Best Value flat bed printer for a small sign business?

[Andrew John Sawyer]

We bought a Gerber Solara UV flatbed printer but have only just moved into larger premises so still awaiting engineer to setup! Cost about 32K but was very impressed with the results when we visited Gerber. Stacks up very well against the more expensive models. Also has 2 extra colours to give signs real punch. Looked at cheaper models but not that impressed, but all depends on what you want it for!

[Mike Thorpe]

Hi

There is a machine from a company in the UK which is based on the FY-6150 but with significant improvements to help it print solvent inks onto flat surfaces. Problem is it’s my company and as I can’t put commercial posts I’d better stop here!

There is one machine at a customer in Waterford, Graphic Image, who are using the printer for similar applications to you so maybe you could speak to them and see what you think?

Mike

[Joanne Maney]

Hi John

I have been after something similar and have been looking at the 1500FB made by Solaris1504. I first saw it at Sign Uk printing to Correx and Foamboard. It looks good for my application because it also prints rolls. Might be worth a look.

Good luck

Joanne

[JohnMoyles]

Thanks for your help everyone.
I’ll call graphic image and research the other machines suggested also.
All the best,
John.

[Mike Thorpe]

Hi John

Thanks for the call last week, if you have a spare minute could you give me a ring back unfortunately I didnt get your number.

Regards

Mike

[geomet]

mod-edit see board rules

Regards
Caroline

[Robert Lambie]

i saw a flat bed printer introduced at signuk this year by graphtec, cost around £57k brand new… i haven’t seen any as competitively priced as that… i don’t know allot about the machine though, sorry. 😕

[Pauly]

I would research the Infiniti VERY thouroughly……….

The company i work for bought a machine from this company a few years back, and seriously, the name infiniti has made me cringe ever since, i spent countless late night trying to get this machine to work with the tech from the company that sold it to us. There were so many problems with the machine and NO ONE could fix them, we even had the owners of inifiniti fly over from asia somewhere to look at and upgrade the machines main boards and heads, and it still had problems after that.

After long and intense negotiations, it ended up with the company we bought it from (not infiniti) accepting responsibility for the "lemon" and replacing it with another make and model.

If we had not have had the support from the company we purchased the machine from or they didnt have good techs based locally, then this machine would have been a financial disaster for us……

Maybe we were just unlucky or things have improved since then, but it was a valuable lesson for me in terms of doing due diligence on any equipment rather than taking the sales persons word for it.

Just be careful.

[Ryan]

Backbone Digital in Nottingham can offer you new or used flat bed printers, we work a lot with them. I know right now they have a second user working flat bed available in the UK which is made by a Korean company called Dilli. This is backed up by ink supplies and service support. Your alternative as well is to source a good trade agreement with a flat bed printer, if you have a decent quantity then you should be able to source this work for £15-£20 per sq. Backbone could give you some advice on this also.