbed tow truck from the company next door since the box truck was not the same height as our dock - that worked great. You also need specific electrical supply and we hired an electrician that is a customer to do the work.
I think SolventInk on here sells them and can give you a current price.
I think SolventInk on here sells them and can give you a current price.
MarkSnelling
Mark Snelling - Hasco Graphics
If you have a size and number of print heads, I can tell you exactly what one will cost. We only sell them in the midwest but there are really good distributors all across the country.
signheremd
New Member
Forgot to mention MarkSnelling on here sells them. He is always on here answering questions. They have a lot of models, so best to chat and see what would work for you.
MelloImagingTechnologies
Many years in the Production Business
Vanguard has a 4x8 for $85k right now.
Contact them asap
Contact them asap
MarkSnelling
Mark Snelling - Hasco Graphics
Nope....it isn't. But they are great investments. If you are currently printing with a solvent or latex printer, you'll save about $70/roll in ink alone....and then if you are printing on SAV and then mounting those prints, you are then saving another $150'sh for the SAV (54x150) and then keep in mind no labor for finishing on the laminator. Just the ink and SAV alone are going to put about $225 in your pocket for every 150 feet of prints you print and mount. The monthly payment for these machines is around $2K/month....the math works pretty well.
$100k would get you a 4x8 flatbed with Ricoh Gen 6 heads in a CMYK+W configuration. One cool thing with Fluid Color machines is they have room for 2nd row of print heads....so if your production demands grow in the next year or two, you can buy 3 more heads and add a second row of print heads to nearly double your production speeds. Not many printers can grow with your business.
Lastly - you can do 80% of the break-fixes on your own. Very easy to replace important parts should they break. You only really need a tech if you have to change heads or do something really big.
signheremd
New Member
I would add two things - you can finance, and you get what you pay for. Quality and durability come at a cost; there are machines that cost much more and are even more productive if you have the volume of work. There are also machines that cost less and have terrible issues and go through heads quickly - yesterday I saw a forum on one such. Reason I recommended the FluidColor is that while it is an expense, you are getting a lot of quality for the price. if you don't need a 4ft x 8ft printer, they do make a 39"x62" version as well. They also offer Ricoh Gen 5 heads version of both for less - but the Gen 6 heads are worth the extra...
ProColorGraphics
New Member
I have had my Epson V7000 for a little over 2 years now and really like it.