has anybody heard or seen the new 100" printer from seiko? of all the users of the 64" version, i'm curious to know if anybody feels the need to upgrade and for what purpose? i've always had problems sourcing wider subsrates for 2.5m+ printers, and are concerned that if i go for this wider version i might struggle. i'm also not 100% sure what benefits i get by having another 40 or so inches to play with?
It actually supports heavy rolls - up to 110 kg - and also it has the ability to print two rolls at a time. Plus there is a 540dpi mode in between - 3 pass i guess. The only weird thing is that the claimed speeds are the same as in 64" model - that's weird because if the carriage velocity and carriage return time are the same, then the speeds must be bigger, cuz the return time takes less percentage of time each pass.
I was thinking about that machine, but it currently costs twice as much and there is the wait time i could not afford. Maybe soon, cuz the 64 works so smoothly that maybe we could just get rid of some other machines and buy this one.
Two different types are possible of course, but the difference in feed between two profiles, e.g. banner and vinyl, will cause some banding. On the other hand, you can put matte and glossy vinyl at the same time - no problem there.
Now - THE PURPOSE :)
So, the thing is that some media are just in 42" or 50" rolls - no wider option available. Example - some cast vinyls. You just don't have them wider than 50" for all i know. And imagine now you have to print cast for vehicles? Printing two rolls at once is just sweet.
Plus, some less important reasons - sometimes you just don't want to cut. You want both edges to be perfect. Or the customer wants it on 36" media or something. Or what if you got some narrow media left from your other machine? ;) Or, again - you have a 36" vinyl cutter? ;) So you print two 36" rolls :) Easy, huh?
No, but i have need for double roll and heavy rolls and that 540dpi mode - so the 100s is just perfect for me as the next machine. I just could not wait for it so we went with 64s, but surely we don't regret it ;) It has already printed close to 1000 running meters (and i guess approx 1300 square meters, judging by what media width has been used) (there is a media counter with that availalbe, right?) in two weeks+ so i guess that's a good score ;)
After careful profiling and some tips from the service guy we don't have banding even in 360 mode, on any media, of course not on dark solid colors, like deep blues or reds - that's why the 540 mode is supposedly great.
Plus, just as someone on Yahoo forums stated - the media skew and uneven feed banding was caused mostly by the factory-misattached paper roll bar set, a quick adjustment and it was perfect.
Oh, and wider media? Well, we print a lot on 2.5m and 3.2m and i don't see any problem with wide media availability. Surely you won't have vinyl this wide ;) That's why there is multiroll :) In Scitex Vision you can print three rolls at the same time. Wicked. WIth vehicle graphics that makes it very nice.
Yes, actually, it's the first machine in our set that prints flawlessly after installation. We got four others that never behaved according to expectations. This one behaves exactly as we expected. And any small quirks that happen are nothing that we would not know before, thanks to this forum and the Yahoo forum. And to you as well mate :) Thanks.
I received my 100S last week and it's awesome! But I do have bad news for everyone, As of last week 9-8-2005 the "double roll printing" is not functioning!!!!! Seiko told me that this is an option and will be available within the next 30 days. So for those of you needing this capability ASAP you may have to sit tight. Also I recommend purchasing (2) foot pedal controls for the feed & take-up systems because the reach is really too far for one person. Other than the things I mentioned, the machine is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!
what have you tested on it. i heard it does duplex printing, mesh printing without backing and the dual-roll. how long until they have the dual-roll available, and did they give you any ideras how it's going to work? did they tell you up front is wasn't ready or did you have to find out on the day?
apart from that what substrates have you printed on. i'm really interested to find out what quality you get on banner, vinyl, papers etc....
The most important piece of information for me is the new mode - the 540. I know that when i installed 100S driver on my Caldera RIP, it showed a few new modes, plus the advertised 540. My guess is that it needed to be included so as to allow to print faster than 720, but with enough colour, because 360 was almost unprofilable ;) I mean, it was nice for photos and stuff, but all the reds on 360 were just not good enough. I know that there is also 360 HD mode.
This is the most important thing for me, because i bet that it's very good with heavy media and it's much stronger built than the 64s.
With the 64s or the 100s? ;) I don't have the 100s yet, but i'm considering it. With the 64s the only trouble is that the 360 mode even if carefully profiled, doesn't give correct reds. They could be pale, but correct, however they're brownish. Gotta fight with the profiles a bit more, see what i can do.
I just got it last week, but tested on Ultraflex banner with nice results, Oracal 3651 still need to play with that and tomorrow will be printing a full wrap on 3M IJ-180C-10 on 360 fast mode. As far as printing on mesh I was under the understanding that there was some kind of well that would catch the ink, but after the Seiko USA tech was is my shop he told me that you need to run a special mesh backer under the mesh banner to catch the ink? I still need to confirm that. As for the dual roll printing, they told me the morning of the install after I asked about it! They said it would be ready in the next 30 days. And as for new modes i know i saw Draft, Fast, High Density 8 Pass, High Speed 8 pass, High Density 12 pass, High Speed 12 pass, High Density 16 pass I have'nt had my internet connection for the past week because Verizon is a bunch of screwballs and cant fix the problem or i could answer questions accurately for everyone!
i was of the same concept re the mesh liner. it seems you have to purchase a separate liner to run underneath the mesh, but i'm told it's reusable! i'm really interetsed in the dual-roll option, so pls let us know if after the 30days it does appear and works. i think that they might have added a whole load of new pass rates to help the ripping time decrease, but not sure how many and what pass rates.
one thing that does bother me are the speeds... because if the speeds in the 64s are 8, 16 and 32, then, with the same carriage speed, the speeds in the 100s should be approx 20-30% faster - say, 11, 20, 36 or so. If the speeds in the 100s are the same as with 64s, then the carriage speed must have gone lower.
So actually when i'm printing a single 42" inch roll on a 64s, i get a speed of approx 13-14 sqm/h. So if i would be printing two 42" inch rolls on a 100s, i would get the same speed? So i think that buying two 64s instead of one 100s is a better option for multiroll.
