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EFI Rastek T660 - Wide Format Printers

1. If you wish to distribute this report to other people within your company please obtain a site licensing agreement for multiple copies from FLAAR by contacting ReaderService FLAAR org Substantial discounts are available for licensing to distribute with in your company we call this a subscription The advantage of a subscription license is that you can opt for automatic updates You may have noticed that FLAAR reports tend to be updated as additional information becomes available In some instances a license would be available to distribute out side your company including in other languages To distribute this report without subscription license violates federal copyright law To avoid such violations for you and your company you can easily order additional copies from www wide format printers NET Update Policy Starting in 2008 updates on UV curable wide format inkjet printers are available for all individuals and companies which have a sub scription or to companies who are research project sponsors If you are a Subscriber or manager in a company that is a research sponsor you can obtain the next update by writing ReaderService FLAAR org If you are neither a Subscriber or a research sponsor simply order the newest version via the e commerce system on www wide format printers NET Please realize that because we have so many publications and many are updated so frequently that we have no realistic way to notify any reader of
2. 84 How is head cleaning accomplished Spray vacuum manual other Spray purge 85 Is there a capping station No 86 Where is the service area at the left or at the right The service area is at the left 87 What is the nature of the service station The ink purges into a disposable tray with absorbent material UV lamp heat sinks 4FLAAR Reports 88 Is the service area the same as the parking area Yes it is all at the left 89 Does this printer spit or weep flash at regu lar intervals Yes the printer spits when idle spit frequency can be set by software 90 Do you need to have a band of printable colors along the edge outside the main printed area to keep all printheads and their colored inks fresh and ready to print so as not to dry out when not be used by the colors in the design The software has the capability but such a band of colors may not generally be needed 91 What about waste containers to hold the purged ink How much ink do they hold How often do they fillup Rather than a waste bottle and plumbing system there is just a simple tray under the purging area 92 How often do you have to empty the waste ink j Parking area is at the left same as service area Below the purging container area there is a waste tray You can empty the tray perhaps twice a month 93 Where is the waste ink container situated The waste tray is under the purging area the
3. Also be careful by making sure that adhesion and cleanser resistance is adequate That said today 2008 the inks are a lot better and you can consider experimenting with UV curable vehicle wrap However you would not tend to print vehicle wrap on a dedicated flatbed system 151 To print backlit can you set a mode for double density There is not an actual mode but you can profile to put down more ink or do more passes 152 Is there a system for assisting double sided backlit printing You can mask the media off by hand 153 Is there a special ink for flexible material and another ink for rigid material What other inksets are available Is there any choice in inks As with most UV printers there was only one ink in the beginning in this case for rigid materials since this printer can t take roll fed material But currently there are two inks e Standard ink from Triangle e Flexible ink for membrance switches and potentially for thermo formable objects too 154 Is an extrudable or thermal formable ink available from the printer manufacturer Yes both thermo and flexible all in one ink 155 If there are two inks how difficult is the changeover from one ink to the other You have to purge out ink but you don t need to flush 156 How many colors are used to produce output four six or eight There are two modes a traditional 6 color mode and CMYK White Varnish But I would recommend using dual white since varnish i
4. FLAAR Reports September 2008 Entry Level Dedicated Flatbed UV Curable Printer a E i S U M O r B A Pi s a a R F i i i 1 J i z TE a 1 a r i u M ir Ta E 5 m 5 4 z um ill P r 2 o R m i i ma lt i z 7 Tan BE Pi p mk lt a 3 i a 7 a a a i 5 3 ae a 5 M a p rm LJ L F a tis m 7 i a a w t z z i he z T p 3 i p i m m z mz J a E z ug 5 a i za m 5 z z m Lad R Maz k z a z z i F ii p a P l z p a pa a sj 8 z a a F i ie EP p p E im i 3 a Bi M p a A p a u u S a a zm a x J m LI a i i i i x zi PJ p z u LF i z z 1 4 pe a a i 5 EFI Rastek T660 Nicholas Hellmuth 4 FLAAR Reports PLEASE NOTE This report has not been licensed to any printer manufacturer distributor dealer sales rep RIP company media or ink company to distribute So ifyou obtained this from any company you have a pirated copy Also since this report is frequently updated if you got your version from somewhere else it may be an obsolete edition FLAAR reports are being updated all year long and our comment on that product may have been revised positively or negatively as we learned more about the product form end users
5. so much easier to work on multiple documents side by side We thank Betterlight Calumet Photographic Global Graphics West cott Global Imaging Inc Phase One and Bogen Imaging for helping to equip our archaeological photo studios at the university and its archaeology museum in Guatemala Heidelberg Scitex CreoSci tex now Kodak and Cruse both in Germany have kindly provided scanners for our staff to evaluate We really liked some of the results whereas some of the other prod ucts were a bit disappointing Providing samples does not influence the evaluations because the evaluators are students professors and staff of Bowling Green State University These personnel are not hired by any inkjet printer company they were universities employ ees as was also true for Nicholas Hellmuth The testing person for the HP ColorPro desktop printer said he frankly preferred his Epson printer When we saw the rest results we did not include this Heweltt Packard ColorPro printer on our list of recommended printers but we love our HP DesignJet 5000ps so much we now have two of them one at each university Sometimes we hear horror stories about a printer The only way we can tell whether this is the fault of the printer design or lack of training of the operator is to have the printer ourselves in house Of course some printer manufacturers don t understand the reasons we need to have each make and model they are used to loaning their d
6. that their flatbed was not successful in the marketplace they attempted to improve it but the system was pre determined There is no way to fix every inadequate feature without starting from scratch By 2008 this printer began the typical steps that happen before a printer is discontinued they drop the price drastically to get rid of inventory But the reports we receive from end users literally diaries of headaches with the Mimaki flatbeds suggests that buying one even at half price would not provide a printer that is likely to be successful Clogging and cleaning of heads is i the most persistent complaint by people that have the FLAAR is read all over the world because we are straightforward when it comes to printer issues Mimaki flatbed As soon as a newer improved Mimaki UV flatbed is available to evaluate we will revise and update our comments correspondingly The Gerber ion would have been the major competitor for the Rastek Printers T660 but the Gerber ion failed to print 80 of the time at DRUPA was withdrawn without adequate explanation from FESPA Digital and all announcements of it were also not present in the Spandex booth there and if understand correctly the Gerber ion did not appear at a FastSigns event Plus one of the two Gerber ion printers at the recent sign trade show in Long Beach did not convince many people that it was fully functional There are no other small sized UV printers the Lotte costs three tim
7. 15 What kinds of leasing or other financing are available GE Capital plus all the normal avenues of financing FEATURES OF THE PRINTER Vacuum 16 Is there a vacuum function Yes vacuum is required to hold down materials especially if the material already is a bit warped or if heat makes the material curl or bubble up 17 Is the vacuum created by simple fans or by an air pump Since this is not a low bid printer it uses an air pump 18 If pumps how many pumps are there Since the table size is modest you only really need one pump But if you prefer a second pump this is available as an add on option 19 In how many sections The table is not large enough to need more than one section 20 Are the vacuum areas size and position user defin able No the only vacuum system that offers user definable areas that am familiar with is Oce me e o Se eee 21 Can you turn one or the other section s off and on If you wish to have part of the vacuum table off you just cover it with a leftover sheet of material Or make a template 22 Just Off and On Or variable Just Off or On Not user variable Flat materials are held by the vacuum created by a pump lo cated below the flatbed table 4 FLAAR Reports STRUCTURE OF THE PRINTER Media Transport Mechanism amp Media Path 23 Is this a dedicated flatbed with no roll to roll capability Or is this a true flatbed or just add on feeder platforms at f
8. But this is not the case of all materials Raw aluminum needs pretreatment 145 Which substrates ought to be laminated top coated or otherwise post treated Realize that top coating a UV clearcoat may be useful on some materials and even possibly required on some applications This may require an additional machine space training and further ventilation considerations You are not protecting against the sun you are protecting against the ink rubbing off slippery surfaces such as glass or marble Lamination can also serve to provide a glossy finish on a material that is naturally matte Print from the T660 on showing felines on ceramic effigy vessels circa 900 AD from the Ruta Maya Conservation Foundation 4FLAAR Reports SUBSTRATES General Concerns 146 What problems in feeding exist such as skew to one side Skew results on other kinds of printers because no one single feeding system can accommodate all kinds of surface characteristics or thicknesses of materials The propensity on hybrid or combo printers for skew is precisely why more and more manufacturers are of fering true dedicated flatbed printers There is no way for materials to skew on the EFI Rastek T660 printers or on any other dedicated flatbed 147 What about edge to edge printing borderless Yes APPLICATIONS 148 Can you print on textiles or fabrics How do you handle the ink that gets through the weave Not many users do this 149 What oth
9. Obviously this travel is hosted since unless money falls from heaven there most realistic way to obtain funding to get to the demo rooms for training is direct from the source It has been helpful when companies make it possible for us to fly to their headquarters so we can inspect their manufacturing facili ties demo rooms and especially when the companies make their research engineering and ink chemistry staff available for discus sions When received my education at Harvard was taught to have a desire to learn new things This has guided my entire life and is what led me into wide format digital imaging technology it is con stantly getting better and there is a lot to learn every month Thus actively seek access to improving my understanding of wide format printer technology so that we can better provide information to the approximately quarter million readers of our solvent and UV printer web site www large format printers org and the over half a million who read either our wide format printers org site or our roughly half million combined who read our digital photography org and www FineArtGicleePrinters org sites Barbieri electronic color management Caldera RIP ColorSpan DEC Durst EskoArtwork Gerber Grapo IP amp l Mimaki USA Mu toh Dilli GCC NUR Oce Shiraz RIP Sky AirShip Sun Teckwin VUTEk WP Digital Xerox Yuhan Kimberly Zund have each brought FLAAR staff to their headquarters and printer fact
10. adding a primer at night or early in the morning before you see the machine printing on this material We feel that the pros and cons of each product speak more than adequately for themselves Just position the ad claims on the left put the actual performance results on the right The unscrupulous hype for some printers is fairly evident rather quickly Be sure to check all FLAAR resources Please realize that with over 200 different FLAAR Reports on UV printers you need to be sure to check the more obscure ones too If a printer has a printhead issue the nitty gritty of this may be in the FLAAR Report on printheads The report on the model is a general introduction if we discussed the intimate details of printheads then some readers might fall asleep And obviously do not limit yourself to the free reports The technical details may be in the reports that have a price to them Our readers have said they prefer to have the general basics and to park the real technical material in other reports that people can buy if they really want that level of information So it may be best to ask for personal consulting The details of the problems with the ColorSpan 5400uv series are rather complex namely the center row of the Ricoh printheads This would require an expensive graphic designer and consultants to show the details And the design of the printhead would probably be altered by the time we did any of this anyway So it is essential to talk
11. and how strong The leveling supports and wheels are on the same structure The leveling supports go straight down the wheels stick out a bit from the same bolt assemblage that goes up into the horizontal bracket at each corner This works because the printer does not weigh tons and is of relatively portable size 40 Does the printer have wheels How many and how strong There are four wheels Since the printer is not intended to be unnecessarily heavy the wheels are acceptable But don t try to roll this printer up and down stairs or across rough concrete outside in a parking lot Wheels and leveling supports At the right you can see the bolt to fasten the structure of wheel and leveling support to the printer UPGRADES Future Improvements 41 What features have been added or changed since the printer first appeared The lead screws were upgraded from regular which had to be manually lubricated to specially Teflon coated lead screws The wiring was made more efficient in the sense of less complex wiring 42 What features are being added or changed further out in time White ink was scheduled for July 2007 43 Are upgrades modular or are you stuck buying a completely separate new printer At present the upgrades will be added to your present printer So you do not have to buy a completely different machine just pay for whatever new options you may desire 44 What firmware upgrades have been made available Lots
12. another brand had over 30 of their printers in booths in virtu ally every hall each one producing museum quality exhibits Not our fault when we report what we see over and over and over again One of our readers wrote us recently Nicholas last month you recom mended the as one of several possible printers for our needs we bought this It was the best capital expenditure we have made in the last several years Just wanted to tell you how much we appreci ate your evaluations FLAAR is a non profit educational and research organization dedi cated for over 36 years to professional photography in the arts tropi cal flora and fauna architectural history and landscape panorama photography Our digital imaging phase is a result of substantial funding in 1996 from the Japanese Ministry of Public Education for a study of scan ning and digital image storage options This grant was via Japan s National Museum of Ethnology Osaka Japan That same year FLAAR also received a grant of 100 000 from an American foun dation to do a feasibility study of digital imaging in general and the scanning of photographic archives in particular The FLAAR web sites began initially as the report on the results of these studies of scanners Once we had the digital images we began to experiment with digital printers People began to comment that our reports were unique and very helpful So by 1999 we had entire sec tions on large format printer
13. at FESPA 07 The moderate size makes this a UV printer for specific applications or for a printshop in a mall where space is limited e Acrylic e Glass But there ought to be a footnote for acrylic and glass relative to adhesion issues SUBSTRATES Issues 138 What materials can this printer print on perfectly PVC looks very nice 139 What materials can this printer not print on at all Fibers can cause problems with printheads 140 Can you print on mirrors It is not advisable to print on mirrors or comparable highly reflective surfaces 141 Heat concerns will the heat generated by the UV curing lamps cause adverse effects to some delicate forms of heat sensitive me dia Which materials might curl distort or discolor from the heat Be careful with very thin materials which are sensible to heat The vacuum can also be a source of problems for thin media Heat sensitive materials would include polyethylene polypropylene shrink wrap very thin and thermal sensitive papers plastic coated cartons PVC and aluminum foil www dotprint com fgen prod1297 htm Nicholas Hellmuth shows samples of FLAAR archae ological archive printed on with the EFI Rastek T660 Oce lists several other common signage materials as sensitive to the heat of at ISI facilities The images of Maya ethno botany UV lamps For these reasons we have a separate FLAAR Report on applica and ethno zoology are from the FLAAR photography tions and materi
14. brochure by brand or also by model or not at all Raster Printers proudly lists all the details of the printhead clearly in the brochure Mimaki and Oce do not list their printheads nor do they identify them if you ask But once you buy the printer obviously you will find out what brand they are And if you are in the industry it will take you an hour or so to learn which heads are in the Mimaki It took me a bit longer to learn which are in the Oce printer We publish these printhead specs in our re spective reports on Mimaki and Oce because if a print shop is about to pay over 100 000 to buy a printer and if they are expect to choose between six different brands and models it is logical that they want to know about the printheads before they make their final decision In fact for cars in the US it is not legal to hide the name of the manufacturer of major com ponents of the car This law is a result of a lawsuit of a man who bought a Cadillac found out the engine was just a rebranded Chevy engine and sued stating he had bought a Cadillac and expected that everything in his car would be a Cadillac Both Mimaki and Oce use heads that are at the elite level of a Cadillac so there is no need to hide their brand name 106 Is only the printhead used by itself or is an entire electronic assembly also from the printhead manufacturer Raster Printers obtains the entire HEX assembly from Dimatix this con sists of e Head controller
15. electronics e Heater associated with the printhead for the ink e Plate on which the heads are mounted e The MEMS heads themselves 107 Is this a printhead adapted from solvent ink or a new design made especially for UV ink chemistry This printhead is so new that not many other printers yet use it So this is not a left over head from the days of solvent inkjet printers 108 How many other printers utilize the same printhead Have they shown any problems The quarter million dollar L amp P Virtu HD8 uses the same MEMS printheads but not enough of this impressive UV printer have been sold to allow much feedback By the time you are reading this report on the T660 will have been a guest at the Leggett amp Platt factory in Ft Lauderdale to in spect their printer he a J 4 i Ba AB j i jp i i os bem 1 u Fi a I ha i 4 4 1 F T 1 z i i mi i 1 a q The Spectra M Class printheads are placed in a straight row Here you see the carriage uncovered but as you can see below it does have a cap 4FLAAR Reports 109 What are the benefits of this printhead This printhead is newer and in many ways more sophisticated than those of Toshiba Tec The main benefit is excellent print quality especially for text 110 What are the downsides of this printhead Downsides are that MEMS heads are difficult to manufacture yield is low so there may be a shortage of heads at times Manu
16. not much to compare it with The smaller of the recent flatbed Mimaki printers would be the most comparable it has variable droplet Toshiba Tec heads with awesome potential resolution The Spectra variable droplet grayscale technology is too new to have comparative data at present Bi DIRECTIONAL VS Uni DIRECTIONAL PRINTING 119 What is the direction of uni directional printing From right to left or left to right or both Left to right 120 Is the sequence of ink color laydown the same coming and going rare Or is the sequence of colors bi direction ally a different sequence than uni directional the usual way The sequence of color laydown requires two heads per color to be mirrored so with one head per color the sequence of color laydown is different when printing left to right as it is from right to left So the software needs to do interweaving to balance the resulting colors The carriage moves from left to right When setting the number of passes keep in mind that for all printers the more passes the slower the machine prints the production time depends on the level of quality you wish to achieve PRINTHEAD Positioning 121 What is the position of the printheads relative to the media Above jetting down the common position or along side jetting horizontally rare These printheads come in a cluster of six Dimatix M Class Hex Modular Printhead with integral ink reservoirs heaters and sensors for the ink lev
17. ously the product needs to have a proven track record too Competing companies are equally encouraged to support the FLAAR system We feel that readers deserve to have access to competing information Competition is the cornerstone of American individualism and technologi cal advancement FLAAR also covers its costs of maintaining the immense system of 8 web sites in three languages and its facilities in part by serving as a consultant such as assisting inkjet manufacturers learn more about the pros and cons of their own printers as well as how to improve their next generation of printers It is especially useful to all concerned when manufacturers learn of trends what applications are popular and for what reasons For example manufacturers need to know whether to continue designing software for Mac users or concentrate software for PC users So the survey form that you fill out is helpful to gather statistics You benefit from this in two ways first you get the FLAAR reports in exchange for your survey form Second your comments bring hopefully change and improvement in the next generation of printers When we do survey statistics then the names addresses and telephone numbers are removed completely A survey wants only aggregate num bers not individuals However if you ask about a specific brand of printer and do not opt out we forward your request to a pertinent sponsor so you can obtain follow up from that brand since we ourselves do not h
18. rrm Roll to Roll UY Printers Rola na LED UV for Balboards amp Banners Curing amp Varnish sg 100 Flatbe er mi Gandinnovations Jeti VersaUV PrintaCut LED Curing g a Teckwin 3348 UV JetSpeed LEC 300 Mimaki UJV 160 irameyrmaterpowwnatedij TeckStorm
19. size of the table and the inteded market you wouldn t need sections in this printer On wider dedicated flatbeds that have one vacuum section the operator faces the time consuming task of masking the area around the media to concentrate vacuum strength Of course this slows down your production time 4FLAAR Reports 34 If the table moves what controls it s movement Lead screw How many one on each side or one in the middle or three There are two slender lead screws one on each side of the table But these move the gantry not the table The table is stationary io Uk 1 i Se This is one of the lead screws that guide the movement of the flatbed 35 Is pin registration present How many pins What is their position s Since the table is not huge and in order to keep the price to entry level there are no pins for registration 36 If no pin registration system is present what kind of other registration system is available None 37 Does the printhead carriage move across the widest dimension of the table like Gandy Jeti or Oce 250 or across the narrow dimension this is how Inca does it The printheads traverse the long dimension which is the most efficient The longer Mimaki JF 1631 traverses the short dimension not as efficient but the shorter Mimaki JF 1610 traverses the long dimen sion more efficient 38 What are the pros and cons of a dedicated flatbed compared with a combo printer with moving tra
20. text Due to the print dimensions this printer is ideal for POP signs where quality and small point text are needed lated You then get the appropriate answer that siX passes achieves 1080 dpi 116 What is the true dpi of this printhead If the spec sheet uses the concept of perceived dpi or apparent dpi how they calculate perceived dpi instead of true dpi FLAAR lists the real dpi of a head as the number of nozzles per inch which in this case is 180 nozzles per inch But it gets complicated quickly since some printheads have more than one row of nozzles most printers have more than one printhead per color and no one expects much dpi on a single pass These are several of the reasons why there is no industry standard for dpi much less true dpi or apparent dpi FLAAR Reports Thus it helps any time true dpi is listed if the manufacturer will simply indicate in a footnote how this is calculated An even better way would be to show line drawings the way Canon does best for its cameras and to some degree for their iPF wide format inkjet printers Schematic drawings of this nature with candid text would remove much of the uncertainty 117 How many passes can this printer achieve You can do at least up to 16 passes 118 How does the resolution of this printer compare with other brands or other models of the same brand Since all other flatbed printers are larger and roughly twice the cost there is
21. the printer was long past beta stage and is being de livered to dozens of people on the waiting list EFI Rastek T660 had its first appearance at ISA 07 4FLAAR Reports 8 List price By August 2008 the price is 85 000 This in cludes e PC Some customers run both printer and RIP with the same PC e RIP Full version of PosterShop to sup port white ink applications e Inks 12 liter containers e Starter kit But the price ranges from 75 000 to 85 000 depending on the printhead configuration 9 What other equipment is needed to op erate this printer For example does this printer include its own power line condi tioner Do you need an uninterruptible power supply UPS It is not needed but if you want one you are j told where to buy it A UPS would be especial With any brand it is always advisable for you to find out what does the adver ly good for the pump The air vacuum system tised price does or does not include comes with the printer but not the UPS 10 Is an air suction system needed to be installed as a separate item or is all the vacuum table or other vacuum require ments already included in the printer itself The air pump is included The vacuum needed is already built in the printer 11 Is it recommended or required to buy a spare parts kit Or extra printheads Yes there is a spare parts kit available as an optional purchase Most end users don t wish to buy a spare parts kit up f
22. was the half million dollar Luscher JetPrint so being Made in Switzerland was not much help Counterfeit parts are a problem with many printers made in China Several years ago many UV printers made in China and some made elsewhere in Asia had counterfeit parts No evaluation has the fund ing available to check parts inside any printer to see if they are from the European Japanese or American manufacturer or if they are a clever counterfeits Be realistic and aware that not all materials can be printed on equally well Many materials don t feed well through hybrid pinch roller on grit roller systems or combo UV systems with transport belts Banding both from poor feeding and from bi directional lawnmower effect are common on many UV curable inkjet printers It is typical for some enthusiastic vendors to claim verbally that their printer can print on anything and everything But once you unpack the printer and set it up you find that it requires primer on some materials on other materials it adheres for a few weeks but then falls off And on most hybrid and many combo printers some heavy thick or smooth surfaced materials skew badly Since the claim that the printer will print on everything is usually verbal it is tough to prove this aspect of misleading advertising to a jury Not all inks can print on all materials And at a trade show many of the materials you see so nicely printed on the manufacturer may be
23. you to refuse payment if you have end up with a lemon A Gold American Express card allows you to re fuse payment even months after the sale This card may also extend your warranty agreement in some cases check first Most of the readers of the FLAAR Reports look to see what print ers we use in our own facilities Readers realize that we will have selected the printers that we like based on years of experience and research Indeed we have met people at trade shows who told us they use the FLAAR web site reports as the shopping list for their corporate purchases Yes it is rather self evident that we would never ask a manufacturer to send a product which we knew in advance from our studies was no good But there are a few other printers which are great but we simply do not have them in our facilities yet So if a printer is not made available by its manufacturer then there is no way we can afford to have all these makes and models in our facil ity Thus to learn about models which we do not feature be sure to ask around in other print shops with IT people in other corporations at your local university or community college Go to trade shows but don t use only the booth ask questions of people in the elevator in line at the restaurant anywhere to escape the smothering hype you get in the booth Realize that a FLAAR Report on a printer is not by itself a recommen dation of that printer In your local temperature in your loca
24. To obtain a legitimate copy which you know is the complete report with nothing erased or changed and hence a report with all the original description of pros and cons please obtain your original and full report straight from www large format printers org Youronlyassurancethatyouhaveacomplete and authentic evaluation which describes all aspects of the product under consideration benefits as well as deficiencies is to obtain these reports directly from FLAAR via www wide format printers NET INTRODUCTION THE BASICS PURCHASING FEATURES OF THE PRINTER Vacuum STRUCTURE OF THE PRINTER Media Transport Mechanism FLATBED ASPECTS for dedicated flatbeds STRUCTURE Miscellaneous UPGRADES Future Improvements Miscellaneous OPERATING THE PRINTER CONSTRUCTION BUILD QUALITY AESTHETICS SET UP OF THE PRINTER PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS INSTALLATION OF THE PRINTER INSTALLATION OF THE PRINTER INSTRUCTIONS amp MANUALS TRAINING TECH SUPPORT amp WARRANTY CLEANING amp MAINTENANCE NEEDS MAINTENANCE SAFETY amp HEALTH CONCERNS PRINTHEAD TECHNOLOGY PRINTHEAD DPI amp Features Bi DIRECTIONAL VS Uni DIRECTIONAL PRINTING PRINTHEAD Positioning PRINTHEAD Associated Features PRINTHEAD Life Expectancy PRINTHEAD CARRIAGE and GANTRY SUBSTRATES SUBSTRATES Issues SUBSTRATES Cleaning Priming Preparation SUBSTRATES General Concerns APPLICATIONS INK INK White amp Varnish INK Cost INK Supply System Tubin
25. a H700UV it has been possible to visit a FastSigns printshop that has this nice combo model in active use for many months So for that H7OOUV combo model can say more since FLAAR has undertaken a site visit case study My schedule has been so full visiting UV printer factories R amp D departments and print shops that have other brands and models that I have not yet land ed in a city with an H600UV But as soon as I can evaluate a 600UV flatbed in situ it will be possible to issue an updated evaluation on how this printer functions in the real world In the meantime I have gathered together a comprehensive report on what I have seen of this printer at over six trade shows over two years in many countries around the world Nicholas Hellmuth evaluates the Raster Printers Daytona H700UV at FastSigns facilities There is a FLAAR Report on this model 4FLAAR Reports THE BASICS 1 Brand name model Raster Printers Daytona T600UV when the company was acquired by EFI Rastek this printer changed its name to EFI Rastek T660 2 What is the nature of the manufacturer Is this company the manufacturer distributor or rebranding a machine made by someone else Raster Printers is in effect the distributor but could also be considered the manufacturer in the sense that it s their own printer But the actual manufacturer is ISI in Alabama ISI is owned by the same company Sakata INX that owns Triangle ISI has designed and manufac tur
26. al aspects printheads banding defects skewing of media incompatibility with inks or media or other aspects that could be deemed pertinent There was one early customer who had to replace many heads because there was leakage of ink into the electronics of the head But this kind of issue once it is known about a solution is worked out GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 209 How many printers of this model are in use in the USA in the rest of the world Not how many are in dealer show rooms not how many are in beta test sites or are considered to have been sold on paper but how many are function ing and producing output in commercial establishments Prior to DRUPA about 27 printers were sold Of these about half were sold to Europe 4FLAAR Reports DRUPA was a windfall because the printer was displayed in the EFI booth albeit stuck in the back because VUTEk naturally wanted the front Despite being relegated to the back and hence invisible to anyone walking down the aisles Raster Printers was able to sell about 30 units In comparison Teckwin sold almost this number despite being very difficult to locate and in a distant hall Even with a map and even knowing the booth number DRUPA was poorly organized for visitors Gerber claims to have sold 5 ion flatbeds during the two weeks at DRUPA in a prime location at crossing of two major aisles in a very busy and centrally located hall If the T660 had been in the same kind of prime locat
27. ality Check with other people in your area or in the same kind of print business that you do Don t rely on references from the reseller or manufacturer you will get their pet locations which may be unrealistically gushy find someone on your own Factors influencing output Heat humidity static dust experience level of your workers wheth er they are new or have prior years experience these are all factors that will differ in your place of business as compared with test results or demo room results Actually you may have people with even more experience than we do since we deliberately use students to approximate newbies FLAAR is devoted to assisting newcomers learn about digital imaging hard ware and software This is why Nicholas Hellmuth is considered the Johnny Appleseed of wide format inkjet printers Therefore this report does not warranty any product for any quality performance or fitness for any specific task since we do not know the situation in which you intend to use the hardware or software Nor is there any warranty or guarantee that the output of these products will produce salable goods since we do not know what kind of ink or media you intend to use nor the needs of your clients A further reason that no one can realistically speak for all aspects of any one hardware or software is that each of these products may require ad ditional hardware or software to reach its full potential For example you
28. all if the manufacturer can train their own tech support person surely a printer operator who also works with this printer every day all month all year can also learn how to maintain and repair it if they have the interest and inclination This policy varies by manufacturer Interest in doing their own repairs varies by the end user and by the printer operator A few opera tors like the opportunity to take service training at the factory and thereby to be able to do basic repairs on their own Some manufac turers discourage this but some manufacturers do allow end users to take advanced service training Raster Printers encourages people to learn how to understand the workings of their printer mechanics because this may lead them to take better care of the printer 4FLAAR Reports 13 What is the cost of a spare parts kit A spare parts kit costs 8000 and includes an extra printhead alone worth several thousand dollars two extra UV bulbs and other spare parts that you may need during the first two or three years of use PURCHASING 14 Are dealers national most companies or regional Roland allows a dealer to operate only within a limited regional area Does a buyer have any choice in dealers You can buy direct from Raster Printers or buy from dealers in the US such as Global Imaging or from dealers in various foreign coun tries In Brazil the dealer is the Marabu Ink distributor but the printer uses ink from Triangle
29. als of thousand year old artifacts from the Ruta Maya Conservation Foundation 4FLAAR Reports 142 What about build up of static electricity What kind of materials cause this Do some materials generate static electricity which cause the media to attract ink in areas not supposed to be printed on How is it manifested You need to use a fabric softener Downy for example which you can get from the supermarket You do need to be aware of how to prevent static electricity build up e No carpets or rugs on the floor e Use a humidifier during winter months to avoid dryness e Learn which media are susceptible to gathering a static charge e Consider a printer that has specific anti static features e Grounding e Static bar s 143 What happens in very dry weather low humidity especially in winter with central heating During dry periods with low humidity static problems may increase With a high static charge such as with PVC materials the ink is attracted to charged areas of the material This results in overspray ink laydown in unintended areas SUBSTRATES Cleaning Priming Preparation 144 How often is pre treatment required either receptor coating or other special surface treatment to the material to be printed Scooter board a compressed board in the middle with plastic surface does not need pre treatment when using Triangle inks This material is used instead of Coroplast by some people for real estate signs etc
30. als openly on line on their web site So the policy varies by manufacturer We do a full report only on those printers where the manual is available to us 4FLAAR Reports TRAINING 78 Is training necessary Is classroom training available Classroom training is not common However Raster Printers start training in June 2008 It is service training 79 Is factory training available Yes It is available Factory training is rare though some companies do welcome factory visits and a few companies do indeed offer training at the fac tory 80 What expenses do you have to pay relative to training Is training at your site so you have no transportation costs or do you have to send your people to be trained at the manufacturer you have to pay airfare hotel and meals For training at the factory you just have to cover your hotel transportation and meals TECH SUPPORT amp WARRANTY 81 What is the original warranty period One year 82 Does it include parts labor printheads What is included is being decided 83 Who does repairs Dealer manufacturer distributor or third party The problem with dealers is that their level of support may not be as consistent as that of the manufacturer Whereas in some cases the dealer may be more agile and faster But Raster Printers headquarters in California will back up any end user who feels he is not receiv ing adequate support by any dealer CLEANING amp MAINTENANCE NEEDS
31. ave enough personnel to respond to each reader by telephone But we do not provide your personal information to outsiders and our survey form has an opt out check off box which we honor FLAAR also serves as consultants to Fortune 500 companies as well as smaller companies and individuals who seek help on which printers to consider when they need digital imaging hardware and software A modest portion of our income comes from our readers who purchase the FLAAR series All income helps continue our tradition of indepen dent evaluations and reviews of inkjet printers RIPs media and inks 4FLAAR Reports These are some of the most Recent FLAAR Reports 2007 2009 You can find these and more reports at www wide format printers NET Introduction to UV Curable Inkjet Flatbed Printers WY SB im m Ki A Bears i TLEER fope Classifications of ee aa amiata more than 60 ee Uv Cured Printers E E S 1 J mm l E z ieee r E 1 1 a a Primary Fated Prirass FLAAP Rach TLAAR Reports ATLAS TLAAR Reports Brief History ritar iler brr tor Fatked kpt A fi Introduction to aonta of the Development of konik w ea okani UV Cured Inks on Piezo Printheads Ue Cured i Frig ze rzy W Used in UV Cured Inkjot Printers o P E gt i fe ia PPA ZA inaudine Ciise UV bee Most recent UV Printers iTA Bees Ej Entry Level Hybrid UV Rell to Roll i LAAR Rana HP Scitex FB6 aaa ZM LLARA
32. breathe if the ink is misting many printers mist most notoriously the Infiniti 1600 models the ColorSpan 72uvX also mists a great deal 65 What is the connectivity Network SCSI FireWire or other USB 2 66 What air pressure is required to be provided to the printer Is this for a vacuum table or other purposes such as ventilation No outside air pressure is required because the printer already takes care of this itself INSTALLATION OF THE PRINTER 67 Realistically how much surrounding and support space will the equipment need in addition to the machine s own footprint Yes you need a forklift truck with an 8 foot fork 68 What is the size and weight of the printer The printer is 48 inches high 77 inches deep and 103 inches wide weighing 900 Ibs 69 How many boxes arrive One 70 Is installation included in the purchase price Installation is included in the full list price of 85 000 but not in the discounted price 71 How many people come for the installa tion You need a total of three people the printer in staller and two of your own people 72 Do people also come for a pre installa tion site inspection Or is the inspection just a form sent in by e mail or fax by the print shop to the distributor From the factory or from the distributor or from the dealer The site preparation pre installation inspection is done via question and answer format that you report back to the manufacturer or deal
33. computer and monitor included to run the RIP You receive a Dell computer and an LCD monitor of reasonable size COLOR MANAGEMENT FEATURES 206 What color management sensors or measuring tools are on board It would not be expected that most printers have any of their own color management tools The ColorSpan UV printers and Col orSpan UV printers are the only UV cured ink flatbed printers that we know of that offer color management features actually built inside the printer PRODUCTIVITY 6 ROI Return on Investment 207 How much time does it take to set up each new size and shape of rigid printing substrate This aspect is not listed in any spec sheet You learn this only if you spend an entire day in the demo room but doing the loading and printhead height calibration yourself Then you get a further comparable reality check when you start production in your own print shop This factor will make or break your production goals It makes little difference how fast a printer will print ifyou have to spend 7 frenzied minutes to align and set up each new print job by hand So find one of these printers that is already installed and learn from them what productivity obstacles exist and what real throughput is ADVERTISING CLAIMS Anything Misleading Any Hype Slight Exaggeration 208 Are there any problems serious enough to have caused serious complaints to either resellers or the manufacturer relative to color management mechanic
34. de cover if we updated everything instantly the cost would be at commercial rates and it would not be possible to cover these expenses At the end of most FLAAR Reports there is additionally a list of how many times that report has been updated A report with lots of updates means that we are updating that subject based on availability of new information If there is no update that is a pretty good indication that report has not been updated With 101 models of UV printers several hundred solvent printers and scores of water based printers we tend to give priority to getting new re ports out on printers about which not much info at all is available elsewhere So we are pretty good about reporting on advances in LED curing But glitches in a common water based printer will take longer to work its way through our system into an update especially if the glitch occurs only in certain circumstances for example on one type of media With several hundred media types we may not yet have utilized the problem media While on the subject of doing your own research be sure to ask both the printer operator and printshop owner or manager you will generally get two slightly different stories A printer operator may be aware of more glitches of the printer than the owner If a printer is no longer a prime model then there is less interest in that printer so unless a special budget were available to update old reports it is not realistic to update old rep
35. eal locations for us to gather information We thank Sun LLC Caldera EskoArtwork Raster Printers EFI Ras tek DEC LexJet DigiFab Barbieri electronic Seiko II Mutoh Eu rope IP amp I Dilli Yuhan Kimberly GCC Grapo Durst and WP Digital for providing funds so that we can make more of our publications free to end users During 2000 2001 we had grants to cover all the costs of our publications and all FLAAR Reports were free in those early years As that early grant naturally expired after a few years we had to begin charging for some of our reports to cover costs Now in 2009 we are seeking corporate sponsorship so we can gradually make another 20 of our publications free to our readers Since 2006 we do a major part of our evaluations at a factory and headquarters demo room Since the university does not fund any of these trips it is traditional for the manufacturer to fund a research sponsorship In the US this is how most university projects are initi ated for decades now and it is increasing In fact there is a university in Austria that is not an edu but is a GmbH funded by the cham ber of commerce of that part of Austria In other words a university as an educational institution but functioning in the real world as an actual business This is a sensible model especially when FLAAR staff need to be on the road over a quarter of a million miles per year roughly over 400 000 km per year total for the staff
36. ed solvent inkjet printers in the past though believe this is their first UV printer However the owner of Raster Printers Rak Kumar has experience working at Oce for many years including with their early UV printers ISI is also currently manufacturing a clever upgrade kit to turn NUR BlueBoad HiQ solvent printers into an ISIJet BlueStreak roll to roll UV printer 3 What other printers are the same or similar chassis from this manufacturer or distributor There is no other earlier comparable printer from this manufacturer 4 What other printers of other brands are comparable The only other printer that comes even close to this would be the small version of the recent Mimaki JF series flatbeds the JF 1610 But the Daytona flatbed is less complex which has its benefits especially in a slightly lower price 5 How does this model compare with comparable previous printers There is currently no other UV printer with MEMS printheads besides the 350 000 L amp P Virtu HD8 But at SGIA 08 and ISA 09 you will see at least one more printer with these heads 6 When and where was this model first introduced This printer was introduced to the world at ISA SignExpo in Las Vegas April 2007 7 Is this printer mature or still in alpha stage or beta stage This is a good question it could be considered between alpha stage and early beta stage in 2007 and in production stage by Spring 2008 When I visited the ISI factory in August 2008
37. el By having all this built by Spectra it saves the printer manufacturer from trying to reinvent the wheel by themselves 4FLAAR Reports 122 Are the printheads in a straight row or staggered Single row 123 Do you raise the heads manually with click stops or motorized Is there an alarm system to stop the head from hitting substrate if head is not high enough Head height is changed manually No alarm but the system knows the height of the head so the monitor asks for confirmation to see if things have been set appropriately before it starts However you have to be careful of materials that are not really flat but thicker in the middle which would cause a headstrike there or material that bubbles up due to the heat of the UV lamps But if the nozzle plate is harder than steel and if the LED lamp cuts down on heat there should be less bubbling plus that issue of budding is more with roll fed materials PRINTHEAD Associated Features 124 Is ink heated in a buffer or elsewhere before arriving near the printhead Heating is part of the sub system that comes with the printhead assembly from Spectra 125 What is the firing frequency voltage of the printheads in KHz This is a fast head operating at up to 40 KHz 126 Can the firing frequency be varied by the end user Yes 127 What is the effect of changing the firing frequency of the heads Changing the firing frequency of a printhead is directly related to the s
38. emo units for a week or so That is obviously inadequate for a seri ous review Some of the media provided to us failed miserably Three printers failed to meet common sense usability and printability standards as well HP 1055 one older desktop model HP Color Pro GA and one Epson Yet we know other users who had better results maybe ours came down the assembly line on a Monday or Friday afternoon when workers were not attentive One costly color management soft ware package was judged incapable by two reviewers one from the university second was an outside user who had made the mis take of buying this package So it s obvious that providing products or even a grant is no shield from having your products fail a FLAAR evaluation The reason is clear the end user is our judge The entire FLAAR service program is to assist the people who need to use digital imaging hardware and software If a product functions we find out and promulgate the good news If a product is a failure or more likely needs some improve ment in the next generation we let people know If a product is hyped by what an informed user would recognize as potentially false and misleading nonsense then we point out the pathetic discrepancies very clearly This is what you should expect from an institute which is headed by a professor Actually most of our reviews are based on comments by end users We use their tips to check out pros and cons of vir
39. er This saves the cost of having a person come out to do an actual inspection FLAAR got to inspect the assembly of the printer at ISI the company that manufactures this machine for Raster Printers FLAAR Reports This flatbed UV curable flatbed printer is hand made in the USA INSTALLATION OF THE PRINTER INSTRUCTIONS amp MANUALS 73 How many manuals are available Currently there is a User s Manual available both in hard copy and on CD 74 Is there a Site Preparation Guide If so is it helpful Site preparation questions are in the main users manual 75 What is the native language of these guides Is the translation acceptable Since this printer is made in the US the users manual is in understandable English No matter how well translated all translations done by a speaker for whom English is a second or third language should have the translation proof read by a native English speaker If a company is selling printers into the US the translation needs to be fully and completely comparable to spoken English not literal English 76 What kind of cut away drawings or other drawings exist that show the various parts of the printer The best exploded views of any product in the world are those by Canon camera 77 How hard or easy are the manuals to obtain BEFORE you buy the printer Some printer manufacturers hide their manuals because they don t want anyone to see them Yet MacDermid ColorSpan offered their manu
40. er kinds of applications can you print Billboards good on most materi als because viewing distance is far e Banners general signage good on most materials because view ing distance is far e Exhibit graphics okay if viewed up high or 2 meters away may be considered too grainy for close viewing e Backlit okay if viewed from far away too grainy and banded for close viewing You get better back lit with the camera system on the Jeti solvent printers e POP slightly grainy and may have banding only suitable for close viewing if client or customers ac cept the output Rak Kumar and Nicholas Hellmuth showing a print sample at FESPA 07 e Vehicle graphics not ideal for sharp edges or extreme curves Use the roll to roll UV printer with its flexible ink e Bus shelters okay if average viewer is not discerning e Rigid materials are good for construction signs Ideal for MDO boards and comparable materials for construction signage e Magnets e Luggage tags for golf courses 4FLAAR Reports 150 What kinds of applications are not something you should try What applications print mediocre and why The biggest problem with UV cured inks on vehicle graphics is when the material has to stretch or conform to the shape of the vehicle especially over rivets decorative trim or anything that is not flat Most UV printers are not recommended for vehicle wrap unless they use a special ink made to be flexible
41. es across the front of the main bridge of the gantry structure This is the bridge of the gantry where the printhead carriage will move in X direction 133 What moves the gantry Lead screws One slender lead screw on each side of the table provide movement for the gantry These screws step the gantry by screw motion driven by a servo motor There is one servo motor for each lead screw 8 i a a wm 11 b kare P i a 7 s pa E a a J m ret z r sz i a As discussed earlier in the section of FLATBED ASPECTS for dedicated flatbeds there are two lead screws one on each side of the table that move the gantry not the table Here you can see one of the servo motors that control the movement of these screws 134 Do these lead screws need to be lubricated or are they Teflon coated Raster Printers uses lead screws that are Teflon coated Note the Igus e chain motor drives and other aspects of the carriange movement are discussed in other sections FLAAR Reports SUBSTRATES 135 What sizes of material can be printed on 60 x 48 inches which is 1 52 x 1 22 meters 136 What thickness can this printer handle Two inches 137 What materials does the manufacturer list The initial brochure lists Fome Cor e PVC e Styrene e Corrugated plastic such as Coroplast e Plywood e MDO Aluminum plastic composite e Cardboard e Paper e Aluminum Nicholas Hellmuth and Rak Kumar
42. es as the replacement bottles that you buy 177 How is new ink added Pouring into the on board container Switching the container to the new ink container You simply switch bottles 178 How do you avoid building up old ink inside a large container Since you switch from the old bottle to the fresh new bottle unless you pour the remaining ink from the old bottle into the new bottle you will not have old ink sitting around to potential gel at some point in the future 179 What filters are on the ink system to trap particles or trap gelled ink Pall filters are used two of them per ink line One filter after the ink bottle a second filter before the printhead 4 FLAAR Reports 180 How often do the ink filters have to be checked Cleaned Changed It is best to change the filters after every 12 liters of ink have passed through them 181 What does a new ink filter cost 3 The ink containters sit on a stationery fixed box at the back of the bridge 182 Describe the ink supply system to the printhead Because the engineers situated the ink bottles physically attached to the carriage there is no need to have the Igus e chain bring ink lines up to the carriage s X axis 183 What kind of ink pumps are utilized What brand What capacity This printer uses ink pumps from Switzerland KNF brand 184 Is there an issue with ink starvation Ink starvation means that not enough ink can get to the printheads in fas
43. es the price of the T660 The impressive Screen Truepress 650 costs about half a million dollars So in effect there is no competition in size or price or really in quality either for the T660 dedicated flatbed printer 212 What aspects of the selected printer help decide in its favor I list all the PROs and CONs of the T660 at the end of this report SUMMARY Image Quality Issues Relative to Applications 213 Do you need Pantone markers to do touch ups If you use Pantone markets or other markers for touch ups you run the risk that these areas will fade faster than the original UV ink CONCLUSIONS 214 Are you satisfied with this printer to the point that you would recommend it to someone else would not waste my time spending days inspecting this printer and weeks preparing this report if did not find that this printer had merit 4FLAAR Reports 215 If so why would you recommend that others buy this same printer There are three stages to a FLAAR evaluation demo room testing e factory visit e and site visit case study So far have accomplished initial demo room testing and the factory visit But most importantly you should do a site visit case study s to check how this printer behaves in the real world in a printshop After a site visit case study then it will be possible to update this FLAAR Report with additional documentation But the two days with the experienced people who were overseeing the des
44. facturing yield was also an issue with the X2 MEMS printheads of Scitex Vision from PixDro But the PixDro Scitex head part of HP for the last two years is a slightly different technology and has other issues besides low yield Yield means that out of x hundred heads that are manufactured only meet the specs and only these few are used in printers which are sold 111 How many nozzles per printhead 304 nozzles 112 How many total number of printheads 6 printheads PRINTHEAD DPI amp Features 113 What is the drop size in picoliters Present smallest drop size is 10 picoliters 114 Is there variable droplet capability Droplet sizes are 10 20 and 30 picoliters for this new Spectra printhead Grayscale technology to accomplish this will be implemented in the future In comparison droplet sizes for the Toshiba Tec head used in the more expensive and larger Oce 250 are from 6 to 42 picoliters 115 What is the advertised DPI and is it true dpi or apparent dpi How is dpi pre sented with what adjectives How is this dpi calculated The dpi is stated to be true 1080 but there is not yet any definition in the spec sheet of how many passes that requires or what the real dpi of the printhead is at one pass But if you un derstand how dpi is calculated you just need to ask the simple question of how this is calcu Some of the samples at FESPA 07 displayed excellent precision on really small
45. ftware and color management equipment The RIP software for simple water based print ers such as Canon Epson and HP may not be the same RIP software that could be most effective and productive on a UV curable flat bed or UV cured roll to roll production printer first noticed Caldera RIP on Gandinnovations UV printers several years ago then saw Cal dera being used at the Mutoh Europe factory demo room in Belgium When was visiting the Durst factories in Eu rope again noticed that they were using Cal dera RIP software the manufacturer of Rho UV cured printers So requested access from Caldera so could visit their world headquarters in Strasbourg France to spend several days learning more about their RIP As a result there is now a FLAAR Report photo essay on this software Most recently have seen Caldera RIP at the Shanghai printer trade show in China at DRU PA in Germany at FESPA Digital in Geneva SGIA 08 and Viscom Italy 08 When visited a large printshop in Maribor northern Slovenia they were using Caldera RIP and the manager of technical services for this company said Caldera does a good job This company in Slovenia has about eight UV printers about five of them from Durst and an equal number of large solvent printers They originally used a GretagMacbeth color man Caldera also offers a highly regarded spectrophotometer from Barbieri the leading color management co
46. g Filters etc INK Longevity THE UV CURING LAMPS UV LAMPS Cooling RIP SOFTWARE amp Printer Software COLOR MANAGEMENT FEATURES PRODUCTIVITY amp ROI Return on Investment ADVERTISING CLAIMS Any Hype Slight Exaggeration GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS COMPARISONS WITH OTHER PRINTERS SUMMARY Image Quality Issues Relative to Applications CONCLUSIONS Contents O o Our BN gt w W W W WW W W W W W N N NN N N NN N N N N No PP m m m m m m m m m m gt NN UT R R R R NN O 4 O ut R R w N NN O O O O NU U RR W NN O O O FLAAR Reports Raster Printers EFI Rastek T660 INTRODUCTION During August 2008 it was possible to spend a day at the factory where the EFI Rastek T660 is manufactured So the earlier edition FLAAR Report is being updated based on the information gathered during this factory visit The ISI factory is outside Huntsville Alabama This is the NASA aerospace and military industrial complex area of the south In other words high tech The EFI Rastek T660 is designed for printshops e which do not have the floor space for a larger flatbed printer e who realize that they really need a true flatbed and not a combo or hybrid e for printshops whose budgets simply won t allow a larger more expensive UV printer to begin with though once they start with this T660 model they may buy a larger unit when they have more experience gained by using the EFI Rastek T660 For the Dayton
47. glected to cite the rest of the review which pointed out the features of the printer which did not do so well For them to correct this error after the fact is rather embarrassing So it is safer to ask before you quote a FLAAR review on your product Legal notice Inclusion in this study by itself in no way endorses any printer media ink RIP or other digital imaging hardware or software Equally exclu sion from this study in no way is intended to discredit any printer Advisory We do our best to obtain information which we consider reliable But with hundreds of makes and models of printers and sometimes when information about them is sparse or conflicting we can only work with what we have available Thus you should be sure to rely also on your own research especially asking around Find another trustworthy end user of the same make and model you need to know about Do not make a decision solely on the basis of a FLAAR report because your situation may be totally different than ours Or we may not have known about and hence not written about one aspect or another which is crucial before you reach your decision The sources and resources we may list are those we happen to have read There may be other web pages or resources that we missed For those pages we do list we have no realistic way to verify the ve racity of all their content Use your own common sense plus a grain of salt for those pages which are really just PR release
48. her printers turn them off Mimaki is a well known engineering company but their JV5 solvent printer had issues the first two years mainly inability to dry the ink The JV33 could also not dry the eco solvent ink so they had to switch back to a mild solvent ink The Mimaki JF series UV printers for reasons I do not understand have little issues and problems that Mimaki has been aware of and is working on but not been able to resolve fully Thus the JF series of UV flatbeds are not as perfect as I would have expected from a company with such experience Plus if the T660 flatbed has a servo motor to move the carriage and if the Mimaki JF series UV printers have only a stepper motor that alone is enough to cause banding The Mimaki uses out moded Espon style ink cartridges for which there is no benefit whatsoever other than that the Japanese engineers know how to handle Epson style ink delivery systems Plus Mimaki ink is considered expensive And the final issue is that for reasons that also fail to understand the Mimaki printer has reputation for wasting ink with purging All this 4FLAAR Reports shortcomings are regrettable since Mimaki managers whom Know naturally mainly in Europe and the US are all capa ble and have years of experience with printers for signage Their engineers back in Japan should produce a superior UV flatbed printer but have not accomplished this so far Last year autumn winter 2007 Mimaki began to realize
49. hybrid UV printers are still abandoned in the warehouse of the distributor they were still there in January 2009 But Teckwin has the highest rating of any Chinese company for interest in quality control and realization that it is not good PR to abandon a client or reseller or distributor all together Recently we have heard many reports of issues of getting parts from manufacturers in other countries not Asia So just because you printer is made in an industrialized country if you are in the US and the manufacturer is X thousand kilometers or miles away the wait may be many days or weeks Lack of Tech Support Personnel is increasing The book of sales in the third quarter of 2008 resulted in many tech support problems The recession resulted in even more some manufacturers may need to skimp on quality control during a recession or switch to cheaper parts suppliers Plus they are not hiring enough tech support during a recession So the bigger and more successful the company in some cases the worse these particular problems may be Any new compiled printer may take a few months to break in Any new printer no matter who the manufacturer or how good is the engineering ane electronics will tend to have teething issues Until the firmware is updated you may be a beta tester This does not mean the printer should be avoided just realize that you may have some downtime and a few headaches Of course the worst case sce nario for this
50. ia to the universities where FLAAR does research on wide format digital imaging We thank Epson America for providing an Epson 7500 printer many years ago and Parrot Digigraphic for providing three different models of Epson inkjet printers to our fa cilities on loan at BGSU 5500 7600 7800 We thank Mimaki USA for providing a JV4 and then a Mimaki TX 1600s textile printer and 4FLAAR Reports Improved Technologies ITNH providing their Ixia model of the Iris 3047 giclee printer We thank 3P Inkjet Textiles and HP for providing inkjet textiles so we could learn about the different results on the various textiles IJ Tech nologies 3P Inkjet Textiles ColorSpan Encad HP Nan Ya Pepa Oracal Tara and other companies have provided inkjet media so we can try it out and see how it works or not as the case may be several inkjet media failed miserably one from Taiwan the other evidently from Germany We thank Aurelon Canon ColorGate ColorSpan ErgoSoft HP PerfectProof PosterJet Onyx Ilford CSE ColorBurst ScanvecAmiable Wasatch and many other RIP companies for pro viding their hardware and software RIPs We thank Dell Computers for providing awesome workstations for testing RIP software and content creation with Adobe Photoshop and other programs We also appreciate the substantial amount of soft ware provided by Adobe As with other product loaned or provided courtesy of ProVar LLC especially the 23 monitors which makes it
51. ign and construction of this printer from the beginning and the people who are in charge of any tech support that may be needed provided the impetuous to initiate the process of an evaluation that you have in your hands presently CONCLUSIONS Pros The size footprint fits in sign franchise shops family owned sign shops and anywhere that space for a larger heavier version is not available Since Raster Printers is a small company they can afford to pro vide personalized service This printer is designed and manufactured in the USA The T660 printer is simple this is a compliment A good example of a printer that is complex would be the Agfa Anapurna XLS their update of the failed Agfa Anapurna 100 FESPA Munich 2005 with the walking feet that move the material A printshop owner in Europe just sent me his report of his evaluation of this XLS combo printer from the Agfa demo room in Belgium He re moved this printer from his short list and even from his full list after seeing how complex it was Another benefit of a simple design is that everything is acces sible The ink lines are also simple the ink is stationed on the back of the gantry so you don t need miles of ink lines to pump ink from the bottom or back of the printer All the key people in Raster Printers have experience in the world of wide format inkjet printers The T660 printer uses a printhead which offers better quality than many other flatbed
52. in your community There may well be hazardous chemicals or outgassing that we are not aware of Be aware that some inks have severe health hazards associated with them Some are hazardous to breathe others are hazardous if you get them on your skin For example some chemicals such as cyclo hexanone do not sound like chemicals you want to breathe every day Be sure to obtain read and understand the MSDS sheets for the inks media and laminates that you intend to use Both solvent eco solvent and UV curable inks are substances whose full range of health and environmental hazards are not yet fully revealed It is es sential you use common sense and in general be realistic about the hazards involved especially those which are not listed or which have not yet been described FLAAR is not able to list all hazards since we are not necessarily aware of the chemical components of the prod ucts we discuss Our reports are on usability not on health hazards Most inks are clearly not intended to be consumed Obviously these tend to be solvent inks and UV curable inks Yet other inks are edible seriously they are printed on birthday cakes Indeed Sensient is a leader in a new era of edible inks Therefore the user must assume the entire risk of ascertaining information on the chemical contents and flammability regulations relative to inks media or laminates as well as using any described hardware software accessory service technique or product
53. ion wager it would have sold another 12 units At FESPA Mexico Gerber sold one single printer Raster sold several definitely more than Gerber and more than Mimaki since there was not one single Mimaki flatbed printer at that show in August 2008 COMPARISONS WITH OTHER PRINTERS 210 When people are considering buying this printer what other printer s are they also looking at In flatbeds since the Aellora is no longer available the closest printers in size are various Mimaki printers Otherwise the Gerber Solara and the more popular HP Designjet H35100 formerly ColorSpan 5400uv series are competition and can do roll fed as well as flatbed and cost less than the EFI Rastek T660 But if you want a dedicated flatbed printer with no skewing then you need a dedicated flatbed design And if you or your clients ab solutely require small text with minimal satellite drops then you need a printhead that can deliver this quality HP Designjet H35100 at SGIA 07 This is a hybrid design which has an advantage of being acceptable for roll fed and okay for some flat materials but may not be really adequate for some diverse heavy thick or innovative materials for interior decoration There is no skew with rigid materials of any and all weights on the EFI Rastek T660 because this is a true dedicated flatbed Plus the printhead used in the T660 is significantly more advanced than the printhead used in ColorSpan printers for the last several yea
54. l humidity with the dust that is in your local air with your local operator and with disorientation of the insides of a printer during rough shipment and installation we have no knowledge of what conditions you will face in your own printshop We tend to inspect a printer first in the manufacturing plant demo room no disjointed parts from any ship ment since this printer has not been lifed by cranes and run over a rough pot holed highway or kept in smeltering heat or freezing cold during shipment 4FLAAR Reports Taking into consideration we do not know the conditions in which you may be using your hardware software or consumables neither the author nor FLAAR nor either university is liable for liability loss or damage caused either directly or indirectly by the suggestions in this report nor by hardware software or techniques described herein because Availability of spare parts may be a significant issue Chinese printers tend to switch suppliers for spare parts every month or so So getting spare parts for a Chinese printer will be a chal lenge even if the distributor or manufacturer actually respond to your e mails at all Fortunately some companies to have a fair record of response Teckwin is one based on a case of two problematical hy brid UV printers in Guatemala The distributor said that Teckwin sent a second printer at their own expense and sent tech support per sonnel at their expense also But unfortunately both the
55. ly Stated to be user friendly An entry level printer has to be 50 In the main area for operation is the machine software based touch screen or with physical control buttons Or both Software based which is the modern way no toggle switches no buttons You get toggles and buttons on many cheap Chinese made printers 51 Do you get an LCD screen in the printer or a real computer monitor How big is the screen or monitor The printer itself has no LCD screen you get a 15 monitor with the RIP station 52 How many operators or operator assistants does this printer require You only need one operator and only one person to load and unload On some larger flatbed printers you really ought to have a second person to load large flex ible sheets which bend too much if a single person tries to lift and carry them 53 Where does the operator stand or sit You can operate the printer from any area since it s all controlled from the monitor that you have with your RIP server 54 What controls are on either end Other than an emergency stop button there are no controls at either end 55 Is a foot pedal included for operating aspects of the printer Yes there is one foot pedal for turning the vacuum on and off to load and unload The printer comes with a computer to run the materials RIP You can place this setup anywhere CONSTRUCTION BUILD QUALITY 56 Is there both a front hood and a back hood There is no hood a
56. m the company website this is how it should be But most companies do not wish the end user to know which brand of ink is being used so hiding the MSDS is not necessarily an attempt to hide the dangers but may be to hide the source of the ink 101 How is the UV light shielded so it does not burn the eyes of the operator Does operator have to wear safety glasses The vacuum table is a dark color which helps minimize reflection The tables of Oce Mimaki and others are bright polished alumi num That makes no sense to have an almost mirror like surface directly below your UV lamps The advantage of the dark surface of the flatbed table is that it does not reflect as much of the UV light as a white or chrome table 102 How do users know if they are allergic to the non cured ink As with all chemicals allergic reactions can take many forms But people we have spoken with indicate that if you spill non cured UV ink on your skin if you are sensitive you will notice it quickly and painfully But even if you do not react immediately you do not want to have UV ink or the flush for UV printheads on your skin 4 FLAAR Reports PRINTHEAD TECHNOLOGY 103 Which brand printhead is used Spectra now known asFujifilm Dimatix 104 Which model of printhead is used M Class MEMS technology heads Indeed this is the first UV cured inkjet printer in the world to utilize this new concept 105 Is the printhead identified in the spec sheet
57. mes and our comment on that product may have been revised as we learned more about the product from end users Also we noticed that one company cited the single favorable comment we made on one nice aspect of their printer but neglected to cite the rest of the review which pointed out the features of the printer which did not do so well For them to cor rect this error after the fact is rather embarrassing So it is safer to ask before you quote a FLAAR review on your product The material in this report is not only copyright it is also based on years of research Therefore if you cite or quote a pertinent section please provide a proper credit which would be minimally Nicholas 4FLAAR Reports Hellmuth year www FLAAR org If the quote is more than a few words then academic tradition would expect that a footnote or en try in your bibliography would reference the complete title Publisher would be www FLAAR org If you intend to quote any portion of a FLAAR review in a PowerPoint presentation if this is in reference to any product that your company sells or promotes then it would be appropriate to license the report or otherwise notify us in advance FLAAR reports are being updated every week sometimes and our comment on that product may have been revised as we learned more about the product from end users Also we noticed that one company cited the single favorable com ment we made on one nice aspect of their printer but ne
58. mpany in Italy they are headquartered in the same city as Durst agement system but switched to BARBIERI because the BARBIERI spectrophotometer can read more efficiently and can handle tex tiles backlit wood and other materials that are either awkward or difficult on other brands of color management instruments You can learn about the BARBIERI equipment either from their headquarters in Brixen or their distribu tors worldwide For further information on Caldera contact Joseph MERGUI mergui caldera fr If you have questions about color man agement if you are in the US you can contact ImageTech at www lmage TechDigital com Mark Spandorf owner and president mark imagetechdigital com or 510 238 8905 If you are in Europe or the rest of the world you can contact BARBIERI directly at BARBIERI electronic snc info BARBIERIelectronic com www BARBIERIlelectronic com Tel 39 0472 834 024 Fax 39 0472 833 845 As soon as you have your UV flatbed printer your printshop will desire to have a cutter or trimmer First you need to trim Simple cutting of the edges of your board so the edges are neat and clean Then of course some clients will ask if you can do contour cutting This means you can offer additional services and earn additional income The best way to learn about trimmers is to ask a distributor who has more than one brand This way they do not push their house brand and denigate b
59. much ink is used to print a square unit 1 10th of a milliliter per square foot 168 What is the cost in ink per square unit Drop size can be varied from 18 to 204 pl The smaller the drop the less the cost of ink 169 How many square units does 1 liter of ink print 1000 square feet 170 What is the ink usage compared with a solvent printer In general UV ink will be more expensive than solvent ink but a solvent printer will use a lot more ink than a UV machine 171 How do you know when the waste container is full Since you can look at the waste ink tray at any time you can estimate when you feel it needs to be emptied 172 How can you see the remaining ink level There is no option to see the ink levels The software only tells you when you re out of ink 173 Is there an out of ink alarm Is there a warning before actually being out of ink When you run outofink you see a message on the screen 174 Does the printer send an e mail message a nice touch if the printer is operating unattended at night No e mail message no message to your cell phone either the Durst Rho 800 sends a message to your cell phone 175 Can you hot swap the ink refill with ink while the printer is running Yes it is possible if you are adept enough but be careful with the gantry INK Supply System Tubing Filters etc 176 How much ink does the ink container in the printer hold The ink in the printer is in the same half liter bottl
60. nd UV printers work best if used frequently If you are not going to use your printer for two or three days you have to put flush into the system and prepare it for hibernation even if for only four or five days Then you have to flush the ink system all over again Also realize that the surface of inkjet prints are fragile and gener ally require lamination to survive much usage Lamination comes in many kinds and it is worth finding a reliable lamination company and receiving training on their products Also realize that no hybrid or combo UV printer can feed all kinds of rigid materials precisely Some materials feed well others feed poorly others will skew Although we have found several makes and models to work very well in our facilities how well they work in your facilities may also depend on your local dealer Some dealers are excellent others just sell you a box and can t provide much service after the sale Indeed some low bid internet sales sources may have no technical backup what soever If you pay low bid price you can t realistically expect special maintenance services or tech support later on from any other dealer they will tell you to return to where you paid for the product This is why we make an effort to find out which dealers are recommendable Obviously there are many other dealers who are also good but we do not always know them To protect yourself further always pay with a level of credit card which allows
61. nsport belt or hybrid printer with platen Even dedicated printers have their downsides too with a dedicated flatbed you the operator are idle totally while the printer is print ing You can t load or unload anything But if you have a top of the line combo printer such as the Durst Rho 800 you can load at the back while the printer is cranking the previous job of flat material out the front this can print and load and unload all at the same time have seen this ability to feed while printing also with the ColorSpan 9840uv HP Scitex FB910 But with a dedicated flatbed printer there is no alignment issue just because the media is not cut squarely from the factory Poorly cut material is a major disadvantage for combo or hybrid printers So again the reason there are more than four different classifications of UV printers hybrid combo dedicated flatbed dedicated R t R is because each has pros and cons In theory the perfect printer would be a dedicated flatbed with a dedicated roll fed system across the long axis Gerber unfortunately is trying this across the short axis Oce has not yet gotten their roll fed device to function to the satisfaction of picky printshop owners based on a quote from someone who owns two of the Oce flatbeds but who bought a 400 000 combo printer so he could handle all media types on a single platform 4 FLAAR Reports STRUCTURE Miscellaneous 39 Does the printer have leveling supports How many
62. nting workflow We have seen Gerber cut ers at work during major trade shows both in Europe and in the US Gerber has dealers all across the US and Canada and in Europe is served by Spandex Dr Hellmuth shows a sample processed by the Gerber M Gerber M Series cutter at ISA 08 Series cutter exhibited at GraphExpo 08 4FLAAR Reports Reality Check Being a university professor for many years does not mean we know everything But intellectual curiosity often leads us to enter areas that are new to us So we do not shirk from entering areas where we are obviously not yet expert If in your years of wide format print ing experience have encountered results different that ours please let us know at ReaderService FLAAR org We do not mind eating crow though so far it is primarily a different philosophy we practice because since we are not dependent on sales commissions we can openly list the glitches and defects of those printers that have an oc casional problem FLAAR and most universities have corporate sponsors but FLAAR web sites do not accept advertising so we don t have to kowtow to resellers or manufacturers We respect their experience and opinion but we prefer to utilize our own common sense our in house experi ences the results from site visit case studies and comments from the more than 53 000 of our many readers who have shared their experiences with us via e mail the Survey Forms Licensing Information
63. ntshop In some cases a product may work better on a Macintosh than on a PC RIP software may function well with one operating system yet have bugs and crash on the same platform but with a different oper ating system Thus be sure to test a printer under your own specific work conditions before you buy And if a printer RIP media or ink does not function return it with no ands ifs or buts Your best defense is to show an advertising claim that the printer simply can t achieve Such advertising claims are in violation of federal regulations and the printer companies know they are liable for misleading the public But before you make a federal case just be sure that many of the issues are not user error or unfamiliarity It may be that training or an additional accessory can make the printer do what you need it to ac complish Of course if the printer ads did not warn you that you had to purchase the additional pricey accessory that is a whole other issue Our reviews do not cover accessories since they are endless as is the range of training or lack thereof among users The major causes of printer breakdown and failure is lack of main tenance poor maintenance spotty maintenance or trying to jerry rig some part of the printer The equally common cause of printer breakdown is improper use generally due from lack of training or experience Another factor is whether you utilize your printer all day every day Most solvent a
64. nvestment Of course if a printer manufacturer wants only a slick Success Story or what we call a suck up review that simply panders to the manufacturer obvi ously FLAAR is not a good place to dare to ask for such a review In several instances it was FLAAR Reports that allowed a company to either improve their printer or drop it and start from scratch and design a new and better one And naturally end users like the opportunity to learn about various printers from a single source that covers the entire range from UV through latex through all flavors of solvent We have also learned that distributors often prefer to accept for distribution a printer or other product on which a FLAAR Report already ex ists We turn down offers of funding every year These offers come from PO Box enterprises or products with no clearly visible point of manufac ture Usually the company making the offer presumes they can buy advertising space just by paying money But that is not what our readers want so we politely do not accept such offers of money Contributions grants sponsorships and funding for surveys studies and research is however open to a company who has an accepted standing in the industry It is helpful if the company has a visible presence at leading trade shows and can provide references from both end users and from within the industry Where possible we prefer to visit the company in person or at least check them out at a trade show Obvi
65. of firmware upgrades since the prototype was shown over 18 months ago 45 What new firmware upgrades are likely in the future Grayscale capability for the MEMS printheads will be available in the future 4FLAAR Reports Miscellaneous 46 What moves e the flatbed platform e the printhead area e only the material fed by roller table then gripped and fed by the printhead area mechanism as on a regular printer or both The flatbed table is totally fixed in position and does not move The gantry moves by increments The printhead carriage moves back and forth within the gantry 47 If the objects you are printing are not as wide as the full width of the printer does the printing carriage still have to cross the entire space or can the printing assembly hover just over the area of what has to be printed and thereby be a bit faster This is a decision the operator has to make oT This is a stationery flatbed table design The bridge raises over two supports at the sides of the fixed table These supports move the bridge along the fixed table 4FLAAR Reports OPERATING THE PRINTER 48 What is the level ofease of use Can anyone use this printer or do they have to be trained and certified What about daily and periodical routine maintenance Stated to be easy The only way to tell is to try it out myself since my patience level is about zero If can learn to use it anyone can 49 Is the printer user friend
66. omewhere else it may be an obsolete edition FLAAR reports are being updated all year long and our comment on that product may have been revised positively or negatively as we learned more about the product from end users If you receive any FLAAR Report from a sales rep in addition to being violation of copyright it is useful to Know if there is a more recent version on the FLAAR web site because every month new UV printers are being launched So what was good technology one month may be replaced by a much better printer elsewhere the next month To obtain a legitimate copy which you know is the complete re port with nothing erased or changed and hence a report with all the original description of pros and cons please obtain your origi nal and full report straight from www FLAAR org Your only assurance that you have a complete and authentic evaluation which describes all aspects of the product under consideration benefits as well as deficiencies is to obtain these reports directly from FLAAR via www wide format print ers NET Citing and Crediting A license from FLAAR is required to use any material whatsoever from our reports in any commercial advertisement or PR Release If you intend to quote any portion of a FLAAR review in a PowerPoint presentation if this is in reference to any product that your company sells or promotes then it would be appropriate to ask us first FLAAR reports are being updated every month someti
67. ont of our own eyes and in the print shops of people we check with And actually we do try to find some redeeming feature in the slow ink gulping brands they do have a better dithering pattern they can take thick media that absolutely won t feed through an HP So we do work hard at finding the benefi cial features even of printers are otherwise get the most critique from our readers Over one million people will read the FLAAR Information 4FLAAR Reports Network in the next 12 months 480 000 people will be exposed to our reports on wide format printers from combined total of our three sites on these themes You can be assured that we hear plenty of comments from our readers about which printers function and which printers fail to achieve what their advertising hype so loudly claims An evaluation is a professional service and at FLAAR is based on more than 11 years of experience An evaluation of a printer an ink a software laminator cutter or whatever part of the digital printing workflow is intended to provide feedback to all sides The manufacturers appreciate learning from FLAAR what features of their printers need improvement In probably half the manufacturers FLAAR has dealt with people inside the company did not themselves want to tell their boss that their pet printer was a dog So printer software and component manufacturers have learned that investing in a FLAAR evaluation of their product provides them with useful return on i
68. ories Bordeaux InkWin and Sunflower ink have brought us to inspect their ink manu facturing facilities and demo rooms We have visited the world head quarters and demo rooms of HP in Barcelona and received informa tive and helpful technology briefings roughly every two years We are under NDA as to the subjects discussed but it is important that we be open where we have visited Mimaki Europe has had FLAAR as their guest in Europe to introduce their flatoed UV printer as have other UV curable manufacturers again under NDA as to the details since often we are present at meetings where unreleased products are discussed Xaar has hosted an informative visit to their world headquarters in the UK You don t get this level of access from a trade magazine writer and can assure you we are provided much more detailed information and documentation in our visits than would be provided to a magazine author or editor Companies have learned that it s a lot better to let us know up front and in advance the issues and glitches with their printers since they now know we will find out sooner or later on our own They actually tell us they realize we will find out on our own anyway Contributions grant sponsorships and project funds from these companies are also used to improve the design and appearance of the web sites of the FLAAR Information Network We thank Canon ColorSpan HP ITNH and Mimaki for providing wide format printers inks and med
69. orts As always it is essen tial for you to visit printshops that have the printers on your short list and see how they function in the real world But even when we like a product and recommend it we still can t guarantee or certify any make or model nor its profitability in use because we don t know the conditions under which a printer system might be utilized in someone else s facility For ink and media espe cially after market third party ink and media it is essential that you test it first under your conditions We have no way to assure that any ink or media will be acceptable for your specific needs in your specific print shop As a result products are described as is and 4FLAAR Reports without warranties as to performance or merchantability or of fitness for a particular purpose Any such statements in our reports or on our web sites or in discussions do not constitute warranties and shall not be relied on by the buyer in deciding whether to purchase and or use products we discuss because of the diversity of conditions materials and or equipment under which these products may be used Thus please recognize that no warranty of fitness or profitability for a par ticular purpose is offered The user is advised to test products thoroughly before relying on them We do not have any special means of analyzing chemical con tents or flammability of inks media or laminates nor how these need to be controlled by local laws
70. peed of firing Higher frequency higher speed For example Xaar heads are traditionally listed as being slow 128 Is negative pressure required to maintain the ink without the ink dripping out the printhead when the machine is turned off Most UV printers use a slight negative pressure on the printheads to keep the ink from dripping out when not in use PRINTHEAD Life Expectancy 129 What does each printhead cost to replace Roughly between 1500 and 2000 If failure is the fault of the printhead this replacement is covered by the warranty 130 Is the printhead user installable No printheads should be installed and replaced by a qualified service technician PRINTHEAD CARRIAGE and GANTRY 131 Describe the design and construction of the carriage area Rak Kumar has many years of managing wide format printer companies so he knows all the design aspects of a printer If you wish to learn some of the jargon and design features of a UV curable printer yourself it is worth visiting the booth where he exhibits generally the booth of EFI While I was in the ISI factory on the assembly line of the T660 he explained to me that the carriage must be able to be aligned by roll pitch and yaw This is the align the carriage itself Then the individual printheads also require a method to align them as well individually A FLAAR Reports 132 What moves the carriage The carriage is moved by a metal band a belt The band travers
71. printers For its price class entry level the UV lamp cooling system is prob ably the most sophisticated of any that have yet seen The top of the vacuum table is a dark color Most other brands of flatbed printers have brightly mirrored surfaces which has the bad habit of reflecting undesired UV lamp light everywhere es pecially in to the retinas of bystanders The T660 offers white ink which is lacking on about half the other entry level UV curable printers Downsides Most larger flat materials in the US and some other countries are 4x8 so that is considered a more realistic size But not all print shops have space for a machine this large Every printer has issues even brands and models that we like oth erwise As soon as we learn of any problems and headaches with the T660 printer we will update this report If you need more information about Rastek Raster Printers Rak Kumar 408 545 0540 Most recently updated September 2008 First issued March 2007 4 FLAAR Reports 4 i ILAA pary Bacias ana Puhina IDC Coke Prota A LARE berm These reports on RIP software and Color Management for serious UV printers are free downloads on all FLAAR web sites follow the link to free downloads http www wide tormat printers net reviews_reports_evaluations free_download ph Once you have a serious UV curable wide for mat printer you may prefer to have an equally serious RIP so
72. r if they overheat It is timed The default is 5 minutes You should wait 2 to 3 minutes before restriking 198 How long does the lamp last in terms of hours of operation How many hours are used up by each strike by each time you turn the lamps on Mercury arc lamps tend to last about 1000 hours The LED lights can last up to 10 000 hours 199 What is the true drying curing time of the inks used with this set of lamps What factors influence the true total drying time The ink does not necessarily totally cure within seconds Some colors depending on how thick the ink is laid down may cure instantly But several factors may result in a cure that takes 24 hours 48 hours or weeks If you set the print mode for glossy this reduces the lamp intensity These prints will outgas for weeks Since my PhD is not in chemistry dont know how much of this time the inks are still curing zka s a Se HTE TE ee Se AAAA gt ms oe Currently the printer uses two traditional mercury arc lamps Raster Printers has gotten rid of LED lamps Eventually LED technology will evolve and you will see more printers using LED lamps but for the time being not many UV printers have been successful with LED lamps 4 FLAAR Reports UV LAMPS Cooling 200 Are there shutters There are no shutters 201 How are the lamps cooled Air Fans Water cooled This is a dual quartz system Air goes between the t
73. r itself Obviously we take their viewpoints with a grain of salt but often we learn tips that are worthy of being passed along FLAAR has no way of testing 400 specifications of any printer much less the over 101 different UV printers from more than 46 manufac turers Same with hundreds of solvent printers and dozens of water based printers We observe as best we can but we cannot take each printer apart to inspect each feature And for UV printers these are too expensive to move into our own facilities for long range testing so we do as best as is possible under the circumstances And when a deficiency does become apparent usually from word of mouth or from an end user it may take time to get this written up and issued in a new release Another reason why it is essential for you to ask other printshop own ers and printer operators about how Brand X and Y function in the real world is that issues may exist but it may take months for these issues to be well enough known for us to know the details Although often we know of the issues early and work to get this information into the PDFs access to information varies depending on brand and model Plus with over 300 publications the waiting time to update a specific report may be several months Plus once a printer is considered obsolete it is not realistic to update it due to the costs involved For these reasons every FLAAR Report tries to have its publication date on the front outsi
74. rands that they do not carry Also you want a real person that actually has experience Otherwise you get a box push er who is simply an Internet sales person who does not know trimmer from dimmer The person we suggest is Mike Lind because his company Reprographic Designs han dles all leading brands KeenCut Neolt Meteor Metoschnitt RotaTrim etc You can con tact him at 1 281 492 2714 or malind msn com His company is also the Master Distributor for Cruse reprographic scanners in the US and adjacent countries XY Cutter Options In a period of economic recession printshops will tend to ask about options that are priced lower than high end prices Thus we suggest a possible solution at mid range price Gerber M class cutters have inspected two huge factory complexes of Gerber Scientific in 2008 especially their cutters for fabrics and will be visiting their facilities again in 2009 To contact Gerber Phone US 800 222 7446 email cservice gspinc com Fax 800 227 6228 or 860 648 8064 Phone Intl 860 648 8028 email gspinternational gspinc com When you acquire a UV curable wide format printer you will eventually learn that an XY flatbed cutter is a useful accessory for thick rigid materials The advantage of having an XY cutter is that you are selling not just the print but a finished work To stay ahead of the competing printshops in your city it helps to offer your clients a solution for every step of the pri
75. ront in part because they don t yet have the experience to do their own repairs when they are first buying this printer Also this printer is unlikely to need spare parts the first six months to a year or more if it is prop erly maintained So generally it is the dealer or distributor that obtains the spare parts so that they are readily available to end users 12 Or do the dealers prefer that customers not try to make their own repairs Every printer manufacturer and distributor has their own policy on whether they wish the end users to make their own repairs The philosophy of ColorSpan was to keep the end user from fiddling with anything inside the printer This was logical because many were first time users of this kind of printer The downside was that once you became experienced or if your printshop was already advanced the lack of access to the innards of the printer was self defeating and undesired But there is no right or wrong policy ColorSpan is not wrong they are simply trying to protect newbies from making a mess of the inside of the printer In general the end user is usually not encouraged to take the printer apart and do repairs on their own Only later on when you have considerable experience and have taken advanced tech support training would doing your own repairs be realis tic However I have visited many printshops where the printer operator prefers to receive this training precisely so they can do their own repairs After
76. ront and back This is a dedicated flatbed with no roll fed accessory 24 Was this printer made originally as a UV curable ink printer or is it retrofitted with UV curing If retrofitted what was the original brand or model This is not a retrofitted solvent printer this is made from the ground up as a UV cured system The EFI Rastek T660 was designed to be a UV flatbed from the beginning The size makes it a printer for a specific market The other UV flatbeds of similar size are the Gerber lon and the Inca Spyder 150 25 Are there edge guards elsewhere besides on the table At left or at right or both Edge guards are primarily for roll fed media and primarily on hybrid style designs with a flat platen So you don t expect edge guards on a dedicated flatbed printer 26 How is media held flat Vacuum table Pinch rollers There are no pinch rollers on this table yes some dedicated flatbed printers actually do have pinch rollers a flatbed UV printer from Sky Air Ship even has two sets of pinch rollers 27 Is there a registration gate that is lowered across the back printing area There is no gate on most dedicated flatbed printers 28 Is two sided printing realistic Is there a special mechanism for registering the position of the image on the second side No special alignment features to facilitate registering two sided printing 4 FLAAR Reports 29 Do you have to hand measure the media height to enter it manuall
77. rs That other head is okay for signage to be viewed at a distance but the T660 printhead is demonstrably more precise for close viewing such as for POP As a photographer consider the T660 much better for photographic quality If you need a flatbed printer to operate every day having a real flatbed printer has multiple advantages over a hybrid You also need to consider resale value and the ability of the manufacturer to provide reliable service have checked with an owner of another model of Raster Printers and they were content with the service to the point that while was in their printshop in Pennsylvania they were fielding calls from franchise shop owners and recommending Raster Printers to other franchise sign shop owners 4 FLAAR Reports 8 a a i ii Gerber ion is a larger size 4x8 and also has a roll fed appendage but if you read the FLAAR Report on the ion you will learn the limitations of cationic ink and the problems with cold curing The FLAAR Report on UV inks per se has an additional sec tion on the more serious issues of cationic inks and why no other printer manufacturer has been successful with them so far at least not outside a lab or factory demo center The Mimaki JF 1610 is closer in size to the EFI Rastek T660 The over 45 page FLAAR Report on this Mimaki printer document the pros and cons of this machine based on comments from end users in the US and Australia 211 What features on the ot
78. rs ago we noticed Epson was laminat ing prints to show glossy output because their pigmented inks could not print on actual glossy media The same equipment inks media and software may not work as well in your facility as we or you see it at a trade show All the more reason to test before you buy and keep testing before you make your final payment Your ultimate protection is to use a gold American Express credit card so you can have lever age when you ask for your money back if the product fails Images printed at trade show may be in uni directional mode so you may not realize the printer has bi directional curing banding defects until you unpack it in your printshop Bi directional curing banding is also known as the lawnmower effect Many printers have this defect sometimes certain modes can get rid of it but are so slow that they are not productive You absolutely need to do print samples with your own images and the kind provided by your clients Do not rely on the stock photos provided by the printer ink media or RIP manufacturer or reseller They may be using special images which they know in advance will look fabulous on their printer Equally well if you send your sample images to the dealer don t be surprised if they come back looking awful That is because many dealers won t make a serious effort to tweak their machine for your kind of image They may use fast speed just to get the job done this will result in low qu
79. s We have no idea of your client s expectations What students on our campus will accept may not be the same as your Fortune 500 clients In many cases we have not ourselves used the products but are bas ing our discussion on having seen them at a trade show during visit ing a print shop or having been informed about a product via e mail or other communication Results you see at trade shows may not be realistic Be aware that trade show results may not be realistic Trade shows are idealized situations with full time tech support to keep things run ning The images at a trade show may be tweaked Other images make be faked in the sense of slyly putting on primer without telling the people who inspect the prints Most UV inks don t stick to all ma terials many materials need to be treated Or the UV prints may be top coated so that you can t do a realistic scratch test Booth personnel have many standard tricks that they use to make their output look gorgeous In about half the cases you will not likely obtain these results in real life in most cases they are printing uni directional which may be twice as slow as bi directional Trade show examples tend to be on the absolutely best media When you attempt to save money and use economy media you will quickly notice that you do not get anywhere near the same results as you saw in the manufacturer s trade show booth or pictured in their glossy advertisement Five yea
80. s FLAAR has existed since 1969 long before inkjet printers existed Indeed we were writing about digital imaging before HP even had a color inkjet system available In 2000 FLAAR received an educa tional grant from Hewlett Packard large format division Barcelona Spain for training for equipment and to improve the design and navigation on the main web sites of the FLAAR Network This grant ran its natural course and like all grants reached its finishing point in this case late 2005 In some cases the sponsorship process begins when we hear end users talking about a product they have found to be better than other brands We keep our ears open and when we spot an espe cially good product this is the company we seek sponsorship from It would not be wise of us to seek sponsorship from a company with a sub standard or otherwise potentially defective printer So we usu ally know which printers are considered by end users to be among the better brands before we seek sponsorship After all out of the by now one million readers we have heard plenty about every single printer out there We thank MacDermid ColorSpan now part of HP Hewlett Pack ard Parrot Digigraphic Color DNA Canon Gandinnovations and other companies for providing funding for technology training for the FLAAR staff and our colleagues at Bowling Green State University in past years and for funds to allow us to attend all major international trade shows which are id
81. s iffy even in a 350 000 Durst Rho So this printer is more versatile than other flatbeds which have no possibility of white varnish or six colors r Te REN a R With the EFI Rastek T660 you can choose between having CMYK lc lm or CMYK W Varnish or CMYK 2W 4FLAAR Reports 157 What company makes the inks Choices include DuPont Jetrion Flint Sericol Sun Triangle KonicaMinolta Tete nal and several others Triangle ink company and ISI the manufacturer are both owned by Sakata INX So it is no surprise that Triangle ink is used as the ink for rigid materials in this printer INK White amp Varnish 158 Is white ink available Yes White ink is definitely a plus compared with other entry level dedicated flatbeds which configuration was designed to be only CMYK 159 To use white ink does that require not using light colors in order to make space for the white ink Yes you have six ink channels you can select CMYK 2W or six colors 160 What is the sequence of printing the white ink Can you print all white and then print colors on top You can set the printer to select a White first then the other colors b Colors first then white Since this is a flatbed machine you can run over the same area several times 161 How many ink lines or printheads are dedicated to white ink One or two Two printheads are needed so your white is opaque enough 162 Is the white ink opaque enough You would need
82. s or outright ads We are quite content with the majority of the specific printers RIPs media and inks we have in the FLAAR facilities We would obviously never ask for hardware software or consumables that we knew in advance would not be good However even for us a product which looks good at a trade show sounds good in the ad literature and works fine for the first few weeks may subsequently turn out to be a lemon Or the product may indeed have a glitch but one that is so benign for us or maybe we have long ago gotten used to it and have a work around And not all glitches manifest themselves in all situations so our evaluator may not have been sufficiently affected that he or she made an issue of any particular situation Yet such a glitch that we don t emphasize may turn out to be adverse for your different or spe cial application needs Equally often what at first might be blamed on a bad product often turns out to be a need of more operator experience and training More often than not after learning more about the product it becomes pos sible to produce what it was intended to produce For this reason it is crucial for the FLAAR team and their university colleagues to interact with the manufacturer s training center and technicians so we know more about a hardware or software Our evaluations go through a process of acquiring documentation from a wide range of resources and these naturally include the manufacture
83. sed to clean vehicle wraps in Latin America for example e Scotch tape pull off test 4 FLAAR Reports THE UV CURING LAMPS 191 How many different sets of lamps are there Is there pinning first and then curing later The original prototype of this innovative printer had one mercury arc UV lamp at the left and one set of LED lights at the right That was over a year ago 192 What technology is used in curing lamps microwave continuous mercury arc or flash pulsed Xenon The production model uses two mercury arc UV lamps no more LED naa This picture was taken in 2007 at ISA trade show At that time the printer used one mercury arc lamp at the left and a LED light at the right As you will see in the following page the lamp configuration has changed since then 193 How many watts are the lamps 600 watts for each individual lamp 194 What brand of lamp is used The lamp assembly is from Integration Technology but the electronics and power supply are from ISI in other words from the company that contract manufactures this printer for Raster 4FLAAR Reports 195 How many lamps does the printer use Two 196 Can you have one lamp on one setting and the other lamp on another setting Or do both lamps have to be on the identical setting There is a variable power control on UV lamps They are controlled via software 197 What shuts the lamps off For example after so many minutes of not being used o
84. service station and parking area MAINTENANCE 94 What daily maintenance is required at start up in the morning Prime the heads 10 seconds per head SAFETY amp HEALTH CONCERNS 95 How much odor is emitted by the photoinitiators or other aspects of the UV ink or curing process How much subse quent outgassing is there and for how long does the stuff smell All ink emits odor even water based but if you ventilate the printer and the work area the smell is manageable 96 Is the machine enclosed or exposed The gantry itself is exposed 97 Does the hood close down completely to seal the system or are there a few inches open at the bottom There is no hood FLAAR Reports 98 What keeps UV lamp light from leaving from the space between the bottom of the hood and the platen or transport belt There is nothing specific to keep severe light from leaking but I did not notice anywhere near the problem with serious light leak as on the Oce Arizona 250 GT which had the most blinding light leak of any printer at every trade show 99 What is the noise level primarily of the fans for the vacuum Normally the vacuum pump is the noisest part of any UV curable flatbed or combo style printer Roll to roll UV printers do not need as much vacuum table area so are not as noisy in this respect 100 How easy is it to obtain the MSDS of the ink It is rare that the MSDS of the ink is easy to obtain If the MSDS is an auto download fro
85. sign the system Most newer printer models tend to overcome deficiencies of earlier models It is possible that our comparative comments point out a glitch in a particular printer that has been taken care of through an improvement in firmware or even an entirely new printer model So if we point out a deficiency in a particular printer brand the model you may buy may not exhibit this headache or your kind of printing may not trigger the problem Or you may find a work around Just remember that every machine has quirks even the ones we like It is possible that the particular kind of images resolution inks media or other factors in your facility are sufficiently different than in ours that a printer which works just fine for us may be totally unsatis factory for you and your clients However it may be that the specific kind of printing you need to do may never occasion that shortcoming Or it may be that your printer was manufactured on a Monday and has defects that are atypical show up more in the kind of media you use which we may not use as often or at all during our evaluations Equally possibly a printer that was a disaster for someone else may work flawlessly for you and be a real money maker for your com pany So if we inspect a printer in a printshop a site visit case study and that owner operator is content with their printer and we mention this don t expect that you will automatically get the same results in your own pri
86. t all since the printing system is exposed 57 How would you describe the overall workmanship of visible parts Clean Swiss made or flimsy and uneven sev eral Chinese made printers The printer is made in the US and appears to be professionally designed and appropriately built 58 Does the printer wobble back and forth when printing No wobble 59 What sensors does the printer have Several sensors including a media sensor to prevent a head crash ink level sensors etc FLAAR Reports AESTHETICS 60 How would you describe the design of the printer Good basic design 61 Can you easily tell which is the front and which is the back Until you get used to the printer in part because its small and has no control monitor anywhere you use your own RIP station as a monitor and that you can put anywhere it s not easy to tell which is the front or back This is however not a defect because you will learn what features are where during installation and training call the front the area where the LCD and operator panel s are situated This usually means that the other side is where you feed the material in I call that the back But many printer companies call the feeding area the front It makes no difference as long as you define what you mean in advance Some UV curable printers have a moveable control computer that can be situated at one end or at the feeding area whichever loca tion the operator prefers B
87. t printing modes Ink starvation is a real issue that affects even some quarter million dollar printers So you need to check with end users to see if they have issues with ink starvation This printer has no record of ink starvation that we are aware of FLAAR Reports 185 What kind of e chain is used Igus brand The energy chain is the plastic linked system that holds all the cables and ink tubing so that it does not get rubbed while being moved back and forth to feed the carraiage e chain 186 To what degree is the ink heated 40 degrees Celcius 187 How long does it take to heat the ink in the morning at startup A couple of minutes 188 Has any misting or spray been reported What about ink inside the machine parts Not yet seen but consider that the highest the printhead carriage the more likely it will be to get mist INK Longevity 189 To what degree can you expect cracking of the resultant image if on a flexible substrate If you intend to print on flexible or thermo formable material it is advisable that you use the adequate ink 190 What about solvents such as cleaning solvents Do they mar dull or wash away the ink or change the surface quality especially on vehicle wrap Do not wipe with alcohol right after printing e Ammonia in Windex and comparable cleaning liquids e Acetone e Cleaning alcohol e Gasoline e Soap and water with sponge e Soap and water with a broom frequently u
88. the spectrum of printer equipment and software engineering companies Thus there is no incentive to favor one faction over another We receive support from three manufactur ers of thermal printheads Canon ColorSpan and HP and also have multiple printers from three manufacturers of piezo printers Epson Seiko Mutoh and Mimaki This is because piezo has definite ad vantage for some applications thermal printheads have advantages in different applications Our reviews have universal appeal precisely because we feature all competing printhead technologies Every printer RIPs inks or media we have reviewed have good points in addition to weaknesses Both X Rite and competitor GretagMacbeth provided spectrophotometers Again when all sides assist this pro gram there is no incentive to favor one by trashing the other Printer manufacturer ad campaigns are their own worst enemy If a printer did not make false and misleading claims then we would have noth ing to fill our reviews with refuting the utter nonsense that is foisted on the buying public It is not our fault if some printers are more user friendly print on more media than other brands It is not our fault that the competing printers are ink guzzlers are slow beyond belief and tend to band or drop out colors all together We don t need to be paid by the printer companies whose products work so nicely in both our universities on a daily basis The printers which failed did so in fr
89. to see print samples of the white to determine if it is opaque enough we would recommend using two heads for white 163 What is the shelf life Does the white ink need special attention Titanium dioxide may settle out if it sits too long What company provides the white ink Shelf life of white ink is six months 164 Is spot varnish available Yes and no spot varnish may be available in the future but the owner of other brands of more expensive printers comment that their spot varnish does not always work satisfactorily So would want to see print samples before got all set to accept a huge job that de manded spot varnish INK Cost 165 Does ink come in cartridges or bulk How large are the ink containers for replacement ink The ink is in half liter bottles 166 What is the cost per container What is this cost translated to liters Ink is 99 for a half liter which means just under 200 for a full liter If remember correctly this makes the ink less cost than that of Gerber less cost than Mimaki I do not yet have the price of the ColorSpan ink now that HP took over but the rule is the cheaper the printer the more expensive is the ink the more expensive the printer the less cost the ink is With the T660 the price of the printer is reasonable and the cost of the ink is below that of most other entry level printers The white ink is 120 for the half liter bottle so 240 for a full liter 4FLAAR Reports 167 How
90. tually every product we discuss You can t fool a print shop owner whose printer simply fails to function as advertised And equally a sign shop owner who earns a million dollars a year from a single printer brand makes an impact on us as well We have multiple owners of ColorSpan printers tell us that this printer is their real money earner for example We know other print shops where their primarily income is from Encad printers Kinkos has settled on the HP 5000 as its main money maker production machine and so on Yet we have documentation of several print shop companies whose business was ruined by specific brands that failed repeatedly It is noteworthy that it is always the same brand or printer at both loca tions one due to banding and printheads then simply no longer print ing one color the other brand due to pokiness of the printer simply not being competitively fast enough Same with RIPs we have con sistent statements of people using one RIP and only realizing how weak it was when they tried another brand which they found sub stantially better Thus we note that companies which experiment with more than one brand of product tend to realize more quickly which brand is best This is where FLAAR is in an ideal situation we have nine RIPs and 25 printers Hence it is logical that we have figured out which are best for our situation Grant funding sponsorship demonstration equipment and training are supplied from all sides of
91. ut the standard arrangement is that the LCD and keyboard are on the output side I call this the front m T MEL In exposed printers as opposed to the enclosed machines it is always more difficult to tell which is the front and which is the back Such is the case of the Oce Arizona 250GT the Gandinnovations 3150 the Teckwin TeckStorm the Gerber ion etc SET UP OF THE PRINTER PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS 62 What is the delivery time between the time I order the printer and it is delivered Delivery time varies depending on whether you order before or after a trade show Normal delivery time for most UV printers varies between three to seven weeks 63 What are the electrical requirements of this printer This means will the building have to be rewired 200 204 VAG single phase 50 60 Hz 30 Amps maximum 4FLAAR Reports 64 Do you need to budget installing a ventilation or room exhaust system Yes we advise having ventilation and a room exhaust system and a room area air cleanser such as from Island Clean Air All UV printers need room ventilation for everything from ozone to misting ink to general odor Increasingly ozone production is sur prised this has led some companies to claim that no ventilation is needed Such a claim is dangerous especially in a country like the US where litigation is so common Has Agfa never heard of misted ink Ink mist is what the printer operator could potentially
92. when just one particular report is actually updated There is a free PDF that describes the UV curable inkjet printer Sub scription system Subscriptions are available only for UV related wide format printer publications FLAAR Reports on UV curable roll to roll flatbed hybrid and combo printers are updated when new information is available We tend to update the reports on new printers on printers that readers ask about the most and on printers where access is facilitated such as factory visits demo room visits etc Reports on obsolete printers discontinued printers or printers that not enough people ask about tend not to be updated FLAAR still publishes individual reports on solvent printers and on giclee printers but subscriptions on these are not yet available these FLAAR Reports on solvent eco solvent and water based wide for mat printers have to be purchased one by one Please Note This report has not been licensed to any printer manufacturer dis tributor dealer sales rep RIP company media or ink company to distribute So if you obtained this from any company you have a pirated copy If you have received a translation this translation is not au thorized unless posted on a FLAAR web site and may be in violation of copyright plus if we have not approved the translation it may make claims that were not our intention Also since this report is frequently updated if you got your ver sion from s
93. will most likely need a color management system which implies color measurement tools and software To handle ICC color profiles you may need ICC color profile generation software and a spectrophotometer since often the stock pre packaged ICC color profiles which come with the ink media printers and or RIPs may not work in your situation Not all RIPs handle color manage ment equally or may work better for some printer ink media combi nations than for others Be aware that some RIPs can only accept ICC color profiles you quickly find out the hard way that you can t tweak these profiles nor generate new ones So be sure to get a RIP which can handle all 4FLAAR Reports aspects of color management Many RIPs come in different levels You may buy one level and be disappointed that the RIP won t do everything That s because those features you may be lacking are available only in the next level higher of that RIP often at consid erable extra cost Same thing in the progression of Chevy through Pontiac to Cadillac or the new Suburbans A Chevy Suburban simply does not have all the bells and whistles of the Cadillac Escalade ver sion of this SUV Dont blame us besides thats why we are warning you This is why we have a Survey Form so we can learn when you find products that are inadequate We let the manufacturers know when end users complain about their products so that the manufacturers can resolve the situation when they next rede
94. with people with other end users and with FLAAR in person on a consulting basis Acknowledgements With 19 employees the funding has to come from somewhere so we do welcome project sponsorship research grants contributions that facilitate our educational programs scholarships for co op interns and graduate students and comparable project oriented funding from manufacturers The benefit for the end user is a principle called academic freedom in this case e The freedom of a professor or student to speak out relative to the pros and cons of any equipment brought to them to benchmark The freedom to design the research project without outside meddling from the manufacturer Fortunately our budget is lean and cost effective as you would expect for a non profit research institute As long as we are not desperate for money we can avoid the temptation to accept payment for reprinting corporate PR hype So the funding is used for practical research We do not accept nor believe and certainly do not regurgitate corporate PR For example how many manufacturer s PR photos of their prod ucts have you seen in our reports or on our web sites Besides it does not take any money to see which printers and RIPs 4FLAAR Reports function as advertised and which don t We saw one hyped printer grind to a halt malfunction or otherwise publicly display its incapa bilities at several trade shows in a row At each of those same trade shows
95. wo layers of quartz to cool the UV light by the time it reaches the substrate on which the ink is printing 202 How many fans are there per lamp There are two sets of fans to cool the UV lamps the assembly from Integration Technology uses its own fan s Then ISI adds a second set that directs air in between two plates of quartz that are on the front of the lamps The curing face of the quartz is thus an extra quartz plate not present on the original system from England There is also a screw drive to allow turning to raise or lower the lamps i ISI incorporated extra fans at the sides of the custom lamps from Integration Technology At the right you can see the bolt to move up or down the UV lamps A FLAAR Reports 203 In the areas at left and right of the printing area is the surface specially protected against the extreme heat Yes there is a heat sink pit for each lamp to park on top of These are on either side of the maintenance station The lateral holes located in the parking station are the heat sinks for the lamps z ee PE At the back of the carriage there is a secondary fan system 4FLAAR Reports RIP SOFTWARE 8 Printer Software 204 Does the price of the printer include a RIP If a RIP is included or part of a package is it a lite RIP or a full featured RIP Can this RIP be updated Can it run any other printers Onyx PosterShop or ProductionHouse are optional upgrades to the base price 205 Isa
96. y into the software There is a nut driver and shim to measure media height 30 Do you have to measure the media size width and length manually and then enter it yourself into the software Yes FLATBED ASPECTS for dedicated flatbeds 31 If a dedicated flatbed how many sections is the flatbed divided into The underneath structure of the vacuum table is in two parts joined with interlocking sections 32 If a dedicated flatbed do the edges joins of the sections of the table cause a noticeable imprint on thin material Although the vacuum table itself is in two sections the joined area and the entire table is covered with a black material that is one piece So there are no edge joints detectable on the final top of the table on which the material rests 33 Is there a pinch roller system and if so where is this located Yes there are actually dedicated flatbed systems that also have pinch rollers Indeed one Chinese flatbed has two sets of pinch rollers atop the flatbed Of course this begs the question of whether its vacuum system is so weak that it needs the pinch rollers I do not know of any high end dedicated flatbed system made in North America Europe or Japan that has pinch rollers While on this subject there are also pinch rollers on a few combo style printers including at least one Durst Rho U e Ly ery I S m a m E z gt 4 This is a one section vacuum Considering the

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