I can load a roll to roll, hit print, then spend the next 7.5 hours doing other work. Takes maybe 20-30 minutes to laminate/trim it down to 4 x 8s....Then it takes maybe 2-5 minutes to mount each one, depending on how heavy the source material is. If it's coro...we dont even bother laminating, since it's a temp sign. So we're talking less than 2 hours of manpower to mount 20 4 x 8.s of course you have to factor in your roll to roll being used... but this is just for simplicity sake.
Printing the coro... When its a temp, under a year sign... you generally dont need to clean coro when mounting it. A small particle of dust here or there on a temp sign doesnt hurt nothing. However if theres particles on a uv print... the print will have white specs in it. So you have to clean... load, print... to get good quality on our FB500, you have to use indoor signage at least. I never really timed it, but lets say it takes 8 minutes.
I usually load a sheet... hit print, then try to find something to do. Whether its cut vinyl / weed it, laminate some rolls... etc. So yes, all 8 minutes isnt wasted... But I'm never back at the exact time a print finishes. Its pretty much always faster for us to do roll to roll on bigger signs.
Smaller signs is another thing... we can load 3 18x30 signs at once, hit print... then within a minute or two load 3 more... etc etc. it beats registering and mounting 300 signs any day of the week.
They both have their upsides/Downsides. It's kind of like asking someone which is better... a Wrench, or a hammer. Different tools for different uses. for the most part... Our flatbed is running 6-7 hours a day, and our roll to roll is about the same. We get some spurts where we have 20+ rolls to print, or 500+ Coro signs to print... But they both get a decent amount of use.
I find the Flatbed prints text way smoother/cleaner than our solvent. I like how the flatbed is cured (Enough to ship at least) instantly, and we can handle/touch the stuff and ship it out same day, while our solvent sits for a night. I like how if I need to print 5 small labels... I just rip them to the flatbed, throw in a scrap piece of vinyl and hit print... Much, much easier to do than the roll to roll. I find both machines very useful, and I think if we lost either one... half of our business would go down the drain. So if its in your budget... get both.
