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AGFA Flatbed ANAPURNA Mw
- Thread starter mharrison
- Start date
Steve Werner
New Member
I've got a customer in Wisconsin who put one in late last year. They love the machine, did have some initial issues but Agfa quickly resolved those and machine is running great. Agfa has traditionally been a manufacturer of film and printing plates for consumer and the offset printing industry. They were at the forefront of laser imaging technology in the late 80's and 90's in the offset printing industry. These guys understand the graphics market.
Matt-Tastic
New Member
i'm a fan of AGFA. after installing a few of their M4f machines, i've used their Mv (same as the Mw only with clear varnish instead of white) and found it easy to work with.
the only drawback (and this is fairly slight if you're looking at the white ink printer) it does have some adhesion problems on coroplast. some users have been expressing issue where the ink in high saturation areas could flake. they have corrected that with newer profiles and are releasing a new ink formulation by early 2010 that may help more.
if you are looking at using a white ink printer, hopefully you're doing printing on nicer materials that simply coroplast.
the only drawback (and this is fairly slight if you're looking at the white ink printer) it does have some adhesion problems on coroplast. some users have been expressing issue where the ink in high saturation areas could flake. they have corrected that with newer profiles and are releasing a new ink formulation by early 2010 that may help more.
if you are looking at using a white ink printer, hopefully you're doing printing on nicer materials that simply coroplast.
TrustMoore_TN
Sign & Graphics Business Consultant
We've had the Anapurna XL for a little over a year and are pretty happy with it. There are some ink flaking issues when we print to flexible substrates if we aren't careful when handling it. We have to take care when trimming on rigid substrates with full bleed ink coverage because the UV inks will flake if we aren't using a very sharp blade.
When we print to plex and use the white ink we have some banding issues but we show the customer a sample and explain the limitations of the process and discuss options.
We do a lot of lamination as well and our hot lams will not adhere well to the UV Inks. So for instance if we have a laminated print we are printing with a bunch of ink coverage, we would have to do that on our HP instead because of this issue.
There are times when we would like the vacuum system to be stronger and sometimes we have to tape down the edges to get the thinner substrates to get them to lay flat. That isn't a constant issue though. I'm sure that the environmental conditions (temperature/humidity) play into this. Also when we print to roll substrates we have to keep an eye on it to make sure that there isn't too much lateral travel.
I was also surprised that the printer required the Wasatch RIP. We are running Onyx as well for our other printers.
I will say that it takes more preventative maintenance than I would have expected, but this is my first experience with a flatbed and I am sure it goes with the territory. I also have an awesome operator who really "owns" the responsibility for the printer. I can't tell you how valuable that is. I would also take full advantage of as much AGFA on-site training that you can. The learning curve for this printer is steep.
Overall we are happy with the XL. Tech Support has been good and we haven't had much down time at all. Just like with anything else, we have learned the capabilities and limitations of the machine, and we operate within that realm.
Good Luck with your search.
When we print to plex and use the white ink we have some banding issues but we show the customer a sample and explain the limitations of the process and discuss options.
We do a lot of lamination as well and our hot lams will not adhere well to the UV Inks. So for instance if we have a laminated print we are printing with a bunch of ink coverage, we would have to do that on our HP instead because of this issue.
There are times when we would like the vacuum system to be stronger and sometimes we have to tape down the edges to get the thinner substrates to get them to lay flat. That isn't a constant issue though. I'm sure that the environmental conditions (temperature/humidity) play into this. Also when we print to roll substrates we have to keep an eye on it to make sure that there isn't too much lateral travel.
I was also surprised that the printer required the Wasatch RIP. We are running Onyx as well for our other printers.
I will say that it takes more preventative maintenance than I would have expected, but this is my first experience with a flatbed and I am sure it goes with the territory. I also have an awesome operator who really "owns" the responsibility for the printer. I can't tell you how valuable that is. I would also take full advantage of as much AGFA on-site training that you can. The learning curve for this printer is steep.
Overall we are happy with the XL. Tech Support has been good and we haven't had much down time at all. Just like with anything else, we have learned the capabilities and limitations of the machine, and we operate within that realm.
Good Luck with your search.
Signco Inc
General Manager
I have had my MF4 for almost 4 months now. Love the machine. The tech support is next day. I call the sales rep. just to pick his brain. There is a cross hatch test you do to make sure the settings are correct for any substraight. You take an exacto blade draw a tic tac toe on the print (use a sample print.....) then put the blue masking tape over your cuts. the only ink that should come off is the lines you cut. If anything else comes off its a failed test and adjustments need to be made. Hope that helps someone.
klmiller611
New Member
We've had the Mv for a year in December, and like most new systems, have had a few issues, virtually anything has been well taken care of. I'll be glad to pass on a detailed commentary on my experiences if you will send me a private email.
I do recommend the machine highly, and AGFA has used us as a demo site on two or three occasions. We are using Onyx, even with the Wasatch coming with the machine. Some of BlueMoon's comments apply in my case. I've not had a single case where the machine has been down, except when the tech is here. The tech support has been great, quick and responsive.
I do recommend the machine highly, and AGFA has used us as a demo site on two or three occasions. We are using Onyx, even with the Wasatch coming with the machine. Some of BlueMoon's comments apply in my case. I've not had a single case where the machine has been down, except when the tech is here. The tech support has been great, quick and responsive.
Fred Weiss
Merchant Member
I have created a review page for this printer. Please post a review if you have any direct experience with this equipment.
particleman
New Member
We've had the m4f for a few months now. This is basically the same as the mw except 4 color. The agfa tech support is really awesome they have really bent over backwards to take care of us. After having the machine for this amount of time we're happy with our choice.
Agfa printer
I have a need for a printer with an Agfa printer in Southern California. I have some work on a continuous basis that is best done on an Agfa...anyone who is looking for work or who knows of a company in So Cal with one...please give me a call
800-426-8584 or write to datajohn4@yahoo.com Thanks John
I have a need for a printer with an Agfa printer in Southern California. I have some work on a continuous basis that is best done on an Agfa...anyone who is looking for work or who knows of a company in So Cal with one...please give me a call
800-426-8584 or write to datajohn4@yahoo.com Thanks John
MainostePrint
New Member
we get really nice reds and blues for our re/max signs printed with our mW. You just have to adjust your spot colors like Walker said. if you are using wasatch as a RIP, you can run the color atlas generator plot and find the right RGB values for exact colors. Although we use spot colors chosen from the pantone color chard and they work just fine.