Medium-format flatbed printer?

[PrintQueen]

Hey all,

We're seriously considering adding a medium-format UV-flatbed printer to our arsenal. We would like something that can accommodate coroplast signs that are 28"x44". This is about the largest size that we would like to print DTS in-house. We have been comparing a few different models, but I am curious what you all are using - I know a lot of flatbeds seem to be larger, but we honestly don't have space for something with a very large footprint in our current shop.

So far, we've been comparing the Xante X-55, Roland VersaUV LEC2-330S S-Series, and the Direct Color Systems UV-53DTS. Been trying to find a few others, but most of what I'm finding are from brands that I am not familiar with (Compress LED iUV1200s, among others..) Do any of you have a solid machine that you'd recommend for medium-format DTS applications?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[richsweeney]

I think you will find a 4x8 is going to be the same price. You will need to have a service person near by on phone stand by for the life of any machine. Budget about 100k

 

[garyroy]

Take a look at the Xante flatbeds. You can also find them on YouTube.

 

[PrintQueen]

I think you will find a 4x8 is going to be the same price. You will need to have a service person near by on phone stand by for the life of any machine. Budget about 100k

I wish we could opt for a 4x8 machine, as I've noticed that there are significantly more options -- seems like medium-format is not as popular, which I totally understand, because why wouldn't you want more bang for your buck, right? The problem for us is that we physically don't have enough shop space to accommodate a 4x8 machine. I had been looking at a few different models -- have had my eye on the HP R1000+ for a few years, but the footprint is a big deal breaker for us with a lot of these machines. Plus, our average yearly square footage that we're trying to push out is only about 4500 sq/ft. I work at a university in-plant shop, and we have been stuck in our small building for easily over a decade. We have been fighting for more space, but it's an uphill battle here. Hoping we can find a good machine to settle on that fits into our smaller space.

Take a look at the Xante flatbeds. You can also find them on YouTube.

I've been taking a serious look at the X-55. We actually have a Ricoh rep stopping by for a visit today, and we're going to chat a little about the machine. There are a few issues that I am seeing the more that I look into this machine. The white ink management/maintenance seems like a lot. Our shop is only open until 5pm, and we are closed on the weekends, so the machine will have a decent amount of downtime. I'm also a little weary on the RIP software. I was on a live demo online with Xante, and they said that the iQueue software won't gang up jobs, and they would have to be ganged up in prepress. We have some prints that we would like to gang up and print either on multiple boards next to each other, or on larger board size and finish trim to size.
Do you have a Xante flatbed? If so, I would be curious about how it's worked out for you - It's definitely still on our list of potentials..

 

[garyroy]

I don't have one, but a printer buddy I know in Alabama does. He loves it.
He's on the YouTube video - Black Warrior Printing.
The type of printing you'll be doing on Coro, I wouldn't even use the White ink.
It's up to you.

 

[PrintQueen]

I don't have one, but a printer buddy I know in Alabama does. He loves it.
He's on the YouTube video - Black Warrior Printing.
The type of printing you'll be doing on Coro, I wouldn't even use the White ink.
It's up to you.

oh awesome, i saw his review of the x-55 and he definitely spoke highly of it! I'll check out his other content, as well. For the coro, we likely wouldn't end up using the white ink unless necessary for some reason - we're hoping to open doors into acrylics and whatnot with the white option.

 

[Zach Starr]

Take a look at the StratoJet Flatbeds they have a size i think 30x48" or smaller. I am currently using their larger 4x8 Flatbed its really nice, especially if you are looking to print white

 

[richsweeney]

We were able to retire our white option by changing it to a cm, and buying an additional head. On the pre-pagaination, there are many reasonable software solutions. For less than $300 per seat we use Montax Imposer Professional
that we have installed on 6 computers, and is used constantly. Also our shop is 4500 sf. We had to get rid of a bunch of stuff we were not using. We still have a big 4c offset press crammed in. Zach, we looked at the smaller Stratojet, and were told it is pretty much the same price.

 

[signheremd]

We have a 4x8 FluidColor Flatbed printer and really like it. They do make a 3x5': check out the R53F Turbo which has the with the Ricoh Gen 6 heads (great heads for high quality and exceptional durability). https://www.fluidcolor.com/printers/#flatbed

White inks use titanium, I believe, which is heavy and tends to settle. When you have white ink you should use it each day and replace it about every 6 months to get good clean white color and printing. So if you do not use it, white can be a bit burdensome. FluidColor is a company that is founded by some guys that used to restore old printers, so they have beefed up some things on the printers that otherwise might wear sooner or which can slow the machine down.

As far as heads maintenance, for a weekend all you need do is wipe the heads with flush - for a long weekend or when off for a long time you can cap them with wipes soaked in flush.

 

[Pauly]

Samples. Get samples….

We recently just had a printing trade show in Australia ( Pacprint)
To my surprise Dirext Color Systems had a machine there.

I picked up a sample. I saw the print quality.
Let me tell you..
the dot placement was crap.
I asked them what resolution the sample was printed at. Very smugly I got a reply “1000 dpi”

The quality of the print was worse than our Arizona at the lowest quality mode.

Mutoh xpertjet 461UF & 661UF had nice print quality though. Very sharp.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Those Mutohs @ PacPrint were pleasantly surprising... the prints on acrylic where superb.

 

[garyroy]

Those Mutohs @ PacPrint were pleasantly surprising... the prints on acrylic where superb.

When you have the perfect artwork file, accompanied with the right material, matched to a tweaked profile, run by an experienced tech,
all tested and retested before the show at least 20 times, you can get some really good results when demo-ing a machine.

 

[Pauly]

When you have the perfect artwork file, accompanied with the right material, matched to a tweaked profile, run by an experienced tech,
all tested and retested before the show at least 20 times, you can get some really good results when demo-ing a machine.

When you’ve been in the industry long enough, you know what to look for when judging print quality.

You can’t tweak a profile to improve dot placement, or magically increase print resolution. And if you’re demoing a machine and it produces superb print quality, that means the one you buy should do exactly that.

Print quality come down to the print heads, how good the head alignment is with the table and how flat the table is.

 

[4DPB]

I am using a 40x60 machine. I which I purchased the full size machine instead. Too many jobs lost not being able to do a full sheet. The difference in footprint between a 40x60 and a full 48x96 isn't that much. Make sure the machine and your location can handle coroplast as static will be an issue. Also ventilation is is important. You really should keep in a dedicated location just for UV. I am using a chinese machine w. 4 Ricoh Gen 5 heads, running CMYK, WW/VV. We focus on printing on PVC, HIPS, and Acrylic. Also a nice bit of DTM printing. We do use our white option a lot for acrylic prints, and Varnish we are now learning (trying to do 10 layers of varnish to build up - but that takes learning to control the UV power for each job based on type etc).

 

[Zach Starr]

We were able to retire our white option by changing it to a cm, and buying an additional head. On the pre-pagaination, there are many reasonable software solutions. For less than $300 per seat we use Montax Imposer Professional
that we have installed on 6 computers, and is used constantly. Also our shop is 4500 sf. We had to get rid of a bunch of stuff we were not using. We still have a big 4c offset press crammed in. Zach, we looked at the smaller Stratojet, and were told it is pretty much the same price.

Yup thats correct. I feel the only time you would go for a smaller size flatbed is if there is lack of space. 4x8 fits most need.