When are you going UV?

[CarolinaCabinet]

Just wondering how many average sign shops, not large whoelsalers, have went to UV or are considering going UV soon? No particular reason, just curious since we have one here, but are large, and before this job my past boss was considering going and he was a small business. Most on here still talk about solvent though.

 

[Checkers]

The best part of wholesaling is that I'm already there - without the equipment cost.
Although I already have a local source, I beleive a couple of vendors here offer UV printing.

Checkers

 

[petepaz]

we have been looking to do the uv thing for the past few years
still can't spare that kind of money on the machine
$90000 and up for the units we would need to get
need white ink and maybe clear also the way thins are going now
would want flat bed and roll to roll capability
also have to get some sort of plotter or cnc to go with it
another expense
but it is in the close future

 

[wisconsin signs]

What is the cost of ink for UV per s/f? I guess average?

 

[Modern Ink Signs]

We're going there...............eventually. Just the cost of the machine vs the current economy.


I've heard cost of .25/sq.ft. based on 300% ink coverage (Ink and Lamps from OCE). i can't remember the others, I'd have to go check my notes on the various machines. Others are around this cost.

Just ask a sales rep. They should be able to tell you.



What is 300% ink coverage you ask?

4 colors CMYK 100% of each color is 400%. So xxx% ink coverage is the total combination of each inks percentage.

 

[CarolinaCabinet]

Thats very close to most medium to highend UV's.... cheaper UV's are many times more than that per square foot because they pull from a 440ml cartridge, which costs more per ammount than the larger UV's than pull from a 1-3 Liter tank. On high quality without white ink I get around $.23 psf with my Vutek QS.... On production mode I can get into .15 cents.... If I run doublestrike 7 color with white then I can be over .50 cents.... it really varies by each printer and each job.... but on average I would say a little above 20 cents is about right.