Suggestions One UV hybrid printer vs Roll to Roll and Flatbed printer

[waterloo2008]

I am researching UV printers.

Initial thinking was get one flatbed and one roll to roll.

But it seems the hybrid printer is becoming a trend from a handtop, flora or liyu. Is this correct?

Is the hybrid printer worth thinking about? it wont print wrong when printing the board because of lack of vacuum?

welcome to any advice

thanks

 

[parrott]

Having both I would absolutely go with the dedicated true flatbed and dedicated roll to roll. The quality and production is much better. Hybrids are great on paper but does neither very well.

 

[rx7boy]

I would have to somewhat agree and disagree with parrott. We started years ago with just a Latex roll to roll then added a used Arizona to our lineup in 2019. That was a great addition and investment. We then were looking at getting a new roll to roll and flatbed as well last year but decided on the HP R series hybrid. Being latex it is kind of different than a UV hybrid as we think it does both very very well. We still have our older latex 360 and Arizona but both rarely get used now. But still good backups to have and for certain applications.

 

[Select Bulgaria Service]

What will do if you have a large order for boards, but also include one for several rolls?
What happens if while you have one of the two orders or both, but the printer needs repair?
If you buy the R series, you will have both of these problems often .

Perhaps the correct answer may be depends on the workload you expect.
If you're just starting out, the hybrid might be the better choice. Smaller investment but higher risk of failure.
If you expect large orders, you should have two printers of each type. If one dies, you can extend the hours and compensate. But if the hybrid dies - you die too.

 

[ToTo]

A hybrid never has the capability to print on porous substrate. The r2r can print the whole day and night, while fb needs the sheets to be loaded. If you are not in need of these possibilities of wider range of substrates or quantities then you can go with hybrid. It saves you space, and time for maintaining

 

[AlsEU]

If you have one hybrid machine and it's down (for any reason), you have a problem. Having two separate devices you are able to work anyhow.

 

[Superior_Adam]

We have both a dedicated flatbed and a hybrid inhouse. I prefer the dedicated for substrates. We went with a hybrid instead of a R2R as we wanted the option in case the dedicated flatbed went down we could still run sheets or if the work load was too high on the dedicated we could run some on the hybrid to get stuff done faster.

 

[petepaz]

first question is what kind of work do you have for the UV printer and how much do you need to print?
all the machines you are asking about are great if used to their strengths.
we have a fuji acuity true flat bed, efi hybrid and a roland hybrid (that one has been a work horse and been around a while so we got the efi to replace the roland) the acuity puts out great quality but not a speed demon by any means also only goes to 4x8 max bed size. the efi has good quality but not as good as the acuity but its pretty fast, it is belt driven so some materials can be too heavy for the belt and won't print but it goes to 64" width so 5x10 sheets no problem.
the roland was our first uv and it served it's purpose but it is slow as hell. so you need to find the machine that best fits your business not necessarily the best printer

 

[Jessica S]

What will do if you have a large order for boards, but also include one for several rolls?
What happens if while you have one of the two orders or both, but the printer needs repair?
If you buy the R series, you will have both of these problems often .

Perhaps the correct answer may be depends on the workload you expect.
If you're just starting out, the hybrid might be the better choice. Smaller investment but higher risk of failure.
If you expect large orders, you should have two printers of each type. If one dies, you can extend the hours and compensate. But if the hybrid dies - you die too.

I like my Rseries when it works, but agreed when you get actual work for it -Fails! i have grown to know my techs very well :/

 

[signheremd]

Get the one that best fits the work you are doing. We started with a roll printer (Roland Eco-Solvent) and it is still a workhorse. You can print on vinyl 4x8 and apply to rigid substrate if needed. We added a Flatbed UV and that has been awesome (FluidColor - a Handtop essentially) as most jobs are done when done or only need lamination - no hand time laying out and applying the vinyl. We added a Graphtec9000-160 and can now print on either and cut with the advantage that the Roland can be kept busy printing without stopping to cut.

This combination allows us to print wraps, real estate signs, magnets, banners, decals - basically your all around sign shop. We can direct print acrylic faces or print onto translucent. If one machine goes down, the other is still going while we get repairs.

The Roland needs a clean cycle every morning and we leave it on all the time. It has a sleep mode and it does a periodic spray to keep nozzles clear. Manual cleaning is about once every month or two with new wiper and felt wipers installed. That is about it.

The Flatbed needs a bit more care and knowledge. Every day we wipe the heads and print a test print. It has white ink, so we run a 12x12 square too once per day. On weekends we wipe the head with flush at the end of the day. On long weekends we cap it off with a flush soaked wipe. It will pick up air bubbles sometimes and you will need to bleed the lines. Humidity levels require negative pressure adjustment about twice a year. The lights are water cooled, so that system is flushed once per year.

The Graphtec needs to be calibrated every few years, but otherwise keeping vinyl scraps off the grit rollers is about it. (We needed to calibrate it at the one year mark, but the past two years it has not needed it again.)

I am not a fan of the Hybrids - there will always be that time when feeding the substrate doesn't work due to weight or some other issue. I am also not a fan of the machine that cuts and prints - you can almost double your output by adding a dedicated plotter.

Hope this helps as you decide what will work best for you.