Rastek H700 flatbed? good/not good?

[kkamauu]

I am looking at purchasing a Rastek H700.

Basically I am ready to purchase a flatbed printer. I already have a JV33 Mimaki 160. That will take care of the car wraps and vinyls.

The flatbed printer will allow us to do substrates and so forth.

I am ready to purchase and looking for pros and cons about this printer.

Please let me know what your experience is:
daily maintainance?
how often head replacements?
speed?

What would be another printer you would recommend in the 40-70k price range?

thanks,
Kahea

[Coloradosigns]

40-70k for a flatbed? you need to spend at least 130k. just sayin.

[Coloradosigns]

but, if i were you i'd look at the CET Color Flatbed. Was going to buy it until wraps became 70% of my business.

[tbaker]

I'd recommend looking at the CET as well, from a technical end, this machine is superior to all the others.

[Team One Displays]

We have the Rastek H650. It's still in the crate right now but we will be installing it in the next two weeks depending on the service tech's schedule. We already have a Mimaki JF-1631 Flatbed and we purchased the Rastek to add to our capabilitities since we print a ton of PVC panels.

No matter what machine you choose - there is alot to learn - ask the tech all you can. The first couple of months with our Mimaki we spent a lot on ink and substrate learning the machine. I'm sure we'll do the same once the Rastek is installed.

I'll post our thoughts on the 650 once it's installed.

[10sacer]

+1 on the CET.

Fly me to Hawaii and I'll train you and walk you through the beginning setup and color profiling. I already have a place to stay...

Ok, really, you don't have to spend $130K to get a VIABLE flatbed printer that will produce very good quality at a reasonable pace - but it all depends on what your business model is right now and what you anticipate it being in 3 years. If you aren't doing hundreds of pieces a day - one of these lesser cost machines is just fine.

You just need to know pros and cons going into it... thats all.

I have serial number 001 of the FK512 CET printer running 6 color plus 4 heads of white.

If you have any questions, just email me and I'll give you my honest opinions.

Sean

[JS]

Larry,

I see your in georgia, I'm guessing your install tech will be Brian Williams from Atlanta. Great guy to work with. If you have any questions as well let me know, I am kind of new on the Rastek but have learned a lot about them.

[jwright350]

If you can't afford the Fuji Acquity (Oce 350)....the best flat bed for a small shop IMO.... buy a used colorspan 72uv for $25 grand. You will be extremely happy. Granted its not a gantry style...but it will knock coroplast out of the park at 400 sq ft / hr totally sellable quality. You'll eat the competition alive in yard signs and not have to make payments on a $180 grand Acquity.

Only problem with the colorspan is that its tricky to get it to talk to your rip because it uses a proprietary "videonet" data protocol which requires some digging.

[Team One Displays]

Larry,

I see your in georgia, I'm guessing your install tech will be Brian Williams from Atlanta. Great guy to work with. If you have any questions as well let me know, I am kind of new on the Rastek but have learned a lot about them.


JS - thanks - I'll let you know how it goes. I'm not sure if the tech will be from Rastek or from Grimco (which is who we bought the machine from).

[Nameci]

+1 on the CET.

Fly me to Hawaii and I'll train you and walk you through the beginning setup and color profiling. I already have a place to stay...

Ok, really, you don't have to spend $130K to get a VIABLE flatbed printer that will produce very good quality at a reasonable pace - but it all depends on what your business model is right now and what you anticipate it being in 3 years. If you aren't doing hundreds of pieces a day - one of these lesser cost machines is just fine.

You just need to know pros and cons going into it... thats all.

I have serial number 001 of the FK512 CET printer running 6 color plus 4 heads of white.

If you have any questions, just email me and I'll give you my honest opinions.

Sean

Hello Sean, finally got you in the forums... how's everything?

Ice