WHICH PLATFORM OFFERS THE BEST FIT?

Having considered the range of print applications you are likely to offer, you will need to determine which platform offers the best fit for your business.

Whilst manufacturers offer a wide variety of technologies, the first decision will be whether to purchase a roll-to-roll printer, a flatbed printer or a hybrid printer. The advantages of these platforms are explored in this chapter.

Considerations:

Will I be printing onto rigid substrates, rolls of flexible media or a mix of materials?
Do I need to print onto thick or textured media?
How important is registration? Will I perhaps be overprinting existing images?
How much space have I got? Some systems are more compact than others.

Tip: These printers are BIG. When looking at production space, consider the printer’s footprint, the end-to-end travel of the print table and allow space for handling.

Roll-to-roll printers

Roll-to-roll large format printers are used to print onto rolls of flexible print media. A roll of flexible material, such as paper, vinyl or film, is fed through a stationary print gantry and rewound, after printing, onto a take-up reel.

Roll-to-roll printers are ideal for printing posters, banners and window display graphics onto flexible substrates. Although primarily designed for printing onto flexible materials, some roll to roll devices can print onto rigid media.

“Having successfully run the Ricoh flatbed device for a number of years, when it came to replacing our existing large-format printer, we were keen to try a roll-to-roll machine. Since the latex machine was installed, work is definitely increasing on the large-format printing side of the business. It is such an important part of our offering and is working hard every day to produce work for customers.”

Lee Coulson, Managing Director, Inprint Colour

Advantages:

Lowest capital cost
Compact footprint
Print onto roll-fed paper, vinyl and film
Durable outdoor graphics
Ideal for banners, pop-up, posters and car wraps

Disadvantages:

Requires special media
Limited range of applications
Doesn’t support thick media
Slow print speeds
Solvent prints have long gassing off times
Latex printers use excessive heat

Flatbed printers

Flatbed large format printers are used for printing onto pre-cut flexible sheets and rigid substrates. A vacuum system holds the print media stationary on a flatbed table whilst the printhead gantry moves over the media, printing onto it.

Flatbed printers can print on to a variety of substrates, including wood, metal, glass, foam, plastic, vinyl, film and paper. They typically support media thicknesses up to 50 mm and textured or pre-formed materials with a variance in print depth of up to 25 mm.

A vacuum system is used to hold the media stationary. Some parts of the vacuum bed can usually be zoned off when not in use, reducing power consumption and noise. If, however, the media is smaller than the vacuum zone, it may be necessary to mask off the empty space, which can be laborious and time consuming process.

Despite having a large print bed, most flatbed printers have a relatively compact and well defined footprint. Because the print heads move over media that is fixed to a stationary platform, very little additional space is required around the printer.

Advantages:

Pre-cut flexible sheets and rigid substrates
Support for thick media (up to 50 mm)
Support for textured media (up to 25 mm variance in print depth)
Full bleed (edge-to-edge) printing
Tile displays over several boards
Compact and static footprint (table doesn’t move)

Disadvantages:

Highest capital cost
Most flatbed printers do not support roll-to-roll printing
Feed table requires masking (to maintain the vacuum)

Hybrid printers

Like roll-to-roll printers, hybrid printers have a stationery print gantry. Depending upon its characteristics, the print media is either fixed to a moving table and passed through the print gantry or it is fed roll-to-roll. Because it takes very little time to switch from rigid to flexible materials, hybrid printers support cost-effective production of a wide array of graphics.

Hybrid large format printers offer greater flexibility than either flatbed or roll-to-roll printers as they can be used for printing onto pre-cut flexible sheets, rigid substrates and rolls of flexible material.

Custom-made jigs hold rigid media in place across the width of the printer, enabling multiple prints to be made and maximising the productivity of the printer.

Because hybrid printers support both flexible and rigid media, it is much easier to produce mixed media work of consistent quality. This is less easy to achieve when using a flatbed printer for rigid media and a (different) roll to roll printer for flexible media.

Although hybrid printers may appear to be more compact than flatbed printers, it is important to recognise that space is required at the front and the back of printer for media moving through the print gantry. But, whilst hybrid printers do generally require a larger operational area than flatbed printers, they can save space when compared with operating standalone flatbed and roll to roll systems.

“The roll option on the flatbed means we can print on most substrates and have also produced floor graphics, wall papers and window displays on ultra-clear vinyls.There seems no limit to the variety of POS we can produce and with the printer’s speed we are producing work same day for certain customers. Since the machine was installed, we have had so much demand and enquiries for all sorts of work; it has opened new avenues and helped us win new contracts.”

Simon Evers, Managing Director, Acorn Press

Advantages:

More versatile
Quickly switch from rigid to flexible materials
Consistent colour quality on rigid and flexible media
Pre-cut flexible and rigid media up to 50mm+ thick
No length restriction when printing onto rigid media
Full bleed (edge-to-edge printing)
No masking required
Lower cost of acquisition (than flatbed)
Faster return on investment

Disadvantages:

Larger workspace (space is required at the front and the back of the printer)
May require a jig to hold multiple rigid media in place
Less productive when printing onto multiple irregular sized media