uv printer

[Geneva Olson]

So. can anyone tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly of a UV printer?

TIA

 

[Solventinkjet]

Good: Cures virtually immediately, prints white better than other ink types, multi layer printing for cool effects, no heaters, ink is cheaper, can print direct to substrates, low to no solvent content.

Bad: Laminating may require a heat assist laminator or liquid lam, clogged nozzles are harder to recover, inks cure hard which makes doing non-flat installs more difficult without cracking but they get better every year it seems.

Ugly: They cost a lot more than other options. Heads and maintenance parts are more expensive.

 

[jfiscus]

I hear of strong smells and possibly allergies to the ink on here.

 

[netsol]

Good: Cures virtually immediately, prints white better than other ink types, multi layer printing for cool effects, no heaters, ink is cheaper, can print direct to substrates, low to no solvent content.

Bad: Laminating may require a heat assist laminator or liquid lam, clogged nozzles are harder to recover, inks cure hard which makes doing non-flat installs more difficult without cracking but they get better every year it seems.

Ugly: They cost a lot more than other options. Heads and maintenance parts are more expensive.

I see there are now choices of rigid or flexible inks

 

[signheremd]

So. can anyone tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly of a UV printer?

TIA

To add: No need for transfer tape or time to assemble vinyl, most sign panels are done once printer is done. They can be fast and add ability to your shop. We make multi layer glass signs - like the glass on pinball machines - print directly onto wood, canvas frames, magnetic, PET banner material for rollup displays.

They can be a bit loud. All substrate must lay perfectly flat in order to print - uneven surfaces come out fuzzy, head crashes can be expensive... They have a large footprint and specific electrical needs (no 120v...). If you do daily maintenance you have few problems, however you will need to adjust vacuum pressure for the heads a couple of times per year, print white daily, and perform a variety of maintenance like filter changes and greasing rails.

If you get a plotter with crop mark detection, like a Graphtec or Summa, you can then print on the flatbed and cut. Print quality is very high on the new machines - our FluidColor flatbed has high resolution than our Roland XR-640. You can also order cutouts, print a jig on the table, and direct print the graphics.

Last issue: while you will need the right electrical installed before the machine arrives, you will also need a way to get the machine off the truck, out of the crate and into your building - we have used a flatbed tow truck for this. But make sure you have a entry that is large enough that equipment can get to...

 

[Pauly]

To add: No need for transfer tape or time to assemble vinyl, most sign panels are done once printer is done. They can be fast and add ability to your shop. We make multi layer glass signs - like the glass on pinball machines - print directly onto wood, canvas frames, magnetic, PET banner material for rollup displays.

They can be a bit loud. All substrate must lay perfectly flat in order to print - uneven surfaces come out fuzzy, head crashes can be expensive... They have a large footprint and specific electrical needs (no 120v...). If you do daily maintenance you have few problems, however you will need to adjust vacuum pressure for the heads a couple of times per year, print white daily, and perform a variety of maintenance like filter changes and greasing rails.

If you get a plotter with crop mark detection, like a Graphtec or Summa, you can then print on the flatbed and cut. Print quality is very high on the new machines - our FluidColor flatbed has high resolution than our Roland XR-640. You can also order cutouts, print a jig on the table, and direct print the graphics.

Last issue: while you will need the right electrical installed before the machine arrives, you will also need a way to get the machine off the truck, out of the crate and into your building - we have used a flatbed tow truck for this. But make sure you have a entry that is large enough that equipment can get to...

I think these issues are specifically for your fluidcolor brand flatbed...

They can be a bit loud. All substrate must lay perfectly flat in order to print - uneven surfaces come out fuzzy, head crashes can be expensive... They have a large footprint and specific electrical needs (no 120v...). If you do daily maintenance you have few problems, however you will need to adjust vacuum pressure for the heads a couple of times per year, print white daily, and perform a variety of maintenance like filter changes and greasing rails.

- The vacuum table pulls down the substrate to lay flat. mask it up properly and it's good.
- Adjust vacuum pressure for heads??? 8 years and i've never done this, nor have i heard of anyone do this.
- while head crashes are a thing, most flatbeds have a good detection system preventing those.

 

[Superior_Adam]

Depends on what your wanting to print but we have 6 in total and would not want to be without them. Printing vinyl then applying to large sheets sucks especially when you have 50 sheets of coroplast to do 2 sided.

 

[rjssigns]

They definitely have a smell when running. You can also smell the "cured" prints for a while.
Noise is up there because of the ring blowers used for the vacuum.
Speed wise, don't listen to the rep or mfg claims. Bring a beast of a file and demo it yourself.
This will allow you to judge not only print speed but the ability of the RIP to crunch numbers.
Mimaki in the lab prints beautifully but dead slow.

JFX200 head replacement, dampers and some other bits 'n' bobs cost six grand.

 

[Superior_Adam]

Everyone is talking about a smell but on both of our EFI printers I smell very little. I have more smell that comes off our ecosolvent printer than 2 large format EFI UV printers. Guess it comes down to how much air flow your building has.

 

[signheremd]

I think these issues are specifically for your fluidcolor brand flatbed...

They can be a bit loud. All substrate must lay perfectly flat in order to print - uneven surfaces come out fuzzy, head crashes can be expensive... They have a large footprint and specific electrical needs (no 120v...). If you do daily maintenance you have few problems, however you will need to adjust vacuum pressure for the heads a couple of times per year, print white daily, and perform a variety of maintenance like filter changes and greasing rails.

- The vacuum table pulls down the substrate to lay flat. mask it up properly and it's good.
- Adjust vacuum pressure for heads??? 8 years and i've never done this, nor have i heard of anyone do this.
- while head crashes are a thing, most flatbeds have a good detection system preventing those.

The Issues I spoke of are not for one single brand. We have had a CET before the FluidColor. Both are based off the HandTop framework. There are many others that start with a HandTop frame as well.

- Yes, vacuum holds material down, but if it is not flat it will not print clearly. We have printed on sawn wood and other substrates.
- Meant to say Negative Pressure (uses vacuum pressure to keep ink from dripping out of heads).
- Point was not that they don't have detection systems, but that such a crash can cost you several thousand dollars, so care should be taken. Better they know this than to find out on that one job...

 

[rjssigns]

Everyone is talking about a smell but on both of our EFI printers I smell very little. I have more smell that comes off our ecosolvent printer than 2 large format EFI UV printers. Guess it comes down to how much air flow your building has.

Airflow is key, but I still don't like to stand next to the flatbed. I get it running then leave the area.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Airflow is key, but I still don't like to stand next to the flatbed. I get it running then leave the area.

We had a defective UV machine out of the box a while back where the head carriage was up too high and wouldn't allow us to lower it. It still printed fine but due to the improper height, it coated the entire inside of the machine in yellow ink dust. Makes me wonder how much ink dust it makes that we just don't see.

 

[Geneva Olson]

To add: No need for transfer tape or time to assemble vinyl, most sign panels are done once printer is done. They can be fast and add ability to your shop. We make multi layer glass signs - like the glass on pinball machines - print directly onto wood, canvas frames, magnetic, PET banner material for rollup displays.

They can be a bit loud. All substrate must lay perfectly flat in order to print - uneven surfaces come out fuzzy, head crashes can be expensive... They have a large footprint and specific electrical needs (no 120v...). If you do daily maintenance you have few problems, however you will need to adjust vacuum pressure for the heads a couple of times per year, print white daily, and perform a variety of maintenance like filter changes and greasing rails.

If you get a plotter with crop mark detection, like a Graphtec or Summa, you can then print on the flatbed and cut. Print quality is very high on the new machines - our FluidColor flatbed has high resolution than our Roland XR-640. You can also order cutouts, print a jig on the table, and direct print the graphics.

Last issue: while you will need the right electrical installed before the machine arrives, you will also need a way to get the machine off the truck, out of the crate and into your building - we have used a flatbed tow truck for this. But make sure you have a entry that is large enough that equipment can get to...

We have a garage with a ramp..so i would think that would work. But, what are the dimensions of the machine?

 

[signheremd]

We have a garage with a ramp..so i would think that would work. But, what are the dimensions of the machine?

196"wide X 78"Long X 56" high. In your workspace you will need another 2' all the way around the machine minimum. This is for one that prints to 4'x8'

 

[balstestrat]

There's probably thousands of different models out there. Kind of pointless asking more specific questions without knowing the model you actually want.
If you want to print 4x8 you can multiple that by 4 and it will be pretty close to the space the machine takes. So 8x16. And yeah, you also have to be able to work around it.

 

[Retro Graphics]

not all UV printers are flatbeds either. you can get rolling UV printers that run like a standard wide format printer too. The smell is relative to your prints. if you are printing a large print at 1200 x 1200 and the saturation colors are rich, it's going to stink. If you are printing 50 count of 3" kiss cut decals at 600 x 600 you aren't going to smell a thing. If air circulation is poor, wear a respirator (not a dust mask) while printing. The smell is non hazardous but can still give you a headache if you are smelling it for too long. As with anything, be sure to circulate fresh air. My Mimaki UCJV300-160 is 9' wide and 28" deep. Granted I cannot print to hard substrates directly with my machine like a flatbed, but my decals and wraps are dry instantly, b/c I work out of my basement, I don't have room for wraps to sit out and cure for 24 hours before laminating.

 

[Scotchbrite]

I was curious how well the UV roll to roll printers work. Forgive my ignorance, but are they capable of printing backlit graphics?

 

[Solventinkjet]

I was curious how well the UV roll to roll printers work. Forgive my ignorance, but are they capable of printing backlit graphics?

They work great. You can even print a layered print that will look different when lit and unlit.

 

[Boudica]

I was curious how well the UV roll to roll printers work. Forgive my ignorance, but are they capable of printing backlit graphics?

Yes, we print backlits with our UV flat bed (also has roll to roll)

 

[Pauly]

I was curious how well the UV roll to roll printers work. Forgive my ignorance, but are they capable of printing backlit graphics?

Well depends what brand...
But very well - better than latex & solvent.
UV R2R can do backlit, day/night (3 layer), some can do 5 layer (double sides 2 images). and so on.