Just that, can we consider getting one? Such a great addition to the lasering and many other things we do at Asmbly. Or a super large flat-bed printer.
At present, we suggest checking out friend of the shop, QuikPrint [link] for printing needs of this sort
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I’d never say never, but we’ve looked into UV printers before and they’re expensive both to purchase and to operate. Even if we had one donated we likely wouldn’t be able to justify the ongoing maintenance costs.
It’s the same reason we gave away all our large-format inkjets - their operating costs greatly outweighed member benefit.
IIRC it’s because the lines have to be constantly moving or they clog, which is expensive and labor intensive, is that right? Most liquid based printers are going to suffer from clogged lines even if they get regular use.
There’s an old joke that goes “Printers only do two things, print, and break down” and it’s absolutely true.
Many commercial print shops don’t even buy their digital printing machines, rather they pay for a service contract where the machine comes with the tech service, because at least once a month you’re going to be waiting on a Xerox or Canon tech for most maintenance and repair tasks.
But yeah, super large flat-bed UV printer definitely ain’t happening before the fiber laser finds a home!
As much as I’d love to have access to one of those, I’m itching to get access to that fiber laser!