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NUR adds a flatbed module for the NUR Expedio 3200 printer (now the HP Scitex XP2100 and XP2700)

This is what a NUR Expedio 3200 looks like in the factory. FLAAR now includes factory-visit inspections as a regular part of its evaluation process. Obviously this takes time (Grapo factory is in the Czech Republic, Inca factory is in the UK, the NUR factory is thousands of kilometers further away). So we understand that no one else can provide this level of evaluation service. But when funding is available it is quite an education to see how and where the UV printers are assembled.

At Viscom Europe (Paris, Sept 2006) and at SGIA a few days later, NUR introduced a flatbed module to their Expedio 3200 printer. We will need to check it out. One end user and one former tech support person for NUR indicated that the roll-to-roll aspect of the NUR Tempo (HP Scitex FB6100) had a few glitches. In effect, the flatbed module for the NUR Expedio 3200 is to improve the situation so that one printer can do both. But the question is, does the flatbed add-on actually function as good as a dedicated flatbed or as a combo?

So far, the only roll-to-roll printer that has a close to perfect flatbed aspect is the Spuhl Virtu RS25 and RS35 and the L&P Virtu HD8. This flatbed aspect is described in new forthcoming FLAAR Reports based on spending a day in Switzerland inspecting the Spuhl and a day in Florida testing and inspecting the L&P Virtu.

The only other roll-fed printer that attempts to have a full-scale dedicated flatbed accessory is the Zund 250. Unfortunately Zund needed their limited factory space to produce more XY cutters, so Zund dropped printers in order to concentrate on cutters.

Here is the NUR Expedio 3200 printing samples for FLAAR, Madrid 2007.

Sample printer by the NUR Expedio 3200 printer at SGIA trade show 2005.

NUR Expedio series was the first roll-to-roll grand format UV-curable ink printer 

NUR Expedio 3200 roll-to-roll printer, that we saw and photographed at SGIA trade show.

A NUR Expedio roll to roll printer was at DRUPA 2004; indeed I passed it by several times because I assumed it was a solvent ink printer. But since it was roll-to-roll I never thought to ask anyone if it was a UV-printer. I at that early date I all other UV-printers would tend to be dedicated flatbed designs, combo designs (with transport belt) or hybrid designs (retrofitted solvent printers that still have their platen, pinch rollers and grit rollers).

But then the Gerber Solara came out also a roll-to-roll UV printer too, albeit at entry-level price point. So clearly someone has done enough market research (we hope) to document there is a market for a non-flatbed UV-cured printers. 

It is natural, at first, to think that a hybrid would be best, so you could do both. But when you think of it. A hybrid is half-and-half. It can’t do either perfectly.

The NUR Expedio 3200 (HP Scitex XP2100 and XP2700) and Expedio 5000 Revolution (HP Scitex XP5100 and HP Scitex XP5300) are among the few UV-cured inkjet printer series that offers 8 colors, CMYK plus light of each color. Light black is rare in any kind of ink, other than for the Epson printers or ColorSpan. Light yellow is found almost never in other printers because light yellow does not make much difference in the color gamut. An additional light level of black would possibly make more impact.

Here is a printer that I would definitely want to talk to an owner to see how clients react to the output. This would require a site-visit case study (FLAAR staff visiting a print shop that has an Expedio at work).

NUR Expedio series was the first roll-to-roll grand format UV-curable ink printer.

Gandinnovations Jeti 3324 UV RTR and Durst Rho 351R

Here is a Gandinnovations Jeti 3324 UV RTR printer that was inspected during two days by Nicholas Hellmuth for the new FLAAR Reports on roll—to-roll UV systems.

NUR was the first company to bravely introduce a roll-to-roll UV printer. NowGandinnovations has introduced its Jeti 3324 UV RTR at ISA and IPEX 2006.

Indeed Durst has now come out with their own roll-to-roll UV-cured inkjet printer, the Durst Rho 350R. Durst first showed their Rho 350R at the sign trade show in Milan last year. FLAAR was there in Italy to record it. And now Durst has updated the 350R with their Durst Rho 351R. So clearly there is a market among screen printers to have a dedicated roll-to-roll printer that is not solvent-based. 

In October we spent two days undertaking a site-visit case study of the Gandinnovations Jeti 3324 UV roll-to-roll printer in Europe . The FLAAR Reports on this roll-to-roll UV printer is now available. I then returned to the factory in Toronto a second time during summer 2008; the updated report is now available.

Our FLAAR Reports are more detailed on the Gandy roll-to-roll and on the NUR roll-to-roll because I have been to each of these factories for several days (and am scheduled to be back in Israel next week and back in Toronto at the Gandy factory in several weeks). But access to the Durst demo room in Rochester and to the Durst factory and demo rooms in Europe has not been as easy. Since there are over 45 manufacturers of UV printers, with over 101 models, I tend to concentrate on the printer brands and models where they are readily available to study.

Neither VUTEk nor Inca yet has a dedicated roll-to-roll UV-curable inkjet printer. The one from VUTEk, QS3200r, is a retrofitted combo printer. I prefer to see a roll to roll printer with more technological innovations, something that is exciting (like the NUR, Gandinnovations, Matan Barak, and the new Spuhl roll-to-roll (not yet released as of summer 2008).

Most recently updated August 20, 2008.

First posted November 28, 2005. Updated May 29, 2006, Sept. 21, 2006, October 30, 2006, Oct. 1, 2007.