small UV flatbed choice

[anotherdog]

Looking at getting a flatbed UV to supplement my solvent printer and stop outsourcing to suppliers that print on the "fast" setting.
I have read the brochures, shook sales hands, but I need some real world advice.

My constraints are:
Price, sub 100k (as sub as possible)
Size, has to fit through a standard doorway (plenty of space once it's in there).
Power: run on single phase 110.
Speed is not a great issue, but quality is.
Duplex easily.

Sort of looking at the ValueJet 1608HS, but would like to hear from someone who has one first.

Thank you!

 

[rushworks graphics]

cet flatbeds are good and they are in the $85k range. don't have a flatbed myself but that and the fb500 would be the ones i would consider myself.

 

[anotherdog]

I was looking at the CET, I don't think they will fit through the door. Its in a thick concrete support wall, can't make it bigger, opens into a 20ft square room that is ideal.

I'm also lookiing at the Mimaki jf 1631

 

[artbot]

does it have to be UV. i've studied the chinese conversion market for the last several weeks extensively. there are models that have mutoh or epsons of all sizes attached to a gantry table. in the end i decided to just build a flatbed myself.

if you are thinking about a 1608, get a 1600 series mounted for $31,000. YOU DO NOT WANT A PINCH ROLLER FLATBED!!! i have one, they are horrible no matter how much you tweak them. run for your life. you know how water spins down a toilet (the opposite way in austraila)? well take your giant flat sheet and have it try to go straight through your printer while perched on a pinch roller like a see-saw. it will always shimmy counter clockwise. if you could stop the rotation of the earth, you'd be fine with a pinch roller flatbed.

 

[HulkSmash]

Looking at getting a flatbed UV to supplement my solvent printer and stop outsourcing to suppliers that print on the "fast" setting.
I have read the brochures, shook sales hands, but I need some real world advice.

My constraints are:
Price, sub 100k (as sub as possible)
Size, has to fit through a standard doorway (plenty of space once it's in there).
Power: run on single phase 110.
Speed is not a great issue, but quality is.
Duplex easily.

Sort of looking at the ValueJet 1608HS, but would like to hear from someone who has one first.

Thank you!

im not sure you're going to be able to find a UV flatbed printer that only uses single phase 110..

 

[WYLDGFI]

Looking at getting a flatbed UV to supplement my solvent printer and stop outsourcing to suppliers that print on the "fast" setting.
I have read the brochures, shook sales hands, but I need some real world advice.

My constraints are:
Price, sub 100k (as sub as possible)
Size, has to fit through a standard doorway (plenty of space once it's in there).
Power: run on single phase 110.
Speed is not a great issue, but quality is.
Duplex easily.

Sort of looking at the ValueJet 1608HS, but would like to hear from someone who has one first.

Thank you!

Off the top of my head....I might consider Rastek...EFI has made some improvements with it, but IM not sure of cost and power usage to be honest. Downside is the ink used by them has been iffy. Fuji has some flatbeds out there as well...inks are good and print quality has been nice. As for the outsourcing..."Quality over quantity every day for me"...

 

[Stan B]

I say Roland new UV printer. Will be hard to make real money with (ratio of toy-flatbed VS it's cost is still too high) but it is a good printer for your specs

 

[artbot]

definitely right on the power. when i got gang busters about picking up and old gandi 3150, it needed a three phase 380 (so it needed it's own transformer! because that's a european voltage.).

 

[anotherdog]

if you are thinking about a 1608, get a 1600 series mounted for $31,000. YOU DO NOT WANT A PINCH ROLLER FLATBED!!! i have one, they are horrible no matter how much you tweak them. run for your life. you know how water spins down a toilet (the opposite way in austraila)? well take your giant flat sheet and have it try to go straight through your printer while perched on a pinch roller like a see-saw. it will always shimmy counter clockwise. if you could stop the rotation of the earth, you'd be fine with a pinch roller flatbed.

It looks like the mutoh, mimaki or roland with the roland really trailing behind. The jf1631 is probably the front runner because it has a vaccum table and I have a local supplier, then the ValueJet 1608HS, but thats a pinch roller so...

 

[MikeD]

Direct Color Systems makes a 13"x24" flatbed UV.
I use their solvent, and the general construction is very dependable.
Not sure if they are available in Australia.

 

[jhanson]

The tables on the 1608HA and HS (the HS only differs by an included spectrophotometer) are much more robust than the ones that shipped with the original 1608A. As long as you're not running extra long sheets, or bent sheets, it should be OK.

Media loading is the biggest headache. There are some tricks that make loading boards easier (there's a black line across the platen, which I used to align boards to, since the roller guide on the rear table is mostly useless).

But having said all that, factor in a lot of media waste while you're learning the machine (at least 1 out of 10 boards). They are very sensitive to any bends or kinks in the media, which can cause the roller to start slipping or skewing the board. Also, if you don't set the head height correctly, you may wind up with head strikes (particularly if the media is heat-sensitive and bows up under the head carriage).

 

[artbot]

i finally decided to build my own. i bought this gantry table yesterday on ebay and now i'm figuring out which printer to strap to it. after 10 years of pinch roller flatbeds i am done. it's hurting my business, holding back my product options. i thought i could master the beast but it can't be done.

you't think that these printer manufacturers would at least add a fore and aft pinch roller. that would really straighten things out between the head carraige. but that would require actual RE-engineering.

i saw this funny thing as SGIA. there was mutoh 1304 perched on a glass flatbed marked as "prototype". they must be joking. chinese companies have been strapping these to that exact table for years. maybe they bought it off of alibaba and plopped it in the booth?

no matter what you or what you spend FLATBED ONLY. the worst flatbed from china for $14,000 can do things a $30,000 pinch roller from roland or mutoh can only dream of.

check out the 7' x 24' table! arrrgh!!!!!! i can smell the money!

 

[signswi]

I'll be curious to know your total hours of labor on this project once you have it working.

 

[MikeD]

Brilliant!
You will be way ahead of the game...you will have the ability to control virtually every variable that interacts with your production. This will certainly pay off for you, good luck!

Great Job!