What to buy?

[rfulford]

Wait for the IPEX show later this month. I think there might be a couple of new entry level flatbeds announced.

 

[benjakes]

I saw the Rastek 1000, and I heard about the new HP (Colorspan with new inks).

I know of another Korean printer. What else is there? Why would they not show it two weeks ago at ISA?

I don't want to go to the UK. Can you fill us in?

 

[bigtee]

We're in the process of adding a flatbed to our lineup and I need some input on equipment. We're looking to stay in the $150k or less range, so we're in the middle to high end range of entry level equipment. We're not really looking for huge volume or to significantly increase our current capacity, more just looking to remove the labor and material of printing to SAV and then mounting to the rigid substrate. We're currently at a point that between labor and materials we can cut those costs by $3-5000 a month by printing directly to the substrate.

Most of what we will print is coroplast, foamcore, PVC, styrene and occasionally aluminum composite boards like Dibond or Alumacorr. We don't require anything larger than a 4x8' bed, rarely, if ever to we do larger boards than that. The ability to print roll-to-roll is attractive to us, but not necessary since we have two other r-to-r machines. We almost definately want to stick with a true flatbed and not a belt machine or hybrid, unless there is something out there in our price range that is truly a good option.

Currently we're looking at the Mimaki JF series and the Gerber Ion. Our other printers are Mimakis so we're familiar with them and am comfortable purchasing another one, we have some space restraints and this thing will require a fairly substantial remodel of our print room since it requires a minimum of about 16'x16', plus material handling room. I know that's not huge for a flatbed, but there are others that require less space and that is a major consideration for us, and we don't need the 5x10 size.

I've read alot of positive reviews of the Gerber, including on here, but it seems to be on the slow side, but I've not seen one print in the real world so it's hard to say for sure. I do like that it's got a much smaller footprint.

Also considering the Oce 300gt or the 350gt, but I don't know alot about them at this point, still waiting on information back from vendors.

Can anybody give me any real world input on any of these? Are there other quality machines in our range that we should be considering as well?

Thanks!

Look at the Rastek T660. It is a 4x5 flatbed and prints great.

 

[SecondCityPrint]

We just installed an OCE arizona 350gt with the white ink option but without the roll to roll module. So far it has exceeded my expectations on almost all fronts. For speed and quality it beats any other printer in the shop. The only issues I have had are simply that you MUST perform your daily print head maintenance or you will notice your jets crapping out on you, but this is relatively simple to fix and is only really noticeable on production mode if you keep printing with clogged jets. The only other issues are ink curing, I have just bumped the lamps up as far as they can go and that seems to do the trick.
cheers

 

[miltondavis]

SecondCityPrint>> keep us updated on goods,bads, or issues of the oce350gt, would like to hear about all your experiences with this machine!