ColorSpan DisplayMaker 110s

Help! So many new cheap superwide inkjet printers to chose from: Azero Creon, Kwangko System Co Sprin, Shenzhen Funkiang Avertising Equipment & Material Co Runjiang Flora, Yaselan, Dream Printtech, as well as from DGI and other companies from Taiwan, China, and Korea.

Picture by Nicholas Hellmuth at ISA 2003 Tradeshow

How can you figure out whether to jump for the low price of off-shore printers or stick with reliability of, for example, Vutek, Nur, Scitex-Vision, Oce Arizona 500, or the new ColorSpan DisplayMaker 110s? (new in 2003).

How do you weigh the factors between a well established solvent ink manufacturer such as Vutek with a new entry such as Gandi Innovations (albeit has plenty of experience in the world of sign printers)?

FLAAR is a university based research institute dedicated to helping sign shops learn about f wide format printers. In 2001-2003 we started off with solvent ink printers from 54" through 90" (Mimaki JV3, Mutoh Toucan, DGI Rex, Infiniti, Oce Arizona 30-s, RasterGraphics Arizona Digital Screen Press 90, Arizona 180 and comparable entry-level and mid-range solvent ink printers for vinyl and outside signage. Now, in 2007, we do research on Mutoh, Roland and a few other brands of solvent pritners. Mostly our studies since 2004, however, have been with UV-curable inkjet technology.

The ColorSpan 110s was the first, and only, printer that they did not manufacture themselves. This is because in that early year, 2003, they had experience with water-based printers, not solvent. So they contracted ISI to manufacturer this printer for them. It was a slightly reconfigured model to what Gretag had sold briefly, and then withdrawn.

ColorSpan also dropped this printer after about a year, and developed their own model 72s (the "gator"). This solvent printer was in turn the source of the UV-curable ink version, the 72UV series. This went on to become the best-selling UV printer in history, selling more than twice the number that Zund had sold of their model 215 (the market leader 2001-2004).

ISI sold their solvent printer under their own name after ColorSpan dropped it. ISI now manufactures the flatbed UV printer for RasterPrinters and offers a retro-fit UV kit for NUR solvent printers (to turn them into a UV roll-to-roll machine).