Choosing a printer...

@Dima - Negative in what way may I ask? I would expect both MPM and DEK to be mostly bombproof. What scares we with MPM is the RRP pricetag, a machine that expensive could be a like a German car, expensive to fix when it goes wrong too.

reply »

The Tucano is easy to use, user friendly menu, easy debugging if there is a problem. The thing is, this one is ages old and had some problems previously which required a near to £10k investment (controller board replacement and some calibration) but hey - this was bought second hand anyways before I got hired here, and because of the big investment in repair we still got it and will be stuck with it for a good while :D.

It is not used to the level of the SP710s, the line having Tucano in is doing high mix low volume products. Some days we don't even turn it on, because of using jet printing instead of stencil printing. For lower complexity products I don't order stencils anymore, and jet printing can be very useful in other processes.

Depending on the complexities of products you have I would better recommend a jet printer (Mycronic MY600 or MY700 - depending on capabilities you need) - I have posted about this in a different post - can be used in a variety of other processes too. But if you'd like to know more, pop me a message.

I am not working for any of the printer suppliers, just a happy Mycronic customer.

reply »

> We own the Ekra X4 and pleased with it. Solid
> phone support from factory in the US.

Do review
> GKG out of Asia which is supposed to be $20-$30k
> usd

https://www.gkgasia.com/smt-printer-g-titan/
> In speaking with Koki, they have the new Yamaha
> SMT printer which they stated was excellent and
> allows for the single print blade to be aligned
> to any angle.

Our Yamaha equipment has been
> excellent to date. Visit Nepcon in Shenzhen to
> kick the SMT tires..

If I were equipping multiple lines, epic trips would easily justified but this is one printer, one line. I can see why you might like an Ekra X4, they look very simple to maintain. Modern Ekras look expensive, software looks very nice indeed. GKG Printers in the UK are sold as Juki, the Juki rep is the same as the MPM rep, based on my requirements they haven't quoted the Juki option. There are 2 possible reasons, (1)it doesn't do something I asked for. (2)The price stinks. There's a good chance option 2 might be true, Juki branding certainly puts a premium on their Chinese reflow.

reply »

In Hungary there are many EKRAs. Bosch, Zollner and many big/small company are using them. I also saw the latest DEK but I think DEK is over-complicated, fast and good printer - but if you have any problem, it cost a lot. MPM also nice machine but I hate it's interface - really old-school, menu structure also strange for me. Using EKRA there are 6 ways to make new NPI. For me, making NPI takes around 5-8 mins, 12-15 mins with SPI test too. As I found, DEK is good if you have fixed image positions.

Calibration on EKRA, is way the best. You can calibrate your machine with your own product. Have tension measuring on belts, distance calibration on table-rails/stencil-holder/camera and do test print which you can use as calibration too.

reply »

I will sell my X5 soon, in September, as my scheduling comes true. Used EKRAs have really good price because they are good printers. I saw most of them between 4000-20000 EUR depends on configuration and vintage.

My E5 was around 8k€ 10 years ago, X5 was 2,5k€ + 1,2k€ service fee and X4Prof was around 7k€/each after refurbishment. If you are a good DIY-service member, you can save a lot money...

reply »