Looking to Replace a VUTEk PressVu 180 with a New Printer

[SVITCS]

Hello,

I am looking to upgrade from a VUTEk PressVu 180/600. Some of the printers I have been looking at are the: VUTEk PressVu 200, Colorspan 9840UV and 5400UV, DuPont Cromaprint 22UV, Durst Rho 600, Agfa Anapurna XL (and soon-to-be-released Anapurna M), and StellarJet 250UV.

I am looking for quality first and throughput second. My benchmark is the PressVu 180 in 8-color mode @ 360x800dpi.

Any input is welcome. Thanks in advance!

[Merritt Graphics]

We just upgraded our Scitex VeeJet and replaced it with the Gandinnovations
Jeti 3150 uv. It is a phenominal machine true 1200 dpi at 500 + s/f hour up to 2" thick.

The only limitations with the Veejet or the Jeti is that they are not hybrid machines(No roll to roll). We have roll to roll production machines so we have no interest in a hybrid.

I would think after owning a Press Vu you would want to focus on true production machines of the only one I see you considering would be the Durst Rho. The others Colorspan etc... are inferior to your current machine sure they may be faster but they are not real production printers like your Vutek.

That would be like trading in your 2003 Mercedes for a 2007 Hyundai.

[ScottyDoo]

Originally Posted by Merritt Graphics

We just upgraded our Scitex VeeJet and replaced it with the Gandinnovations
Jeti 3150 uv. It is a phenominal machine true 1200 dpi at 500 + s/f hour up to 2" thick.

I just read about your upgrade the other day in Digital Ouput I believe it was =)

[print_master]

First off....I'm going to assume that the Jeti and such are out of your price range.

I have spent about 6 months searching for a flat bed from basically all the machines you have listed. I have custom samples off them all sitting in my office.

Tell me more about what's wrong with your Vutek (like in the other post).

[SVITCS]

Originally Posted by print_master

First off....I'm going to assume that the Jeti and such are out of your price range.

I have spent about 6 months searching for a flat bed from basically all the machines you have listed. I have custom samples off them all sitting in my office.

Tell me more about what's wrong with your Vutek (like in the other post).

The problem with our PV180 was that it was an older machine (#33 out of some 100 produced) with older technology. A VUTEk Field Engineer remarked that it had a Pentium 1 board in it.

I had to make adjustments on a daily basis to compensate for lost jets, bidirectional problems, and firmware issues. When everything was in sync, it would produce some beautiful prints. But, I could spend 3 hours replacing jet packs, aligning the jet packs, calibrating the bidirectional, and relinearizing-only to see it drift the next day.

Also, the printer was not officially ours. There was a third and silent partner that owned the printer and the company "X". Company "X" operated within company "Y", but consisted only of equipment and no personnel.

Company "X" suffered from poor management in the past, which resulted in the company operating in the red since it opened its doors. Company "Y" failed to turn company "X" around. Because of poor management in the past, companies "X" and "Y" were in a rather large hole with VUTEk.

A month ago, I needed replacement parts for the printer. VUTEk would not provide us with parts or consumables because of the debt. So, company "X" was liquidated by its owner,and the printer was sold last week.

Company "Y" is in better shape, with new partners and investors. We are hoping to start print operations within a month.

So far, I have seen samples from Durst, DuPont, Agfa, and Oce. My comments are:

-I like the quality of the Oce GT250, but it is slow, is limited to 4'x8', and does not have white or varnish.

-The Durst Rho 600 is expandable, has decent quality, has optional white and varnish, but is expensive, and the 4 color does not compare to 6 or 8 color in smoothness and apparent resolution.

-The DuPont Cromaprint 22UV has a nice color gamut, a multi-zone vacuum bed, white ink, but it was not as sharp as the PV180, and it had issues with gradients.

-The Agfa Anapurna XL also has a nice color gamut, and nice resolution, but there were artifacts caused by the dithering, and there was noticeable banding caused by jets out.

Colorspan is taking forever to get any sort of sample to me from the 9840UV and 5400UV.

[print_master]

First off....I know all about early Vutek runs. I have a 3360 Solvent machine that is an early serial number as well. It is a lot of work to keep it going but when it runs well.....life is good.

If the components still work there's no problem with them being old. My 3360 still runs NT4. =)


The custom samples I have from the Anapurna were nothing special. Actually, they were quite bad. I agree with the noticeable banding.

I had samples made on the Pictor 600 from Durst. I wasn't overly impressed with their machine. The regular Rho is upgradeable but out of my price range as well.

Just remember slow is slow....but quality is quality (a nice conundrum huh??)

And I wouldn't put too much stock in Colorspan if you want run a decent volume through your shop.