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Mutoh Spitfire Extreme Mild-Solvent Printer

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1. 166 How do you know when the waste container is full The waste container has a sensor A FLAAR Reports BIENNE 167 Where is the ink waste container Is there one or two There is one ink waste container It is clearly located outside the chassis at the right low on the printer 168 Some printers now have counters which report how much ink has been expended for each print Most printer manufacturers admit that these counters are generic estimates they do not really count how much ink is actually squirted out the heads So how about your printer Does it even have a counter and if so what is it really counting There is not really a counter on the printer per se counters would be more a function within the RIP software a a U l I E i INK Color Gamut EE 169 What colors can you achieve easily and nicely In general the colors are bright and pleasing The Mutoh printers rendered the FLAAR photographs in a professional manner 170 What colors are hard to achieve The yellow looked a bit too green on the Perrier advertisement A FLAAR Reports BIENNE cong he ira ty 11240 epee V ds B rg INK Miscellaneous EE 171 What about ink drying time The image is dry to the touch by the time it is out of the printer and ready to touch the floor Nonetheless before you can laminate it you need 24 hours or longer depending on the ink load You also need to be careful that the freshly printed surface
2. OPERATING THE PRINTER GREEN 53 Can the operator manage print jobs via the Internet with this printer No 54 What is the level of ease of use Can anyone use this printer or do they have to be trained and certified What about daily and periodical routine maintenance Operation of the printer is straightforward Plus the advantages of Intelligent Interweaving make it now easier for decision making You just decide on the viewing distance and select whether a photo or a sign and material type and the printer does the rest we have a more detailed description of the actual steps in a separate FLAAR Reports on Intelligent Interweaving 55 In the main area for operation is the machine software based touch screen or with physical control buttons Or both Controlling the movement of the substrates can be made with physical control buttons and the foot lever There are physical controls on the winder unwinder system itself too Raising the entire pinch roller system is also based on a foot control on a 3 meter wire Otherwise everything is done from the buttons associated with options presented on the LCD screen 56 Do you get an LCD screen in the printer or a real computer monitor How big is the screen or monitor The LCD is only 4 lines x 20 characters in size This is the traditional size on wide format printers in the past The overall control panel area is of adequate size and is the same general size as comparable printers I
3. There are two kinds of pinch rollers the standard ones and then two or three special ones depending on whether it is the 65 the 90 or the 100 model On one printer there are 9 regular pinch rollers then a special one then 7 regular ones a special one 7 regular ones special and a final set of 7 regular ones The etched grit rollers are specially made and are an expensive part of the system But if they were cheaply made the media could slip and fail to feed adequately this would result in banding lines 33 What positions are the rollers relative to each other The pinch rollers are separated by about 1 75 cm space from each other an eyeball measurement 34 Are the grit rollers continuous or individual The grit rollers are continuous but are not all one single long piece one piece would be too long 35 How are the pinch rollers raised as a unit There is a portable foot control which raises and lowers the pinch rollers 36 Can the pinch pressure of the pinch rollers be varied Not on Spitfire or Rockhopper 3 but you can vary pressure on the Mutoh Osprey 37 Can one individual pinch roller be raised to get it off the material say at an edge Yes this is best done from the back it helps to have a special tool to do this but it can be done manually if necessary 4 LAAR Re ports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 38 Do the pinch rollers leave a path mark on the media If so on all media or only some media Yes d
4. A Chevy Suburban simply does not have all the bells and whistles of the Cadillac Escalade version 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 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 unsatisfactory 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
5. Canon finally had overcome earlier issues they provided printers documentation and asked us to look at their new generation imagePROGRAF 7250 and 82001 Similarly with Mutoh over the years they were painfully aware of FLAAR Reports on earlier Mutoh printers At FESPA Munich 2005 they asked about these evaluations and our response was that we based our reviews on end user feedback of print shops that had Mutoh printers that we visited to ask how the printers were faring But by 2007 Mutoh Europe felt their new inks improved tubing and chassis and new Intelligent Interweaving technology warranted scrutiny by FLAAR Mutoh would never have dared invite FLAAR to their European headquarters if they were nervous about their new printer technology and ink chemistry Before went to Belgium checked with other sources to find out if they felt the new Mutoh printers were significantly improved and thus warranted my taking the time for doing an evaluation the response was the Intelligent Interweaving was a novel technology and that should very much take a look spent an entire week in Oostende visiting and interviewing key managers inspecting the headquarters and demo center visiting the factory and learning about the insides and outsides firmware and ink chemistry of these printers Prior to this visit to Mutoh Europe had spent two days at the Gandinnovations world headquarters and factory in Toronto also had three prior visits to the MacDermi
6. FI AAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme CONCLUSIONS ii PROS e Mutoh does not feel they have anything to hide Mutoh Europe provided every single solitary manual or PDF file that FLAAR requested Other manufacturers either hide their manuals or don t respond to a request or simply say they are not available e Mutoh provided even their Service Boardbook for the Spitfire 65 90 100 and Rockhopper 3 65 and 90 models This Service Boardbook was helpful in the evaluation of maintenance considerations of this printer e The people that design engineer and manufacture the Mutoh printers are all dedicated professionals have met many of the key people in person both at trade shows conferences and in the main factory of Mutoh Europe in Oostende Belgium Five years ago printers using eco and mild solvent inks were retrofitted water based printers in other words not all the ink tubing pumps printhead parts were made to handle solvents Today 2007 with all the past years experiences the current generation of Mutoh Extreme printers are designed from the ground up as solvent resistant within reason And Mutoh is open and up front in their brochures about the need to provide twice yearly maintenance and or replacement to these parts Remember it is in the interest of the manufacturer that your printer works well since you can t use their ink if the printer is down for repairs e These are not Chinese manufactured printer
7. amp FLAAR Reports JUNE 2007 Mutoh Spitfire Extreme Mild Solvent Printer Evaluation e o Nicholas M Hellmuth A FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE BASICS WHAT IS THE INTENDED MARKET FOR THIS PRINTER THE POTENTIAL CUSTOMER PURCHASING STRUCTURE OF THE PRINTER ROLL FED ASPECTS HEATERS amp DRYER UPGRADES FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS OPERATING THE PRINTER CONSTRUCTION BUILD QUALITY SET UP OF THE PRINTER PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS INSTALLATION OF THE PRINTER TRAINING TECH SUPPORT amp WARRANTY PRINTHEAD TECHNOLOGY PRINTHEAD POSITIONING PRINTHEAD DPI amp PRINT QUALITY BANDING ISSUES PRINTHEAD LIFE EXPECTANCY CLEANING amp MAINTENANCE NEEDS SAFETY CONCERNS INKS 12 15 17 19 21 24 25 26 26 2f 28 29 29 30 33 35 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme INK COST 36 INK COLOR GAMUT 38 INK MISCELLANEOUS 39 INK APPEARANCE 40 INK LONGEVITY 40 SUBSTRATES 40 SUBSTRATES IMAGE QUALITY 41 APPLICATIONS 41 IMAGE QUALITY ISSUES RELATIVE TO APPLICATIONS 41 RIP SOFTWARE 45 COLOR MANAGEMENT FEATURES 46 PRODUCTIVITY amp ROI 46 ADVERTISING CLAIMS 46 COMPARISONS WITH OTHER PRINTERS 47 SUMMARY 48 CONCLUSIONS 49 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 52 APPENDIX A 52 Copyright FLAAR 2007 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme INTRODUCTION i This is anew FLAAR Report on the Mutoh Spitfire Ext
8. as that of the Mutoh manuals Since FLAAR has never had or used a Roland printer we don t have experience with their manuals We are more familiar with Mimaki and Mutoh e Moveable control such as a foot pedal for raising and lowering the pinch rollers is helpful This is on a cable over 3 meters long 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme e Moveable control for having media sent forwards or backwards is also helpful on the winder unwinder system Mild solvent ink reportedly has slightly higher gloss than eco solvent inks This is something to test specifically in the future print the same image on both inks and compare them Intelligent Interweaving technology is s definite plus e also provide a higher score for printers such as Mutoh Spitfire Extreme that do not try to offer their own in house RIP software An outside RIP software such as Wasatch AIT Shiraz etc is almost always a significantly better option than an in house RIP which is usually not much more than driver software DOWNSIDES As soon as we have an opportunity to find and visit a sign shop or other company that has a Mutoh Spitfire in action we can better learn what downsides the printer has A site visit case study is essential to gain realistic perspective of how a printer performs in real life This particular model is so new that it is not yet in use in the US for example So far we have not noticed many deficiencies but naturally issues will ten
9. be among the better brands before we seek sponsorship After all out of the by now one million readers we have heard plenty about every single printer out there We thank MacDermid ColorSpan Hewlett Packard Parrot Digigraphic Color DNA Canon Gandinnovations Mutoh Europe Drytac and other companies for providing funding for technology training for the FLAAR staff and our colleagues at Bowling Green State University and for funds to allow us to attend all major international trade shows which are ideal locations for us to gather information Since our university does not provide travel funds whatsoever to get to trade shows to undertake site visit case studies or for factory visits and demo room visits we appreciate funding from the manufacturers so we can get out and do our studies of printers Contributions grant sponsorships and project funds from these companies are also used to improve the design and appearance of the web sites of the FLAAR Information Network We thank Canon ColorSpan HP ITNH and Mimaki for providing wide format printers inks and media to the universities where FLAAR does research on wide format 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme digital imaging We thank Epson America for providing an Epson 7500 printer to our facilities while at Francisco Marroquin University and Parrot Digigraphic for providing three different models of Epson inkjet printers to our facilities on loan at BGSU 5500 7600 7800 We thank M
10. bought the printer from since Mutoh sells only through distributors or resellers But in the Benelux countries Mutoh itself does the installation since the factory is close in Oostende the coast of Belgium 90 Is factory training available Factory training with Mutoh is not usual The companies that give factory training would be Gandinnovations MacDermid ColorSpan Vutek and some others 91 What on line training is available On line training is seldom available from any manufacturer 92 How much of a learning curve is there The answer to this will depend on the individual their background their level of interest and patience found the printer very easy to use It is nowhere near as complicated as printers where you have to tweak and twiddle with each individual printhead 4 LAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme TECH SUPPORT amp WARRANTY RS 93 What is the original warranty period One year except for printheads which are covered only for six months 94 Does it include parts labor print heads The fact that printheads are covered only six months is a clear indication that they will probably need to be replaced before a year is out 95 What training does my tech support person have Is he factory trained What is the language for the training at the factory Tech support in Europe is factory trained for those printers that are manufactured in Europe 96 Can the manufacturer remotely diagnose the printer N
11. front of the printer such as we have seen on a few other printers believe offered by PAT of Quebec Canada CONSIDERATIONS Earlier Mutoh printers especially the Mutoh Albatros fared poorly in FLAAR evaluations because so many end users complained and because what we saw at trade shows around the world did not wow us The Mutoh Toucan also did not wow the end users we visited for a site visit test But we realize that all printers get better over time For example the Epson 7000 and 9000 were weak designs the Epson 7500 and 9500 were a bit better but still had severe problems with metamerism FLAAR Reports were correspondingly critical But the Epson 7600 9600 and 10600 were improved and the FLAAR evaluations mentioned this The Epson 7800 and 9800 were finally acceptable to our reviewers other than excessive waste of ink in purging We anticipate that the new Epson printers that they will need to introduce in 2007 to compete with Canon iPF 9000 and HP Z3100 will be better than previous Epson models In other words as a printer itself improves the FLAAR Reports reflect this clearly A FLAAR Reports BIENNE The same with Mutoh the models available since 2005 and 2006 are more mature and meet our standards better than earlier Mutoh printers Canon told us they did not ask FLAAR to evaluate any of their earlier printers Canon 9000 for example because they read our reviews and realized we had found the weak points already But when
12. have their 8 color JV22 their newest textile printer their new UV curable ink printer Now that Symphonic inks offers a special version of a Roland combined with Evolution RIP offers a 12 color version of Epson s 10000 printhead generation which offers 32 passes wider than Epson s 44 inch limit and less banding than previous Roland models that would be the ultimate fine art giclee printing factory But since that printer is not available to our university and as these inks are not easily obtained the art students on our campus use our HP DesignJet 5000ps HP 5500ps HP 130 Epson 4800 Epson 7600 and Epson 7800 The art department does museum exhibits and wins awards with the output We are also looking at the newer 12 channel Canon iPF and HP Z series printers 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 facility 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 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
13. 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 cyclohexanone do not sound like chemicals you want to breathe every day Be sure to obtain read and understand the MSDS sheets for the inks media and laminates that you intend to use Both solvent eco solvent and UV curable inks are substances whose full range of health and environmental hazards are not yet fully revealed It is essential you use common sense and in general be realistic about the hazards involved especially those which are not listed or which have not yet been described FLAAR is not able to list all hazards since we are not necessarily aware of the chemical components of the products 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
14. is hectic and access to the printer may be frustrated by crowds or other normal circumstances that you would anticipate in a busy trade show booth For these reasons itis much more practical to visit the company demo room Here there is peace and quiet to look at a printer and take notes This we have done with the Spitfire indeed with all three models 65 90 and 100 In house testing This is the highest level of evaluation but implies that we have the printer in our facilities for using In other words this is a long range evaluation We have had more than 27 inkjet printers in house since 1997 We do not have the Spitfire in our own facilities so can not offer an in house test Status of the current report The present report is a combination of a Factory Visit Demo Room Visit and Third Look because we have the User s Manual and close to virtually all the documentation that could possibly be located So the present report is longer and more comprehensive than our reports for other printers Since there are so many printer makes and models it is not realistic to have this level of report on every single wide format printer There is also a comparable FLAAR Reports on the Mutoh Rockhopper 3 Extreme The FLAAR Reports on the Roland AJ 1000 is a site visit case study based on two visits to a sign shop that has this printer This same print shop is near our office so we have done research here over the last two years They have
15. 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 basing our discussion on having seen them at a trade show during visiting a print shop or having been informed about a product via e mail or other communication Be aware that trade show results may not be realistic Trade shows are idealized situations with full time tech support to keep things running The images at a trade show may be tweaked Trade show examples are 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 Four years ago we noticed Epson was laminating 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 leverage when you ask for your money back if the product fails 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 th
16. settings 47 What about fans No fans 48 1s an auxiliary heater or fan offered or needed Occasionally some customers add an auxiliary heater but it is rather exceptional The auxiliary heater would be useful to forcefully evaporate all solvents before they laminate Otherwise you normally have to wait 24 hours to laminate This is an honest answer to a very direct question 49 Heat concerns what heat settings are needed for special substrates There are recommended settings otherwise experiment and learn from experience The fixer is now limited to a maximum of 40 degrees C A FLAAR Reports MPNA UPGRADES Future Improvements ES 50 What features have been added or changed since the printer first appeared Intelligent Interweaving with 540 dpi mode has been added to the previous original Spitfire to create the current new generation Spitfire Extreme model Moreover the head carriage suspension has been modified The machine is also equipped with a newer generation mainboard 51 What firmware upgrades have been made available Firmware upgrades are free but must be installed by the distributor or reseller So if you live 1000 km from the distributor there may logically be a travel cost associated with installing firmware upgrades 52 What new firmware upgrades are likely in the future Most respected printer manufacturers such as Mutoh offer firmware upgrades at no cost 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme
17. 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 additional 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 management equally or may work better for some printer ink media combinations 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 that the RIP won t do everything That s because those features you may be lacking are available only in the next level higher of that RIP often at considerable extra cost Same thing in the progression of Chevy through Pontiac to Cadillac or the new Suburbans
18. the material The photographs of the printer show the media path Essentially it is e Off the front bottom of the spindle e Out up past tension bar bar is behind e Then over the heaters In front of dancer bar behind back bar onto top front of take up reel best seen in the photographs At a recent trade show could not help but notice that in the booth of an OEM the media path was not loaded properly 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme Z Feeding Position 4 LAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme HEATERS amp DRYER b 44 What about heater or dryer Is there a pre heater platen heater and post heater all three or just one or two How many heaters does this printer have Four heaters dryers e Pre heater Fixer under the heat e Post fixer Dryer contact heating from underneath e Other competing printers may have only three heaters earlier competitors had only two heaters The full set of four heater dryers is a benefit and deserves honorable mention 45 Where are the heaters located Is heater on top of or under the media The User s Manual page 12 clearly pictures the locations of the heaters 46 Can you turn them on and off Can you vary their temperature The temperature of each heater can be varied e 20 50 degrees Centigrade for the pre heater e 20 40 degrees C for the fixer e 20 70 degrees C for the post fixer e 20 50 degrees C for the dryer There are also suggested default
19. German etc 86 What kind of cut away drawings or other drawings exist that show the various parts of the printer Although there are no cut away drawings of the kind that Canon does so well for their cameras there are plenty of line drawings of the outside of the printer that show the locations of various parts 87 How hard or easy are the manuals to obtain BEFORE you buy the printer oome printer manufacturers either hide their manuals or make them difficult to obtain A few printer manufacturers refuse outright to provide their manuals unless you buy a printer But ColorSpan makes their manuals easy to obtain on line you don t even have to register Mutoh Europe makes their manuals also on their web site and also you don t have to register But you would need to know the manuals are there and persevere a bit to find them We were told in advance what site to head to and after a few minutes wandering around we found and downloaded about 8 manuals with no problems whatsoever 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 88 What is setup of the printer like How many people are required to be provided by the end user to help for setup The User s Guide states that four people are needed to unpack and assemble the printer Four people are needed to lift the printer TRAINING M 89 Is training included in the purchase price If so what kind of training is offered What is included relative to training depends on the place you
20. IENNE CLEANING amp MAINTENANCE NEEDS SE 121 How easy is it to access the area where you have to clean the heads The ease of cleaning the heads is improved by putting a mirror on the bottom of the maintenance area so you can look clearly at the printhead nozzle plates 122 How is head cleaning accomplished Spray vacuum manual other There are at least three levels of head cleaning e Little e Normal powerful The simple head cleaning is firing ink through the head into the capping station The more rigorous cleaning is a full clean that involves sucking and firing together This uses more ink and ultimately wears out the heads a bit 123 Is there a capping station Yes there is a capping station at the right 124 Where is the service area At the left or at the right The maintenance area is at the left the capping station is at the right The light auto cleaning is at the right Manual cleaning is at the left A FLAAR Reports ETIENNE 125 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 There is no dip station for Epson printheads Off printer cleaning stations are primarily for industrial strength heads such as Spectra and for grand format printers such as by Gandinnovations Jeti 126 Does this printer spit or weep at regular intervals There is a spitting box to clean periodically The printer does not s
21. In other words their printheads on their own were only 180 dpi in the beginning and today are really rated only at 360 dpi So this made it embarrassing for a printhead manufacturer that was claiming 1440 or 2880 dpi to admit that their printheads actually had such low dpi the claimed dpi was only the result of going back and forth and back and forth eternally Mutoh lists one pass as back and forth which is what FLAAR classifies as two pass But as mentioned above mode is a lot more than just dpi and printing passes What counts is the final appearance the dpi and passes are academic but that s precisely what a professor likes to classify The official modes for the Spitfire Extreme are listed in the User s Guide Uni directional ink is jetted only when the head is traveling in one specified direction e Bi directional the normal way ink is jetted coming and going e Interweaving improves the output quality e Mirror Output simply reversed mirror like e Multi copy not defined did not see a double strike for backlit output perhaps that is considered as something other than a mode 109 Do you print at 4 passes 8 passes If you have Intelligent Interweaving on you can achieve excellent quality at 4 passes remember Mutoh calls this 2 passes Intelligent Interweaving is discussed in a separate FLAAR Report 110 Is the sequence of ink color laydown the same coming and going rare Or is the sequence of colors
22. When and where was this model first introduced to resellers When was it introduced to the public The original Spitfire was shown April 2005 to resellers The Spitfire was then displayed at FESPA 2005 Munich The Spitfire Extreme was shown from December 2006 in Open House events in Europe and will be introduced to the North American market at ISA 2007 April 4 LAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 7 Is this mature or still in alpha stage beta stage This Is a mature printer 8 List price in US dollars and in Euros Spitfire 65 Extreme 22 790 Euros or 26 995 includes Tension winder 30 system 24990 Euros or 29 995 includes unwinder winder 100 Spitfire 90 Extreme 33 495 Euros or 39 995 includes Unwinder winder 100 system Spitfire 100 Extreme includes Unwinder winder 100 system 49990 Euros 9 What other costs are involved Mutoh is open and specific about the costs of each option RIP is 1000 Euros Unwinder Winder 100 4990 Euros Air purification system either 2395 or 1670 Euros e Bulk ink system either 5995 4245 or 3795 Euros e But the winder unwinder is always bundled with the printer either a 30 kg system or a 100 kg system 10 What accessories are extra cost Are these same or similar accessories included with other printers at no extra cost There is an optional bulk ink system BIS 8 pumps 4 bottles 6 pumps 8 bottles e 16 pumps 8 bottles You can order an extra weight roll fed win
23. absurd This is not entirely the fault of Mutoh Epson sets of rules But sooner or later the end user A FLAAR Reports BIENNE will find out If you are buying a product you have a right to know what is inside the product you buy An Epson head is acceptable albeit definitely not of the class of a Spectra or even a Ricoh or other higher level piezo printhead 102 Explain the pros and cons of Xaar Spectra Epson Konica Seiko or other heads relative to their ability to handle solvent inks If Xaar heads define how long they last compared with Epson or Spectra heads You could write a PhD dissertation on the pros and cons of Xaar Spectra Epson and other heads It is worth noting that the warranty for the Epson head is only six months for mild solvent ink This is the best reminder that these heads were not originally made to handle solvent ink of any kind However in recent years the heads have been tweaked so at least they are warrantied for six months 103 Can a sensor s detect clogged nozzles and can software provide backup nozzles to cover that missing area on the next pass There are no redundant nozzles as on HP thermal printheads There are no backup nozzles as on Ricoh heads used by ColorSpan There is no software to provide backup nozzles as on Gandinnovations printers a machine that costs over 150 000 104 What is the firing frequency of the printheads in KHz Can the firing frequency be varied by the end user The e
24. ait about 8 minutes for a relatively modest sized file to RIP before it started to print 194 Does the printer manufacturer itself offer their own RIP In the US Mutoh America offers their own in house RIP Canon offers a RIP like software All too often in house RIPs are low on features and are not much better than a basic printer driver We highly recommend a real RIP software from one of the five leading firms Another significant downside of an in house RIP is that this RIP is provided free in order to lock you into using the manufacturers favored brands of media which are generally more expensive than after market substrates An in house RIP offers canned ICC profiles for in house media so there is an incentive to be a tad lazy and not attempt to do custom profiles yourself But canned profiles are not always as good as individualized custom profiles that you do yourself And once you know how to profile your own media you can use lower cost outside brands of materials 4 LAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme COLOR MANAGEMENT FEATURES 195 What color management sensors or measuring tools are on board There are no color management sensors on board ColorSpan s 72S was the first solvent printer to include color management on board Now the water based HP Z series printers have color management on board But this is not yet standard or expected for sign printers Most sign printers use canned profiles supplied by the media
25. ards At left or at right or both These are called media retainers They come in a set one for the right one for the left The edge guards on the 100 model run in a groove The edge guards on the 65 model clip from the heater area 26 Can you move the left guard or the right guard or both Both can be moved to any position AFLAAR Reports Edge Guards A LAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 27 Can duplex double sized printing be accomplished If so how difficult is it really Duplex is not a recommended procedure 28 If the objects you are printing are not as wide as the full width of the printer does the printing carriage still have to cross the entire space or can the printing assembly hover just over the area of what has to be printed and thereby be a bit faster Yes the printer carriage can hover 29 Does the printer have leveling supports How many and how strong Yes the printers have leveling supports four for the machine and separate for the winder unwinder system At installation the printer must be perfectly level to assist the ink movement from the cassettes 30 Does the printer have wheels Yes the printer has its own four wheels A FLAAR Reports MAMPIR ROLL FED ASPECTS DRESS 31 How is roll media fed Pinch roller against grit roller Yes standard system of pinch roller against material moved by the grit roller 32 Are the pinch rollers same size as grit rollers or smaller
26. ation Network in the next 12 months 480 000 people will be exposed to our reports on wide format printers from combined total of our three sites on these themes You can be assured that we hear plenty of comments from our readers about which printers function and which printers fail to achieve what their advertising hype so loudly claims We turn down offers of funding every year These offers come from PO Box enterprises or products with no clearly visible point of manufacture Usually the company making the offer presumes they can buy advertising space just by paying money But that is not what our readers want so we politely do not accept such offers of money Contributions grants sponsorships and funding for surveys studies and research is however open to a company who has an accepted standing in the industry It is helpful if the company has a visible presence at leading trade shows and can provide references from both end users and from within the industry Where possible we prefer to visit the company in person or at least check them out at a trade show 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 individualism and technological advancement FLAAR also covers its costs of maintaining the immense system of 8 web sites in three languages and
27. ave advantages in different applications Our reviews have universal appeal precisely because we feature all competing printhead technologies Every printer RIPs inks or media we have reviewed have good points in addition to weaknesses Both X Rite and competitor GretagMacbeth provided spectrophotometers Again when all sides assist this program there is no incentive to favor one by trashing the other Printer manufacturer ad campaigns are their own worst enemy If a printer did not make false and misleading claims then we would have 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 printers are ink guzzlers are slow beyond belief and tend to band or drop out colors all together We don t need to be paid by the printer companies whose products work so nicely in both our universities on a daily basis The printers which failed did so in 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 Inform
28. basic spec sheet which is a plus point since most other companies neglect to mention the noise level until you buy the printer and hear it with your ears and read it in the User s Manual 145 Is the Operator Manual so poorly translated that you might make a mistake a mistake that could be damaging to your health or otherwise dangerous for your printshop The translation of the User s Guide is well done Although people can misread anything the translation per se is excellent 146 How easy is it to access the MSDS of the ink It is rare that the MSDS of the ink is easy to obtain If the MSDS is an auto download 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 VV ERE 147 How many kinds of ink are available Two kinds of ink are available from Mutoh If you select eco solvent Ultra your printer has a different name Rockhopper 3 If you select mild solvent your printer is tagged as a Spitfire If your printer has Intelligent Interweaving it receives the tag Extreme at the end of the model designation 148 Is this a full solvent mild or lite solvent or eco solvent The Spitfire uses mild solvent ink 149 Does the manufacturer provide a glossary to help you understand what ink s they offer It is not customary for a manufacturer to provi
29. bi directionally a different sequence than uni directional the usual way If you load dual CMYK the inks are in mirror order Black Yellow Cyan Magenta Magenta Cyan Yellow Black So for 2xCMYK the sequence of color laydown is identical coming and going With six inks since there are only 8 slots there is no way to make a mirrored sequence 111 Do you print bi directional or uni directional You can select whether you prefer uni or bi directional quality if you wish 4 LAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme BANDING ISSUES DRESS 112 Is there banding in areas of solid black Virtually all wide format inkjet printers have banding in areas of solid black or other solid dark colors 113 What causes banding in this particular system Banding can be caused by e The substrate feeding too far results in a white line e The substrate feeding not far enough results in a dark overprint line e Nozzles blocked by gunk nozzles squirting deflected also due to gunk e Air in the ink system 114 How can banding be avoided With most printers you can eliminate substrate feeding banding by dialing in a media feed correction To eliminate nozzle problems you can purge the printheads with ink But Mutoh now offers an additional manner Intelligent Interweaving which is pictured and described in a separate FLAAR Report 115 Can you vary the material feed rate Yes you can easily dial in an improved material feed distance and then che
30. ck the results to notice what number reduces the banding 116 Are there problems of air getting into the system There is no particular problem about air getting into the system PRINTHEAD LIFE EXPECTANCY ES 117 How long do your printheads really last Do you have that written in a warranty If your longevity specs are in drops please translate that into liters of ink or square footage of media As mentioned earlier Epson printheads are not industrial quality and were not originally designed to handle solvent inks With mild solvent ink their life expectancy is roughly a year obviously depending on how much you print 118 What does each printhead cost to replace Distinguish price for the printhead and also price for the service technician to come and do the installation if it is not user replaceable A new printhead is 1045 Euros must be replaced by a service technician 119 How is the nozzle plate protected Is it recessed Yes the nozzle is protected with a bumper on the nozzle plate 120 Is there an alarm system to stop the head from hitting substrate if head is not high enough No there is no alarm and nothing to stop the carriage in case the media would cause a head strike In this respect the best system have seen so far is on the Mimaki JV5 it has a bumper so if there is an upraised edge of the media the bumper is raised up and that stops the carriage before the printheads can be scratched A FLAAR Reports ET
31. cuum table or other vacuum requirements already included in the printer itself The vacuum is fan operated internally 17 Is it recommended or required to buy a spare parts kit Or extra printheads As end user no 18 Or do the dealers prefer that customers not try to make their own repairs The end user should be trained to handle maintenance but not repairs A FLAAR Reports Mutho Factory SSS ee DOM DH Ii 15 M ux 4 7i g A FLAAR Reports Mutho Factory seit bts S y P t 1 Hi a J 1 m o ee m TT AA 4 LAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme WHAT IS THE INTENDED MARKET FOR THIS PRINTER OS the potential customer ERE 19 What is the market that the manufacturer has designed this printer for The mild solvent system is designed for a different potential customer than is the eco solvent Ultra system Eco solvent Ultra is for a printer operator that does not necessarily want to clean the machine daily and does not print all day every day This type of customer may also wants to install his unit in an office environment and prints both for indoor amp outdoor display Since mild solvent and full solvent machines need to be kept running each work day and not shut off for long periods a mild solvent printer is for a print shop with higher production needs and an operator that is conscientious to clean the printer at the end of every single work day plus who does not mind
32. d ColorSpan factory in Minneapolis so had personal and on site experience from several other manufacturers to compare with Mutoh FLAAR is the only evaluation resource in the world that dedicates this much effort to leaning so that we in turn can provide evaluations to assist end users Based on this scrutiny of the Mutoh Spitfire have revised my earlier impressions from past years and have issued the present FLAAR Report We did not evaluate the Canon model 6400 or 8400 because by mistake an associated company not Canon itself but an outside organization affiliated with them asked us to advertise their printers including using banner ads We do not do advertisements nor issue PR releases on printers so we did not receive the model 6400 or 8400 to evaluate We then received an iPF5000 of the year 2006 2007 generation when no demand was made to advertise it 4 LAAR Re ports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i thank Nick Decock Stephan Heintjens Vanessa Daelman Gunter Caus Bruno Vierstraete for their assistance during the educational week in Oostende This kind of total immersion in a printer technology and ink chemistries is crucial to understand the pros and cons of the vast range of wide format production choices that face sign shop owners today Appendix A De The Different Levels of FLAAR Reports THE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF FLAAR REPORTS First Look e Second Look Third Look Site visit case study Factor
33. d to surface only after a printer has been hard at work for many months One aspect that print shops will have to recognize is that a serious solvent printer is intended to be used productively every week You can t simply go away for a month and leave a mild solvent printer abandoned on its own With full solvent printers the out of use situation is even more pertinent these printers want to be used absolutely every day and survive best over a weekend if spitting regularly to keep the ink flowing through the nozzles But even with this mold solvent printer if left more than five days without use it has to be completely flushed and at the next start up un flushed The cost is over a thousand Euros for the flush and unflush kits But as a kudo to Mutoh they state all this up front In general the Mutoh literature is the most open and honest of the 60 100 inch class of solvent ink printer manufacturers that have seen previously Mimaki held this record One of the other manufacturers has the most blatant smoke and mirrors nonsense in their ads blinding speed is the silliest ad claim of all time Mutoh is more ethical in this respect Other solvent printers tend to have inadequate heaters this Mutoh has four So feature by feature the Spitfire appears better prepared than other models One aspect we would prefer to see more of is recommendation of a room air filter system such as offered by Island Clean Air and or a collection system for the
34. de a glossary This is why FLAAR provides glossaries 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 150 What is the chemical composition of the ink Some but not all of the chemicals in an ink are listed in the MSDS sheets 151 What kind of ink is this Compare it with the ink for other printers what are similarities and differences This is considered a mild solvent ink In theory a mild solvent ink should be devoid of cyclohexanone but in reality that is not always the case Some mild solvent ink simply has less of this carcinogenic ink than full solvent formulas The mild solvent ink is slightly more glossy than eco solvent but has a slightly less color gamut 152 What is shelf life of the ink CMYK Eco solvent inks have a shelf life of two years Mild solvent inks have a shelf life of from 12 to 18 months 153 What company makes the inks Choices include DuPont Sericol Sun Triangle KonicaMinolta Tetenal Toyo and several others Most printer manufacturers would never reveal what company makes the ink Any printer manufacturer that uses Epson printheads is required by Epson to buy their ink from Epson Epson buys the ink from elsewhere 154 How many colors Dual CMYK or six standard colors LET i 4 FI AAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 155 Is white ink available What is the shelf life Does the white ink need special attention Titanium dioxide may settle out if it sits too long What company prov
35. der unwind system in case you bought a 65 printer with Tension winder 30 An air purification system is extra cost and is absolutely essential 11 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 Yes you get either dual CMYK or one set of six 220 ml cartridges 12 What accessories are included that might not be expected or which otherwise should be noted You get a user maintenance kit good shape maintenance kit offering 6 months worth of materials 13 What other equipment is needed to operate this printer For example does this printer include its own power line conditioner No extra electrical equipment is needed because the Spitfire is auto switching Mild solvent ink requires an air purifier system Mutoh offers an OEM version of an air purification system that includes flexible tubing to exhaust into the air purifier 14 Do you need an uninterruptible power supply UPS Not required you can shut it down after you have cleaned it 15 Do you eventually need or wish to buy an auxiliary heater No need whatsoever this is an advantage over the HP 9000S Temperature settings are lower than second generation EcoSolvent Plus but the third generation EcoSolvent Ultra takes the same temperature as mild solvent 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 16 Is an air suction system needed to be installed as a separate item or is all the va
36. does not touch another freshly printed surface then they could stick ruining both prints It is also recommended to have the ink dry at least a day before you cut it The same is true of any printer and all comparable inks just that the other companies don t warn you about these aspects Mutoh does Coated media dries more slowly than uncoated media PVC and banner substrates are dry the quickest In general you should recognize that full drying takes at least 24 hours 172 Do you need to have a band of printable colors along the edge outside the main printed area to keep all printheads and their colored inks fresh and ready to print so as not to dry out when not be used by the colors in the design A band of printable colors along the edge is not absolutely required Some RIPs may enable such a band of colors if you absolutely desire such a system LAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme INK Appearance RE 173 Is output splotchy These prints had virtually no obvious mottle The prints were much cleaner and better quality than expected INK Longe vty 174 What is the longevity outdoors What about in the full sun in direct sunlight Outdoor longevity is rated as 3 years but specifically qualified as being for a northern European climate Such as Belgium In Florida Texas or California the longevity would be expected to be less SUBSTRATES i 175 What sizes of material can be printed on The Spitfire model 65 Extrem
37. e can accept media 1 653 m and can print 1 643 across The Spitfire model 90 Extreme can accept media 2 28 m and can print on 2 25 m of that We do not yet have the spec sheets for the Spitfire model 100 Extreme 176 What is print width relative to roll width Can you do borderless printing No borderless printing capability is not common on sign printers The Mutoh system requires a 5 mm left and right border 177 What core diameter s will this printer accept 2 and 3 inch cores 178 How about maximum roll diameter or weight Maximum core diameter of 30 cm maximum roll weight of 100 kg 179 Front loading back loading The printer is back loading 180 What thickness can this printer handle 08 to 1 1 mm thick 181 Is printhead height adjustment available Manual Automatic How much The User s Guide states there is automatic media thickness compensation Another Mutoh discussion indicates there are three levels of head height adjustment to handle substrates from 08 to 1 1 mm The head height adjustment is stated to be RIP controlled 4 LAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme SUBSTRATES Image Quality NS 182 Do you get roller marks on some media Which media How bad are the marks Roller marks are visible if you look at a print sideways but are not something a normal viewer would notice Roller marks result either from pressure of the pinch roller or more often from a pinch ro
38. e considering buying this printer what other printer s are they also looking at Some people who look at a Spitfire also ask about a Mutoh Rockhopper and how it compares with Spitfire Since they are looking for mid class max investment of 25 000 Euros this suggests they are also looking at Mimaki HP Designjet 9000S and Roland A printshop looking at the Mutoh Spitfire 100 might also be looking at the Roland AJ 1000 with its Seiko printheads Not as often D G I For a while in the past print shops were asking about Chinese printers but this interest has faded probably because even DuPont and B amp P LightBrigade could not make Flora solvent printers function adequately However in the future when Chinese solvent printer build quality is improved and when tech support is available in North America and Europe interest will return gradually 202 What features on the other printers turn them off Roland attaches their own Roland RIP to their printers this locks you into using Roland only media It is much better to use an independent RIP software more features than an in house product and you have the freedom to use economical after market media and substrates Several other solvent printers don t have enough heaters or dryers Chinese solvent printers tend to use carginogenic inks and their Xaar printheads do not provide the quality of an Epson printhead 203 What aspects of the selected printer help decide in its favor We li
39. e printer ink media or RIP manufacturer or reseller They may be using special images which they know in advance will look fabulous on their printer Equally well if you send your sample images to the dealer don t be surprised if they come back looking awful That is because many dealers won t make a serious effort to tweak their machine for your kind of image They may use fast speed just to get the job done this will result in low 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 dust experience level of your workers whether they are new or have prior years experience these are all factors that will differ in your place of business as compared with our two universities 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 hardware and software This is why Nicholas Hellmuth is considered the Johnny Appleseed of wide format inkjet printers 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 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
40. ept payment for reprinting corporate PR hype So the funding is used for practical research We do not accept nor believe and certainly do not regurgitate corporate PR For example how many manufacturer s PR photos of their products 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 incapabilities 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 virtually 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 recommended 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 appreciate your evaluations FLAAR is a non profit educational and research organization dedicated for over 36 years to professional photography in the arts tropical 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 scanning and digital image storage options This grant was via Japan s Nat
41. er control to raise them to free the space so you can feed media or to lower them onto the media But at the rear you mainly just load the media Everything else is done from the front especially from the front right 63 Is a foot pedal included for operating aspects of the printer There is a dual direction foot pedal for operating the directional turn for roll fed media on the winder unwinder unit This is a double size pedal and not the single width pedal shown on p 20 of the User s Manual The double size pedal is also not the single width pedal shown again on page 44 of the same manual There is also one extra foot pedal for raising and lowering the pinch rollers from the backside of the machine Both are on long cords so they can be moved to whatever position is most comfortable for the operator 64 How much space does this printer require oince you need to load this printer in the back you need space to get around to the back and to be able to move large heavy rolls back there If you print only one kind of substrate then extra space for comfortable access to the back is not as crucial EJ Ih E M n TI 4 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme CONSTRUCTION BUILD QUALITY ES 65 What is the solid ness of the construction of the outer body Is it plastic Metal Heavy gauge The printer itself is solid The outer body varies in material but is adequate strength What might eventually Snap would be any door or l
42. f smell There is a noticeable smell for at least a day But each person has a different level of sensitivity to the smell of inks And outgassing depends in part on whether the material has been rolled up or left out and open to the air But the outgassing is less noxious than that of full solvent ink 4 FI AAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 140 Should VOCs Volatile Organic Compounds be of concern All solvent inks are an issue to health and to the environment to some degree 141 ls the machine enclosed or exposed These printers are enclosed The only exposed solvent printer know is the ColorSpan 72S 142 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 There are several vents built into the back You can purchase an optional charcoal filter system In this case flexible pipes carry the vented air from the back of the printer into the charcoal filter Of course this removes only the odoriferous materials from inside the printer Unless you have a frontal catchment system the most of the odor outgases from the print itself as it rolls out the front of the printer and either down onto the floor or is rolled up on the rewinder 143 What is the noise level When operating noise level is 54 dB or less 144 Do the printer specs list the noise level Yes the noise information is given in the
43. f this info is also in other documents e Service Boardbook an intelligent way to keep track of servicing the printer From the Mutoh Europe web site downloaded a 72 page Operation Instructions don t understand why this is 2 pages and the actual User s Guide is 176 pages and is not the one that downloads from the company website The operation instructions manual is a shorter version of the User Guide explaining everything from installation getting to know the parts menu etc but not into further detail 82 Is there a Site Preparation Guide If so is it helpful Unless you are buying a grand format printer or a major UV curable printer you don t tend to receive or need a separate Site Preparation Guide 83 What is the rating of the usefulness of the Setup Instructions The instructions for unpacking and assembly are inside the main User s Manual 84 What is the rating of usefulness of the User s Manual and other associated materials The 176 page User s Guide is excellent 85 What is the native language of these guides Is the translation acceptable The User s Guide is edited and improved by Mutoh Europe so it is in a natural and fluent English So the manual reads well it is not full of humorous or often too literal translations as are most manuals that are translated from Japanese The main manual is evidently presently only in English the operator s manual is in any of six local languages such as French Spanish Italian
44. for liability loss or damage caused either directly or indirectly by the suggestions in this report nor by hardware software or techniques described herein because ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Fortunately the university covers some of the operating costs of FLAAR on their campus Thus we do not really have much incentive to pocket hush money from producers of lousy products 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 is fairly evident rather quickly With 9 employees the funding has to come from somewhere so although the universities cover the core expenses 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 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme manufacturers The benefit for the end user is a principle called academic freedom in this case e the freedom of a professor or student to speak out relative to the pros and cons of any equipment brought to them to benchmark e 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 acc
45. id notice faint path impressions of the pinch rollers in some instances Sometimes this is more the fault of the sizing on some cheap media the sizing comes off onto the pinch rollers and thus is transferred onto the next material that goes under the rollers So this situation is more a path than an impression Of course at normal viewing distance of over one meter you can t normally see these paths or even a pressure path impression 39 How is the roll held at the feeding position On a spindle On a saddle The roll is held on a spindle A saddle would be more practical for a longer heavier roll such as on a 5 meter machine 40 How is the roll media handled at feeding position For example is there a dancer bar Yes the Mutoh Spitfire has a dancer bar both at the front and at the back They call it a tension bar 41 How is the roll media handled at take up position For example is there a dancer bar Yes there is a tension bar at the take up side 42 What about the take up reel Does it work unattended Is it motorized On the 100 kg winder unwinder the roll fed system is motorized at both sides front and back Furthermore the controls can be operated either by hand or from a foot control On the Tension winder 30 the take up reel is motorized 43 What is the media path The media path is straightforward at the front and back The position of the roll itself depends on whether you are printing on the front or on the back of
46. id that opens at a wide angle the hinges are the weak point in any such design But the Mutoh printer in general seems stronger than some of the almost entirely plastic printers produced by HP though the plastic aspect is as much psychological as real Some of the new plastics are quite strong though through the grapevine we did hear that the HP Z series printers do have issues with exterior parts of the chassis breaking off this is different than having moving parts break the moving parts seem strong The only way to know for sure how well and how long a printer holds up is to do a site visit case study and then return every six months Since this printer is new doing a site visit will have to be a separate future project 66 Describe the overall bridge the structure along which the printhead carriage travels The rail on which the printhead carriage travels is rigorously inspected for quality prior to being accepted by the factory 67 Is there both a front hood and a back hood There is only a front hood the back of the printer is sealed 68 The hood is it strong or cheap plastic The hood seems to be of adequate strength The transparent bottom part is plastic the top half is aluminum 69 Does the hood have a frame There is no frame on the hood for the 65 model because the hood is not really high enough to require a frame 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 70 How would you describe the overall workmanshi
47. ided scanners for our staff to evaluate We really liked some of the results whereas some of the other products 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 are universities employees as is 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 units for a week or so That is obviously inadequate for a serious review Some of the media provided to us failed miserably Three printers failed to meet common sense usability and printability standards as well HP 1055 one older desktop model HP Color Pro GA and one Epson Yet we know other users who had better results maybe ours came down the assembly line on a Monday or Friday afternoo
48. ider when they need digital imaging hardware and software A modest portion of our income comes from our readers who purchase the FLAAR series All income helps continue our tradition of independent evaluations and reviews of inkjet printers RIPs media and inks First issued April 2007
49. ides the white ink No white ink is offered by Mutoh White ink has been offered by Roland and Mimaki but it s not really something that most printshops need And the white ink of Roland is considered by most people as of inadequate opacity Evidently the Titanium dioxide particles don t fit well through Epson printheads either BEE REE Ea EJ ZI nn ee 156 Does ink come in cartridges or bulk You can obtain the ink in Epson like cartridges of 220 or 440 milliliters or bulk 157 Is there a bulk ink system Is it from the manufacturer OEM or third party Mutoh Mimaki and a few other companies now provide a bulk feed ink system The optional Bulk Ink System BIS for the Mutoh offers a 4 3 liter container per color The refill ink itself can be purchased in 1 liter or 5 liter bottles You can opt for a e 4 color CMYK bulk ink system for dual CMYK printhead arrangement e 4 or 6 color bulk ink system for dual CMYK or six color arrangement e There is a larger system for the Spitfire 100 printer model 158 How do you add the new ink If you use a cartridge system you unplug the empty cartridge and plug in a new one If you are using the bulk ink system you pour the ink into the BIS bottles 159 Where do you add the ink Front or back of the printer The ink cartridges are easily accessible from the front right the bulk ink system is accessed from the right side of the printer 160 What is ink cost per liter per car
50. imaki 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 Technologies 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 providing 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 software provided by Adobe As with other product loaned or provided courtesy of ProVar LLC especially the 23 monitors which makes it so much easier to work on multiple documents side by side We thank Betterlight Calumet Photographic Global Graphics Westcott Global Imaging Inc and Bogen Imaging for helping to equip our archaeological photo studios at the university and its archaeology museum in Guatemala Heidelberg and Cruse both in Germany have kindly prov
51. ional Museum of Ethnology Osaka Japan That same year FLAAR also received a grant of 100 000 from an American foundation to do a feasibility study of digital imaging in general and the scanning of photographic archives in particular The FLAAR web sites began initially as the report on the results of these studies of scanners Once we had the digital images we began to experiment with digital printers People began to comment that our reports were unique and very helpful So by 1999 we had entire sections 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 educational grant from Hewlett Packard large format division Barcelona Spain for training for equipment and to improve the design and navigation on the main web sites of the FLAAR Network This grant ran its natural course and like all grants reached its finishing point in this case late 2005 In some cases the sponsorship process begins when we hear end users talking about a product they have found to be better than other brands We keep our ears open and when we spot an especially 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 usually know which printers are considered by end users to
52. its two university 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 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme useful to all concerned when manufacturers learn of trends what applications are popular and for what reasons For example manufacturers need to know whether to continue designing software for Mac users or concentrate software for PC users So the survey form that you fill out is helpful to gather statistics You benefit from this in two ways first you get the FLAAR reports in exchange for your survey form Second your comments bring hopefully change and improvement in the next generation of printers When we do survey statistics then the names addresses and telephone numbers are removed completely A survey wants only aggregate numbers not individuals However if you ask about a specific brand of printer and do not opt out we forward your request to a pertinent sponsor so you can obtain follow up from that brand since we ourselves do not 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 cons
53. ller which has inadvertently picked up sizing off a cheap media and then inadvertently transfers this sizing back onto the next material that is run through the printer Roller marks are not particularly objectionable on signage The only place roller marks would be critical would be on photographs or d cor But on canvas such marks would unlikely be noticed So when you print on photographic like materials just be sure the pinch rollers are clean 183 Is backlit saturated enough with one print or do you have to print two and mount them together Most prints with Epson printheads from 2000 through 2004 tended to be inadequate for backlit Most sign shops complained that they had to print twice or even mount two images together to achieve adequate saturation Yet people who owned an Encad HP or ColorSpan with thermal printheads produced handsome backlits without machinations Today with improved printheads better firmware and more options for backlit you can achieve better results with backlit though solvent ink may not always be the ideal choice Nonetheless the backlit images that were printed at the Mutoh demo room were absolutely gorgeous 184 What is the situation with adhesion On cheap substrates such as Ritrama RI Jet 100 the ink does not scratch off But the adhesion is very dependent on whether the ink is fresh or has dried for 12 hours When the ink is fresh it will scratch easily as on all other printers 185 How m
54. ly in the main Spitfire brochure found the statement Spitfire mild solvent inks resist cleaning products detergents and commercially available degreasers as well as true solvent inks This shows the differences of mild solvent ink chemistry and is definitely a benefit over first generation eco solvent inks of year 2002 190 Is text sharp or fuzzy What is the smallest text that you can easily read What about ink splatter either where a dark color adjoins a lighter area or with black text against a lighter background Text is excellent and there is no noticeable edge splatter LAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme E FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme amp FLAAR 4 FI AAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme RIP SOFTWARE ii 191 Is a RIP included Depends on which bundle you select But the printer itself is sold with no RIP since you may already have one 192 Is a computer and monitor included to run the RIP No computer and no monitor are included since the RIP itself is not included 193 Is this RIP fine tuned for this printer in particular Mutoh Europe expects the RIP developers will come in person to the Mutoh factory and demo room and prepare appropriate code that interacts appropriately with the Mutoh printers During familiarization used a Caldera RIP on the sibling of the Spitfire on the Rockhopper 3 Extreme The Caldera RIP worked easily though it was not set for ripping on the fly We had to w
55. n when workers were not attentive One costly color management software package was judged incapable by two reviewers one from the university second was an outside user who had made the mistake 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 improvement in the next generation we let people know If a product is hyped by what an informed user would recognize as potentially false and misleading nonsense then we point out the pathetic discrepancies very clearly This is what you should expect from an institute which is headed by a professor Actually most of our reviews are based on comments by end users We use their tips to check out pros and cons of 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 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 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 whe
56. n 5 days you need to undertake a Long Store procedure This involves draining the ink flushing it out with storage liquid The kit the solvents costs 1064 Euros Ouch 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme SAFETY CONCERNS i 136 Are emergency buttons present and if so how many and where are they situated Most solvent ink printers do not have emergency stop buttons unless they are grand format usually 3 meters or wider 137 Is there auto shut down If so what triggers it The only auto shut down would be if you open the front lid while the machine is printing 138 How much odor is emitted by the ink The odor emitted by the ink depends on many factors such as the ink load set in the RIP and other factors The odor is also significantly affected by the sensitivity of the individual Some individuals are considerably more sensitive to solvent odors than others Page 7 of the most recent version of the User s Manual suggests that a worst case scenario is unconsciousness It is unlikely that these issues are any more or less serious with Mutoh mild solvent inks than other mild solvent inks but am not a medical doctor and again reaction varies considerably by individual and by dosage It is probable that Mutoh is simply more open and honest in mentioning reality Unexpectedly there is more information on reactions after inhalation than after swallowing 139 How much subsequent outgassing is there and for how long does the stuf
57. nd user is not encouraged or facilitated to change the firing frequency of any Epson printhead With all Gandinnovations printers each individual Spectra head is tweaked individually but the system is correspondingly PRINTHEAD Positioning ERR 105 Are printheads in a single row or staggered The printheads are in a single row on the Spitfire 65 and 90 on the Spitfire 100 the printheads are micro staggered 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme PRINTHEAD DPI amp Print Quality e 106 Is there variable droplet capability Yes since these are Epson printheads they offer variable droplet capability The droplet size is listed as between 5 4 ng and 41 5 ng 107 How many nozzles per printhead There are two rows of 180 nozzles per printhead 108 How many print modes are offered In the beginning of printers when they were mature circa 2000 2004 counted modes by pass One pass is the printhead carriage moving across the paper width one time So back and forth is two passes NOT one pass But things got complicated rapidly because there is a lot more to a mode than just the number of times the printheads traverse the material And some printer manufacturers especially Epson itself did not really wish for end users to realize how many times it took their printheads to achieve the largely fictitious dpi ratings that were hyped in advertisements Roland printers take up to 32 passes in order to achieve their legendary quality
58. ng written before this introduction Plus a site visit rather obviously needs a site a print shop that has used the printer for at least two months and a budget to visit this location A FLAAR Reports v 1 4 LAAR Re ports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme THE BASICS i 1 Brand name model Mutoh Spitfire 65 90 100 Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 65 90 is second generation Spitfire There are three models of the original Spitfire and two widths of the second generation This current second generation uses Mutoh s new Intelligent Interweaving Technology new 540 dpi print modes and an improved head carriage suspension and currently has just 65 and 90 inch models However a 100 inch model Extreme is being launched in Europe shortly 2 What is the nature of the company Is this company the manufacturer distributor or rebranding Mutoh is a multi national company with manufacturing plants in Japan and Oostende Belgium Mutoh is the largest wide format manufacturing company in the world It is generally stated that Mutoh manufactures the wide format printers for Epson Seiko ColorPainter and Agfa Solvent printers made by Mutoh are also rebranded by Oc Xerox and other companies Before Kodak bought Encad the wide format inkjet printers sold by Kodak were made by Mutoh The Spitfire printers are manufactured in Belgium which is also where the second generation of Intelligent Interweaving technology was developed 3 What o
59. niversity 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 courses 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 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 As a result products are described as is and without warranties as to performance or merchantability or of fitness for a particular purpose Any such statements in our reports or on our web sites or in discussions do not constitute warranties and shall not be relied on by the buyer in deciding whether to purchase and or use products we discuss because of the diversity of conditions materials and or equipment under which these products may be used Thus please recognize that no warranty of fitness or profitability for a particular 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 contents or flammability of inks media or laminates nor how these need to be 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme controlled by local laws
60. o 97 Is there an extended hardware warranty What price Extended warranty and price varies by country 98 Does the dealer or manufacturer provide service the service Your first line of tech support is your distributor or dealer In some countries there may be third party support In most cases the factory is not involved in support This is quite different than MacDermid ColorSpan where yes you also expect tech support from your dealer but if that fails you can go straight to the factory and receive helpful tech support directly from the manufacturer oo in the case of Mutoh there is no easy way to grade the tech support since it will differ in each country But dealers are obliged to take technical trainings in order to qualify to do the technical support PRINTHEAD TECHNOLOGY ES 99 What printheads are used Xaar Spectra Epson Konica Seiko or other Epson 100 What model of the printhead is used The use of any kind of solvent ink requires a variation or a normal Epson head 160B Once you have a printer and need to replace the head you will sooner or later find out the model designation Epson i663v based on the Epson 160B 101 Is the printhead identified in the spec sheet brochure by brand or also by model or not at all It is not usual to list the name of the printhead manufacturer in basic spec sheets unless it is a Spectra or other industrial head Not mentioning the brand and model of the printhead is
61. of the production day usually before night Flush the capping station with solvent solution You do this with the pipette There are several photos of this cleaning procedure showing the bottle of liquid and the pipette This is essential and must be done at the end of a production day Then clean the wiper blades Then clean the edges of the capping station caps 131 What daily maintenance is required if you print the entire day long The manual tells you to clean the wipers to prevent ink from hardening onto them do a cap flush and clean the edges of the caps to ensure good sealing Total time 5 132 What other periodic maintenance is required by the operator Once week clean the capping area at the right and the service area at the left clean around the bottom of the heads Total time 5 minutes Every two weeks clean the sponge in the spitting box Twice a year the Mutoh service technician should visit and do a service routine 133 While printing how often does the printer prefer to purge and clean itself A regular traditional solvent printer must stop and clean itself even while printing The Spitfire does not need to stop nor clean itself during printing so printing is faster 134 How long can the printer sit unused The printer should not be unused more than 5 days 135 How should a printer be prepared for sitting unused for a long time To prepare the printer for storage or for not being used more tha
62. 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 company 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 operating 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 it is not user error or unfamiliarity It may be that training or an additional accessory can make the printer do what you need it to accomplish 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 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme Although we have found several makes and models to work very well in our facilities how well they work in your facilities may also depend on your local dealer Some dealers are excellent
63. op owner and managers need to ask themselves the key questions e What kinds of applications do we print today e What kinds of applications could we print tomorrow if we select the right printer how much will the printer cost What space do we have to house a new printer is seldom asked but is a crucial consideration if you are thinking of a machine 100 inches or wider FLAAR Reports on printers come in different sizes and shapes so to speak e First Look e Second Look e Third Look Site visit case study e Factory visit Demo room visit e In house testing These different levels of reports are described in Appendix A The present report combines a First Second and Third look together with both a factory visit and demo room visit Thus this report is a higher level than for most other printers The level is determined primarily by access if we have access to all relevant documentation if we have access to knowledgeable personnel who can answer questions and can answer them honestly To do in house testing requires obviously having the printer in house for several months and a budget to cover the staff necessary to evaluate the printer This is not yet realistic since the printer is too new But in house test ing is by far the highest level of FLAAR reviews 5 FLAAR Reports A site visit case study is also not yet realistic since this printer is being first introduced to the US at ISA trade show This present report is bei
64. 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 whatsoever If you pay low bid price you can t realistically expect special maintenance services or tech support later on from any other dealer they will tell you to return to where you paid for the product This is why we make an effort to find out which dealers are recommendable Obviously there are many other dealers who are also good but we do not always know them To protect yourself further always pay with a level of credit card which allows you to refuse payment if you have end up with a lemon A Gold American Express card allows you to refuse 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 printers we use in our own facilities Readers realize that we will have selected the printers that we like based on years of experience and research Indeed we have met people at trade shows who told us they use the FLAAR web site reports as the shopping list for their corporate purchases Yes it is rather self evident that we would never ask a manufacturer to send a product which we knew in advance from our studies was no good But there are a few other printers which are great but we simply do not have them in our facilities yet For example there are three Mimaki printers we would love to
65. p of visible parts Clean Swiss made or flimsy and uneven several Chinese made printers The printer is clearly made in Europe it is not flimsy 71 Does the printer wobble back and forth when printing There is no major wobble when printing Although the printer does not weigh a ton it does not shake when it prints the Epson 9800 and some former 24 Canon printers wobbled excessively Reportedly one of the Canon CAD printers also has an unexpected amount of serious shake and wobble 72 What sensors does the printer have There are at least three sensors for the media including to detect for the front edge and the back edge and end of roll The winding unwinding system has sensors There is a sensor to halt printing if the hood is opened 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme SET UP OF THE PRINTER PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS M 73 What is the delivery time between the time order the printer and it is delivered In most areas of Western Europe these printers are readily available from the factory in Oostende Once the printer is launched in the US the same will be true you don t have to wait for a printer to be built from scratch 74 What are the electrical requirements of this printer This means will the building have to be rewired The printer is auto switching 110 220 75 What kind of exhaust system is either required or if not required what would common sense dictate What system of ventilation is used I
66. pit while idle it spits only while printing The spit gutter is next to the capping station The printer spits only at the right 127 Is a liquid flush cleaning solvent available as a separate on board system Do you have to manually open and close a valve to let solution flow through a printhead Is it individual for each printhead There is no regular flush or cleaning solution on board When you need to park the printer for over 5 days then you put in special cleaning storing liquid to protect the ink lines and heads This liquid for all ink lines together is rather costly E 1 7 E i i Doy b il De tum AS ie 13 5 in h 128 Upon start up in the morning do you have to swab the heads How long does this take How messy is it In the morning you just switch the printer on There is nothing really special to do just do a nozzle check a printout of a standard pattern Epson printhead nozzle plates should never be swabbed or wiped in any manner The kinds of heads that you wipe directly are industrial strength heads such as those of Spectra With an Epson head you have to clean around the edge of the nozzle plate but not directly across the plate 4 FI AAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 129 What cleaning materials are recommended What is not recommended When you receive the printer it comes with six months worth of cleaning supplies the Good Shape Kit 130 What maintenance is needed at the end
67. re 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 locations one due to banding and printheads then simply no longer printing one color the other brand due to pokiness of the printer simply not being competitively fast enough Same with RIPs we have consistent statements of people using one RIP and only realizing how weak it was when they tried another brand which they found substantially better Thus we note that companies which experiment with more than one brand of product tend to realize more quickly which brand is best This is where FLAAR is in an ideal situation we have nine RIPs and 25 printers Hence it is logical that we have figured out which are best for our situation Grant funding sponsorship demonstration equipment and training are supplied from all sides of 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 manufacturers of thermal printheads Canon ColorSpan and HP and also have multiple printers from two manufacturers of piezo printers Epson and Mimaki This is because piezo has definite advantage for some applications thermal printheads h
68. reme with Intelligent Interweaving technology This is the first of a new series of FLAAR Reports on mild solvent eco solvent and full solvent printers that will be issued starting in mid April 2007 Reports on other solvent printers will follow We are moving to cover solvent printers now that the print capability of these production machines has reached photo realistic quality This new generation of professional printer is now much easier to use than in past gen erations of solvent printer And the new ink chemistry is less bothersome to your nose and to the environment So all together we felt that it was time to include evaluations and reviews of this class of printer in the family of FLAAR Reports especially since an increasing number of sign shops write and ask for our critique on this kind of printer Every day somewhere in the world print shop owners managers or printer operators have to decide what new printer to purchase This decision will influence the rise and fall of their company the rise or fall of their personal paycheck and the increase or absence of their headaches The FLAAR Reports are available to assist end users in learning which ink chemistry to consider solvent based water based or UV cured If they opt for solvent based the next question is to chose among eco sol vent mild solvent and full solvent Then what printer engine and chassis to select But concurrent with FLAAR working at our end the print sh
69. s it adequate to clear the work area of gasses and fumes The 100 model has four vents with filters spaced across the top of the printer There are vent openings at the back that can be attached to a flexible hose like system that feeds into a charcoal filtering unit Although it helps to have such a direct system this does not handle the outgassing from printed material that comes out of the front of the printer This needs an apron like frontal shield such as some other printers offer and or a room air purifier such as the kind offered by Island Clean Air As the president of Island Clean Air points out when you have an on board air purifier you get 100 of 40 of the solvent VOCs because much of the VOCs outgas from the printed substrates that fall in front of the printer that are cut and moved to a table elsewhere in the room etc So merely exhausting the printer s interior does not remove an iota of the outgassing from the finished print ru Pe LLI pu m e U a zz ie Tw Island Clean Air factory FLAAR Reports 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme By coincidence a week after being in the Mutoh factory we were in the Island Clean Air factory in Vancouver BC Canada We favor all three kinds of air purification equipment e Venting the top and back of the printer itself the Mutoh APS Quatro Mini system e Venting the front of the printer with a skirt or shield wha
70. s using low bid parts e Analysis of several Chinese and even Korean printers revealed that they were also using counterfeit parts Some of the counterfeit parts were so cleverly camouflaged that they were not detected until they broke and when trying to get replacements from the brand manufacturer it was learned they were not really from the legal brand manufacturer e Mutoh provides worldwide warranty and had fully trained tech support engineers in the main countries where their printers are available Obviously in Western Europe and North America US and Canada you have direct warranty support from the manufacturer or from Mutoh America e There is a resale value to a Mutoh printer because each model is an internationally known and respected brand and model With a Chinese printer often no one knows where it was really manufactured No one knows whose parts are inside And no one knows whether any parts will still be available in even two years because Chinese printers change specs often every few months e The User s Guide deserves a high rating both for its readable English its thorough coverage and its essential illustrations Too many other manuals are poorly translated with sentences that often vary from the curious to the totally confusing Although most Mimaki printers do well in FLAAR evaluations their manuals are nowhere near as comprehensive as those of Mutoh Europe and the translation of Mimaki manuals is not as thorough and edited
71. st the positive features of this Spitfire printer in the end summary to this report Nicholas at work in one of the many demo rooms in the Mutoh Europe headquarters and factory complex Oostende Belgium Dr Hellmuth spent an entire week here being trained and becoming familiar with the Spitfire Extreme and Rockhopper Extreme A FLAAR Reports BIENNE SUMMARY Image Quality Issues Relative to Applications OO 204 Is text sharp or fuzzy What is the smallest text that you can easily read Text quality on the Spitfire is a pleasant surprise you can read down to 4 pt easily and if your eyes are good enough you can read 3 pt It can resolve up to 2 pt 205 What about splotchiness was pleasantly surprised at the relative lack of splotchiness lack of mottle Mottle is an irregular pattern of ink as it collects or pools in certain areas and does not cover some adjacent areas to the same degree You see mottle especially on the cheap Chinese printers especially those that use Xaar printheads On the Spitfire where you might see mottle is when you print at higher speeds In general the quality of the Mutoh Spitfire exceeded my expectations am a very picky fine art photographer and want my prints to be museum quality and exhibitable Naturally prefer a fine art giclee printer to reproduce my work but at the Mutoh factory the output of my photographs on both the Spitfire and the eco solvent Mutoh Rockhopper 3 were outstanding 4
72. t PAT Technology has offered at trade shows such as ISA or SGIA 2005 e Purifying the air in the overall room itself Island Clean Air 76 Are there any special temperature or humidity requirements or preferences of this printing system The working environment should be between 18 and 28 degrees C at 40 80 humidity 77 What is the connectivity Network SCSI FireWire USB 2 or other Centronics IEEE 1284 Parallel and Ethernet network connections 78 How many boxes arrive There is one main crate with the printer and accessories The winder unwinder will arrive in a separate box The machine starter kit with inks user maintenance kit also comes separately 79 What is the size and weight of the printer The 65 model is 3 1 x 75 x 1 25 meters and weighs about 195 kg The 90 model is 3 7 x 75 x 1 25 meters and weighs about 215 kg 4 FI AAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme INSTALLATION OF THE PRINTER Ss 80 Can you install this printer yourself Mutoh prefers that the printer be installed for you by an authorized reseller so that training is available Firmware updates are also installed by the dealer not by the individual user 81 How many manuals are available User s Guide jointly for Spitfire 65 90 176 pages User s Guide for the Winder Unwinder 100 Quick Installation Guide and CD e Getting Started with Mutoh s 1 in All CD it did not open so we are getting a replacement e Machine Starters Kit most o
73. t aspects of these ads will a buyer of that model soon find out are perhaps slightly exaggerated have essentially all the Mutoh literature on these printers including in house literature under Non Disclosure So clearly Mutoh realizes it has nothing to hide by showing me their documentation notice that they clearly list the cleaning cycles and list the reality of handling the cleaning and the cost of storing the printer if it will not be printing for over 5 days In some ads for other brands of printers it seems to be the goal to claim as outstanding features precisely where the printer is weak This is a clever ploy to pre empt people worrying about the weak features of a printer One way or another all printers are advertised somewhere with wishful thinking and with all eco and mild solvent the wishful thinking has to do with what percent of the substrates have to be coated and to what degree can the printer successfully handle the absolute cheapest raw vinyl This is best learned in an actual printshop that prints signage on a regular basis Site visit case studies involve time travel expenses labor then editing and publication costs but as soon as the printers are out and available we will see how a site visit case study can possibly be arranged We have a site visit case study upcoming of a Roland AJ 1000 since it is a few minutes from our office A FLAAR Reports BIENNE COMPARISONS WITH OTHER PRINTERS TR 201 When people ar
74. t has function buttons However many of the newer UV cured inkjet printers such as the ColorSpan 5440uv are now offering regular LCD monitors from 7 sizes and larger so that more of the options are displayed all at the same time and so you can see the ink levels at any time without having to burrow down into button sequences 4 FI AAR Re ports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 57 Is the position of the LCD screen or monitor user adaptable The position of the monitor is fixed comparable to monitors on Mimaki and Roland 58 Can you do unattended printing For how long How about overnight Yes you can do unattended printing especially if you load a complete roll onto the winder unwinder But every 24 hours you must do a maintenance routine 59 Is there a minimum size for sheet feeding You can print even an A4 letter page size sheet but this is the practical minimum not the absolute minimum sheet size 60 How many operators or operator assistants does this printer require Once the printer is installed only one operator is needed 61 Where does the operator stand or sit Most operations are from the control panel with its LCD monitor at the front right Ink is also loaded from the same area upper right front of the printer below the LCD area 62 What aspects of the printer can you operate from behind the loading area At the rear you can have the foot control for moving the media forwards or backwards and the pinch roll
75. the fact you need an air purifier PURCHASING BESSEREN 20 Are dealers national most companies or regional Roland allows a dealer to operate only within a limited regional area Does a buyer have any choice in dealers The situation varies by country In the US companies such as SignWarehouse are national others are regional In larger cities you may have a local dealer 21 What kinds of leasing or other financing are available This varies by country STRUCTURE OF THE PRINTER M 22 Is this printer made originally as a solvent ink printer or is it retrofitted with solvent ink If retrofitted what was the original brand The Spitfire is far enough advanced so that it is made directly as a mild solvent printer The retrofitted printers for all makes especially Roland were the ones made circa 2002 2004 when using solvent ink was still rather new for Mimaki Mutoh and Roland A fully original solvent printer is naturally more complete than a retrofitted machine 23 If there is a vacuum function In how many sections Vacuum is engendered by fans Vacuum is arranged in compartments the number depends on which size printer you have There are three rows of holes for the vacuum the back row s holes are less diameter 24 Just Off and On Or variable Variable Custom Low High but in practice mostly normal Synthetic papers may not feed at normal vacuum setting so you would put their setting at low 25 Are there edge gu
76. ther printers are the same or similar chassis from this manufacturer or distributor Is this same printer available elsewhere under a different name The Mutoh Rockhopper 3 and its Extreme version 65 and 90 models are the same chassis and same engine except for the ink Rockhopper 3 uses a third generation eco solvent ink Eco Solvent Ultra Spitfire uses mild solvent ink The Spitfire 100 is a different new mechanical structure it is not merely a stretched 90 version Mutoh printers are available under many other brand names one of these is the Xerox 8265 and Xerox 8290 their eco solvent rebranding of the Mutoh Rockhopper 3 The Xerox 8365 and Xerox 8390 are their versions of the Mutoh Spitfire 4 How does this model compare with comparable previous printers The Extreme models are an evolution of previous printers tweaked for ink tubing more resistant to solvents capping station cleaning stations To some degree the design is based on significant improvements over the RJ 8000 Falcon 2 Outdoor in US Rockhopper 2 in Europe Firmware heaters tubing head carriage suspension are all re designed The Rockhopper 3 printer is the identical chassis and printer engine the main differences are the inks mild solvent for Spitfire eco solvent Ultra for Rockhopper 3 5 If this is a rebranded printer what features are different than the original printer This is an original printer by Mutoh not rebranded from anyone else 6
77. tridge and per liter Ink cost per liter depends on whether you buy in 220 ml cassettes 440 ml 1 liter or 5 liters f you buy by the liter cost is 190 Euro per bottle e Ink cost per liter buying by 220 ml 268 Euro e Ink cost per liter buying by 440 ml 225 Euro e Ink cost per liter buying by 5 liters 180 Euros A FLAAR Reports BIENNE 161 What is the cost in ink per square unit Ink consumption varies considerably by the image by the mode what dpi and whether Intelligent Interweaving I2 is employed Using 12 lowers ink usage considerably In general ink costs are listed as lower than an HP Designjet 9000S 162 How do you see the ink levels You can check the ink levels on the control panel but these levels are not constantly visible as on larger monitors such as ColorSpan or Gandinnovations 163 What ink out alarm system exists Initially you get a LOW INK warning a beep and then you get an on screen message If the ink is too low the machine will not start printing the next job 164 How much ink does the waste ink container hold 2 liters 165 How often does the waste container need to be emptied When you first set up the printer you have to flush out all the transport liquid that is in the ink lines and printheads So after you first load the printer with ink after having flushed all the transport liquid then you should empty the waste container After that the waste container won t fill up very often
78. two other brands of solvent printers plus one UV printer so it s an informative place to undertake our analyses of the pros and cons of each brand The FLAAR Reports on the HP Designjet 9000S is a site visit based on a visit to a sign shop that has two of these printers We have undertaken three earlier site visits on other brands of solvent printers at this same shop in the past so have comparative knowledge of various brands LAAR Reports Infiniti UV Printer site Visit Case Guatemala 4 FLAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme LEGAL NOTICE eee Inclusion in this study by itself in no way endorses any printer media ink RIP or other digital imaging hardware or software Equally exclusion from this study in no way is intended to discredit any printer ADVISORY ERE 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
79. uch acclimatization time is needed for the media It is always best to store media and substrates in the same environment as you will be using these materials APPLICATIONS What Questions should the printshop owner ask of himself IEEE 186 What are the applications listed by the manufacturer The main Spitfire Extreme brochure lists Corporate signs e Stage graphics e Window graphics e POS displays e Backlit box signage e Construction announcements e Vehicle graphics e Photos e Floor graphics 187 Can you print fine art photos giclee or d cor Although the printer is not specifically targeted towards art giclee or d cor in fact the guality of the Mutoh Spitfire is plenty good enough to handle d cor In general the quality is better than expected 4 LAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme 188 What other kinds of applications can you print Billboards good on most materials because viewing distance is far e Banners general signage good on most materials because viewing distance is far e Exhibit graphics plenty good enough e Bus shelters will look gorgeous Image Quality Issues Relative to Applications LLL 189 What about solvents such as cleaning solvents Do they mar dull or wash away the ink or change the surface quality It is ironic that the User s Manual says more about how thinner benzene alcohol and other active agents affect the paint on the printer chassis exterior But subsequent
80. vendors or by the printer manufacturer 196 What about color management and ICC profiles In order to handle color management and customized ICC profiles you need your own ICC color profiling software from GretagMacbeth or from Monaco both now owned by X Rite It also helps to have a RIP software that can do linearization and compare tasks prior to doing the ICC profiles AIT Shiraz RIP Wasatch SoftRRIP Caldera Onyx and other of the equally good RIPs provide linearization assistance 197 Are ICC profiles provided by the manufacturer Canned profiles are provided by the manufacturer for their recommended media PRODUCTIVITY amp ROI Return on Investment EE 198 What productivity claims does the printer manufacturer made Mutoh clearly states the productivity and hints that the faster speeds are not the same as the highest quality Other competing printers claim blinding speed which is usually an indicator that they are so slow as to be an embarrassment and they feel a need for smoke and mirrors to hide the true slowness 199 Can this printer hold up to two or three shifts per day all week We have indeed found printers in the past that are not able to hold up to two or three shifts a day This is the kind of question that can only be answered by a site visit case study ADVERTISING CLAIMS Anything Misleading Any Hype Slight Exaggeration BS 200 Please look at the ad claims for this printer in magazines and on the internet Wha
81. 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 veracity 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 benign for us or maybe we have long ago gotten used to it and have a workaround 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 special application needs Equally often what at first might be blamed on a bad product usually turns out to be a need of more operator experience and training More often than not after learning more about the product it becomes possible to produce what it was intended to produce For this reason it is crucial for the FLAAR team and their u
82. y visit e Demo room visit e In house testing First Look Second Look Third Look These are informal designations In some cases we simply notice a printer at a trade show and take cognizance of it Often the trade shows have so many new printers that we can t realistically concentrate on a particular model In other instances a printer is shown but the company has close to zero information available on it So for this machine our initial report is a First Look Later at another trade show we may have additional access so we gather more information and update the report to a Second Look status Gradually we acquire feedback about a particular printer from diverse sources If a printer is really good or if a machine has notable issues FLAAR hears about this sooner or later Then once we get the User s Manual and additional information we can significantly update the report to a Third Look status Site visit case study A site visit case study means studying the printer inside a sign shop screen printing company or other print shop We do not have a site visit of these printers because they are too new Factory visit In a factory you can learn much more than at any trade show and in some respects more than in a site visit case study or demo room visit We appreciate Mutoh providing access to their factory in Oostende 4 LAAR Reports Mutoh Spitfire Extreme Demo room visit Becoming acguainted with a printer in a trade show

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