ASK:I am in the market for a flatbed UV printer that will print on rigid substrates as well as flexible materials.Quality is the most important consideration, and the ability to print on a wide variety of substrates would be the second most important consideration.

We are currently printing all signage on an Epson 9900 and would like input about which machine would be the best fit for our business now and in the near future.

We are relatively new to the large-format printing world, but have excellent access to work along with a significant amount of existing work.

I am interested in any information and/or comparisons that anyone might be able to offer for the following machines or any other high quality machines that I am missing:

EFI Rastek 700
Agfa Anapurna
Screen Truepress Jet2500UV
Screen Truepress Jet1600UV-F

Thank You, in advance for your help.

 

ANSWER  

Hi jakewill, first question that comes to mind is what's your budget. In the flatbed's you just named you go from 80,000$ for the rastek to about 250,000$ for the Screen Jet2500UV.

Second you need to consider what it is you will print on and at what volume. Somme UV inks are flexible and somme are not, so somme machine wont do banner material very well and some inks you will need to prep the surface for it to adhere on, like say coroplast. Have you considered solvent or latex ?

In the quality machines you are missing:
Fuji Acuity / Oce Arizona
Agfa 1224 NanoJet 2 UV Flatbed with *FTR option
Gerber Solara
Swissqprint oryx (was the Zund printer)
Mimaki JF-1631

This forum has lots of information you might want to check it out