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Legend 72HUV - Wide Format Printers

1. Y 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 Dlgital 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 company in Italy they are headquartered in the same city as Durst the manufacturer of Rho UV cured printers 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 Bu meus For further information on Caldera contact Joseph MERGUI mergui caldera fr
2. 186 Is there a skirt at the back as well as at the front No The front hood is the only hood that has skirt 187 What system of ventilation or exhaust system is built into the printer Or if not required what would common sense dictate Is it adequate to clear the work area of gasses and fumes You can find an exhaust opening at the right in the back hood 188 What is the noise level primarily of the fans for the vacuum The air scrubber makes noise 189 Do the printer specs list the noise level The spec sheet does not list the noise level but testing by DEC shows the noise level to be below 85db This is well within OSHA recommended levels so that ear pro tection is not required by law 190 What moving parts might hit a person if they Li are standing near the printer a None Since this is an enclosed printer there is no part that could potentially hit a person Some dedicated flatbedsare M exposed and the printhead carriage could hurt a person Exhaust system 2 DAVAN n Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 30 191 Are any other safety or health issues involved Does the operator need to be concerned with any other safety precautions The operator should wear Nitrile gloves when in contact with ink or ink bottles Digital Equipment Company recommends venting the printer to avoid inhalation of UV particulates 192 Is the Operator Manual so poorly translated that you might make
3. 343 Is text sharp or fuzzy What is the smallest text that you can easily read Eight point font is good 344 What about the dot pattern Is the image grainy like sand or is the image smooth as you would expect of a photograph Output appears grainy if you view it at close distances Light tints and flesh tones may be the areas that make the image appear grainy This is due to the large picoliter drop size But most signage especially banners are not seen close up and most shoppers in a mall or at an airport don t look at the signage with a loupe The benefit of a large picoliter drop size is a bit of extra speed TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 6 345 Can the system produce glossy finish To what degree is surface glossiness an issue Can you select glossy or matte or do you get what the system provides and that is all If you get only one or the other which is it you get Yes glossy finish is possible If you print on uni directional mode with leading lamp on 346 Are there issues with gloss differential or bronzing No issues have yet been noted 347 Do you need Pantone markers to do touch ups If you use Pantone markers or other markers for touch ups you run the risk that these areas will fade faster than the original UV ink 348 What about abrasion scratch resistance How susceptible is the ink to abrasion Scratch resistance could be considered as normal No ink can be non scratchable on all substance
4. 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 releases 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
5. If media is too cold it will sweat once it is put under the UV lights WHAT IS THE INTENDED MARKET FOR THIS PRINTER 266 What is the market that the manufacturer has designed this printer for Originally it was only signage but then it went upscale because the same printer is useful for many niche applications too 6 9 Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 44 APPLICATIONS 267 Can you print fine art photos giclee or d cor Yes 268 Can you print on textiles or fabrics How do you handle the ink that gets through the weave Not on absorbent fabrics such as textiles If you are considering to print on textiles hand made textiles are better There are some textile media brands that don t absorb ink such as 3P and Glen Raven You can increase ink saturation by 2096 in the printer software which works better on textiles There are two issues with printing on fabrics first the ink goes through the weave and ends up on the table or transport belt or platen Second the fibers from fabrics or mats can get onto the printhead nozzle plate and sometimes up into the nozzles 269 To print backlit can you set a mode for double density No PIWA Giclee sample printed on the LexJet Legend 72HUV printer DAVANA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 45 270 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 Not current
6. If you have questions about color man agement if you are in the US you can contact ImageTech at www ImageTechDigital 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 brands 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 coun
7. One level for purge one level for suck and one level for flush 148 How often should you purge Does the User s Manual honestly indicate how often you should purge At start up then after lunch t DAVANA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 25 149 Is purging done with ink or with a flush solution You can purge with ink or with a flush solution This is the choice of the operator 150 If done with a flush solution how do you add the flush to the printheads With a syringe or a manual button or toggle switch or automatically with software command or other method With most mid range UV printers you manually turn a valve to open the ink lines so that the flush will flow into them In cheaper printers you have to inject the flush with a syringe by hand There is a separate flush delivery system on the 72HUV that pumps flush through the heads when the valve is manually set to the flush position 151 Can you select which ink lines printheads to purge or can you only purge in clusters or all or nothing Yes you can selectively purge 152 The ink that is purged where does it go Into a drain waste bottle or into a drip tray Purged ink goes into a drip tray and then into a waste bottle 153 How should you handle the drip ins E 5 m 1 hi tray How often pum RENI EE You should clean it daily Drip tray is scraped clean to move ink down the drain 154 Is there a capping station Yes 155 Is capping on a spon
8. 652 square feet per hour At 400x600 resolution 6 pass 213 square feet per hour At 400x800 resolution 8 pass 178 square feet per hour FLAAR prefers to use consistent terms that are standardized for all printers so that printshop owners managers and printer opera tors have affair chance of comparing speed vs quality By not identifying the actual passes or by defining pass in an atypical manner this results in effect in hiding the reality of speed vs quality Thus we commend those companies that keep to or return to the traditional usage of the term pass es Increasingly most printer companies are not listing the passes that their printers run back and forth The definition of a pass is not consistent in any event FLAAR defines a single pass as the movement of the printer carriage while jetting ink from one side to the other There is a difference between single pass and one pass but that needs an entire article one pass means a page width row of non moving printheads Mutoh describes one pass as a complete back and forth movement FLAAR defines that as two passes Most printer manufacturers would rather avoid having to state clearly how many actual passes it takes to achieve specific quality levels So they create modes that are a combination of passes and possibly other features that result in a specific quality level 6 DAVANA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 35 Bi DIRECTIONAL VS Uni DIRECTIONAL PRINTING
9. also called ShenZhen Runtianzhi Image Tech nology Co Ltd Sometimes abbreviated RTZ Their own house brand name is Flora Digital Equipment Company DEC is the importer Sales are handled by LexJet Lloyds and also by a distribution network that is being expanded LexJet is a separate company owned by the same people own DEC and who also own several other companies LexJet is one of the most successful inkjet media sales companies in the US LexJet is also a leader in computerized data banks for a knowledge base on whatever areas it gets into in this present case into UV curable printers 3 Is this same model s rebranded and sold under other names An earlier version of this printer was exhibited at trade shows as the DuPont Cromaprint 18UV John Crumbaugh left is the vice president of Technology department at Digital Equipment Company Russel T Brown right vice president of Operations amp Engineering at the same company DAVANA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 3 4 What other printers of other brands are comparable Most other hybrid style UV printers are either slower the Gerber Solara are more rudimentary 90 of the Chinese made UV printers at the re cent Shanghai show which are only prototypes not real production models So the Legend 72HUV is in a league above most competitors 5 When and where was this model first in troduced Although the Legend 72HUV was not really of ficially launched at an
10. y iam 0 Et s 1 Ss G t U E j 9 y BNAVAVA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 14 59 Are there only two legs at the front or are there four supports The table is a flat structure that is attached to the front part of the printer with a cantilevered support concept So no legs are featured The table holds about 225 Ibs If the printer accepted thicker materials the weight limit for the table would have to be recalculated 60 Do the legs have wheels or leveling system or both No legs therefore no wheels 61 Is the front table output side the same as the back table feeding side The front and back table are identical with the only difference that the back table has an alignment bar 62 Why did your designers select this structure for the tables One of the designers stated that The design was selected to make sure the printer could be moved through a standard 36 door way for installation and so that the printer footprint could be reduced while not in use or in the roll to roll mode The advantage of this design is that you can pull up any of the planks and lean them against a wall or better lay it flat so Tables are held with cantilever support Although both front and rear tables are they don t fall down physically attached to the printer detaching them takes about 5 minutes 63 Is the table physically attached to the print er Or just rolled up close to the
11. Is there variable droplet capability 75 of the UV printers do not have variable droplet or grayscale droplet capability 205 What is the dpi of the encoder strip The encoder strip is 2540 dpi 206 What is the advertised DPI and is it true dpi or apparent dpi How is dpi presented with what adjectives How is this dpi calculated Spec sheet mentions two options 400 x 200 dpi 400 x 1600 dpi The User s Guide parts list mentions 200 dpi for the printheads But what counts is perceived dpi which is achieved by multiple passes The perceived dpi of this printer is plenty good enough for signage 207 How many passes can this printer achieve Fastest mode is 2 passes Best quality is up to 32 passes The tech support person of a Teckwin TeckSmart UV1600 mentioned that output was not really sellable at 2 passes Some operators call this the draft mode The lower the number of passes the faster the printer prints but the lower the quality At a printer s fastest rated speed the output is usually unusable for most applications other than distant viewing for a billboard or banner To achieve viewing quality for Point of Purchase or an honest photo quality you generally need to set the number of passes at the highest number which results in the slowest speed 208 Does the software use passes or modes to describe quality levels The production speeds in the spec sheet is listed as follows At 300x200 resolution 2 0355
12. What is the firing frequency voltage of the printheads in KHz 17 kHz is most stable Spectra Dimatix web site list a firing frequency of up to 20kHz 222 Can the firing frequency be varied by the end user No but the carriage speed can be changed Printhead voltage is best changed only by a service engineer 223 What is the effect of changing the firing frequency of the heads It is possible by engineers but not advisable for end users because changing the firing frequency can cause problems 224 Is the negative pressure user variable Yes 225 Are there problems of air getting into the system No not normally 226 How is air eliminated from the ink lines or from the printheads The operator has two choices 1 Suction of printheads by the service station best option 2 Purging printheads does work but it is not as effective as sucking s TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 37 PRINTHEAD Life Expectancy 227 What is true life expectancy of this print head Is the printhead considered a consumable Printheads are considered a consumable They are covered by the warranty for 12 months or 24 liters of ink whichever happens first 228 How many nozzles have to be out before the manufacturer will replace the head under warranty About 7 to 10 Unless nozzles are next to each other 229 How often can you expect head strikes What causes them Who will replace the printheads and at whose cost If you have a h
13. 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 years 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
14. but is a GmbH funded by the chamber 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 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 Gerber Grapo IP amp I Mimaki USA Mutoh Dilli GCC NUR Oce Shiraz RIP Sun Teckwin VUTEk WP Digital Xerox Yuhan Kimberly Zund have each brought FLAAR staff to their head quarters an
15. everyone who previ ously was doing primarily offset printing lithography etc are now realizing they need to move to UV cured wide format inkjet printing to survive as printing companies Because solvent printers cost between 15 000 and 35 000 for entry level it is a step up for printshop own ers to move into UV printing when these cost between 65 000 and 130 000 for entry level mid range UV printers such as IP amp l Dilli GCC are 150 000 200 000 high end UV printers such as Durst Gandinnovations Screen and other brands are 300 000 to 600 000 In the beginning the first entry level UV printer was the Zund 215 It sold over 300 units at prices from 120 000 to perhaps 150 00 This brand was replaced as 1 by the ColorSpan 72UVR UVX and 98UVX over 900 of these were sold Gerber Solara sold a few hundred of their entry level hybrid machine before it became ob solete All together about two thousand entry level UV printers were sold between 2001 and 2008 Today at least half of these need to be replaced because both clients and printshop owners expect a better ma chine nowadays Plus in addition to replacement UV printers there are thousand more printshop owners who will start with their first UV printer in 2008 and 2009 All of this potential is why several manufactur ers and distributors are working to satisfy the need for entry level printers which can be informally described as a UV curable printer priced und
16. factor to avoid head strikes 7 BAVAN aA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 8 ROLL FED 34 How is media held flat Vacuum table Pinch rollers Pinch rollers are the primary mechanism to hold media down on a hybrid printer A vacuum assisted platen also helps but this is not the same as a full scale vacuum table on a dedicated flatbed printer which would cost twice as much as a hybrid style machine 35 How is roll media fed Pinch roller against grit roller Yes this has a single set of pinch rollers against grit rollers 36 Or does the printer use tension rollers instead of grit rollers Grit rollers tend to be used for hybrid style UV printers under 2 x meters in width tension rollers tend to be used for printers of 3 meters and wider Plus grit rollers are rarely used on a combo style printer because the transport belt is what moves the materials On a combo printer there is not really a place to put grit rollers since the conveyor belt occupies most of the available space Grit rollers at the bottom working in conjunction with pinch rollers at the top with a basic vacuum in the middle under the platen is to provide you with the lowest possible cost for entry level But the grit against pinch roller system work best on certain materials and are not perfect with other materials 37 Can you raise an individual pinch roller on only the entire row On the Legend H72UV you do not raise an individual pinch roller On some other
17. fans are there in the printer or exhaust ports The whole back of the printer has about eight fans UV power supply has fans service areas have internal fans 329 How long does it take to cool the lamps down before you can touch them to change them The operator s instructions for the Durst Rho 800 Presto is the first user s manual where I have seen mention of how long you need to let the lamp cool down enough to touch it safely they recommend one hour BEDAVAYA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 54 UV LAMPS Reflectors 330 What kind of reflectors are used Polished aluminum RIP SOFTWARE amp Printer Software 331 Which RIPs are featured Onyx either PosterShop or ProductionHouse 332 Does the price of the printer include a RIP No 333 Is a computer and monitor included to run the RIP A computer and monitor are included to run the printer and simultaneously RIP server 334 What kind of monitor is included with the printer s computer You receive a 19 LCD monitor 335 Is your printer and or RIP Pantone certified Not the printer but the RIP is COLOR MANAGEMENT FEATURES 336 What color management sensors or measuring tools are on board ColorSpan has color management tools built into its UV printers but this works fully only if you also purchase their Kodiak RIP soft ware Otherwise this feature is not yet available on other brands of UV curing wide format inkjet printers PRODUCTIVITY amp ROI Retu
18. four days of on site installation and training It is increasingly popular to train at a demo center not at your own printshop because if you are in your own home town your attention may be elsewhere If you are out of your shop and in a training facility then you can train full time 125 Is training necessary Yes training is essential for any UV printer whether an entry level machine or high end Lack of training incomplete training and lack or of experience are a factor in about a third of the problems that people have with UV printers Another third is often inadequate cleaning and maintenance of the ink and printhead system The other third cause of problems would naturally be weak parts that wear out before they should wear and tear happens even to the strongest parts made in Switzerland and features that need improvement etc 126 Is classroom training available Yes it is available in Digital Equipment facilities Sarasota Florida 127 Is factory training available John Crumbaugh is the tech services international trainer at the demo room in Sarasota There is no factory training yet available 128 What on line training is available There is no on line training Fewer than 5 of the UV printer manufacturers offer on line training 129 What about follow up training after you have had the printer a month and know enough to ask better questions Follow up training is available as often as you want 130 What exp
19. 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 con sideration benefits as well as deficiencies is to obtain these re ports directly from FLAAR via www wide format printers 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 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 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 m
20. of 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 Mutoh and Mimaki This is because piezo has definite advantage for some applications thermal printheads have advantages in dif ferent applications Our reviews have universal appeal precisely be cause 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 program there is no incentive to favor one by trashing the other Printer manufac turer ad campaigns are their own worst enemy If a printer did not make false and misleading claims then we would have nothing 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 DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 66 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 Th
21. off if the printer is unattended for 30 minutes 310 What brand of lamp is used It is the tradition in China to use local UV lamps and make the housing themselves The NUR Expedio Inspiration uses Nordson microwave technology Gandinnovations uses Dr Honle but these are traditional mercury arc not microwave Mid range and entry level UV curable printers tend to use UV mercury arc UV lamps from Integration Technology 311 How many lamps does the printer use Two lamps Two is the usual number of lamps Some cheap Chinese printers use only one lamp Mimaki uses one lamp on several of their 6 AVA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 50 narrow format UV printers to avoid the lawnmower effect that is caused by bi directional printing bi directional print requires two lamps one for each direction of ink laydown by the printer carriage The Agfa Anapurna 100 a printer that was never finished due to being too complex believe had three lamps The L scher JetPrint due to its Uber dimensional size may also have needed more than two lamps whatever it had did not function fully adequately This printer uses two UV lamps 312 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 You could have lamps on different settings if you really wanted to 313 What shuts the lamps off For example after so many minutes of not being used or if they overheat Th
22. on right to left Push button AC POWER ON a 30 second pause is required before turning on UV lights Turn UV lights on warm up time is 4 minutes CPU line switch is off Clean wipers wiper blades Set ink tank valve to Printing Position Open all head valves Adjust pump pressure Prime button 1st time Press gray button twice in three seconds Prime button 2nd time Press gray button twice in three seconds Adjust pump pressure Turn ON OFF line ON Unit is now ready to print TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 7 168 What daily maintenance is required at night Shut down RIP program Turn off computer Turn off vacuum pumps Turn off UV lamps Press blue button Printhead Maintenance button one time Flush heads individually repeat the following a c steps for each printhead a Set valve to flushing position b Press gray button one time C Set to closed position Tray cleaning Apply caps push green button once Turn off main power switches SK1 Turn off main isolation Turn air scrubber off Check ink flush and waste tank levels e Inspect and clean platen 169 What daily maintenance is required if you print the entire day long Nothing special If there is a lunch time where the machine will not print cap heads after lunch prime The printer will be ready to work again 170 How expensive is replacement of the filters You should replace all filters at
23. printer Yes tables are physically attached to the front and back parts of the printer 64 How much weight can the feeder table or take up table hold The table can hold 220 Ibs but don t climb up and walk or sit on front edge of the table because more than 220 lbs or all a weight concentrated just on the outer front edge might cause the entire printer to tip over Otherwise however of course the printer will not tip over on it s own 65 Is there a minimum size for a single rigid board User s Guide says 17 narrow but in reality you can handle 5 boards You need to have at least one grit roller under the board and two pinch rollers on top 66 How long does it take to change from roll to roll to rigid About 5 minutes The table holds up to 22 kg Besides thickness take in mind the weight of your 67 Are there edge alignment bars on the table rigid materials d uiii At left or at right or both The back table has an alignment bar at left BNAVAVA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 15 UPGRADES Future Improvements 68 What features have been added or changed since the printer first appeared This is an improved version of the DuPont Chromaprint 18UV Among the improvements we find that the ink delivery system has been removed Dedicated ink bottle was too complex so they got rid of it Then a simplified user interface software was added The DuPont Chromaprint 18UV at ISA 07 After 2007
24. pumps you have some control over vacuum strength ahh N hh QULA i 1 11 e r S 19 Can you turn one or the other MESE NN et M section s off and on m Yes There are individual controls per pump You can select which pump to use or utilize both at the same time MILI TUNE M TETELA T i TIME TT nn TIL 20 Just Off and On Or variable Variable The control is analog with a round The vacuum area is created by two pumps In the picture below you can see the vacuum handle control buttons The vacuum areas are user definable 21 Does setting a substrate profile acti vate a higher or lower vacuum automati cally Not yet but it can be expected in the next up grades 22 Are the vacuum areas size and posi tion user definable Yes you can define the areas where you need Vacuum 23 Can the vacuum be too strong for thin materials and cause them to deform Yes You need to learn which vacuum to use for which materials Flexible media may need a minimal vacuum of 3 kpa which is in the range of vacuum you can get with one pump Rigid materials will require the use of the two pumps Depending on the weight some materials will need up to 1 8 kpa kilopascals MDO boards require no vacuum In general there is a moder ate learning curve for which material does best with which vacuum level Line ONIOFF DAVANA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 6 STRUCTURE OF THE PRINTER Media Tr
25. tech support is offered from 8 am to 8 pm because of Texas Also during installation the printshop can ask for the cell phone number of the tech support person so in theory you can request tech support after hours This is something that was not possible if you bought the 650 000 Luscher Jetprint flatbed UV printer 139 What happens if the tech support from your local distributor is uninspired or inadequate Can you telephone the manufacturer directly If so will be manufacturer actively assist you or only begrudgingly MacDermid ColorSpan was good at providing direct manufacturer s tech support in past years Whether this will continue under HP ownership is not yet known Dilli also can provide manufacturer s tech support if absolutely needed Some other manufacturers simply don t provide tech support themselves or only begrudgingly they expect their dealers to provide support We have several instances in Australia of poor tech support for GRAPO printers and the printshop owner rated the backup from the manufacturer in the Czech Republic as unsatisfactory that s putting it about as politely as can the situation was quite unbearable for two owners in Australia GRAPO did not refuse support but not enough was spontaneous to resolve the situation with the end user An inadequate dealer or distributor is a good recipe for endless headaches Choosing a distributor is as important as selecting a brand and model of printer Ifthe customer calls D
26. that most dedicated flatbeds are classified in the mid range price 150 000 200 000 beginning as a UV curable machine with hybrid capability TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 7 LINING UP FLAT MATERIAL to help it feed straight LN DIAS If OW Ilon Two guide bars come with the printer An auxiliary media guide can be set into the table at any width This is very clev er and may be unique for this DEC Legend 72UV printer e main side gui tional accessories des are a aligned to the printer with a side guide and sensors detect the lead edge for printing Most printshops report that most rigid media is crudely cut and rarely are the edges really at 90 to each other So you don t really want to align a corner you want to align one side on one end Alignment bar at the rear table e 6 ge 06 UW detection sy tem tells you what offset to print relative to the leading edge WM WEN w and no The operator should double check head height to avoid head strikes 5 8 a nne ana i Th each board But Onyx RIP software has quick sets to handle standard sizes E 5 M p learn from experience how to calculate the true T height of the media Most media is not really flat Quality and flat ness vary from brand to brand So you need to Measuring the substrate is one important
27. the back Flush liquid Black ink Waste bottle The back hood can be raised if necessary 87 What controls are on either end Both ends have stop buttons on the top The right end has a handle to adjust printhead carriage height with a meter display Buttons to maintain the printheads are on the left side 88 Can you do unattended printing For how long How about overnight If carriage is not printing within 5 seconds lamps shut down This prevents a fire Although not recommended you can allow the printer to print un attended You could set the printer up to print a complete roll of media in an unattended mode if it is the same job that is being printed every time If you want to queue different jobs the safety sensor to pre vent head strikes will prevent an unattended print mode 89 Is there a pole with bea con lights No Dilli was among the most no ticeable to always use a verti cal pole with beacon lights It has been suggested that the DuPont 22uv was actually the first printer to use the beacon concept Most other printers do not have such a beacon Pres ence of a beacon is not a major plus point absence of a beacon is not a significant minus point Printhead height lever DAVANA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 18 CONSTRUCTION BUILD QUALITY 90 When designed what is the life span that each part is tested for For many manufacturers parts life span is a new concept especiall
28. the printer What found as the major asset of LexJet Digital Equipment Company is that their tech support crew already has years of experience Let us take but one example there are several other qualified tech support personnel too The example here however is Russ Brown Heis an ISO qualified auditor Quality control manager Incoming supplies inspection manager e In charge of quality inspection procedures FLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 57 He was in charge of implemented manufacturing concepts developed by DuPont and now continued by Digital Equip ment Company LexJet He has added discipline to the research and development teams at RTC Flor in China and in Florida He has added testing measures The User s Guide for this printer is better than most manuals from Asia for several reasons first this guide appears to be written in native English it is not merely translated Second the guide is written by a person who obviously has experi ence with UV cured inkjet printing Downsides Every printer even those costing a quarter million dollars have downsides Even popular printers such as the Oce Ari zona 250 has a long list of issues Even major brand names such as Mimaki have known issues And both of these print ers cost in the 140 000 range So it would be natural for a printer costing under 90 000 to also have features that you have to live with If the printer is not printing for only a
29. they say there have been no returns this is statistically unlikely but not impossible GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 340 How many printers of this model are in use in the USA in the rest of the world It is crucial for a printshop owner who is making their short list of which printers to consider buying to know how many printers of each brand have been sold COMPARISONS WITH OTHER PRINTERS 341 When people are considering buying this printer what other printer s are they also looking at ColorSpan hybrid now HP is the only other hybrid that might be competitive but can t print as wide only 54 The Milano hybrid is more expensive and not actively marketed The new Mimaki hybrid is not finished the UV lamps don t adequately cure the ink either The Gerber Solara is not serious competition any more too slow and has been around too many years to have much that is new or impressive would rate the Teckwin hybrid UV printer as a newer competitor that is considerably more sophisticated than the Gerber Solara The Raster Printers H700UV is a combo not a hybrid but is in a comparable price range and made by the same factory as the Legend 342 What features on the other printers may be issues The ink pump issues of the ColorSpan hybrid has been fixed Whether the skewing and media feed issues have been eliminated you can only know if you visit a printshop that has a retrofitted HP ColorSpan SUMMARY Image Quality Issues General
30. waste considerable quantities of ink on those kinds of printers So far have not heard of issues of excessive ink waste with the Legend 72HUV DORO 1014 ColorWide UV Curable Pigmented Piezo Inkjet Ink ior ume in 280 Where is waste ink collected In a tray In a bottle From drip tray via a tube to a waste ink bottle 281 How much ink does the waste ink container hold Legend 72 HUV 3 liters lt Company 1880 Fruity Rg is 282 How much of this is ink and how much is solvent flush 541 208 3344 a25 78 One 1 Liter i a Depends on the customer Most is monomer liquid about 2 3rds is I digitaiequipmante om pany com 11 ore liquid and 1 3rd is ink MM ecdrsateipiamente ane Peleas 283 How often does the waste container need to be emptied Depends on how often the printer is used but generally once every 3 to 4 weeks I BEDAVAYA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 47 284 Do you have to drain an on board container manually Or just remove one bottle and place an empty bottle in its place You empty the waste bottle and return empty bottle back in the printer Be aware that the User s Guide strongly recommends that you know your city s regulations concerning disposal of hazardous waste material DEC has set up national hazardous waste disposal companies with waste info so that for customers who are new to this contracting a hazardous waste disposal compan
31. waste on a dedicated flatbed printer because there is no material used in loading or feeding up to the point it is printed upon Thread up waste on the Legend 72HUV can be minimized if the user prints on the lead edge until there is enough to complete the thread up Worst case there is a few feet of waste 44 Can you print on more than one roll of substrate simultaneously Being able to print on several different rolls of material simultaneously is common on grand format solvent based printers but almost unknown and unavailable on printers less than 104 inches The Durst Rho 351R offers an option to allow printing on two different rolls simultaneously With the Legend 72HUV you can print on two rolls of media at the same time if the two rolls are the same thickness and type of material 45 For handling ink that passes through the weave of fabrics or mesh is there a trough Or other mechanism to catch the ink A trough is possible only on a printer with a fixed platen A trough for mesh or fabrics tends to be present only on a printer costing a quarter of a million dollars or more There is no easy way to put a trough on a combo style printer If you need to print on fabric or mesh with a UV combo printer you need a liner or you need to put an intermediate sheet onto the surface of the conveyor belt or clean up the ink that passes through the weave There is no trough on the 72HUV If you print on a mesh with no backing you will
32. 209 What is the direction of uni directional printing From right to left or left to right or both Printing is from right to left 210 Is printing bi directional or uni directional What are the different results in speed in quality Printing is generally bi directional No advantage in uni directional with this printer so we designed this machine to print bi directional But if you absolutely wish to print in uni directional mode this is available 211 Which materials can be printed fast at 2 pass or 4 pass modes Number of passes required may vary from one material to another but the majority will need 4 to 6 passes PRINTHEAD Positioning 212 Are the printheads in a straight row or staggered Printheads are arranged in a straight row but are offset to the next by one pixel to create a 200dpi system The normal position for printheads is parallel to each other in a row But there are exceptions and staggered the positions may have other benefits Each pattern for positioning the printheads has a reason but most printheads are simply parallel to each other in one row 213 Do you raise the heads manually with click stops or motorized Printhead carriage height is adjusted by a handle found at the right end Although height adjustment is manual it has a digital counter Head height is a double entry system The operator sets the head height for a given substrate and then must tell the software the media thickness If the he
33. 240 How about maximum roll diameter or weight Maximum roll diameter is 13 5 Maximum roll weight is 250 Ibs 241 What thickness can this printer handle Up to 1 inch 2 54 cm 242 Can you measure the height of the material with a sensor or is it manual What you really want to measure is the printhead gap height the space gap between the top of the material and the nozzle plate the printhead 243 Is roll fed media loaded from the rear top or front Roll to roll is fed from the rear in most UV hybrid printers B Loading and preparing the roll fed media for printing i BEDAVAYA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 40 244 Ifyou have to load a really long roll are there clamps or any other system to allow you to secure the first portion so the first portion won t undo itself while you are several meters away trying to load the other end The Durst Rho 351R has clamps so if only one person is available to load a long roll he can clamp down the first portions that he feeds up and over into the platen area while he is still working on the other end of the roll to get that up and into the roll feeding system 245 What is the media path For rigid materials you lay board flat on back table disengage pinch rollers with back lever with vacuum turned on and insert the board into the printer until both media sensors are on Adjust pinch roller pressure Output will come off at the front For roll fed media goes from th
34. EC directly DEC will do their best to try and help the customer Also realize that the two principal tech support personnel of DEC were the engineers who designed the improvements to this printer in the factory in Asia 140 Can the manufacturer remotely diagnose the printer NO Remote diagnosis is rare and not available on any mid range UV curable inkjet printer 2 AVA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 24 141 What is the native language of the tech support person English 142 Who does repairs Dealer manufacturer distributor or third party Distributor and third party company both 143 Do spare parts come from another country If so what is the wait time Basic spare parts are stored in California so these are available for next day delivery CLEANING amp MAINTENANCE NEEDS 144 How easy is it to access the area where you have to clean the heads Extremely easy Area to clean the printheads 145 How is head cleaning accomplished purge suction manual other You can either purge or suck printheads There is an automatic wiper function 146 To initiate a purge where is the control or button Is it software generated or do you have to press a button Is the button on the outside of the printer or inside on the carriage There is a physical button near the maintenance station 147 How many levels strengths of printhead cleaning purging and or sucking can be accomplished via the firm ware software
35. ES e oe the front LexJet Legend 72HUV printer SET UP OF THE PRINTER PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS 101 What is the delivery time between the time I order the printer and it is delivered 2 weeks 102 What are the electrical requirements of this printer This means will the building have to be rewired Main control and UV supply 220 VAC Single Phase 30 A 50 60 Hz 103 Do you need to budget installing a ventilation or room exhaust system DEC thoughtfully offers an air scrubber for the Legend printer The customer is responsible for selecting the location to plate the scrubber and for running the air duct from the printer to the scrubber AVA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 20 All UV printers need room ventilation for everything from ozone to misting ink to general odor Increasingly ozone production is surprised 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 breathe if the ink is misting many printers mist most notoriously the Infiniti 1600 models the ColorSpan 72uvX also mists a great deal 104 Are there any special temperature or humidity requirements or preferences of this printing system For the Legend the general rule is if the operator is comfortable the printer will operate properly If the room i
36. Nicholas Hellmuth August 2008 DAVANA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 2 Content THE BASICS e PURCHASING 4 e FEATURES OF THE PRINTER Vacuum 5 e STRUCTURE OF THE PRINTER Media Transport Mechanism amp Media Path 6 e LINING UP FLAT MATERIAL to help it feed straight 7 ROLL FED 8 e STRUCTURE Miscellaneous 11 TABLES for Combo or Hybrid Flatbed 12 UPGRADES Future Improvements 15 a Miscellaneous 15 e OPERATING THE PRINTER 16 CONSTRUCTION BUILD QUALITY 18 e AESTHETICS 19 P lease N ote SET UP OF THE PRINTER PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS 19 e INSTALLATION OF THE PRINTER INSTRUCTIONS amp MANUALS 21 TRAINING 22 This report has not been licensed to any TECH SUPPORT amp WARRANTY 23 printer manufacturer distributor dealer CLEANING amp MAINTENANCE NEEDS 24 sales rep RIP company media or ink MAINTENANCE 26 company to distribute So if you obtained this ESOS 28 e PRINTHEAD TECHNOLOGY 31 from any company you have a pirated copy PRINTHEAD DPI amp Features 34 BI DIRECTIONAL VS Uni DIRECTIONAL PRINTING 35 Also since this report is frequently updated if PRINTHEAD Positioning 35 you got your version from somewhere else it e PRINTHEAD Associated Features 36 may be an obsolete edition FLAAR reports are e PRINTHEAD Life Expectancy 37 being updated all year long and our comment SUBSTRATES 37 e LOADING MEDIA 39 on that product may have been revised l 000 rA SUBSTRATE
37. Printers E x m Cat r4 NE FLAAR Reports LAA Raperts FLAAR Rissi LAMA Hasek SAE BUM Printers UV Printers Flatbed amp Foli to Roi in UV Flatbed Printers E Trends 2008 __UV Printers 7 documented at uu Med DRUPA 2008 0 DRUPA 2008 uv Printer Chinese Made Uy latbed Printers BAVAN e Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 68 These are some of the most Recent FLAAR Reports 2007 2009 You can find these and more reports at www wide format printers NET UV Printers Manufactured in China Korea and Taiwan L FLAAR Report i TLAAR Reoorts b LAAR Report LAAR Reports amp ULAAR Rawit Chinese UV Chinese UV UV Printers Inkjet Printers 2007 Inkjet Printers 2008 Manufactured in UV Printers UV Printers Manurachirad in Manufactured in KOREA 2007 Korea 2005 JT NIIT am Trends Markets amp Applications nee eh TL if Bie Comprehensive Complete l Comprehensive Complete FLAAR Inventory FLAAR Inventory Most recent UV Printers Reports TLAARReporns amp ILAARReperh b TLAAR Reps amp TLAARRapom Flatbed UV Roll to Roll UV Printers 8 Roland LED UV Entry Level Hybrid i 4 Flatbed UV Printer for Billboards ee Curing amp Varnish UV Roll to Roll u Wn Roe Rod Em LED Curing el Teckwin 3348 UV JetSpeed LEC 300 Mimakiusv 160 f Gerbersolaraion f TeckStorm Gandinnovations Jeti
38. S Materials Applications and Issues 40 positively d negatively as we learned more SUBSTRATES Cleaning Priming Preparation 42 about the product form end users SUBSTRATES General Concerns 43 e WHAT IS THE INTENDED MARKET FOR THIS PRINTER 43 To obtain a legitimate copy which you know e APPLICATIONS 44 is the complete report with nothing erased INK 45 or changed and hence a report with all the lS amp Varnish be G6 c e OS e description of pros and cons please INK Supply System Tubing Filters etc obtain your original and full report straight INK Longevity 48 from www large format printers org INK Color Gamut 49 THE UV CURING LAMPS 49 Youronly assurancethatyou have a complete UV LAMPS Cooling 522 UV LAMPS Reflectors 54 and authentic evaluation which describes all RIP SOFTWARE amp Printer Software 54 aspects of the product under consideration COLOR MANAGEMENT FEATURES 54 benefits as well as deficiencies is to obtain e PRODUCTIVITY amp ROI Return on Investment 54 these reports directly from FLAAR via ADVERTISING CLAIMS www wide format printers NET A E 2 e COMPARISONS WITH OTHER PRINTERS 55 SUMMARY Image Quality Issues General 55 Copyright 2009 e Conclusions 56 XY Cutters and RIP options 59 amp FLAAR Reports Introduction DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 1 Franchise printshops family owned sign shops digital printing companies screen printing companies and
39. There is a also a valve for each printhead which stops gravity leaking Vacuum on platen sensor e Printhead height sensor e Ink level detection sensor 79 Which materials are pre established in the software or do you have to create the settings for each class of mate rial yourself The operator has to set the parameters for the material every time 80 Do you get an LCD screen in the printer or a real computer monitor How big is the screen or monitor Most printers provide only a 15 or 17 monitor With the Legend you get a 19 monitor 81 Is the position of the LCD screen or monitor user adaptable The screen is not attached to the printer so you can place it anywhere 82 Where does the computer keyboard sit Anywhere within reason because you decide where to make your station FLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 17 83 Can the keyboard be moved or is it fixed into the structure of the printer The computer and monitor can be moved anywhere only the position of the computer is fixed inside the printer 84 Is there a drawer under where the computer keyboard is a drawer for storing odds and ends No drawer 85 Where does the operator stand or sit The operator can situate himself anywhere he wishes 86 What aspects of the printer can you operate from behind the loading area The lever to raise the pinch rollers is at the back left A flip down panel is at the back right Some of the ink is loaded from
40. a mistake a mistake that could be damaging to your health or otherwise dangerous for your printshop The User s Manual was written by Digital Equipment Company personnel native English speakers 193 How easy is itto obtain the MSDS of the ink The DEC MSDS is available upon request When a change is made to the MSDS DEC requests the dealers to notify all end users that there has been a change It is rare that the MSDS of the ink is easy to obtain If the MSDS is an auto download from 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 Fortunately LexJet is up front about the MSDS and for the 72HUV it s MSDS is available on the LexJet website 2 clicks once you are on the LexJet website 194 How is the UV light shielded so it does not burn the eyes of the operator Does operator have to wear safety glasses There is a darkened Plexiglas strip that is supposed to eliminate harm to your eyes But at a few angles or positions light could dam age your retina on every printer there are one or two positions where the light leak is very strong the worst is the Oce Arizona 250 where there is no enclosure at all The User s Guide advises to use safety glasses and never to look directly to the UV light Safety glass is raised so in this photo you see what y
41. ack and forth when printing No wobble 97 After you have used the printer for a while do screws begin to shake free After seven months the only issue with one installation in El Paso Texas was that a motion control board was DOA at install Com pare this with two Infiniti UV printers that inspected last year and the year before they had endless problems every month one was replaced twice and then the owner simply said he wanted to have his money back So far this kind of situation has not happened with the Legend 98 After you have used the printer for a while do parts quickly wear out break off wobble or malfunction Normal wear and tear impacts all printers even those that cost a quarter million dollars AESTHETICS 99 How would you describe the design Ky of the printer Attractive 100 Can you easily distinguish which is the front and which is the back 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 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 move able control computer that can be situated at one end or at the feeding area which ever location the operator prefers But the standard arrangement is that the LCD and keyboard are on the output side call this A
42. ad height and the s w value do not match the software will prevent printing 214 How complex is the procedure to align the printheads Head alignment is software based It takes about 5 minutes ISL oU A a NM iF G 71 TH The printheads are located in a straight row TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 36 215 Is there an alarm system to stop the head from hitting substrate if head is not high enough No but see answer two questions above 216 Can you vary the gap the distance from the printhead to the media which is the distance the ink droplets must fly 2 mm is the ideal but you can vary this since many materials are irregular 217 How is the nozzle plate protected Is it recessed It is recessed PRINTHEAD Associated Features 218 Is ink heated in a buffer or elsewhere before arriving near the printhead Ink is preheated in a buffer and again at head 219 Is there a heater associated with each printhead Heat from within head 220 Or is the entire plate heated and thereby some heat gets to the heads Heating the metal plate that holds the nozzle plate area of the printheads as a group the base of the printhead carriage so to speak is a cheap way that early Chinese printers did their heating don t know of any serious UV curable inkjet printer manufacturer outside China that uses a heated plate to heat their ink but with 45 manufacturers there are always surprises 221
43. ansport Mechanism amp Media Path 24 Is there a moving trans port belt combo style or a stationary platen hybrid style This is a hybrid style printer The advantage of a hybrid printer is that it can print on both flat and rigid and roll fed material Since a hybrid printer has no transport belt there is no belt to slip out of alignment But no joint use printer can print on all materials perfectly irrespective whether it is a 80 000 entry level or 300 000 machine Also realize that the best machine to print on some heavy flat materials is a dedicated flatbed But there is no flatbed under 140 000 that can print successfully on roll fed material Every structural class of printer hybrid combo or dedicated has benefits and a few downsides No one single printer is perfect for everything 25 Are there edge guards at each side end of the platen At left or at right or both Yes at both the left and right 26 Can you move the left guard or the right guard or both Yes you can move each edge guard 27 Was this printer made originally as a UV curable ink printer or is it retrofitted with UV curing If retrofit ted what was the or igin al A hybrid machine prints on both roll fed and rigid materials The advantage of buying a hybrid UV brand or model printer is that you get a printer within a reasonable price that can handle roll fed and rigid media This printer was built from the Consider
44. anufacturer 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 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 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 i
45. ard head strike against the edge of a board this will drive cured or curable ink up inside the nozzle So when this happens you must flush immediately or that nozzle will become permanently blocked Fabrics are especially likely to produce issues with the printheads because of the fuzzy material that sticks up above the surface of most fabrics 230 How can head strikes be avoided Experience with every material is a safe way to avoid head strikes 231 What else besides a head strike can cause a head to fail prematurely If too much sunlight enters up into nozzle plate and if you never clean your filters 232 Is the printhead user installable Yes It is advisable that you use a static strap 233 Where can you send the printheads to be refurbished Heads should be sent to LexJet for refurbishing Then the printheads go to the ink manufacturer to have the heads refurbished Never had a head that could not be resurrected SUBSTRATES 234 What sizes of material can be printed on Rigid materials can be up to 96 inches 2 4 meters in length by 72 in width 1 83 m 235 What is the difference between media width and actual print width We have this entry because some printers are called 3 2 because they accept substrates that are 3 2 wide but the printer can actually print only 3 1 meters In such a case the model name is misleading and incorrect in a sense have even seen some model designations claiming 3 3 when they
46. arily manufacture their own ink 276 Where are the printer s ink containers located Front back or sides Front and back at the left end INK White amp Varnish 277 Is white ink available No i BEDAVAYA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 46 INK Cost 278 Does the refill container of ink come in cartridge bottles or bulk How large are the ink containers for this re placement ink Ink tends to come either in bottles where you pour the ink into the ink container on the printer or containers that are themselves the ink container you take the old one out throw it away and place the new container in its place Cartridges tend to only be used in printers with Epson printheads No currently functioning UV printer uses Epson printheads one Eastech printer tried but it is not widely used The 72HUV ink comes in one liter bottles 279 What is the cost per container What is this cost translated to liters Cost of ink varies depending on the dealer distributor and depends on what country you are in Usually the smaller and cheaper the printer the more the ink costs The larger the printer is and the more ink it uses the lower the ink is priced The ink for the 72HUV is 225 per liter As an additional comment ANNI 3 on ink costs if your printer system such as Mimaki JF 1631 or if 5 Wii Hi your printheads need to spit ink frequently when not printing ELLE lil rumored to be an issue with Seiko heads then you
47. at that reaches the material by raising the entire printhead carriage However this results in noticeably less quality because the ink is flying through the air a longer distance while the material is moving away from it You can also set the printhead carriage to move further away from the printing area at the end of each pass in those cases that the media is less than the maximum and in those cases where these settings are facilitated by the printer design and firmware 254 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 do need to be aware of how to prevent static electricity build up Nocarpets or rugs on the floor Indeed you should consider anti static tiles or carpet Use a humidifier during winter months to avoid dryness Learn which media are susceptible to gathering a static charge Consider a printer that has specific anti static features Grounding e Static bar s Most printer reps suggest this is more an environmental issue than a printer or ink issue They say you can t have carpet and you must maintain a high humidity They admit that the static electricity situation varies depending on each site s situation Nonetheless some UV printers already have anti static systems carefully built into their printers When these work it documents that the in
48. at 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 Don t 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 redesign 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 FLAAR Reports 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
49. aterial 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 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 FLAAR Reports 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 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 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
50. ations of varying the factory set temperature then changing the temperature could be considered 298 How long does it take to heat the ink in the morning at startup You need 5 minutes but it is better if you allow a 10 minute span 299 Has any misting or spray been reported What about ink inside the machine parts Most misted ink is pulled out by the vent system Just ask any ink chemist about ink misting then ask most sales reps Most people in a typical booth are in a state of denial or do not fully understand the concept of misting Most safety instructions do not mention the potential of the UV ink misting during printing Some chemists have told me that there is no way to totally prevent all misting since you are generating x million drops a second from a rapidly accelerating carriage Misting is inevitable The most misting that I have seen so far was inside an Infiniti UV printer the entire surface of the inside platen rollers etc was totally covered with misted ink The second most amount of ink misting that have seen was in a ColorSpan 72UV X But many other printers mist as well You can check simply by putting a white swab or white cloth or white paper in a fixed location inside the printer under the hood Check it every week or so to see how much misted ink has settled on it This is the amount of ink that you may be breathing if the workplace is not adequately ventilated For the Legend 72HUV printer most misted ink sho
51. 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 manufacturer 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 DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 61 based printers We observe as best we can but we cannot take each printer apart to inspect each feature And for UV printers the
52. better more user friendly and definitely better English than the manuals for some Japanese made UV printers The Safety manual and pre install manual of about 16 pages are offered in PDF format You get a CD for spare parts 115 Is there a Site Preparation Guide If so is it helpful Yes 116 Is there a glossary in the User s Manual Yes Basic entries The manual has also an appendix where you will ind a power up procedure checklist and a shut down procedure checklist At the very end of the document you will find a Spare Parts List The latter is very helpful because it contains detailed information as Product code Part name Part function description Weight e Photographs 117 What is the native language of these guides Is the translation acceptable 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 118 What kind of cut away drawings or other drawings exist that show the various parts of the printer The manual prepared by DEC for the Legend 72HUV includes many photographs for example the spare parts list has a picture of every single spare part along with its description The best exploded views of any product in the world are those by Canon came
53. 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 DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 62 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 quality 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 c
54. ch 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 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 FLAAR Reports 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 abl
55. d printer factories Bordeaux InkWin and Sunflower ink have brought us to inspect their ink manufacturing facilities and demo rooms We have visited the world headquarters and demo rooms of HP in Barcelona and received informative and helpful technology briefings 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 flatbed 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 DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 65 provided much more detailed information and documentation in our visits than would be provided to a magazine author or editor Com panies 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 prin
56. e 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 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 visi
57. e feeding roller down to the back roller bar goes up into the printer to the platen area After being printed on comes off at the front and down to the front roller bar from where it goes to the take up roller bar 246 Can you manually sheet feed media Does it feed easily To some degree feeding rigid media is done manually SUBSTRATES Materials Applications and Issues 247 What materials does the manufacturer list The Legend 72HUV brochure mentions this printer handles a great variety of uncoated materials up to 1 in thickness These are the materials listed in the brochure Polyester film Polycarbonate film The material that was used for my test prints was Kommabrite PVC from K mmerling The tech support people added the comment that This material is comparable to Sintra but the white point and adhesion of Kommabrite is better sheet to sheet the quality is consistent and in general the quality is good 248 What materials can this printer print on perfectly DreamScape is another material talked about This is a wallpaper material The DreamScape company sponsored a contest for best mural 249 What materials can this printer print on okay It helps if the material is clean homogeneous surface and should all be the same thickness 250 What materials can this printer print on sort of okay but where you have to overcome problems Celtek is not as even in thickness nor as consistent as is Kommabrite Alt
58. e lamps will also go off if the operator opens the front door during printing On most entry level printers the lamps will shut off after a set period of not printing This is a crucial question and one seldom asked elsewhere if your UV lamps need to be turned off after the printer being unused for 5 to 10 minutes then your lamps life gets used up quickly Each strike turning the lamp off and on one time can lower the life of the lamp by one or two hours So ideally you want a kind of UV lamp system where the lamps can stay on as long as possible to avoid having to turn them off and on all day long Another downside of having to turn the lamps off is that you then have to let them cool down and then have to let them heat up again On this model lamps go to Low if not printing for 5 minutes If not printing for 30 minutes lamps turn off 5 DAVANA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 51 BWAVAVA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 2 314 How long does the lamp last in terms of hours of operation 500 hours You have to keep in mind the consequences of not replacing the lamps at the right time At 1000 hours you loose cure on coroplast 315 How many hours are used up by each strike by each time you turn the lamps on GCC is one of the few companies that clearly specifically and openly mentions how many hours are wasted by each strike namely three hours 316 Is the lamp fan filter a user replaceable item How often sh
59. e printers which failed did so in front 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 beneficial features even of printers are otherwise get the most critique from our readers Over one million people will read the FLAAR Information 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 func tion and which printers fail to achieve what their advertising hype so loudly claims We turn down offers of funding every year These offers come from PO Box enterprises or products with no clearly visible point of manu facture 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 pres ence at leading trade shows and can provide references from both end users and from within the industry Where
60. e 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 products 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
61. ecession 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 was the half million dollar Luscher JetPrint so being Made in Switzerland was not much help 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 co
62. enses 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 initial training everything is included 131 Realistically what expenses must you incur for the installation such as a fork lift truck or crane to lift the print er off the truck You will have to consider 600 to 1000 for a rigger for a half day of installing equipment 132 Between the day the printer arrives how soon is it realistic to achieve full productivity Within two days but it depends on the operator s background If a printer is mature and out of beta stage you can achieve full productivity within a week or month But many owners have told me quite frankly that it took them several months to achieve full productivity especially owners of the Luscher JetPrint The longest time before a printer is really productive is when a printer is still in beta stage when you buy it It takes a while for the firmware and hardware to be improved and updated 133 How much of a learning curve is there Master one substrate at a time TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 3 TECH SUPPORT amp WARRANTY 134 What is the original warranty period 12 months 135 Does it include parts labor printheads Warranty includes parts and labor Printheads are covered by a period of 12 months or 24 liters
63. enty 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 ideal locations for us to gather information We thank Sun LLC Caldera Raster Printers Rastek DEC Lex Jet DigiFab Barbieri electronic Mutoh Europe 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
64. er 90 000 So far most UV printers priced at under 60 000 have not functioned adequately the Oce Arizona 60UV and several cheap entry level Chinese UV printers are in this inadequate category You simply can t build and provide tech support for a UV curing ink chemistry at such cheap prices So the better entry level printers are in the 65 000 to 85 000 range LexJet Legend 72HUV printer at LexJet demo center Sarasota Florida The report in the present PDF is a first step towards a long range evaluation of an entry level printer which has a good track record so far In other words the owners of this printer so far appear to be content Our next step forward after this initial report will be to verify how the Legend 72HUV is doing in printshops that are using it in the real world This will happen as soon as time is available and access is arranged In the meantime kept my eyes and ears open for viable entry level UV printers It was possible to have access to the Legend 72HUV for two days at their main demo center in Sarasota Florida during the week after DRUPA 2008 so here are my observations and conclusions FLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 2 THE BASICS 1 Brand name model Legend 72HUV 2 What is the nature of the company Is this company the manufacturer distributor or rebranding a machine made by someone else The manufacturer is Shenzhen Runjiang Advertising Equipment amp Material Co Ltd
65. 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 printshop 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 additi
66. ge or on a met alfitting Do you cover the caps with cel lophane or is capping direct Heads cap into a plastic fitting Printhead capping station 156 Where is the service area at the left or at the right At the left but you can also access the printhead carriage at the right 157 Are there wipers Yes Wipers are at the left In the service station 158 Is there a vacuum suck cleaning sys tem like a traditional vacuum cleaner Yes 159 Where is the parking area home At left 160 Is the service area the same as the parking area Yes Service station located at the right back of the printer s TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 26 161 Is the capping station the same as the service area or the parking area Or separate from both Yes the capping station the service station and the parking area are all integrated in the same place 162 Is there a dip station that is separate from the parking or maintenance station Is there an off printer dip or soaking station for the printheads NO 163 Does this printer spit or weep flash ink at regular intervals Not at the end of the pass but you can set spitting via software when the machine is not printing Solvent inkjet printers spit ink at the end of every pass in order to keep all printhead nozzles open The reason is that if you are printing a banner with an area of pure cyan then the other printheads will not be jetting ink since thei
67. gend 72HUV evaluation 4 12 Or do the dealers prefer that customers not try to make their own repairs DEC encourages their customers to do their own repairs For most other brands of printers the end user is generally 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 realistic However have visited many printshops where the printer operator prefers to receive this training precisely so they can do their own repairs After 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 operators like the opportunity to take service training at the factory and thereby to be able to do basic repairs on their own Most manufacturers discourage this but some manufacturers do allow end users to take advanced service training 13 What is the cost of a spare parts kit The printer comes with a kit of spare parts at no extra cost With some other printers you may need to pay up to 20 000 for a spare parts kit especially when it includes extra printheads 14 How does the total cost compare with o
68. get ink on the printing platen DAVANA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 11 46 Is there a cutter Is it manual or automatic There is no cutter most other hybrid style printers have no on board cutters either The Durst Rho 351R has a manual cutter since this is a dedicated roll to roll printer meaning it has no moving conveyor belt So roll to roll systems are more likely to have an ap propriate location for a cutting element and even potentially a cutting slot 47 Is there a knife guide a slot where you can draw your knife down and across the width of the substrate Most hybrid style UV printers have no area to put such a knife slot Nonetheless on the Legend 72HUV there is a knife guide in the platen area STRUCTURE Miscellaneous 48 Does the printer have levels built into the structure of the printer No it does not The only entry level or mid range hybrid or combo printer where I have noticed levels actually incorporated into the structure of the printer are the UV curable printers of Dilli 49 Does the printer have leveling supports How many and how strong Yes A total of four leveling supports Some UV curable printers have the leveling supports and wheels as separate elements The supports of the DEC Legend 72HUV are integrated with the wheels Leveling any UV printer is crucial Indeed at the NUR factory once the structure is leveled in the assembly room rather than roll it from stage to stage all c
69. hough Sintra is listed in the brochure you need to learn from experience whether batch to batch it is consistent quality or not Magnetic material quality and printability varies by manufacturer Some is good other is not as good r BEDAVAYA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 41 251 Can you print on mirrors Yes 252 What exotic or atypical materials can you print on There is an impressive portfolio of applications Indeed there is a separate FLAAR Report on applications for the LexJet printer 253 Heat concerns will the heat generated by the UV curing lamps cause adverse effects to some delicate forms of heat sensitive media Which materials might curl distort or discolor from the heat 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 Oce lists several other common signage materials as sensitive to the heat of UV lamps For these reasons we have a separate FLAAR Report on applications and materials Heat can build up when the printhead carriage hovers over a small area to print a narrow job Heat can build up inside the printer as materials especially metal absorb heat and hold it and then radiate it out for a long time So heat is not only an issue from the obvious and immediate heat of the UV lamps Residual heat can be an issue as well You can in effect lower the he
70. hybrid systems it helps to raise any pinch roller that is over the edge of the media This is one way to help alleviate skew So sometimes you would need to raise two individual pinch rollers one at the left one at the right Of course this depends entirely on the width of the material and whether by coincidence a pinch roller happens to overlap the edge of the media at one side or the other or both But if other design features help alieviate skew you may not need to raise an individual pinch roller 38 Can the pinch of the pinch rollers be varied Yes Pinch roller pressure has 5 positions Generally you can work in middle position The pinch rollers have the funtion to held flat the material 6 WAYA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 9 39 How is the roll held at the feeding position On a spindle On a saddle On a spindle A saddle which is not used on this printer nor on mid range either is formed of two rollers with a slight space between them You rest your roll of substrate on the saddle created by the two adjacent rollers You don t need to run a spindle through the roll But a saddle is primarily used on heavy duty industrial printers 3 2 meters or wider where the weight of a roll may cause a spindle to sag Plus it s a headache to thread a spindle through a 5 meter long core 40 Is there an air pressure core system Air core spindles tend to be used only on grand format printers costing over a quarter of a mil
71. ials And some suppliers offer better materials than others 257 Do you use lacquer cleaner or anything besides ISP alcohol 90 IPA is the best Although operators used to use Windex frequently 258 How often is pre treatment re quired either receptor coating or other special surface treatment to the mate rial to be printed Latex floor primer has been tried but we found very few actually worked Jasco adhesive primer works 15 of the times Many substances have been tested but only few worked yr Cleaning the substrate before using it for printing 259 Which substrates must be or ought to be prepared before print ing by being corona treated Corona treatment is to improve surface tension to promote adhesion Corona treatment may help on some materials if you do the treatment within a few hours or day or so before printing Otherwise the corona treatment wears out after a while so has to be refreshed before printing to be effective So buying pre treated material is only a good idea if it is fresh but you have no way to know how long the material was in a warehouse before reaching your shop 260 Which substrates ought to be laminated top coated or other wise post treated Liquid lamination gives depth with better appearance but lamination itself is not needed ADHESIVE PRIME R Realize that top coating a UV clearcoat may be useful on some materials and Nu m One even possibly required on some app
72. 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 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 FLAAR Reports Lack of Tech Support Personnel is increasing The book of sales in the third quarter of 2008 resulted in many tech support problems The r
73. inters and lithographers since lithography is gradually becoming outmoded Most recently updated September 2008 First issued July 2008 Updated August 2008 6 FLAAR Reports LAAR Ripa Books and Publications on Colar Management amp ICC Color Profiles E 4 F for wide format printers digelal cameras amp scanners DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 58 amp LARA Raper Glossary of terms on Color Management amp ICG Color Profiles hh mit ri ene liner andi ele Freier 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 format 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 software 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 2008 2008 Fm na BU drin eg eur
74. ith the same precision Some materials will go through okay others will skip or stutter and some may skew This also happens on expensive VUTEk 200 600 transport belts And what feeds well during a test may react differently when you are in full production day after day when the belt gets worn and a bit out of kilter The worst cases of skew that we have heard of are from the GRAPO Octopus and from the DuPont Cromaprint 22uv 264 How well can this machine handle warped substrates Obviously you don t deliberately use warped material but out of a shipment at least a few sheets end up with some warp anyway On the subject of substrates you will also have to ask your supplier of printing material Can substrate suppliers guarantee their material is allthe same identical thickness and surface consistency If not the print quality will vary depending on how close each sheet is to the expected specifications Construction material from places such as Home Depot is not originally intended for printing Although have myself bought materials from Home Depot and printed on them successfully for some materials it might be better to get graphics type material So yes you can print directly on raw construction material but just realize that it is not always perfectly flat You will need to test each kind of material from Lowes or Home Depot to see how well it prints in your printer 265 How much acclimatization time is needed for the substrates
75. ke up rollers This is a hybrid printer meaning there is no transport belt So the printhead carriage moves back and forth within the fixed position that is covered by a complete enclosure 74 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 bea bit faster Yes the printer can hover but it is the operator s choice Most sophisticated printers can hover But this may cause too much heat build up over one part of the printer So your software also needs to be able to modify the hovering position if so desired 75 Is there a light inside when you open the hood NO OPERATING THE PRINTER 76 Can the operator manage print jobs via the Internet with this printer No 77 Is the printer user friendly While was in the demo center a woman from Indianapolis was being trained to operate the printer that was inspecting asked her if she felt the printer was user friendly she said yes 78 What sensors does the printer have There is a host of sensors for the maintenance station Some of the printer s other sensors are e UV light ON or OFF detection Door open sensor UV lamp temperature sensors Out of flush sensor Ink overflow detection Full waste tank sensor Lead edge sensor End of board sensor Negative pressure sensor
76. lications This may require an additional l 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 In rare instances you made need a pre coating primer naturally matte FAVA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 43 SUBSTRATES General Concerns 261 Although this printer prints on almost all materials what is the adhesion rate with most materials Does the ink easily scratch off certain materials Realize that all statements must be judged based on how long the ink has been on the material and the surface nature of the material Not all fluted plastic material is the same and six months later the adhesion could theoretically be different based on conditions of display and the nature of the surface of the material Adhesion may be difficult on polypropylene and Lexan Some UV ink does not work well on Coroplast or prints well but begins to fall off after several months 262 What problems in feeding exist such as skew to one side The board guides will help to some degree to avoid skew 263 What other problems in feeding exist For heavy material For light material Avoid thin non impact polystyrene as it may melt Just realize that no transport belt on any combo style design can feed all materials w
77. lion dollars Substrates are held flat by pinch rollers against grit rollers You can adjust the pressure of the pinch rollers with this yellow lever found at the back left area 41 Howis the roll media handled at feeding position For example is there a dancer bar If there is no dancer bar is there at least a tension bar A tension bar goes up and down A dancer bar tends to move diagonally Each one flexes as tension is needed A printer will tend to have only one or the other not both There may be one such bar on the feeding side and another on take up side though a few printers have only one kind on only one side The Legend 72HUV has one flexible positioning bar on each side the equivalent of a dancer bar 42 Describe the overall path of the media through the system A simple path is neither a major benefit nor a defect A simple path means that it s easier to load and there is less to go wrong A more sophisticated system may have advantages for feeding some kinds of media 43 How much media is wasted during loading and feeding With some brands of printers you suspect that they are deliberately designed to waste ink and media since this is how those companies get their profits Media is moved too far out before you can cut it resulting in media being wasted before Take up roller Roll fed media is held in a spindle and after cutting etc at tha back 6 WAYA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 10 There is less
78. lters etc 293 How is new ink added Pouring into the on board container Switching the container to the new ink container You pour new ink into the containers of the printer 294 How do you avoid building up old ink inside a large container Every 6 months you should clean ink containers to get rid of the old ink that might gel 295 What is the situation with the ink gelling Most issues should be caught by filters Ink gels from heat not only from UV light since in theory the inside of the printer will have black ink lines so no UV light can reach the ink But overall heat will cause UV ink to gel But if you have some circulation within the tank and if the ink is far from the heat gellation will not be as much an issue i BEDAVAYA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 48 296 Is there an issue with ink starvation No There is a low ink alarm Ink starvation means that not enough ink can get to the printheads in fast 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 297 Can the end user vary the printhead temperature or is the temperature fixed It is not advised to change the printhead ink temperature arbitrarily However in certain situations a sophisticated end user with a high level of knowledge of the overall ink chemistry UV curing situation and experience in the ramific
79. ly but testing flexible ink is in process In the meantime the ink that is used is a dual purpose ink that prints on rigid material and also on flexible roll to roll materials 271 Is an extrudable or thermal formable ink available from the printer manufacturer At present only Mimaki and Gandinnovations offer a special heat formable UV cured ink For some other printers you can buy after market heat formable inks 272 How many colors are used to produce output four six or eight Four Traditional CMYK 273 What is shelf life of the ink CMYK Shelf life is listed as 24 months but it is best if used before 12 months Shelf life of the ink depends on storage temperature plus on how honest the company was that delivered the ink If the company bought too much ink and could not sell it fast enough they might be tempted to back date the shelf life But LexJet and DEC would not tend to do this their ink has the date on which it was produced 274 What company makes the inks Choic es include DuPont Jetrion now InkWare VUTEk Hexion Sericol Sun Triangle Koni caMinolta Toyo Tetenal and several others Triangle ink this is the same source that provided excellent UV curable ink to DuPont 275 Does the printer manufacturer have its own ink chemists on staff CMYK inks Yes Dr Ray Work Durst Gandinnovations HP and comparable large printer manufacturers have their own ink chemists even when they don t necess
80. maging 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 printers 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 amp FLAAR Reports 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 pl
81. mbo 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 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 50 it may be best to ask fo
82. n 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 DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 63 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 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 pri
83. neither the DuPont If compared with its predecessor the LexJet Legend Chromaprint 22UV nor the 18UV appeared in trade shows any more 72HUV has been significantly improved 69 What features have been added in the last six months Quick connect for the flushing pumps and general engineering upgrades Beefed up bearings on the carriage motion X direction This change took place before the first printer was shipped 70 What features are being added or changed in the next month or so Not needed because design is stable 71 What firmware upgrades have been made available Firmware upgrades are already achieved 72 What new firmware upgrades are likely in the future Nothing specific is planned at the present time because needs are already satisfied Miscellaneous 73 What moves o the flatbed platform e the printhead area only the material fed by roller table then gripped and fed by the printhead area mechanism as on a regular print er or both For example on the Inca Columbia the flatbed itself moves in and out for every line of print The 3M Leggett amp Platt machine is unique in that it has two options for movement both the material and the head assembly in X Y directions TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 16 Most traditional combo style UV printers move rigid materials with the transport belt and move roll fed materials through a combi nation of the transport belt and the roll feeding and ta
84. nters 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 local 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 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
85. 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 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 without warranties as to performance or merchantability or of fitness for a particular purpose Any su
86. of ink whichever comes first The warranty for these printheads is prorated and the limitations are specified by the warranty conditions which you receive in the binder with the user s manual 136 What sort of serious technical assistance is actually offered Do the tech support operators read from a script and only get a real technician later on You are offered professional tech support 137 What training does my tech support person have Is he factory trained In what language How many tech sup port people are available to cover the US or Canada Tech support personnel is factory trained in English Two of them worked on the predecessor model for the R amp D department of DuPont They have had experience in pre press tech support for years such as working for TSI Tech Services International later bought by Kodak Currently there are four capable service people with prior training and tech support More have not been needed since so far not many problems As more printers are sold tech support will be expanded via GEI but presently all tech support is from the team who have been with this UV printer since it s inception via DuPont One example would be John Crumbaugh who has experience already with Tech Services International 138 What are the hours of tech support If support is from eastern time zone hours should be at least 8 am through 8 pm to cover users on the West Coast 8 am to 5 pm in theory but in the reality
87. of virtually 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
88. olors on a Macbeth Color Checker look good Hair skin and some greens look excellent As soon as it is possible to undertake a site visit case study we will provide more description on the color gamut THE UV CURING LAMPS 304 How many different sets of lamps are there Is there pinning first and then curing later 95 of UV curable printers have only curing UV lamps Only the Inca Spyder 150 and a few other innovative machines have a pinning lamp before the curing lamp 305 What technology is used in curing lamps microwave continuous mercury arc LED or flash pulsed Xenon Continuous Mercury arc lamps Virtually all UV printers use mercury arc UV lamps Only NUR and a few others use microwave UV lamps Pulsed Xenon lamps have failed the few times they were tried an early VUTEk UV printer circa 2000 2001 a cheap Oce Arizona 60uv printer LED lamps are now being tried in several UV printers such as by Sun LLC in Russia The Gerber Solara ion uses a rare type of long UV lamp that is not used by any other wide format inkjet printer manufacturer a I T T BAT np 2 306 How many watts are the lamps 140 watts cm Each bulb is 2 inches long 307 What wave length do the lamps cover UVA UVB UVC 308 What is warm up time 4 minutes The LexJet Legend 72HUV uses the Continuous Mercury arc lamps 309 How long can the lamps stay on before they automatically shut off The lamps will turn
89. onal 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 and 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 i
90. once 500 4 times per year 1 set 5 bulk and 8 LCF s 171 What part s of this printer need the most attention to avoid breakdown Printheads 172 What self maintenance does the printer do on its own None 173 What is the most delicate or complex or time consuming cleaning or maintenance chore Valves are difficult to understand Close position is at 45 Some people have found the valve postions to not be intuitive There is a label near the valves that help For someone who takes care of their printer about 10 minutes each day should be dedicated to cleaning the maintenance station checking ink levels flush levels and the waste ink bottle 174 What areas of maintenance are hard to access or hard to accomplish Lots of doors make everything accessible would note some degree of difficulty to clean middle of platen area if tables are attached 175 How much time media and ink are used during regular cleaning calibration and maintenance You can purge heads either with ink or with flush solution 176 Is there a sleep mode Should the machine ever be turned off Does this entail having a UPS unit to guarantee itis on all the time Yes If the printer is unattended for half an hour it turns itself to idle mode and shuts down lamps 177 How long can the printer sit unused If put into capped position a couple of weeks If idle for more than several days it is recommended to flush ink from print heads completely and
91. only hold media 3 2 meters So there is a bit of misleading advertising out there Material width Claimed by how the model is named 72 and a half The model designation us 72 so is honest So the name designation for the Legend is honest 236 What about edge to edge printing borderless You can print up to the border on three sides leading edge right and left If you need to print on the fourth side you can add an accessory piece at that position 237 Can you adjust the rate of media feed It is not recommended that the user simply adjust the media feed rate You set this distance the distance the media is moved between passes by a simple target t DAVANA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 38 On some printers if you have banding lines caused by media feed that is slightly off you may need to adjust the rate of media feed This is not always the fault of the printer but a result of the fact that each different kind of material feeds slightly differently 238 Can you adjust carriage speed The operator can t directly set the speed of carriage but it is modified by other decisions LEGENDEGHUV Ua i ME Da is n 1 DR Samples of substrates that can be printed on the Lex Jet Legend 72HUV printer Mari 5 19 Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 39 LOADING MEDIA 239 If roll to roll what core diameter s will this printer accept 2 and 3 6 core adapter is available upon request
92. onsidered 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 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 aspects of color management Many RIPs come in different levels You may buy one level and be disappointed th
93. onstruction stages take place with the printer not moving from stall to stall 50 Does the printer have wheels How many and how strong The printer has four wheels in which leveling supports are incorporated 51 Is the carriage moved by a magnetic field or a traditional motor The motor is an AC servo The printer has wheels and leveling supports built in the same structure e AVA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 12 TABLES for Combo or Hybrid Flatbed 52 What is the approximate size of the table 75 wide x 3 16 feet long 53 Is this table size adequate No table for any hybrid or combo flatbed printer is large enough to handle a 4x8 MDO board so everyone has to jerry rig an extra table DEC is at least helpful enough to recommend inexpensive and simple add on roller systems that act as a pseudo extension table The front and rear table are characterized for being a flat surface attached to the printer therfore no legs or supports are found for the tables 54 Do you need to provide an additional table at the front or back If you print material over 6 long yes Most printshops tend to jerry rig extra tables for longer materials But some printer manufac turers offer additional tables if desired 55 Are the tables an extra charge The original tables are included at no extra charge r BAVAN Sd Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 13 56 What is the design of the take up table e Horizontal roller ba
94. ou are being protected against e cog ja t i TE a o Ejder gm p Fada LET my dita T criam mEn port psum iim mg reg 7 my Erpa ir d cae rcge uim si ram ar 1 i E000 00 20900922E ti Safety glass lowered to protect the eyes from the UV light while printing AVA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 31 PRINTHEAD TECHNOLOGY 195 Which brand printhead is used Spectra Most UV printers made in the US Japan and Europe use Spectra Ricoh or KonicaMinolta heads VUTEk is one of the few that uses Seiko printheads It is reported that one downside of Seiko heads is that they must spit which waste expensive ink Most Rho printers do not have to spit except for white ink Now in 2008 several printer manufacturers are returning to Xaar now that their newer heads offer features not available earlier Soectra heads have the reputation for being industrial strength and thus potentially long lasting Another aspect of Spectra heads is that they require a more sophisticated printer electronics and ink delivery system than cheaper heads The quality of a Spectra head is why this brand is used in most Gandinnovations UV and solvent printers which cost over 225 000 per printer 196 Which model of printhead is used Galaxy 256 50 197 Is the printhead identified in the spec sheet brochure by brand or also by model or not at all Ye
95. ould this be cleaned or replaced If the filter gets clogged with dust then it is less efficient in keeping down heat Heat build up is not good for the overall carriage area Fortunately the lamp filters on the 72HUV are easily replaced by the customer and should be changed when the bulbs are changed 317 How do you keep track of lamp hours There is an hour meter on the UV power supply 318 How much does each replacement lamp cost 208 each 416 for the pair 319 Can the lamp alone be replaced or does the whole assembly need replacement Yes you can replace just the bulb 320 What is the true drying curing time of the inks used with this set of lamps What factors influence the true total drying time No UV ink really cures 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 UV LAMPS Cooling 321 Are there shutters No Shutters help control light leak and save from having to turn the lamps off So the lamps last a bit longer and you can be more productive not having to wait for the lamps to cool down and then warm up all over again 322 How often do the shutters stick The shutters on the Gandinnovations printer are pneumatic so don t stick as often as mechanical shutters DuPont Croma
96. possible we prefer to visit the company in person or at least check them out at a trade show Obviously 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 individual ism and technological 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 con cerned 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 con centrate 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 numbers not individuals However if you ask about a specific brand of printer and do not opt out we for
97. print 22uv printer seems to have issues with its shutters getting stuck either stuck open or stuck shut So DuPont had to switch to another solution We occasionally hear of shutters of other brands of printers sticking as well Indeed one company said they don t use shutters at all due to the possibility of them not opening or closing Making them pneumatic resolves many of these issues Of course one reason for not using shutters is to save cost Most Chinese printers and low cost UV printers made in the US and elsewhere may skip shutters But it may be safer to have no shutters at all rather than have shutters then depend on them and if they fail nonetheless then the UV lamps can set the printer on fire as happened with two Grapo printers in Australia The Grapo printers are made in Europe not China C BAVAN n Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 53 323 How are the lamps cooled Air Fans Water cooled Lamps are cooled with fans The lamps are cooled with fans located on top of them 324 How many fans are there per lamp Two fans per lamp 325 How many settings do the lamps have Or are the fans just Off and On Off Low and High 326 Or are the UV lamps adjustable automatically based on how hot the lamp area is You set the lamps manually but the system itself will switch from Hi to Low if the system is idle for more than two minutes 327 Are there fans elsewhere in the printhead carriage area No 328 What other
98. r colors are not called for In theory these nozzles will clog while not being used So spitting allows all nozzles to eject ink occasionally Another way to allow all nozzles to squirt ink periodically is to have a band of CMYK or a band of six colors CMYK light Cyan light Magenta at one or both edges of the image immediately outside the image area This pattern causes every color to jet even if these colors are not being printed in the image itself Although most UV printers do not require a band of printable colors along the edge many UV printer manufacturers do recommend spitting However some UV printers do not have a spitting capability 164 Do you have to manually open and close a valve to let the flush solution flow through a printhead Is it indi vidual for each printhead Or is it automatic from the LCD touch screen or keyboard Yes flush solution has a valve You can flush each printhead individually 165 Does the manufacturer provide any special cleaning tools You receive paint scrappers a paint wiper and a starter set of clean room wipes 166 Does the manufacturer provide any special cleaning liquids light weight machine oil MAINTENANCE 167 What daily procedure is required at start up in the morning Turn on the computer and open RIP software Turn on the air scrubber Check that emergency stop buttons are off Check that UV lights are off Turn main isolation switch on Turn three main power breakers SK1
99. r 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 DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation the design of the printhead would probably be altered by the time we did any of this anyway So it is essential to talk with people with other end users and with FLAAR in person on a consulting basis Acknowledgements With 15 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 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 m
100. ra 119 How hard or easy are the manuals to obtain BEFORE you buy the printer was given a manual with no hesitation Some printer manufacturers hide their manuals because they don t want anyone to see them Luscher tried this ploy of course obtained one anyway from other sources Yet MacDermid ColorSpan offered their manuals 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 120 Is installation included in the purchase price Purchase price includes three days training at DEC s facilities and 4 days of on site installation and training 121 How many people come for the installation One or two 122 How many people are required to lift move the printer during installation How many people do you need to provide for the installation None needed other than rigger TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 22 123 Do people also come for a pre installation 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 This will depend on the location and situation TRAINING 124 Is training included in the purchase price If so what kind of training is offered Yes The purchase price includes 3 full days training includes airfare hotel and meals for one person at LexJet s training facility in Florida and
101. replace with print head flush solution Actually it is best to use your UV printer every day If you are not going to use it every day fill the system with flush solution and cap the heads please note this procedure varies considerably from one printer to another some have no capping station others you have to inject flush with a syringe FLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 28 Check with an experienced tech support person but merely turning your UV printer on for a test print every few days is NOT what is meant by using your printer every day It may be better to fill it with flush and not use it at all But this depends on the plumbing system of your specific printer so check with tech support we are not a medical doctor for specific individual printing problems just trying to get the message out UV and solvent printers are designed to print not to sit unused 178 How should a printer be prepared for sitting unused for a long time Solvent printers need to be used every day Otherwise the ink dries in the nozzles and nozzle plate of the printheads It was an early mantra that UV ink escaped all the problems of solvent printers that you never had to weep spit at the end of every pass that you never had to purge etc But in reality UV curable ink has comparable issues plus the added problem of curing inside the nozzles Cationic ink can cure spontaneously once initiated all the way back into the ink tubes Fortunately mo
102. rn on Investment 337 Can this printer hold up to two or three shifts per day all week Yes 2 shifts a day This is the first thing will ask when do a site visit case study in a printshop Even if you yourself won t use this two shifts a day would not trust a printer that is so cheap that it fails to print 16 hours a day So far the printers made by RTZ from late 2007 onward appear to be more reliable than printers made in earlier years 338 Does this printer have to be turned off to rest between shifts No After a while of not printing machine will go to idle mode TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 55 ADVERTISING CLAIMS 339 How often do people return this printer and say they want their money back Any time you are seriously thinking of any printer it is essential to learn what the recall or return rate is In other words how many printshops return this printer because it is either not what they expected or not what they need This does not automatically mean that the printer is bad it may mean that the printshop had an unrealistic expectation Sometimes the printshop did not anticipate how much maintenance and care the printer needed in the evening and in the morning It is likely that every single brand out there has printers they have had to take back But you ought to learn how many and why If the manufacturer distributor or reseller is honest and gives you the actual facts this is a company to trust If
103. rs the full width of the table e Horizontal roller bars with rigid supports in the middle and or elsewhere too Separate flat bars with rows of tiny rollers e Solid flat table with small roller bars e Solid flat table with ball bearings e Another design These tables are standard for most Flora printers planks with roller balls The advantage of a roller ball is so you can slide a board sideways you can t do this on a ColorSpan You can pull up each plank and lean them against a wall or better lay them flat on the floor so they don t slide down 57 If there is a row of rollers set into a bar can you slide the individual bar to a new position It is rare that you can slide any individual bar or roller to a new position The only table that can remember that had movable fea tures was that on the ColorSpan 72UV printers 58 Does the table stick out with cantilever support only Or does the front have legs for added support Yes with cantilever support only there are no front legs or back legs either Tables are built up as a solid surface containing roller balls to move substrates into the printing area Although this is not a very common design in UV cured printer tables the advantage of this design is that you can move media sideways 0 E D k a d 5 5 C LI OU a z 3 ERN m 3 2 8 7 E pm E E du i Es Tus i L a E i he 1 8
104. s Conclusions Pros The asset of LexJet is that they know their customer s needs from direct and personal interaction over years LexJet is one of the largest and most sophisticated dealers have seen Now they have been joined by the team that moved from DuPont This team already knows this printer inside out from its inception through its improvement over the past two years These are the experienced service technicians who can provide installation training and tech support when and if this is needed in the future The company distributing this printer is honest in not claiming that this printer can print on everything That claim is silly because printing on something is only the first step The more pertinent question is which materials can you print on and have the ink adhere and adhere without easy abrasion A few noticeable beneficial features of merit that would mention are Software gets rid of bi directional banding There is no banding found in solid blacks no banding caused by inaccurate mechanical feeding of the material With the entry level price on this unit your printshop can learn about UV without risking too much capital DEC has gotten rid of counterfeit parts counterfeit parts are present in most printers made in Asia e You get an air scrubber air purifier included at no extra cost This printer has a clever auxiliary guide bar system that can be attached onto the flatbed feeding table that attaches to
105. s the printhead is specified by brand and model in the spec sheet as well as in the User s Guide 198 How many other printers utilize the same printhead Have they shown any problems Spectra printheads come in many different models Other Spectra printhead models are used by Dilli Neo Plus Agfa Anapurna X HP Scitex XP5100 and many others Inca printers started with Xaar printheads but they switched to Spectra BA AS AW wil amp ER EE Lamel iL A UY Limp 2 Printhead carriage with the hatch open so you can see the details you will not see many printhead carriages this neatly organized and precisely engineered on lesser priced printers In other words to be polite if you pay less for some other cheaper brand you will not likely get a well engineered printer and certainly not any Asian brand that has US quality control personnel inspecting the factory and serving as consultants TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 32 ML OL af E TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 33 gt elel i J 0 W mai n yt t 3 s d Tun Q9 9 9 eje eje eje ojo oj Ca 2 22 SS mm GE XU AS BEDAVAYA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 34 202 What is the position of the white printheads relative to the rest There is no white ink yet PRINTHEAD DPI amp Features 203 What is the drop size in picoliters 50 pl 204
106. s over 90F the printer will still operate but there may be a loss of image quality So being realistic about temperature and humidity are indeed crucial especially humidity Even more important is that whatever temperature and humidity is present in the work area that it not vary during the day cool in morning hot by 11 am Hotter by 2 pm 105 What about altitude Some cities such as Guatemala City are at a high altitude Almost no spec sheet and not even many User Manuals mention anything about altitude But Guatemala City is about 1500 meters above sea level which is rather high there are four volcanoes visible out my window as write this and other parts of the world have even higher elevation 106 What about dust and cleanliness of the air Dust in the printing environment is an aspect that is often neglected It is crucial that if a sign shop that no sanding sawing routing sandblasting or grinding operations be nearby The dust and debris from sawing and comparable operations are extremely unhealthy for a UV printer In other words you need to ventilate away more than ozone and ink odors you need to ventilate away everything else that is already in the printshop environment 107 What is the connectivity Network SCSI FireWire USB or USB 2 or other Network PC to printer is serial 108 Does the printer come in one piece Does this mean you have to remove a wall to get the printer this size into your office Yes Yo
107. se 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 outside 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
108. short period the UV curing lamps shut off This is good because it prevents a fire two GRAPO UV printers have caught on fire already But the downside of the UV lamps having to shut down is that they you need to wait until they are cool before starting them up again So far the only aspect have found is actually not a defect and not an issue but itis something that the printshop owner needs to be aware of namely the ink droplet size The large picoliter drop size helps speed because printing speed needs large drops small drops take more time This is one of several reasons why the Oce Arizona 250 is so slow it has small drop size But the marketing team of LexJet and Digital Equipment Company are open about the large drop size because they recognize that most signage is viewed from a normal viewing distance At a normal viewing distance for a sign or a banner no one will notice the large drop size Comments amp Suggestions The air scrubber is an excellent idea but it makes noise at times so be sure to put this scrubber in another room or otherwise shield it from the ears of the printer operator It would be recommended for the printer operator to wear safety glasses would also suggest that the factory might test for what angles UV light might escape and cover that angle in future iterations of this printer This printer is appropriately directed towards franchise sign printing shops family operated signage shops commercial pr
109. 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 demo
110. st printers don t use cationic ink they use free radical curing chemistry But reflected light can cure the ink inside the nozzles heat can cause gellation which can clog the heads So in some printers the heads are capped at night in some printers you have to fill the ink lines with flush if you don t print frequently Indeed a UV printer is intended to be used every day We just received an e mail from an end user whose ColorSpan UV printer had numerous issues He said they used it seldom because of these issues My first question to this printshop owner was whether the infrequent use was a cause of at least some of the issues So what we can learn from these situations is that most UV printers are made to be used preferably all week all month all year So far the indications from the DEC tech support staff is that the Legend 72HUV can handle being unused better than many other brands This is the sort of aspect that will be important to ask about when it is possible to undertake a site visit case study of the 72HUV in a printshop environment SAFETY amp HEALTH CONCERNS 179 How is safety treated in the printed literature The authors of the manuals were aware of safety in the workplace GCC StellarJet 250 UV manuals have among the best treatment of safety aspects in other words they tell you point blank some of the reality of UV ink and UV lamps If the warnings do not make you cringe they are not realistic 180 How many emergency
111. stop buttons are there Where are they located There are two Each one on top of each end You can use them without damaging anything 181 Is there auto shut down if the operator sticks their hand into the system while it s operating To get hand in you have to open the hood and this makes the printer stop 182 Is there any ozone suppression system inside the printer No There is just a ventilation system that can evaluate ozone af ter itis produced 183 Is the machine enclosed or exposed The machine is enclosed But front hood has a Plexiglas tinted window that to some degree lets UV light through Not many UV printers are totally enclosed The Gerber ionx is one of the few UV cured dedicated flatbeds that is totally enclosed ENE OY STOP SUNON 6 WAYA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 29 184 Does the hood close down completely to seal the system or are there a few inches open at the bottom Below the Plexiglas stripe there is a gap to let materials through The hood on any hybrid or combo system must allow space for boards to pass through so it s hood can never close down tightly onto the platen area The design must allow space this space should be closed off with a skirt Some printers use flaps or rubber like material other printers use skirts of brush like material 185 What kind of skirt exists along the bottom of the hood to prevent light leakage The printer has a brush like skirt under the front hood
112. ters inks and media 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 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
113. ther UV printers You can fill out the other columns for the other brands of printer that are on your short list We can t fill this out for you since we don t know what is on your short list Base price chassis and Legend 72HUV print engine 79 995 RIP Software lite 2000 Onyx PosterShop s RIP full version 4000 Onyx Production House transportation 700toChiago installation Included 22 Included LLL ink presse warranty 12months o ooo o Po sparepartskit Included Po tables muda j oo Po optional costbuthighly oo o Air purifier recommended PURCHASING 15 Are dealers national most companies or regional Roland allows a dealer to operate only within a limited re gional area Does a buyer have any choice in dealers Dealers are national LexJet and local such as Lloyds in Indiana which a dealers that is not directly associated with LexJet DAVANA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 5 FEATURES OF THE PRINTER Vacuum 16 Is there a vacuum function Yes 17 Is the vacuum created by simple fans or by an air pump Vacuum is created by two industrial air pumps Actually there are two separate air systems an air pump for creating negative pressure in the printhead is self regulating And an air system for the vacuum portion of the platen 18 In how many sections One section But because you can control two separate
114. tries 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 printing workflow We have seen Gerber cutters 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 FLAAR 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
115. ts etc Reports on obsolete printers discontinued printers or printers that not enough people ask about tend not to be updated DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 60 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 autho rized 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 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 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
116. u will haveto considerthe dimensions ofthe printer and your facilities before making a decision although the specifications brochure indicates the printer fits through most door openings The tables are detachable This printer will fit through a standard 36 door 109 What is the size and weight of the printer With tables attached 10 75 ft 3 28mt 7 58 ft 2 31mt 4 42 ft 1 35 mt Without tables 129 3 28mt 31 0 79mt 53 1 35mt You get one crate for the printer and one or two boxes for the computer and monitor The air scrubber is another box Filters printheads and other items may arrive in other boxes 111 What size and kind of forklift truck do you need Or do you need a crane You will need a rigger for most UV printers A rigger is a company to help move the printer from the truck into your plant But if you have a forklift with a 12 foot extension that can lift 5000 Ibs then you can consider taking the printer off the truck yourself with no rigger needed 112 Does the printer have lifting hooks on the top or elsewhere The printer has yellow brackets to help the rigger s TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 21 INSTALLATION OF THE PRINTER INSTRUCTIONS amp MANUALS 113 How many manuals are available User s Manual Safety Manual and a Pre Install manual 114 Which manuals are hard copy Which manuals are only on CD The User s Manual is hard copy 87 professionally designed pages This manual is
117. uld be pulled out of the gantry area by the vent system INK Longevity 300 What about longevity indoors where people or objects may scratch smudge or rub against the printed surface There is currently neither in Europe nor the US any standard tests for determining longevity of UV ink 301 What is the longevity outdoors What about in the full sun in direct sunlight In some cases the ink may last longer than the material on which it is printed 302 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 Ammonia in Windex and comparable cleaning liquids Not serious issue Acetone this needs to be tested results not yet available e Cleaning alcohol Not serious issue Gasoline never tried Soap and water with sponge not considered an issue Soap and water with a broom frequently used to clean vehicle wraps in Latin America for example not considered an issue Scotch tape pull off test Scratch and pull off test is not an issue within reason If you use a hard metal tool you can scratch any ink off every surface Ammonia cleaning alcohol Soap water with sponge and soap water with broom have been tried and presented no serious problems Gasoline has never been tried and reaction to acetone is also not known r TLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 49 INK Color Gamut 303 Which colors print best The c
118. 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 FLAAR Reports 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
119. 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 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 b
120. vestment is well spent However if the low price of your printer is in part because there is no on board static system and if you indeed have a static issue the natural question is why since this is such a well known issue did your brand not have an anti static system or if so why does it not work satisfactorily The Legend 72HUV is grounded and this is a start Static will also depend on which materials you are working with how they are handled and the humidity level in your work place 255 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 Dust can be a problem in places and seasons with low humidity This is one of several reasons why you should have humidity control in your printshop to allow maintaining proper humidity level for optimum performance of your printer 6 DAVANA Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 42 SUBSTRATES Cleaning Priming Preparation 256 Do you have to brush off or other wise clean each sheet of incoming ma terial by hand before you print on it This will depend on the material but generally yes The need to clean incoming materials is typical of any printer Some materials have more detritus or dust or issues than other mater
121. ward your request to a pertinent sponsor so you can obtain follow up from that brand since we ourselves do not have 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 pur chase the FLAAR series All income helps continue our tradition of independent evaluations and reviews of inkjet printers RIPs media and inks DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 67 amp LAAR 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 I Classifications of jy LIA MR teens Bmore than 60 Inkjet Flatbed Printer UV Glossary FAQs for UV Printers MM eere amp TLAAR Reports amp lLAAR Reports KARR FLAAR Reports Brief History How TEEMANA X oes a UV ural em UV Lamps unes SEA Tips Info Help LCS i n dif of des na for flatbed Inkjet Printers Introduction to Documentation 0 0 E UV Cured Inks on Piezo Printheads UV Cured Inkjet Printing MM upra n tj Used in UV Cured Ingelrniniere ars Inkjet
122. y is easy 285 How do you know when the waste container is full There is a Full waste tank sensor that activates an audible alarm 286 How can you see the remaining ink level Do you have to ask to see the ink mode or is the ink status available at all times This information is displayed by the software It is not always visible It shows the level of all inks the level of flush liquid and waste bottle status all at once 287 Is there an out of ink alarm Is there a warning before actually being out of ink There is an audible alarm 288 What if the operator is out of the room Does the printer stop No printer does not know by itself to stop but most people would not try to run a UV printer unattended overnight 289 Does the printer send an e mail message a nice touch if the printer is operating unattended at night NO 290 Can this printer use after market ink If yes what are pros and cons If no why is no after market ink available or widely utilized Yes there is nothing built in to prevent use of other ink other than common sense But using an after market ink voids the head warranty 291 What kind of protective devices are on the ink system to keep you from using after market ink None But as mentioned above using a third party UV ink voids the head warranty 292 Do you have to upgrade software every month or so to use ink to foil being able to use after market ink NO INK Supply System Tubing Fi
123. y trade show LexJet and Digital Equipment Company DEC began mar keting this printer in January 2008 6 Is this printer mature or still in alpha stage or beta stage This is a mature printer LexJet Legend 72H UV 7 List price 79 995 8 Does a complete set of full sized ink cartridges come with the new printer or merely a starter set that is not as full as a regular set The printer comes with training installation e PC e monitor 1 roll of material 4 liters of flush liquid 2 liters of each color of ink 9 What other equipment is needed to operate this printer For example does this printer include its own power line conditioner Piping from printer to air scrubber Air scrubber 10 Do you need an uninterruptible power supply UPS Not required unless you are in an area with frequent power outages such as Guatemala City during the monsoon rainy season 11 Is it recommended or required to buy a spare parts kit Or extra printheads The printer comes with a kit of spare parts which includes e Wiper for printheads e Scrapper for drip tray Replacement capper Pair of UV lamps Spare ink pump Spare flush pump Ink level sensor Pair of lenses for sensors on printer Most end users don t wish to buy a spare parts kit up front in part because they don t yet have the experience to do their own repairs when they are first buying this printer 7 BAVA Reports DEC Le
124. y when the cost of the printer needs to be kept down So the present philosophy of the manufacturer is to have minimal downtime during the first three years DEC states that Our components and modules are tested for a 3 year or better life expectancy 91 What is the solid ness of the construction of the outer body Is it plastic Metal Heavy gauge The printer is primarily metal even the silver colored end caps are metal They are powder coated baked on so the finish is durable Solid ness of the printer 92 Is there both a front hood and a back hood There is a front hood and a sort of a back hood But it seems to be the same structure The Gandinnovations 1224 UV has individual wings 93 The hood is it strong or cheap plastic The hood is made of strong metal There is no glass no Plexiglas except for the lower skirt 94 Does the hood have a frame No The hood is a solid structure that does not have glass nor Plexiglas except for the edge so the main part is metal then a narrow strip of Plexiglas then the skirt 95 How would you describe the overall workmanship of visible parts Clean Swiss made or flimsy and uneven several Chinese made printers The overall workmanship is acceptable for an entry level printer Several portions of this printer could be judged to be more robust than entry level printers made in the USA FLAAR Reports DEC Legend 72HUV evaluation 19 96 Does the printer wobble b

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