AGFA M Series Printer Feedback

[Mr. Sign Pro]

I am looking for feedback from anyone who has one of the AGFA Anapurna M (M2, Mv, Mw) series printers. I am looking to find out general info related to their overall performance, quality and reliability. Thank you in advance.

 

[WB]

We have a M2.. so far so good. Service has been great. Resolution and print speeds are great.

My only complaints would be the roll-to-roll needs some work and being stuck using Wasatch.

 

[Gino]

Ours isn't quite the same, but no problems to speak of. Ours is 6 color and it's been great to us.

Performance that can't be beat in all respects. Some hiccups, but nothing we couldn't work out.

 

[klmiller611]

Sorry to be a bit late to the party, but I've not had time to get on any boards in months. We've had the Anapurna Mv since December 2008. It had a few teething pains, but nothing that was not fixed fairly quickly by service. Service was great. It has generally been trouble free, we did not get an extended service contract, and really have not had a major problem. I've got a LC jet or two that no matter what I've tried, will not clear, but that has been in the last month or so.

It is not the fastest machine on the block, but I'm very satisfied with the image quality. I'd agree with WB's comment about the roll to roll, I rarely use it spooled up anymore.

However, his comment on being stuck using Wasatch? We already owned Onyx, and that is what I learned on, and is what I use all the time.

 

[particleman]

We had an m for about a year. You can read some of my old post as to the opinion on it. After a year of ownership in my opinion we had a lot of issues, our machine was a v1 though, but on the flip side agfa service is awesome no question. Quality is good, but the machine is not fast. The belt is a headache if you need to track straight.

Ill be honest we replaced ours with a new hp scitex fb500. The machine is in the same $ range as the m and is basically superior in every way. If you haven't looked at one you need to. Pm me I will tell you all about it. Very nice machine we haven't looked back!

 

[Image]

wondering if you have gone ahead with your Agfa purchase as yet and if you have what your thoughts are now! I too am now looking at the Anapurna M1600 and am searching for info so we dont end up making the wrong purchase.

 

[mobilwraps]

I just had an Mv put in our new shop. i've had it up and running for just over a month now and no problems to date. wasatch was easy to use i love having the varnish option its a real easy up sell. i do kinda wish i had the white option as well. the quality is amazing but i do agree with WB they could use a better roll to roll system. Ink adhesion on coroplast isnt the best but works .

i had to flat bed printers in mind at the time of purchase gerber and the agfa the day my agfa got installed i herd gerber will no longer be making flat bed printers .. im very glad i went with my first choice.

if you want pics or manuals just let me know

 

[Image]

Glad to see your happy with the Agfa mobilwraps as it looks like that is the machine I am swaying to buying. I didnt think you could get the varnish option with white ink though?

 

[WB]

Glad to see your happy with the Agfa mobilwraps as it looks like that is the machine I am swaying to buying. I didnt think you could get the varnish option with white ink though?

Unless you plan on using you white ink on a regular basis I'd say don't get it. My Agfa tech was telling me some horror storied about machines with white ink. I guess the White ink is made differently then the other colours, it can start to thicken over time if it sits for longer periods. This can cause problems with the print head. If you can use it on a daily basis then it's a great option but from what he's told me it's not something you can just use once a month without having some issues.

 

[MachServTech]

Unless you plan on using you white ink on a regular basis I'd say don't get it. My Agfa tech was telling me some horror storied about machines with white ink. I guess the White ink is made differently then the other colours,.

Think of "Liquid Paper" correction fluid.

The white particles have to achieve an immense density in order to be useful in digital printing, which equals more pigment (titanium) + larger, heavier pigment particles = clogging all the time.

White and metallic ink = PITA

 

[WB]

Well our Honey Moon period has come to an end.. I've been having an issue with my Cyan head dropping ink while printing so I emailed my Tech and sent him a few pics and told him what was going on. He told me that our Service contract is up and has been for awhile, he almost got in Major Poo Poo for his last stop in because it was up but he didn't know and never told us.

So basically we're looking at a $700 service call fee and $225 an hour labour plus parts of course. He's a pretty good guy and gave me a call and told me a few things to check. Just sucks, year contract is something like $1000 per month

 

[particleman]

wb, we fought this issue with our Agfa, HUGE headache! In short, it was static, Agfa's cyan is more sensitive to static for some reason. The one test you need to do is see if there is tons of cyan ink on the bottom of the print head after you get drop outs. If there is it sounds like that is probably your problem. The ink literally blows onto the print head and builds up until the nozzles clog. We even had a head replaced and still had the problem. Agfa took the head back out when they saw it wasn't the issue. We had to buy an ionizer bar for ours, helped tremendously, but we still fought the issue randomly (until we got rid of the machine). Surprised noone else has had these issues, it was so distinct for us, we could throw in vinyl on the machine and print solid cyan all day, throw on corrugated plastic and lose the Cyan print head in a matter of feet!

 

[WB]

wb, we fought this issue with our Agfa, HUGE headache! In short, it was static, Agfa's cyan is more sensitive to static for some reason. The one test you need to do is see if there is tons of cyan ink on the bottom of the print head after you get drop outs. If there is it sounds like that is probably your problem. The ink literally blows onto the print head and builds up until the nozzles clog. We even had a head replaced and still had the problem. Agfa took the head back out when they saw it wasn't the issue. We had to buy an ionizer bar for ours, helped tremendously, but we still fought the issue randomly (until we got rid of the machine). Surprised noone else has had these issues, it was so distinct for us, we could throw in vinyl on the machine and print solid cyan all day, throw on corrugated plastic and lose the Cyan print head in a matter of feet!

Interesting. Thanks.. I'm going to keep my eye on that Coro is a PITA for static

 

[Gino]

Quick question..............

Do you guys clean before each usage or in between while printing if needed ??

Every morning, we clean the heads and do a test print. Every once in a while we'll get some spritzing and we stop, wipe it down and go on. No problems.

It always seems to be a fuzzy or something that started collecting ink that does it for us.

 

[klmiller611]

wb, we fought this issue with our Agfa, HUGE headache! In short, it was static, Agfa's cyan is more sensitive to static for some reason. The one test you need to do is see if there is tons of cyan ink on the bottom of the print head after you get drop outs. If there is it sounds like that is probably your problem. The ink literally blows onto the print head and builds up until the nozzles clog. We even had a head replaced and still had the problem. Agfa took the head back out when they saw it wasn't the issue. We had to buy an ionizer bar for ours, helped tremendously, but we still fought the issue randomly (until we got rid of the machine). Surprised noone else has had these issues, it was so distinct for us, we could throw in vinyl on the machine and print solid cyan all day, throw on corrugated plastic and lose the Cyan print head in a matter of feet!

Interesting to me as well, I have most of my issues with static with the cyan/light cyan. I use a clean towel, and spray the backside of the towel with a carpet static treatment, then lightly wipe the coro with the front, and it seems to help, to some extent.

Ken

 

[klmiller611]

Quick question..............

Do you guys clean before each usage or in between while printing if needed ??

Every morning, we clean the heads and do a test print. Every once in a while we'll get some spritzing and we stop, wipe it down and go on. No problems.

It always seems to be a fuzzy or something that started collecting ink that does it for us.

I clean as needed, I'll generally start up, and simply drip the heads, no wiping unless some bubbles are showing which I know will mess the prime test.

In the same vein and the same track this topic seems to be taking, we are now out of service contract, and in the last month, I've got a single jet on the light cyan that will not clear no matter what, and it looks like I've got one out on the black in the last couple of days. The black started AFTER I flushed the system for the weekend this past Friday.

Now we don't run anywhere near the volume of anyone else on the list, in fact, I probably only have stuff to run, 3 or 4 days a week on average, usually more often in our busy season, but it is really slow for the next month now and I am wondering if anyone has any ideas of how to clean the heads that may work, but not require the overly expensive service call?

Thanks
Ken

 

[njohnston]

M Series on Routers

How well do the Agfa M2 inks hold up on a flatbed router? Cutting things like Sintra and Styrene that has been double side printed.

Do the inks have issues with chipping at the edges? Do you have to premask the board before you cut?

 

[Dave Rowland]

The G3 white inks are in development... G2 cracks so window graphics causes a big problem and G3 will have the stretchyness that is in the G2 colours.

The White heads blocking is a huge problem for us, I mean we told AGFA that it is a problem for us.

We have the M2050

 

[Dave Rowland]

How well do the Agfa M2 inks hold up on a flatbed router? Cutting things like Sintra and Styrene that has been double side printed.

Do the inks have issues with chipping at the edges? Do you have to premask the board before you cut?

Cant comment on those materials but Foamex board is okay for flatbed routering but double sided printing registration is the big issue! i failed badly at it unless second side has plenty of bleed.

 

[Signman01]

Hi All,
the company just bought an Anapurna M about 2 months ago, Still having some banding issues..and also adhesion problems to different substrates..

Anybody has a few tips for me?

Gerard