VUTEK GS5000r 5-meter roll-to-roll UV-cured inkjet printer compared with HP NUR Expedio 5000, Gandinnovations Durst Rho 500R and WP Digital RR50

EFI VUTEk GS5000r, 5-meter roll to roll UV-cured grand format printer

About five times during 2008 someone would mention “the new VUTEk 5-meter roll-to-roll printer” that was being developed in Israel. Since Israel is the location of the world’s first 5-meter roll-to-roll UV printer (NUR Expedio 5000), this makes Israel a practical place to develop a newer generation 5-meter roll to roll. This country is one of the most sophisticated high-tech areas of the world (Scitex, Scitex Vision, Objet Geometries, Indigo, Leaf (medium format digital cameras), HumanEyes (lenticular software) are just a few examples of the digital technology companies here.

Then at FESPA 2009 the VUTEk GS5000r printer was launched. The output quality of the printer has improved considerably since it was officially launched. In spite of being a UV-cured printer for outdoor applications the print quality is impressive.

A Versatile Dedicated Roll-to-roll UV Printer

The EFI VUTEk GS5000r has several print modes that make it apt for several purposes. For example, you can print either at 600 or 1000 dpi.

The print quality has three levels determined by the level at which the ink drops blend as they are fired by the printheads. This is called Smoothing, and you can choose three levels:
• High Smoothing
• Low Smoothing
• No Smoothing

These options give you the control over quality of print speed.

You can print on a 5-meter wide roll or up to three smaller rolls simoultaneously.

Safety is an important aspect in the design of the printer

The printer has several guards and covers to minimize damage risks in moving parts.

Also, to protect operators, cabinet doors and hoods are interlocked. If opened, the shutters of the UV lamps will close and the printer will cease to work. This is to protect operators against exposure to UV light. The window of the front hood is tinted. This is one of the printers where less UV light leakage exists.

The manual starts with a chapter dedicated to safety aspects. This chapter is especially worthy to mention because the last part discusses residual risks, which are the risks that still remain in spite of all the components that protect operators from suffering damage.

EFI VUTEk GS5000r, 5-meter roll to roll UV-cured grand format printer reviews

Here is the new EFI VUTEk GS5000r 5-meter roll to roll UV-cured grand format printer when FLAAR inspected it at product launch, FESPA Amsterdam, 2009.

VUTEK GS5000r, 5-meter roll-to-roll UV-curable inkjet printer POP, POS, grandformat building wrap, billboards, banners, signage, reviews

VUTEk enters the 5-meter market introducing the VUTEk GS5000r at FESPA Amsterdam 2009. EFI fights for a share against well known printers like the 5-meter versions of the roll-fed machines of Gandinnovations, the HP Scitex XP5300, Matan Barak5 and the Durst Rho 500r, also introduced at FESPA Amsterdam 09.

FLAAR Reports are being issued on the VUTEk GS5000r

Here is a photograph of FLAAR Technical Writer Jose Melgar at the demo room for the VUTEk GS5000r.

The EFI VUTEk GS 5000r at the demo room.

Brief History of 5-meter roll-to-roll printers

The first UV-cured printers were variations of solvent printers (PerfectaPrint). Probably half the first-generation UV-curable printers had a solvent printer in their DNA: I can still remember the VUTEk solvent flatbed that appeared at about one or two trade shows. In most cases the solvent flatbed was phased out quickly as the UV-version appeared.

90% of all UV printers from 2000 to early 2004 were hybrid (pinch rollers/grit rollers), combo (moving transport belt) or dedicated flatbeds (Inca is the best example, long before Gandinnovations Jeti and Oce Arizona 250 GT).

When I first saw the 5-meter NUR Expedio at DRUPA, early summer 2004, I assumed it was just another solvent printer and I did not pay much attention to it. It was several days later that I realized it was a UV roll-to-roll printer.

In 2005 Durst came out with their Rho 350R and the next year or so with the improved model, Rho 351R. Now Durst has a 320R as well. I have been to the Durst factories many times so have tested these for hours: very impressive quality. Full FLAAR Reports exist on both Durst Rho printers.

Gandinnovations remained with their solvent for roll-to-roll and their Jeti flatbeds for UV. Only later did they come out with a roll-to-roll for UV-cured inks. It took about a year for its inks to have enough POP to compete with solvent. Today their Gandinnovations roll-to-roll are significantly better than the first generation but frankly their roll-to-roll Jeti printers were never as impressive as the Gandinnovations flatbed jeti printers. The roll-to-roll Jeti had so much vibration from the carriage turn-around at the end, that you got dizzy trying to look at the monitor (it shook so much).

But the entire time, NUR gained most of the market share for 5-meter roll to roll. NUR really understood what end-users wanted and they provided precisely that: an ink that cost no more than solvent ink, period. NUR used an air gun to spread their ink out and lowered the price per liter so that the price per square meter was the same or less than printing with Solvent.

NUR sold so many that they did not really need to make many more solvent printers.

Then at SGIA 2007, HP came out with an HP Scitex XL2200. This was non-functional since they attempted to use MEMS printheads. This unfortunate printer was withdrawn quickly and HP bought NUR in order to compete in the world of 3.2 meter and 5 meter roll-to-roll UV. But since then, the NUR Expedio has not been replaced by any new platform. Today as we enter 2011 the NUR Expedio printers of HP Scitex are incremental updates; not an entirely new printer.

In February 2009, WP Digital released their Virtu RR50, a 5-meter UV-curable roll-to-roll printer which had been developed by Spuhl (part of L&P Digital Technologies). It was possible to spend a day at the Spuhl factory the previous year (the day after FESPA Digital Geneva) and for the launch of the Virtu RR50 it was possible to spend 4 days with WIFAG, Polytype, and WP Digital in Switzerland. The first FLAAR Report covers what I learned and observed during the launch event. A follow-up FLAAR Report will go into more detail during and after FESPA.

Then L&P Digital Technologies went belly up and WIFAG Polytype bought the remnants. L&P failed for several reasons: one was trying to use MEMS printheads; the other was their management and trade show style: dull and verging on inhospitable was about the most polite way to describe it. They closed the US factory and concentrated manufacturing in Switzerland. But then the new company, WP Digital, went through several management changes and moved out of the Spuhl factory to the Polytype factory. Only one or two of the original L&P people remain with Virtu today.

A month or so before ISA, Durst announced it's 5-meter UV roll to roll printer. Previously their models had been 3.2 and 3.5 meters wide. The new model is the Durst Rho 500R.

Dr Hellmuth has also spent two days in the Eurotech factory inspecting their 5-meter system during 2009 but these UV-cured printers are unfinished. A UV-curing printer is too complex an ink chemistry for a company to handle it unless they have years of experience. Mutoh is the best example of how many years it took even their large company to develop even one simple UV-cured printer model. So it is no surprise that Eurotech failed to display their UV-cured printer experiments even at Sign Istanbul this year (2010).

On the Matan Barak3 and Barak5 we have extensive notes based on detailed access and inspection at more than twelve trade shows over several years by both Hellmuth and UV printer Technical Writer Jose Melgar.

Now in 2010, going into 2011, the VUTEk GS5000r is ready

The VUTEK GS5000r was first shown to the general public at FESPA 2009. It took until ISA 2010 to move it from alpha stage to advanced beta stage. After inspecting the GS5000r at ISA I realized that significant improvements had been successful. So as soon as a factory visit and the site-visit case study become possible, we will issue a FLAAR Reports evaluation.

The factory visit has now taken place, and we will be posting the resulting evaluation shortly.

New owner of a VUTEk GS5000r.

The EFI VUTEk GS5000r printer delivers POP quality and billboard performance on a wider range of materials. ISA trade show, 2010.

Here is the EFI VUTEk GS5000r printing samples at ISA trade show, 2010.

Some 3.2-meter systems that are competitors

If your sign shop is not physically large enough to take a 5-meter system, there is always a 3.2 meter version to consider. But for 3.2 meter it makes more sense to have a transport-belt, so you can also print thick or rigid materials, in addition to roll-to-roll.

Substrates for 5-meter width: banner, billboards, mesh, frontlit, backlit

Most substrates are made in factories that produce a maximum of 3.2 meters. So it was nice to find two different factories recently that produced materials at 5 meter widths. I recently spent one week inspecting 5 meter production of PVC at Obeikan OTF. Then I flew to China to spend a week inspecting 5-meter production of PE, an eco-friendly material. In early 2011 I hope to return to Obeikan OTF to inspect their new production line of PP (an ecologically more friendly green substrate as an alternative to PVC).

So if you have clients that prefer to avoid PVC, now there are two materials to select as alternatives: PE as a technical textile, and PP as a technical textile.

Most recently updated December 2010 after inspecting the VUTEk GS5000r at Sign Istanbul that had just been sold to a local printshop in Turkey.

updated April 22, 2010, after noticing the improved quality of the VUTEk GS5000r printer at ISA sign expo. First posted May 12, 2009, a day before FESPA Digital Europe trade show.