Question was my Mutoh 426uf a waste?

[Lingo SW]

Hello all.

Last year I purchased a Mutoh 426uf. Owning an engraving business, I wanted to introduce color graphics to my inventory.

The training was brief and after a week I noticed my ink levels were surprisingly low. I brought this to the attention of my mutoh rep and he said the initial filling will do that. After another week, much to my horror, the white ink was completely gone and the other cartridges were nearly empty. At $500 per set, this was shocking to me!

The mutoh rep apparently became bored with my questions and stopped responding to my inquiries as to whether this was normal. It has been a year since I turned it on. With no products yet offered, I could not afford to have it burn through its own in like that. So I filled it with cleaning solution and here it sits. My most expensive piece of equipment, just sitting, too expensive to use for R&D.

Does anyone else own this machine, that could answer some questions? Is this normal? Are there bulk ink solutions? Do I have to keep the printer on sleep mode or can I just turn it off? What do other users do?

Thank you in advance!

 

[unclebun]

Yes, inkjet printers consume ink. Yes, they consume it whether you are using them or not. This is so the heads don't dry out, the lines don't get clogged, etc. I doubt there is a bulk ink solution for a small machine like that. The prices for the ink sound right in line with other sign printers to me. It is far less of an expense to leave the machine on and replace ink as it uses it than it is to turn it off and then have to spend $5000 to get it running again.

To me it seems more expensive to have a $17500 machine depreciating while it sits than it would to buy some ink and start using it.

 

[rossmosh]

I looked you up.

Look into something like this: http://www.printsonwood.com/custom-wood-printing

At the end of the day, ink printers need to be on and running to make money. If they aren't running, they cost you money unlike a laser engraver. So you either need to commit to using it or just move on and sell it. Maybe buy a bigger/badder laser instead.

 

[Lingo SW]

Thank you Unclebun and Rossmosh for your reply. I knew the printer would use ink in its maintenance cycles. I guess I did not expect to run through each cartridge every other month. Roughly $250/ month just to keep the machine on seems like something that would be worth noting to potential buyers. Obviously this is my first printer. Having experience in cnc and laser engraving machines, I am not accustom to a piece of equipment that requires such a high monthly investment.

I guess I will have to bite the bullet and fork over the initial ink costs, to get a product line up and running.

Thanks again,
Adam