So, do you have any advices about this machine? Also, whatīs the thing with ly and lk inks? I think that CMYKOG would be a better option (for gamut and ink saving!!). is there a posibillity to have this option
On our Infinity (with spectra heads) we never printed 720 dpi because it was way too slow, does anyone knows what is vutekīs speed on 720?
Can you also compare seiko and Vutek 720 dpi print
You wanna compare Seiko and Vutek 720 print? ;) Surely Vutek's gonna be worse (bigger drop size) but approx 6 times less expensive on the ink alone, not to mention the speed. Actually i think that Vutek is 360 addressable, maybe you can print 360 horizontal and 720 vertical by interlacing, but actually if you will use 8 colours and 360 you will get apparent 720+. 8 colors is an awesome thing, of course depending on what you want to do - if you will print vehicle graphics with it or some small sized graphics - surely this will be the choice.
But come on, don't worry at all - Vutek is a well known money maker for the people who use it :) I'm betting my next purchase for large format will be either Vutek or Scitex. We'll see about it tomorrow, i got a meeting with a Scitex guy.
well, i understand and expect that Vutek cannot print as seiko.. and were doing everything on it (from cityligts and vehicle graphics to megaboards up to 150 sqm) on our infinity so itīs most likely that vutek will replace it. I must say that iīm bit sorry for that infinity (it printed us over 100000 sqm in last few years, and earned us almost everything we have) because itīs still a good machine, and after one good maintenance and repair it is not for retirement... But, i have some weird custom to get bonded with machines ;)
Hmmm yes... we haven't got access to Infinity here (actually one dealer wanted to sell it, sold one, it was a failure, and noone wanted to buy it anymore) but we've got a Flora - the simplest machine you can imagine ;) But it prints well. Xaar500 heads are crazy :) And i think it's gonna go on printing for another year or two ;) But anyway now i'm thinking about something bigger, or a UV - Vutek 320/400 seems like an awesome thing. I've seen it live - it's a dream. PVC boards 60 sqm/h with no banding at 400dpi? ;) Banner or blueback at 93 sqm/h - no prob ;)
Btw, how much does the Vutek 3360 cost in the place where you are located?
Iīm from Croatia, Europe and weīre getting Vutek from america. I donīt know the deal between my boss and vutek guys, but i think we ordered it in Belgium... and i will tell you price when i return from vacation
Infinity had some problematic machines before, but now itīs ok (just avoid printers with xaar 128). we sold about 15 machines in past 14 months (64" true solvent with 4x XAAR126/13500 and 60 liter of ink), and we donīt have problems. We even extended some warranty periods for good customers. now we ordered shipment of 6 printers from china with new xaar126 (600 dpi) and we are eager to test it... They should arive in mid september
To avoid confusion, we are distributors for eastern europe...
They produce it in USA, ship it from there, but headquarters are in Brussels, to be precise, in Zaventem, a block away from Scitex Vision ;) Another producer of awesome machines. Ever seen a TurboJET at work? Oh man... This is like from 22nd century... Anyway, i'll be there in both companies for machine test beginning of September.
I didnīt saw Scitex, but we was thinking of it... Ghandi inovations also have great machines, we have one 5 meter beast in the neigborhood. it can stand shoulder to shoulder to scitex and vutek, so i would recommend you to look at it... and you can bargain very good prices from any of those companies if you tell them that you cannot decide beetwen them (it worked with my boss)
All i can say is that taking a Vutek and a Scitex machine side by side, i choose Scitex without hestitation. It is just much better, thoughtful design. Plus i love the way the heads are placed there. And it's a completely "clean hands" machine. I think that if my cash flow allows that, i'm going with XLjet+ or Premium.
Josh...I have read some of your remarks and am impressed with your insight. I notice that you have high accolades for the Vutek & scitex printers, why not NUR. I am thoroughly amazed at the quality printing of my Salsa Ultima. I dont have very high regard for NUR as a company anymore, but they've got the best printers on the planet. I do trade & wholesale only printing, and I get to output prints from companies that have Scitex & Vutek printers, and I have to say...8 color with the xaar 128(i'm not fanatical about the heads) interlaced, seems to be a winning combination for us! Your input is appreciated.
Frip wrote: How about the Color of the Vutek UV Flatbed? I found them very flat.
Hi Frip - nice of you to come here to this forum with such an experience and a lot of machines :) I'd be happy to discuss the solvent Vuteks with you.
As far as the UV... Well. I don't see the point of buying the 200/600 FC if i can have the Colorspan UVX at 1/3 of the price and have the same resolution :) Well, i'm only partially kidding - 200/600 is a great machine, i've seen it, tested it... It's a hell lot of money. Prints beautifully but i think it's a bit overdone. The Eastern European market is not ready for those machines yet. I haven't tested Colorspans yet, i regret it, but i have heard many good opinions, even about their solvent machines - some people claim it's better than Seiko - no BS???
On the other hand, the 320/400 is currently the best UV machine available. Forget the Incas - they're awesome but they cost more and they print only flat. Oh... did i just say only flat? Yes... so that's the ONLY problem with 320/400 - the Vutek inks are much better for printing flexible materials, than for example what Sericol supplies Zund with. But still - Vutek has sent me the samples i've printed on flexible materials and when i opened the package i've seen a lot of cracks and peel-offs. So i guess there is a long way for the UV ink manufacturers before they get close to how the UV inks for screen printing behave.
But yes, if i was to purchase a UV machine now - i'd take the 320/400.
However i have some info that Scitex is about to launch a similar machine next year. Only gossip... but from a good source :)
Anonymous wrote: Josh...I have read some of your remarks and am impressed with your insight. I notice that you have high accolades for the Vutek & scitex printers, why not NUR. I am thoroughly amazed at the quality printing of my Salsa Ultima. I dont have very high regard for NUR as a company anymore, but they've got the best printers on the planet. I do trade & wholesale only printing, and I get to output prints from companies that have Scitex & Vutek printers, and I have to say...8 color with the xaar 128(i'm not fanatical about the heads) interlaced, seems to be a winning combination for us! Your input is appreciated.
I have met a lot of NUR people who fled to other companies because they couldn't stand it anymore ;) It's easy to flee from NUR to Vutek and Scitex - they're all around Brussels, not very far from each other ;) But yes, i agree, the machines of NUR have been for a very long time just out of this world. I have had especially high regard for Tempo - two years ago i've seen prints that only now the Vutek 200/600 can match, but not at the same speed.
You are forgetting about one more company - what about the genius himself - Gandi? :) Gandi (as far as i heard) was an engineer for NUR once upon a time ;) And i must admit that the Jetis are just awesome. Probably as much thought and engineering as in XLjet. But...
If i was about to buy those machines locally... I don't think i like the Nur dealer very much, the Gandi dealer Oce seem quite dodgy, the Vutek dealer - well, there is none yet, and the Scitex dealer is a respectable one. So you see... that's the problem.
And what you said - 8 colours with Xaar 128 - hey, that's Scitex XLjet+ and XLjet Premium too :) And vertical printing! :) Right? You see, the beauty of vertical printing in four separate head sections for each colour is the best technique IMHO. Because then you just don't care about unidirectional or bidirectional. Vutek has this problem - the best thing would be to print top speed but unidirectional - the ink mixes differently during each pass.
What about cleaning with the Ultima? All automatic? All clean hands? What about the change from 8 colours to 4 x 2 colours - how much time does this take? What kind of heating system is installed in Ultima?
As far as Scitex is concerned... I think that they currently have the most advanced and best machines available - and no, i'm not in anyway connected with them. But i've seen the TurboJet at work. I've seen the CorJet at work. I've seen XLJet at work. They're so good and so technically advanced and so much there is just foreseen so well. I mean... TurboJet is one of a kind Ferrari for vinyl. But this is a Ferrari that you can make a lot of money with. Have you seen the output at 400 square meters per hour? It's beautiful. CorJet? Geez... two printmodes basically - 90 and 150 sqm/h. The biggest printheads ever, custom designed for this machine. And XLjet? A pleasure to work with. It's depressing when after seeing an XLjet you have to come back to your machine which is 5 times slower and 100 times more effort-demanding than XLjet.
joshie wrote: Frip wrote: How about the Color of the Vutek UV Flatbed? I found them very flat.
Hi Frip - nice of you to come here to this forum with such an experience and a lot of machines :) I'd be happy to discuss the solvent Vuteks with you.
As far as the UV... Well. I don't see the point of buying the 200/600 FC if i can have the Colorspan UVX at 1/3 of the price and have the same resolution :) Well, i'm only partially kidding - 200/600 is a great machine, i've seen it, tested it... It's a hell lot of money. Prints beautifully but i think it's a bit overdone. The Eastern European market is not ready for those machines yet. I haven't tested Colorspans yet, i regret it, but i have heard many good opinions, even about their solvent machines - some people claim it's better than Seiko - no BS???
Hi Joshie. I have no issues with our solvent vuteks reliable and with fantastic colour with great longevity. As far as the Colourspan, there is another very flat printing machine with a grain structure like a solvent Xaar head. That is not a compliment! Like a Seiko, NO WAY! Absolut BS. I am looking for a faster flatbed, our Arixona ot OCXT220 produce reliable, great colour result. Inks are on the expensive side, still the colour is great.
Yes i do agree that Oce T220UV is like a freaking turtle... It's a very good machine, but resolution is low and the speed is just frustrating. It should be sold now by Oce at 50 to 70 000 Euro - that'd be nicer.
And yes - the 320/400 is awesome.
Which solvent Vuteks are you using? I need info on the 5330s. I'm planning to get a 5m wide. Scitex is so far on the top of my list.
joshie wrote: Yes i do agree that Oce T220UV is like a freaking turtle... It's a very good machine, but resolution is low and the speed is just frustrating. It should be sold now by Oce at 50 to 70 000 Euro - that'd be nicer.
And yes - the 320/400 is awesome.
Which solvent Vuteks are you using? I need info on the 5330s. I'm planning to get a 5m wide. Scitex is so far on the top of my list.
Hi Joshie,
Ther resolution of the Oce is better then most. Its not about how many dots, it is how you place them. Six color and a great color gamut makes for great prints. No complaints what so ever. The machine prints 8 M2 per hour at great quality. I suggest you get your own test prints from your own files and then do a comparison. You will be surprised if the difference between machines. Also watch the base colors. No profiling in the world will save your output if the base colors are muted or not right. The magenta and yellow are the hardest ones to get right.
The Fast flatbed from Vutek produce sad color. Maybe the inks are compromised to achieve the high speed?
We use Inkware/Vutek ink in both our Vuteks. They have got different heads and the both work very well. No other machines on the market can touch them for color. The ink sticks and lasts, what else can you ask for?
Good morning Frip. It's late here and i'll go to sleep soon, but i answer you. I conducted extensive tests on both machines. T220 UV back in 2003 in Oce HQ in Venlo and the 320/400 in September this year in Vutek HQ in Brussels.
Honestly - i see no difference. I printed on T220 and 320/400 with and without ICC profiles - always the same thing - ICC is good for photographic reproductions, no ICC is good for vivid colours. Of course i bet that if i tweak the profiles, i might get them to be more vivid. Oh well, but maybe you're right - inks that are flexible, are less vivid. Maybe because they're less opaque.
This case about ICC is however not the case with Seikos. With Seiko you can't print without ICC. It's just nonsense. The inks are way too vivid. Just a thought.
we got a infinity 8180 last week with 126 heads i think this machine is a piece of junk. can you help me find a way to get the nozzles from dropping out
They produce it in USA, ship it from there, but headquarters are in Brussels, to be precise, in Zaventem, a block away from Scitex Vision ;) Another producer of awesome machines. Ever seen a TurboJET at work? Oh man... This is like from 22nd century... Anyway, i'll be there in both companies for machine test beginning of September.
I will see the TurboJET in action, in about a month or so (we are currently making our doors bigger so we can get the shipping crate in!) I have watched the promo video for it and it makes me salivate...400 sqft per hour!
