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Tecksmart 1600UV at FESPA trade show 2007

Teckwin TeckSmart UV1600, TeckSmart UV2500 UV-curable flatbed printers

The Teckwin TeckSmart UV1600 and Teck UV S2400 seemed to be current models two years ago. But at ISA 2007 and FESPA '07 the two models were the TeckSmart UV2500 and UV1600. The Teck UV S2400 has nowhere to be seen in the last two years.

The Teckwin TeckUV1800 appears to be an earlier model that is not around, or at least not featured. A larger model inanother series is the TeckSmart UV S3000. I have not seen that at any recent trade show in Europe or the US. But at FESPA '07 in Berlin this was exhibited and it was at least possible to learn the correct name: TeckUV S3000 and TeckUV S2400.

The TeckSmart and TeckThunder are similar models of hybrid flatbeds but the TeckSmart has Xaar 500 printheads, which are most politely described as venerable. 90% of the printer manufacturers that used this model has switched either to another model or to another brand of printheads (the Zund 215 used Xaar 500 printheads if I remember correctly). The TeckThunder has a newer better printhead (a differerent brand if I remember correctly).

Teckwin has a professional-looking website of international quality. The Teckwin web site is light years ahead of those of their other Chinese competitors. But, every distributor, in the US and Israel, has dropped Teckwin solvent printers after trying them: Gerber, 3M, and Matan no longer show Gerber solvent printers at US trade shows. Why?

That's what we have the FLAAR Reports for. And this is why you can hire Dr Nicholas Hellmuth as a consultant. In fact if you purchase any four UV reports, you can telephone him and ask your questions directly.

Early version of a Teckwin TeckSmart UV1600

But in 2007, a new dealer/distributor has bravely taken on the Teckwin UV 1600 and UV 2500. We discuss this in the FLAAR Reports.

Teckwin TeckSmart UV1600 printer at Graph Expo trade show 2007.

Other cheap entry-level Chinese UV-curable hybrid flatbed printers

DPC, Digital Photonics Corp, COJET-1422

GCC StellarJet 183UV (alpha stage at ISA and at FESPA Digital, from Taiwan, not the Mainland)).

Flora  LJ1800

Infiniti Xterius (in Europe), Infiniti 1.6 meter printer

Anhui Liyu showed their UV printer but only in one show in Istanbul ‘06 and recently at FESPA ‘07; so far not in the US

Raster Printers (Flora LJ1800 with portions rebuilt and improved in the US)

Teckwin Tecksmart  UV1600 (and several different models)

Yaselan UV printers

Yishan UV printers

We have FLAAR Fast Facts reports on every Chinese UV printer that we can find, even on the Yishan (try finding a report on that elsewhere). So if you need to learn about the various Chinese UV flatbed printers, the FLAAR Reports are a good place to start.

Our FLAAR Reports have separate reports that cover the Infiniti UV and the Flora 1.8 meter UV.

We also have a special report on Chinese solvent ink printers.

Entry-level UV printers made in Europe and the USA, with reliable tech support

Most print shops and sign franchise shops prefer a printer with experienced tech support in their own language and available readily across the USA or Canada. The printers in this category would be

•  ColorSpan 72UVR and UVX (two FLAAR Reports)

•  ColorSpan 5440uv (one FLAAR Report )

•  Gerber Solara (one FLAAR Report)

•  Zund 215-C and 215-Plus (two FLAAR Reports)

If you buy any five of the above reports you can speak by phone or communicate by e-mail directly with the author, Dr Hellmuth. This consulting is at no additional cost once you have purchased the above reports.

Or if you buy either UV Series 1, or UV Series 2, plus any two individual UV printer reports, you can also ask questions directly and personally with Professor Hellmuth. If you prefer to come to any trade show and walk into each booth together with Nicholas. You will certainly get a different reception than walking in by yourself. You can hire FLAAR as a consultant and speak with him, or bring him to your office anywhere in the world, he is available as a consultant for a professional consulting fee.

But just to chat with him on the phone or have him answer your e-mail directly, just buy an appropriate quantity of reports and you get direct access to the author at no cost.

TeckSmart UV1600 UV printer being uncrated and set up in Guatemala. FLAAR has an office a few kilometers from here and the tech manager at the Teckwin distributor is the former tech manager at FLAAR-Latin America (FLAAR also has an office is the US and is opening a FLAAR Europe office associated in Europe later this year). As soon as it is possible to undertake a site-visit case study we can judge to what degree this printer is potentially better than other Chinese-made printers that we have tested. We are also currently evaluating a Raster Printers Daytona H700UV and have an upcoming site-visit on this Flora-related Chinese printer. The owner of the Raster H700 was content. The hybrid printers from China sold by DEC, LexJet and others seem to be doing well: the DEC Legend 72HUV. Unfortunately the TeckSmart UV1600 was returned to the distributor by the client, so we were not able to initiate a site-visit case study. Fortunately the dedicated flatbed, TeckStorm, is more reliable but without a site-visit case study it is not possible to issue any recommendation.

What is the situation with distributors in the US and Europe?

Tepede in Europe went bankrupt and two separate Tepede systems emerged a month or so later: Tepede Graphics in Germany and Tepede in Croatia and Eastern Europe.

In the US it is unclear who are fully-functioning distributors: Nazdar OneSource occasionally exhibits the flatbed but not the hybrid TeckSmart or TeckThunder. NuSign Supply is still officially listed as a Teckwin distributor for USA but in fact they are not actively offering Teckwin printers. They changed the name on the hybrid because of issues with earlier models affected acceptance under the same name. The nice thing about Teckwin is that they do work at improving their printers.

But hybrids in general are not as popular as combos or dedicated flatbeds

At the Shanghai 2009 advertising signage trade show in China you could see how most manufacturers were gradually abandoning hybrid systems and going to more functional combo (with moving transport belt) or simply with a dedicated flatbed.

The only reason that manufacturers build hybrids is because they are cheaper; a hybrid is simply a solvent printer that has been adopted to use UV-cured ink. The Infiniti (Fina, Aprint) would be the best example of a cheap retrofitted solvent printer that is now a UV-cured printer). The Teckwin TechSmart and TechThunder are more sophisticated in having a double parallel row of pinch rollers. The Zund 250 was one of the first UV printers to offer double parallel rows of pinch rollers. These are needed in order to feed thick or rigid materials that are not on a roll.

If you have a hybrid with only the left-over pinch rollers of an earlier solvent printer, then if you print with thick rigid materials (or anything that is not on a roll) then you have to tape, by hand, a feeding board to the end of the printable board so that the butt will feed through the system completely.

Most recently updated July 13, 2009.

First posted April 18, 2006. Updated May 29, 2006, May 7, 2007, June 18, 2007, Jan. 5, 2009.