flat bed printers

[altereddezignz]

In the market to possibly buy a flatbed printer. More for the aspect of being able to print full sheets or chloroplast and other flat items. We have a mutoh 1324 at the moment. Any info on brands or info on ones you run.

 

[altereddezignz]

Not sure what we would really need but i am thinking a hybrid as i dont want to be stuck with only being able to print on hard surfaces. We have a mutoh 1324 currently and we are not really looking to replace it but we would like the ability to print directly to coroplast without having to print then wrap the panel. This and it cuts our cost way down as you have less man hours along with no vinyl cost.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Take a look at the Mimaki JFX200. It's an entry level, 4'x8'+, high quality, UV flat bed. The price range is going to beat a lot of the competitors and it is backed by a major manufacturer unlike these Chinese brands you see around. I have installed 2 of them and have never had to go back to service them in 2 years. There is an ink configuration for anything you want to be able to do and the learning curve is easier to handle then the less expensive roll to roll machines in my opinion. The standard model prints up to 2" thick material and the new HG model prints up to 6" thick material. Feel free to give us a call if you want more information

 

[ExecuPrintGS]

Not sure what we would really need but i am thinking a hybrid as i dont want to be stuck with only being able to print on hard surfaces. We have a mutoh 1324 currently and we are not really looking to replace it but we would like the ability to print directly to coroplast without having to print then wrap the panel. This and it cuts our cost way down as you have less man hours along with no vinyl cost.

If you do a lot of 2 sided printing i know we have a hard time with front back registration on our CET hybrid when running full 4'x8' sheets of coro.
Knowing what we know now as far as workload on the machine we would do a true flatbed. Being able to run banners that are instantly cured is awesome, but the 2 sided printing we do outweighs the banners.

 

[Django]

If 75% or more of your print is rigid material, than a flat bed is the way to go. Double sided prints on a hybrid is possible but it will not be as accurate as a flat bed.

 

[LarryB]

If 75% or more of your print is rigid material, than a flat bed is the way to go. Double sided prints on a hybrid is possible but it will not be as accurate as a flat bed.

I print double sided everyday on my HP FB500 without any issues.

 

[KaranGrewal]

I will choose true flatbed over Hybrid printer.. secondly most flatbeds are available with roll to roll option as well

 

[altereddezignz]

So what about comparison to image and print quality with speed. As stated we print on a mutoh 1324 now and it is not the fastest by any means but it does print great. Very little fumes as well. With that being said tho i dont see many of the flatbeds or hybrids printing fast either. I mean as compared to the mutoh we have.

When i ask about image quality i also mean on the aspect of vinyl and not a hard substrate.

 

[altereddezignz]

Printing to coroplast would be our main goal. That and dibond but would really like to be able to print to flexible media as well. Something at least as fast as my mutoh if i can and compare to the print quality as well if at all possible.

To bad that there is not a flatbed or a hybrid that would print well enough quality to do away with the mutoh all together but not sure i have found that and be able to print quickly.

 

[Steve Weist]

Mimaki uv specialist

I have the Mimaki jfx 200 in my demo center in Nashville,TN and can print samples if you need. We are the #1 Mimaki UV flatbed dealer in the nation. I have put the Mimaki jfx 200's quality up against any other flatbed on the market. CMYK+clear+white is the way to go for high margin products. Don't go just CMYK everyone can do that. We can print 4 boards per hr with white.8 boards per hr with double CMYK. The Mimaki is photo quality in your hand not 10' away. Feel free to call me to set up demo or get samples printed. WE LOVE THIS STUFF..
Steve Weist
616-812-3001

 

[Steve Weist]

Mimaki uv specialist

Now that's impressive. CMYK + 2 layers of white on this Oce is painfully slow...almost an hour per board.

Yep, if white is involved you will need to buy a few oce to match daily production of 1 mimaki JFX200.

 

[Steve Weist]

Mimaki uv specialist

LED Curing = no heat. You can print on very sensitive substrates with no warping or tape coming up from the heat. Super low maintenance. Only pulls 12 amps of single phase power.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

We're running a VUTEk H2000 Pro (hybrid) and it's pretty amazing for sheet material. We've had a few minor issues, but nothing TOO serious so far.

As far as speed goes, it's pretty impressive. Full 4'x8' sheets of coro in about four minutes and they still look good. We've got the roll to roll option and it burns through banners like nobody's business. I've seen it get up to around 1,100 sq ft/hour.

Maintenance is a breeze, it starts right up in the morning, and keeps going all day. However, in all fairness, we went from a Rastek T1000 to the H2000, so that might have influenced my opinion a little bit.

CMYK + light magenta, light cyan, two white channels. I would have preferred to go with an LED, but it is what it is. We do have some occasional issues with the heat on lighter materials.

 

[altereddezignz]

We are still very much up in the air with what we need and what want and should be using. The flatbed and really the roll printer are very new to us so we are trying to take it slow on new equipment purchase and get the purchase correct. The bad about this is we have no dealer remotely close we can go talk to or watch machines run. Thanks everyone for all the info and any mkre info that might be added. We had first looked at the hp scitex 550 and 750. Also the jmx 2020. I have never peraoanlly seen a flatbed or a hybrid run so the decision on what to purchase is hard.

We like the fact of having another roll tryoe printer woth a hybrid but most accessories to be able to put the roll to roll on one is very high and could purchase another printer for that. So many decisions lol.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

We are still very much up in the air with what we need and what want and should be using. The flatbed and really the roll printer are very new to us so we are trying to take it slow on new equipment purchase and get the purchase correct. The bad about this is we have no dealer remotely close we can go talk to or watch machines run. Thanks everyone for all the info and any mkre info that might be added. We had first looked at the hp scitex 550 and 750. Also the jmx 2020. I have never peraoanlly seen a flatbed or a hybrid run so the decision on what to purchase is hard.

We like the fact of having another roll tryoe printer woth a hybrid but most accessories to be able to put the roll to roll on one is very high and could purchase another printer for that. So many decisions lol.

If you have the cash to drop, check out the swissQprint Nyala 2. It's expensive and the delivery time is long (I think it was four to six weeks when we were looking at it), but I've never heard a bad word about about swissQprint and it has a TON of awesome features.

 

[klmiller611]

We are still very much up in the air with what we need and what want and should be using. The flatbed and really the roll printer are very new to us so we are trying to take it slow on new equipment purchase and get the purchase correct. The bad about this is we have no dealer remotely close we can go talk to or watch machines run. Thanks everyone for all the info and any mkre info that might be added. We had first looked at the hp scitex 550 and 750. Also the jmx 2020. I have never peraoanlly seen a flatbed or a hybrid run so the decision on what to purchase is hard.

We like the fact of having another roll tryoe printer woth a hybrid but most accessories to be able to put the roll to roll on one is very high and could purchase another printer for that. So many decisions lol.

We first started shopping in December 2007. On December 18, my boss came in my office about 4:45 in the afternoon, and said he wanted to buy a flatbed printer, and wanted to get it in here before the end of the year for tax purposes.

<waiting for laughter> Yeah, sure, we can do that without problem. I want to go out and spend $80,000 plus without truly knowing what is out there, and I am sure that a machine is just sitting there ready to be delivered in the next 12 days with two holidays in the mix. Sure, happens all the time.

Of course, if the boss wants something, you try to do what you can to make it happen. So, I went and spent the next day researching what was out there and trying to find out more about this stuff. My only exposure to a flatbed was seeing our local Fast Signs who had been printing all our stuff since our old HP died in January. They had just gotten their machine in June, and had problems that kept it out of service from July through September.

Of course, you cannot hardly get hold of a sales rep that late in the year. At least one company rep I left a message that we were hot to go and needed to talk, NEVER called me back. I told the boss that I was really concerned on making a big purchase like this with no real information in hand, much less samples. He said OK, we'll wait. I spent the next few months spare time studying what was out in the market.

I went to ISA in Orlando in April, and got to see a bunch of stuff in action, and after seeing it, came back and recommended we order a Gerber Solara Ion. Thankfully, our order was delayed to the point, after seeing all kinds of problems, our dealer allowed us to cancel that order and decide on something else.

We went back to SIGA in Atlanta in October and narrowed it down to two machines, and selected one after some soul searching. We got our Agfa Anapurna Mv in the first week of December. The only thing I really regret with it, was getting the varnish. We really should have stuck with one with CMYKlclm, the varnish has been a waste of money in our application.

I think it was highly valuable to go to the shows, even though the machines are tuned to perfection, and printing the best possible samples on the best possible material. It at least gave us good ideas what works and how.

After we had ours up and running, we did several demos for Agfa and some potential clients at our shop.

Ken Miller

 

[altereddezignz]

We first started shopping in December 2007. On December 18, my boss came in my office about 4:45 in the afternoon, and said he wanted to buy a flatbed printer, and wanted to get it in here before the end of the year for tax purposes.

<waiting for laughter> Yeah, sure, we can do that without problem. I want to go out and spend $80,000 plus without truly knowing what is out there, and I am sure that a machine is just sitting there ready to be delivered in the next 12 days with two holidays in the mix. Sure, happens all the time.

Of course, if the boss wants something, you try to do what you can to make it happen. So, I went and spent the next day researching what was out there and trying to find out more about this stuff. My only exposure to a flatbed was seeing our local Fast Signs who had been printing all our stuff since our old HP died in January. They had just gotten their machine in June, and had problems that kept it out of service from July through September.

Of course, you cannot hardly get hold of a sales rep that late in the year. At least one company rep I left a message that we were hot to go and needed to talk, NEVER called me back. I told the boss that I was really concerned on making a big purchase like this with no real information in hand, much less samples. He said OK, we'll wait. I spent the next few months spare time studying what was out in the market.

I went to ISA in Orlando in April, and got to see a bunch of stuff in action, and after seeing it, came back and recommended we order a Gerber Solara Ion. Thankfully, our order was delayed to the point, after seeing all kinds of problems, our dealer allowed us to cancel that order and decide on something else.

We went back to SIGA in Atlanta in October and narrowed it down to two machines, and selected one after some soul searching. We got our Agfa Anapurna Mv in the first week of December. The only thing I really regret with it, was getting the varnish. We really should have stuck with one with CMYKlclm, the varnish has been a waste of money in our application.

I think it was highly valuable to go to the shows, even though the machines are tuned to perfection, and printing the best possible samples on the best possible material. It at least gave us good ideas what works and how.

After we had ours up and running, we did several demos for Agfa and some potential clients at our shop.

Ken Miller

Thank you for the info Ken. I have been talking to a couple really great guys about 2 machine that were first brought to my attention. I have tried to read and study as much as I can but as the used mutoh 1324 we are using now is my or my boss first exposure to the digital print world I still have mch to learn.

With that being said I have not counted outny printer but the 2 we are looking at right now are the HP scitex 550 or 750 and the jfx200 I I recall my numbers right. We were offered very good deals on both and we may possibly end up buying a package deal with a flatbed and a roll printer to replace the 1324 or just keep it to run since it seems to do a good job when it wants to lol.

Yard signs 4x8 signs and we are geting unto some other detailed items that we would need the gap or print height that the jfx can offer. It is a true flatbed woth no roll but this is the reason for looking at the additional printer.

We are in Arkansas so normally the furthest away from any shops that we could attend. Work keeps us so busy that we normally don't get much free time to take off ansngo away like that.

Thank you for the info and love hearing what other have to say about what they are using. It help me when I know nothing about this industry really so any and all help I can get is great and much appreciated.

 

[ImpactSignCo]

Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents of experience with our flatbed...

We have been running our Roland LEJ-640FT for a couple of months now. We run it in conjunction with our XR-640. It's not a speed machine by any means, we have been clocking full 4x8 sheets in about half an hour, depending on how intricate the graphics are. It's been a wonderful machine for us. We chose to go with dual white ink heads instead of one white and one clear, and we haven't had any issues with the ink curing on materials. We mostly run corex, but have also ran PVC, Dibond, Max Metal, wood, acrylic, painted wood, etc. without any problems. It's been a nice addition to our shop, and it takes the pressure off our Eco-Sol printer.

 

[Molenbeek]

I would highly recommend also looking at CET Color. They have 6 different styles/sizes available. They can also be field upgraded to increase production down the road.

www.cetcolor.com
www.advantagesgs.com


Thanks

Matt

 

[Andy D]

In the market to possibly buy a flatbed printer. More for the aspect of being able to print full sheets or chloroplast and other flat items. We have a mutoh 1324 at the moment. Any info on brands or info on ones you run.

I have a old Gandi 3500 UV printer that's about 8 years old and it's a workhorse, all I print on it is coroplast,
I went through over 8 pallets of coroplast last summer.

You can pick them up cheap too, less than $20,000. Just keep in mind they're not fast, they won't print museum quality prints,
and there is a maintenance learning curve to them.

 

[altereddezignz]

Can anyone give me a ruff idea of the cost to print a solid sheet of 4'x8" or 18"x24" with one single solid color on a flatbed. I know there will be differences but just doing some math out of curiosity..

Or even the SF single color ink print cost and i can do the math from there. Woould really like a single color to base it off of and preferable what resolution its printed in.

Thank you

 

[Andy D]

I think most printers are at 15 cents to 25 cents a square foot for ink, depends on what color your printing,
how much you pay for your ink, and how old your printer is because most new printers use much less ink.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

I think most printers are at 15 cents to 25 cents a square foot for ink, depends on what color your printing,
how much you pay for your ink, and how old your printer is because most new printers use much less ink.

This sounds about right.

We generally hover around 16 or 17 cents for a full 4'x8' sheet using just CMYKLCLM.