Trade Show Eco Solvent & Solvent Printers June 2016large-format-printers.org/comparative-reviews... · 2016-06-07 · Xenons 18 Zhongye 19 - All items on this list are hot links

Trade Show

I

Eco Solvent & Solvent Printersat apppexpo 2016

Eco-solvent

solvent Prin

ters&

Apppexpo 2016

Trade Show

Nicholas Hellmuth and Marcelo Girón

June 2016

CONTENTS

Trade Show

II


INTRODUCTION 1ADDTOP 2allwin 3AUDLEY 4BLUE PRINT 5challenger 6FORNI 7GETHRAY 8GRANDO 9ICONTEK 10

KUAITU 11Made in Liyu 12REFRETONIC 13SAITU 14Sky Color 15Smart 16Wit Color 17Xenons 18Zhongye 19

- All items on this list are hot links. -

Trade Show

1


INTRODUCTIONHere is a list of solvent printers and specifications present at APPPEXPO 2016 Shanghai.

There are different kinds of printer sizes for solvent printers: desktop, mid-sized, large and super-wide format. Yes, there are occasionally desktop sized eco-solvent printers which are flat top format (instead of UV-cured ink). And in past years you could also find mid-sized dedicated flat top printers which had solvent rather than UV-cured ink. These are rare, but present. However you will almost never see these outside an exhibit in China.

Each brand offers printers for the different needs that the consumer may have. Some printers are based on low-price only. Other brands and models are based on speed and sophisticated moving of diverse signage materials.

It is interesting to learn the different functions that each printer has, plus it was a great experience to talk to the technicians about each printer and what applications it has in real-life projects.

It is not realistic to comment on each brand or printer model, since often there is no available information on what printhead, or which ink chemistry is used. Many times what is pictured in the catalog is not the same features as is exhibited in the booth. And sometimes if there are two printers of the same model, their printheads and inks may be totally different one from another.All this is why it is essential that print shop owners and managers visit APPPEXPO in person. If you dedicate the time in the booth of the several brands you are interested in, then you can learn which printheads, which ink type, and which features the printer actually has.

Trade Show

2


SE 1622 printer at ADDTOP booth

ADDTOP

ADDTOP booth

Brand ADDTOPPrinter Model SE 1622Print Width 1.3M

Print SpeedHigh precision print 40m2/hHigh speed print 70m2/h

Ink Type Water Based Ink

Print headsBrand and model EPSON 4SNumber of print heads 2

Trade Show

3


allwin

ALLWIN booth

Allwin C8-512i PLUS

Trade Show

4


AUDLEY

Audley S3000-X5

Brand AudleyPrinter Model S3000-X5Print Width 1.6M


Ink Type Eco solvent ink

Print headsBrand and model DX5Number of print heads 2

Trade Show

5


BLUE PRINT

BLUE PRINT booth

Blue print E2/18

Since CHALLENGER is part of FY Union, it would be expected that they use Seiko printheads.

INFINITI JUMBOJET FY-3286J

Brand INFINITIPrinter Model FY-3286JPrint Width 3,300mm


Ink Type Eco Solvent Ink, Solvent

Print headsBrand and model SPT508GSNumber of print heads 6

Trade Show

6


challenger

FEI YEUNG UNION booth

Trade Show

7


FORNI

FORNI booth

FORNI FJ-1825

Trade Show

8


GETHRAY

GETHRAY booth

GETHRAY S8

Printer sizes

1.6m and 1.8m are stan-dard widths for entry-level printers.

2.x in various widths are not common for a next level.

3.2m widths tend to be more robust than printers half this width.

5m solvent printers are not exhibited any more, though some factories can make one on special order.

Trade Show

9


GRANDO

GRANDO booth

Grando GD-AE1800-W2

It was a great experience to have a tour of the GRANDO booth with the sales manager, since he accompanied and gave me all the necessary information about the solvent printers in their booth.

Trade Show

10


ICONTEK

ICONTEK booth

Incontek TW-3308R

Brand IcontekPrinter Model TW-3308RPrint Width 5000mm


Ink Type Solvent

Print headsBrand and model SPT -1020Number of print heads 8Drop size 35pl

Trade Show

11


KUAITU

Kuaitu KT-A1800

“Solvent” comes in many flavors

Eco-solvent is the most common term. But it is a challenge to know the actual chemicals which are really inside the ink, since each brand has different ink chemistry.

Bio-solvent is advertising jargon that is usually unrealistic. Not many ink companies try this trick any more. The term bio-solvent is Greenwashing.

Latex ink, if not in an HP printer, is another example of wordsmithing. Best to skip any ink which uses this misleading term for a printer with Epson printheads (if not the actual original correct latex ink of the HP series). Ironically real latex ink for Epson printheads does exist. We have visited several ink R&D labs (under NDA, Non-Disclosure Agreement) to see these interesting inks. But none of these are sold on the open market. Mild-solvent and Lite-Solvent mean more or less the same. These are printers whose inks have harsher chemicals than eco-solvent.

Solvent, with no adjectives, usually means full-solvent. California and other states in USA, and many western European countries either have restrictions or may not allow installation of new full-solvent printers. But in other countries there is still a market for printers which use full solvent.

Trade Show

12


Made in Liyu

Made in Liyu PZR3208-1-KV

Printheads for solvent inks

15 years ago, even 10 years ago, Xaar printheads were common in Chinese entry-level solvent printers. Today these are all replaced by

various models of Epson printheads. Most common are DX5 and DX7, but other models are used. Sometimes the Epson heads are given

names like DX9 to make people think they are getting special heads.

Printer factories associated with FY Union use Seiko heads. A few other brands use Konica Minolta or Ricoh heads. Fujifilm Dimatix

Spectra and even Toshiba Tec heads can be found in solvent printers. So printhead preferences have definitely evolved in the last ten years.

Trade Show

13


REFRETONIC

Refretonic booth

Refretonic RT3207D

Trade Show

14


SAITU

Saitu JC1801 40m

Brand SaituPrinter Model JC1801Print Width 1600mm


Ink Type WaterBased, Eco Solvent

Print headsBrand and model DX5, DX7Number of print heads 8

Trade Show

15


Sky Color

Sky Color booth

Sky Color solvent printer

Trade Show

16


Smart

Smart 9200-1601

Brand SmartPrinter Model SMART 9200-1601Print Width 1.55mm


Ink Type WaterBased, Eco SolventPrint heads Brand and model EPSON DX7

Trade Show

17


Wit Color

Wit Color booth

Wit Color Ultra Star 3308

Trade Show

18


Xenons

Xenons F12

Brand XenonsPrinter Model F12Print Width 3200mm


Ink Type Solvent

Print headsBrand and model SPT -1020, SPT-510Number of print heads 4,8,12

Trade Show

19


Zhongye

Zhongye E3200

We look forward to seeing you in Shanghai at APPPEXPO 2017

You can expect to experience and learn lots about all aspects of solvent printers at APPPEXPO 2017. FLAAR will have at least five team members here because there is so much to see. So it’s a

clever decision to attend APPPEXPO in March 2017.

March 8, 9, 10, and 11, 2017

www.apppexpo.com/index/2/en

Venue:National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai)

No.333 Songze Avenue, Qingpu District, Shanghai, P.R.China

www.apppexpo.com/index/2/en

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This report has been licensed to Shanghai Modern International Exhibition Co., to distribute, since they are the organizers of APPPEXPO (Advertising, Print, Pack & Paper Expo), Shanghai. But this report has not been licensed to any printer manufacturer, distributor, dealer, sales rep, RIP company, media or ink company to distribute. So if you obtained this from any company, other than APPPEXPO, you have a pirated copy.

Also, since some reports are occasionally updated, if you got your version from somewhere else, it may be an obsolete edition. FLAAR reports are being updated all year long, and our comment on that product may have been revised positively or negatively as we learned more about the product form end users.

PLEASE NOTE

To obtain a legitimate copy, which you know is the complete report with nothing erased or changed, and hence a report with all the original description of pros and cons, please obtain your original and full report straight from www.large-format-printers.org or other web sites in our network such as www.wide-format-printers.net. Your only assurance that you have a complete and authentic evaluation which describes all aspects of the product under consideration, benefits as well as deficiencies, is to obtain these reports directly from FLAAR, via the various sites in our network.

Copyright 2016

Nicholas Hellmuth FLAAR.Reports Free SubscriptionFLAAR_Reports

Trade Show

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Documents

Trade Show Eco Solvent & Solvent Printers June 2016large-format-printers.org/comparative-reviews... · 2016-06-07 · Xenons 18 Zhongye 19 - All items on this list are hot links