UV-Curing flatbed printers are ideal for high-quality prints on rigid media, unless it has a roll-to-roll mechanism at the front, which makes it easy to switch between roll to rigid printing. Its feeding mechanism is based on how the media is held to the table and the printing system moves over the media.

The dedicated flatbed architecture holds the substrate stationary during the print cycle while the printhead carriage moves across the media, it also enables full bleed printing (edge-to-edge), which can reduce finishing time because it is not required to cut off the edges.

Dedicated flatbed printers come with a selection of standard or extra-large table sizes, we at FLAAR Reports distinguish a flatbed printer by whether they print across the narrow axis, or print across the wide axis.

FLATBED PRINTS ACROSS NARROW AXIS

This kind of printer allows to print on smaller media by its vertical printing mechanism, (handling the carriage vertically from the flat board), but at the time you aim to print on a huge billboard, it will take twice the time and twice the performance of the printer.

Flatbed printing across the narrow axis

FLATBED PRINTS ACROSS WIDE AXIS

For this kind of printer, handling huge media size is very accessible, since its horizontal direction to place the carriage from the flat board allows printing faster and not over wasting performance nor time.

Flatbed printing across the wide axis

MID-SIZE FLATBED

Mid-size flatbed also handles a narrow and wide axis printing mechanism, it is not larger than a desktop or as large as a 2.5-meter wide flatbed, and 95% of mid-size flatbeds have their own base.

Mid-size flatbed UV-curing printer

Dedicated flatbed sizes may vary from 1.6 meters up to 3 meters long, depending on which kind of production you aim to acquire with a printer, as a personal point of view, the flatbed with a wide axis printing method is the most reliable when you are considering to print all kinds and sizes of rigid materials, since its length and vertical direction of the carriage over the flat board, allows the user to handle the production of the printer with out wasting time and material.

Source: FLAAR Reports