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New flatbed recommendations

ADVANCED DISPLAY

ADVANCED DISPLAY
Ok, I currently have an EFI rastek h360, it’s run once a week on average, quire more during our busier season. It’s currently not printing black and I’m troubleshooting it to get more info but I need to start thinking about replacing it and wanted input for printers that would be good for my needs.

We use it for rigid substrates, mostly coreply ACM some MDO, very rarely do we print on roll material. As I said it’s sporadic as to when it runs so ideally I need something that’s reliable after possibly sitting a while to get right up and running without much time to bleed lines etc

Any recommendations?
 

MarkSnelling

Mark Snelling - Hasco Graphics
While I'm not a user (I'm a distributor) I'd strongly recommend Fluid Color out of Cinci. They customize Handtop machines to your specific need. You can pick the type of print head (Ricoh Gen 5, 6, or Kyrocera ), the number of heads (most go with CMYK+W but you can add lc, lm, and varnish) and you can have one or two rows of print heads. No required service contracts...many of the fixes you can do on your own and if you need hands-on support, our tech is there when needed as we are just down the road in Cleveland. Best of all, if you get a machine with one row of heads, when production demands increase, you can order another row of print heads and nearly double your production with the same machine.

I don't think anyone can reliably claim that they've got a printer which can sit idle for weeks which should fire up without any issues. The best "best practice" I've come across and I also preach is to print a sheet of something every day which can be cut down and given to prospects. This way you aren't just printing something and throwing it away, but instead you've got a customer-facing sample. If you do that every day the machine should be in great shape and ready to run when needed.

Please let me know if we can meet up in Kent, at a customer in NE Ohio, or down at the factory in Hebron, KY (right next to the Cinci airport).
 

greysquirrel

New Member
If you are not using it everyday I would avoid UV Cure. Look at an HP R1000. maybe grab a demo unit or a good used unit.(only because of your frequency of use) I've had one for 4 years and have had to replace a $185 pip. The HP will allow you to change your own heads and be a horse when you need it to be during busy times and quiet little lamb when not in use.
 

signheremd

New Member
We have a FluidColor R84F Turbo - 4x8 with Ricoh Gen 6 heads and CMYKW. Love the Gen 6 heads: fast, reliable, great print quality. The folks at FluidColor have been great and they even had a training in Kentucky that we sent a guy to. These guys started out reconditioning Flatbed UV printers and have beefed up somethings on their printers with that experience in mind. A few tips, if you get white you need to print every day and never fill the primary tank up. White ink is made from titanium and if it sits the heavy bits drop to the bottom... so print every day and change out the old ink about once every six to nine months (unless you use a good bit), otherwise it will start to yellow. Next bit of advice, don't run a filter in your chiller. Because of the LED lamps, the unit uses liquid cooling and has a chiller to process the heat. We had a filter break up, clogging the filter and thus preventing the cooling, heating the lines up and a ink leak from this. Not much fun to clean up or fix. We removed the filter and were able to get the broken bits out and now flows like new. You change out the water every six months and there is a flushing process anyway, so just say no to the filter. You will need two 240v outlets and you may need to have them tested for voltage, so possible hidden expense. But likely you have an electrician customer, so he will be glad for a bit of your business. Outside of that, there is a process to follow when the unit will not be used over a weekend, another for long weekends, and a third for storage. If you follow those, I would not expect any problem. As far as the machine, we love ours and it is a workhorse. We use Flexi for design and Onyx for RIP software. You can use leading lamps to get a gloss print, and trailing lamps to get a matte with high detail (you can laminate the matte with glossy lam and you are back to gloss). If you are printing heavy ink with a white base or overcoat you can use both leading and trailing lamps (as long as your filter does not clog up...). Since our dock was not the right height for the box truck that delivered, we hired the tow truck neighbor and he used a rollback to unload and then lower to roll off into our building. These will not go through a 3 foot doorway! Considerations like power and delivery will be common to many printer brands, so tips regardless of which brand you choose. Last, we choose one row of heads and have no regrets with that.
 

zspace

Premium Subscriber
Digitech printers are solid workhorse printers worth considering. We’ve been runnning them for 5 years and recently upgraded our oldest to the XLT. Production runs are up to 80 boards an hour with the auto-unloader. We don’t have the space for the unloader and usually print around 50-60 boards per hour. Service has been fantastic the few times we’ve needed it. Since most parts are simple plug and play they ship in overnight and the operator installs with phone support.

Good luck on your search.
 

ADVANCED DISPLAY

ADVANCED DISPLAY
Had a virtual demo of a HP R2000 and I'm leaning VERY heavily towards getting it..... 10 yard signs (1-4'x8' sheet) two-sided currently takes me 45-50 minutes of printing (after the 45 minutes it takes the lamps to warm up, assuming no line bleeding or anything else is needed). This thing can do it in less than 10 (after less than 10 minutes of getting it up and ready to run)

It is a bit steep price-wise considering the current size/revenue of my shop but I feel confident I can get more work for it with the increased efficiency to justify it. Anybody have this printer? thoughts?
 

balstestrat

Problem Solver
Had a virtual demo of a HP R2000 and I'm leaning VERY heavily towards getting it..... 10 yard signs (1-4'x8' sheet) two-sided currently takes me 45-50 minutes of printing (after the 45 minutes it takes the lamps to warm up, assuming no line bleeding or anything else is needed). This thing can do it in less than 10 (after less than 10 minutes of getting it up and ready to run)

It is a bit steep price-wise considering the current size/revenue of my shop but I feel confident I can get more work for it with the increased efficiency to justify it. Anybody have this printer? thoughts?
 

MJerome

New Member
Had a virtual demo of a HP R2000 and I'm leaning VERY heavily towards getting it..... 10 yard signs (1-4'x8' sheet) two-sided currently takes me 45-50 minutes of printing (after the 45 minutes it takes the lamps to warm up, assuming no line bleeding or anything else is needed). This thing can do it in less than 10 (after less than 10 minutes of getting it up and ready to run)

It is a bit steep price-wise considering the current size/revenue of my shop but I feel confident I can get more work for it with the increased efficiency to justify it. Anybody have this printer? thoughts?
I wouldn’t recommend making a decision based on a virtual demonstration, you have to see the printer in person. Testing your own materials and QC all the prints to make sure it passes through all your processes. There’s a lot of companies that have buyers remorse from not doing their due diligence. Another aspect to look at would be what can this printer do that my current equipment can’t. Also maintenance and energy costs are often overlooked. Any printer that requires heat to cure the ink push around 10-13 kw/h. You should make the trip to Printing United in Atlanta or ISA in Orlando and see what all the OEM’s have to offer.
 

TEN

New Member
We also installed a UV flatbed from Fluid Color. The R84F Turbo - 4x8 with Ricoh Gen 6 heads and linear drive on the x axis. We are in Louisville, so very close to their headquarters just outside of Cincinnati. Information and support before we bought the printer was great, delivery, installation, training was impressive, we are very happy. Communication throughout the whole process has been perfect. There are several good printers and companies out there, in the end we felt like FC was the best choice for us. Have a conversation with Mark Crawford at Fluid Color.
 

signheremd

New Member
We also installed a UV flatbed from Fluid Color. The R84F Turbo - 4x8 with Ricoh Gen 6 heads and linear drive on the x axis. We are in Louisville, so very close to their headquarters just outside of Cincinnati. Information and support before we bought the printer was great, delivery, installation, training was impressive, we are very happy. Communication throughout the whole process has been perfect. There are several good printers and companies out there, in the end we felt like FC was the best choice for us. Have a conversation with Mark Crawford at Fluid Color.
FWIW, we have the same machine and I highly recommend against using a filter in the chiller - had one fail during a heavy ink job with both lamps on, lead to an ink line melting and a mess. FluidColor says you don't really need to use a filter as long as you change the water and and use a fungicide twice a year.
 

Haimduek

New Member
You can do Styrene 020, 030, 040 etc. w the R series using the right profile which is listed in the latex media locater on the web. You have to decrease the curing temp, Slow down and reduce the air flow. If you need the profile pls contact me.
 

WinGraphics

Premium Subscriber
I can vouche for Stratojet. I have two of their UV printers and they are both reliable workhorses. Have had them for 4 years and they are printing as good as new. Both of my machines have 6 Richoh Gen5 printheads.
 

LP011

New Member
You can do Styrene 020, 030, 040 etc. w the R series using the right profile which is listed in the latex media locater on the web. You have to decrease the curing temp, Slow down and reduce the air flow. If you need the profile pls contact me.
Hello, any chance you can send me this profile for the styrene? Been trying to get this to work for me but it’s been giving me issues. Thank you so much
 

CMYKENGINEERING

New Member
Ok, I currently have an EFI rastek h360, it’s run once a week on average, quire more during our busier season. It’s currently not printing black and I’m troubleshooting it to get more info but I need to start thinking about replacing it and wanted input for printers that would be good for my needs.

We use it for rigid substrates, mostly coreply ACM some MDO, very rarely do we print on roll material. As I said it’s sporadic as to when it runs so ideally I need something that’s reliable after possibly sitting a while to get right up and running without much time to bleed lines etc

Any recommendations?
Hi Advanced Display,
If you're still searching for a new flatbed printer, consider taking a look at our Sova Glyph. With the best technology available, including Kyocera heads, magnetic rails, and LED curing lamps, the Sova is a seriously impressive machine with a more than reasonable price.

We support our machines personally. We don't do service contracts (unless requested) because we believe our customers are better served by our free remote support and only-as-required service calls. Those who know us know we only sell, and support the best.

If you're interested, you can contact us from our website or by DM here.
 

Gregory GME/W2T

New Member
We have been happy with the CET Hybrid flatbed. We use it in-house on our wholesale graphics side of the business, and we have started selling it, because we were so impressed with the ease of operation, ease of maintenance, color consistency and quality. It can be switched from roll media to rigid media easily. If you want more information on this along with pricing, feel free to DM me here or send an email from our contact form on our website.
 

ADVANCED DISPLAY

ADVANCED DISPLAY
Ok, I bit the bullet and bought a HP R2000, it's getting here between 8/28 and 9/11 so I'll keep you posted. I'm excited! a little nauseous, but mostly excited lol
 
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