New Product Which Flatbed Printer to buy?

[Patrick Dasilva]

Hey Guys,
We're looking to buy a new flatbed printer (our first one).
We'll be primarily printing on PVC/Sintra, Foam Board and corrugated plastic.
Currently looking at the EFI 16H and EFI 24F, are these good choices or should I be looking at something else? We currently have a HP 360 Latex.

Let me know you thoughts.

 

[Gino]

Hard to tell. Your profile says nothing about what you do and you haven't really mentioned what your needs are, other than you're gonna be printing to plastics. What's your normal volume ?? Do you need a particular speed ?? Do you want a true flatbed or hybrid ??

 

[Patrick Dasilva]

Hard to tell. Your profile says nothing about what you do and you haven't really mentioned what your needs are, other than you're gonna be printing to plastics. What's your normal volume ?? Do you need a particular speed ?? Do you want a true flatbed or hybrid ??

We're doing around $150-200K/year between mounted posters/plastic signs (we outsource the plastic sings). Speed is not critical at this point, although we would like to be efficient and have a machine that can accommodate our needs as we grow that are of our business. Leaning towards a true flatbed, as we already have the roll to roll option and space is not an issue.

 

[10sacer]

Look at the models available from Vanguard Digital.

 

[Solventinkjet]

The Mimaki JFX200 is a great entry level flatbed. It's not as fast as the options being discussed but it is easy to use and costs much less. Might be worth looking into as an option.

 

[rjssigns]

The Mimaki JFX200 is a great entry level flatbed. It's not as fast as the options being discussed but it is easy to use and costs much less. Might be worth looking into as an option.

Have one in the lab at school. No speed demon, but the output is beautiful. No issues to speak of either. Just runs and runs.

 

[Superior_Adam]

The Mimaki JFX200 is a great machine. Ran one for many years. Upgraded to the EFI 24F for the faster speeds. The Mimaki is about 15 minutes per 4x8 board and the EFI is about 5-6 minutes per board.

 

[tollerdad]

Patrick you may want to seriously consider a cutter too. I bought my first UV in 2005 without a cutter and really wished I did. I have Oce Arizonas and a Colex cutter now and they work great together. I would even say buy a lower cost printer so you can get the cutter. We also cut tons of posters and banners that we print on our latex 560 with the cutter.

 

[Patrick Dasilva]

Patrick you may want to seriously consider a cutter too. I bought my first UV in 2005 without a cutter and really wished I did. I have Oce Arizonas and a Colex cutter now and they work great together. I would even say buy a lower cost printer so you can get the cutter. We also cut tons of posters and banners that we print on our latex 560 with the cutter.

That is our plan, which colex do you have, the one with the conveyor or will the regular one? I got i quote for $86k for the colex without the conveyor...

 

[Andy D]

Have been involved in choosing the purchase of several UV flatbed printers, as well as RTR solvent printers, I would suggest you check on the following:
- How well ink adheres to the products you use will out chipping, cracking.
- Ink prices, bulk ink systems tend to be the least expensive.
- Techs in your area, if you have an issue & need an on-site service call, how long will you be down?
- What training service do they offer? If you don't know how to create ICC profiles, I would try and get them
to throw that in & it will almost be a different tech that specializes in that.
- When checking the quality of prints, just about every printer can produce brite, colorful prints.. What
I would want to see one is each; blue, green & grey, 4' x 4' solid print on backlit material, a high quality printer should be able
to print those without lines, or mottling.
- I would stay away from conveyors printers, instead getting one with a flat bed table that has a really good placement system, like
pop up pins & a RTR add-on option for down the road.