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Lexjet Legend 72HUV is the rebranded DuPont Cromaprint 18UV hybrid printer

For two years DuPont was so far the only company in the world that appeared to be successful with Chinese-manufactured UV-cured wide format inkjet printers. Chinese-manufactured solvent printers are still iffy but the DuPont Cromaprint 22UV SE has evolved through several stages to the point that more than a dozen are out in the world and being used.

Unfortunately problems with the transport belt, skewing, ink issues, general low quality of low-bid Chinese parts, and all the other issues that are common with Chinese-made printers caused such a cost of tech support for the Cromaprint 22UV that DuPont pulled out. There was no DuPont booth at GraphExpo ’07 or at SGIA ’07. Even Lexjet finally stopped announcing the Cromaprint 22UV on its web site.

LexJet Legend 72HUV, DuPont Cromaprint 18UV-curable flatbed inkjet printer reviews

DuPont had earlier dropped Chinese-made solvent inkjet printers. Redhill gave up trying to sell Chinese-made solvent inkjet printers a year before that. B&P Lightbrigade, the biggest large-format printer distributor in the UK, was not able to get five different Chinese made solvent printers to function, and junked all five. Not even the factory tech support person sent to London from China could get them to work adequately.

These are the reasons that FLAAR stipulates a site-visit case study in an actual printshop before we can even consider recommending a printer with a track record like these mentioned above. Plus we need to visit the demo room of the manufacturer, and their headquarters, to see what kind of expertise is available.

ShenZhen Runtianzhi Image Technology Co. Ltd. is the manufacturer of these printers. Their Flora FUV-2500 and Flora F1 180UV (Raster Printers Daytona H700uv) are more recent generations (more recent than the DuPont Cromaprint 18uv) and hence have additional improvements. It has been possible to inspect the H700uv inside out as well as do test prints in the demo room and we are making an appointment for a site-visit case study. That is why the FLAAR Report is more advanced on the Daytona H700uv from Raster Printers.

I visited two printshops with IP&I Cube 260 uv printers and one printshop with a GCC StellarJet 250 before updating the FLAAR Reports on these printers from Korea and Taiwan (you can click on the titles of these reports in the vertical columns at the right).

I also visited two printshops with an Infiniti UV printer; one had so many months of breakdowns that he finally returned it; the other was in a foreign country where a return was not realistic; he hobbled the printer together and does the best he can: even the UV lamp fell off the carriage.

So we spend time learning about each model; the Infiniti UV printer was easy to inspect because one was in my home town (St Louis, Missouri), the other was near my main office (Guatemala City).

Differences between Cromaprint 18UV and Cromaprint 22UV

Since the 1.8 meter machine from Flora was licensed to Raster Printers (as the Daytona 720, and as the Daytona T600uv), these models were not available to DuPont. So, a slightly different design was utilized by DuPont for their DuPont Cromaprint 18UV. Plus color management software is totally different than the software for the Raster Printers (naturally associated with DuPont).

We have prepared an update in our initial First Look evaluation of the DuPont Cromaprint 18UV as information becomes available. But now (snowy winter 2007-08) the Cromaprint 18UV was never launched by DuPont because the entire UV printer program at DuPont has been phased out.

The reason for raising this question is the growing realization of why the DuPont Cromaprint 18UV printer is not being delivered. Why is it shown at trade show after trade show, but is still listed as “not finished.” Is it not finished, or is a decision being made whether to face the issues of having to provide endless tech support for another Chinese-made printer? Even if contract-manufactured, they still have issues (as is clear from the track record of every single model 22uv printer out there). But it turned that that DuPont did not begin selling the 18UV model because they had already decided not to continue with UV hardware long before they officially announced anything to the public.

Flora has four years experience making UV printers, surely they have learned by now how to make a UV printer function. But the question is how many parts wear out prematurely, and how many other parts are still not mature, and have to be re-designed and then retrofitted?

It would be helpful to learn precisely what parts of the printer are causing it not to be released. But several of our readers have indicated that the printer itself is okay, but what was causing the delay of launch is DuPont company’s decision of whether to drop attempting to sell printer hardware at all.

DuPont has had to absorb millions of dollars in development costs of trying to teach Flora how to manufacturer the printers so that they don’t’ wear out and fall apart. This took over two years. Then DuPont had the huge expenses of providing support for the few Cromaprint 22uv printers that were sold. Parts still kept wearing out, or not functioning (though not as frequently as in earlier years). These features had to be re-designed, retrofitted, and DuPont had to cover the cost of installing all these new features on printers they had already sold.

But the issue is the cost: if a printer requires this much maintenance, either the warranty cost will be sky high, or the cost to the distributor will be so high there is not enough profit left.

With over 45 manufacturers who produce over 101 models, the market simply can’t support so many manufacturers. Too many printers are “me too” copies, and are simply not innovative enough, or in the case of the 18uv, are simply too expensive for entry level, and not sophisticated enough for mid-range. Mid-range requires 6 colors plus white. Oce is learning from experience with their Arizona 250 GT. That 4-colors is not enough for any printer that costs over $140,000. You need a full 6-colors for professional printing.

DuPont Cromaprint 18uv to be reborn as Legend 72HUV

During SGIA several people indicated that since LexJet had worked with DuPont on the Cromaprint 22uv, they had familiarity with the Cromaprint 18uv. Since the Cromaprint 22uv was a Chinese-designed printer from the beginning (as we noticed during 2004, when it was non-functional at major trade shows), it has been totally phased out (it has too many issues and deficiencies to be continued).

But the Cromaprint 18uv has more input from DuPont, based on their painful experience with the 22uv. So, in theory, the 18uv should have fewer problems. Same with the Raster Printers Daytona H700UV, a combo style printer with conveyor belt. This seems to have fewer problems than Earlier flora printers. The Legend is a hybrid style (pinch rollers on top of grit rollers); the Daytona H700UV has a transport belt, so that takes the place of pinch rollers.

As soon as the Legend 72HUV is available for study, we will update our comments as to whether it is the first Chinese-made UV printer that can function for more than a few months without breaking down and wearing out. What is essential is to visit the factory since most FLAAR Reports beginning in 2007-2008 are increasingly based on testing UV printers in their original factory.

Korean manufacturers have long ago figured out how to construct a well-designed and sturdy printer (the IP&I Cube 1606 is one of several examples). This I learned by spending day after day in the factory, and then speaking to UV-curable distributors in several European countries who already had experience with other printers.

To learn about the IP&I Cube 260UV, I went to two printshops using these printers on a daily basis. One liked his so much he bought a second one. All this documentation is in our reports on this model. It is also notable that when competitors speak of which UV printers they notice are well designed and look solid, the IP&I is frequently mentioned as a good all-round printer (especially on cleanness of engineering and manufacturing).

Taiwan manufacturers are doing better these days too: the GCC StellarJet 183uv today is significantly better than it was just six months ago. The GCC StellarJet 250UV is even better. This we can document because of a site-visit case study to a printshop where the best color and adhesion to ceramic tiles anywhere was being accomplished by a GCC StellarJet 250UV.

So, in theory, it is possible for Chinese to manufacture a printer that will hold up to being used every day all month. Most of the printshop owners who have Infiniti solvent printers say that these Chinese solvent printers are acceptable (unfortunately owners of Infiniti UV printers are not as content since their UV printers fall apart after less than four months).

Issues are not limited to Chinese-made printers. The Zund 250 failed (until it was redesigned, which took two years). The Gerber ion has not yet been successful (it has been popular, but can’t yet be finished). The ColorSpan 5440uv series (now reborn as the HP Designjet H35100 and H45100) had issues after birth that are requiring redesign and retrofitting. But at least ColorSpan (and HP) know how to improve their printers. The HP version of the ColorSpan UV printers for 2008 has been upgraded and are now certified by HP.

Digital Equipment Company and Lexjet

The manufacturer of all DuPont, Raster Printers and LexJet printers is ShenZhen Runtianzhi Image Technology Co. Ltd. Despite this fact, Digital Equipment Company is the name listed in PR reports. But this appears to be the company through which the Flora printer is brought in from China as the Legend 72HUV. It is logical that there would be an importer as well as a distributor. LexJet is one of the more successful sellers of wide-format inkjet media.

Unfortunately there was no LexJet or Digital Equipment Company booth at ISA 2008 nor at FESPA Digital 2008. I will check during two weeks of DRUPA 2008 to see if the Lexjet Legend 72HUV appears in that international trade show. Or perhaps it is taking a while to transform the DuPont Cromaprint 18uv from the DuPont version into a Lexjet version that has more stamina and endurance than the original model.

Most recently updated April 14, 2008.

First posted Sept. 27, 2006. Updated September 7, 2007. Updated again after SGIA ’07, January 28, 2008, February 12, 2008.