A 2,100 × 3,000 mm panel that arrives 20 mm too wide is a scrapped board, not a rejected artwork. Most UV flatbed purchases fail at the specification stage rather than the printing stage: the buyer compares headline speed figures, signs the order, and then discovers that the vacuum zones cut into the usable area, that the white ink channel was an option, or that the single-phase supply in the unit cannot carry the machine.

Knowing how to choose a UV flatbed printer comes down to the order in which the decisions constrain each other: bed size and usable area, media thickness and weight, printhead count against a throughput target, ink channels, platform and origin system, RIP and colour workflow, site services, and finally how to read m²/h figures that were not measured the same way. The figures in the comparison table are the published specifications for the Andresjet AJ2513G/R, AJ2130 series and AJ3220 series, part of the wide format UV flatbed range.

How to choose a UV flatbed printer without over-specifying?

Bed size, printheads and ink channels decide the machine.

Speed and service follow from four inputs: your largest rigid sheet, its thickness and weight, the printheads your daily volume needs, and your ink channels.

Everything else on a specification sheet is a consequence. Bed size determines which boards you can run without tiling. Thickness and weight determine whether the vacuum platform can actually hold the sheet flat while the gantry passes over it. Printhead count determines the m²/h you can reach in a given colour configuration. Ink channels determine whether the machine can produce the jobs that carry the highest margin on your product mix.

The practical test is to write down the single largest board you sell today, its thickness, its weight per square metre, and the number of square metres you print in the busiest week of the year. If a machine is specified to those four numbers, automation, service and software become secondary choices rather than surprise costs.

What bed size fits the boards you actually print?

Size the bed to your largest board, not your average.

A bed slightly larger than your biggest sheet prevents off-cut waste; a smaller bed forces tiling, which adds alignment risk and labour on every panel.

Start with the largest sheet you are asked to print, including the run-out margin a router or guillotine needs afterwards. In this range, the AJ2513G/R is specified for a maximum print size of 2500 × 1300 mm, the AJ2130 series for 2100 × 3000 mm, and the AJ3220 series for 3200 × 2000 mm. Those three formats cover most rigid-sheet work: 8 ft × 4 ft boards, standard 2.1 × 3.0 m panels and the wider 3.2 m format used for large signage and architectural panels.

Nominal bed size is not the same as usable area. Vacuum zones, clamp positions and the gantry envelope all reduce the sheet you can hold flat, and a panel that overhangs the vacuum field will lift rather than print cleanly. Ask for the usable area inside the outermost vacuum zone, not just the platform dimension, and confirm it with the actual board you run most often.

How much thickness and weight must the bed carry?

Thickness and weight per square metre are the second gate.

The AJ2130 series and AJ2513G/R accept media from 1 to 100 mm at up to 50 kg/m²; the AJ3220G/R is specified up to 90 mm with a maximum media weight of 80 kg.

Thickness is usually the easier number to find, because it comes from the material supplier. What catches buyers out is weight. The vacuum does not hold a sheet down by suction alone; it holds it by pulling the sheet against a flat, hard-anodised aluminium platform with four independently controlled zones. A heavy panel that sags between zones will move, and a light panel with a warped edge will not seal at all.

Two practical consequences follow. First, if you print dense materials such as stone, glass or thick metal sheet, confirm the maximum media weight figure rather than assuming it scales with bed size. Second, if your product mix includes small parts, plan for fixturing: the AJ1206 platform, for example, is specified for media from 0 to 35 mm with a maximum media weight of 36 kg and uses CCD visual positioning so that small items do not need dedicated jigs.

How many printheads do you need for your throughput target?

Buy the printhead count that meets your daily square metres.

Head count drives m²/h, but extra heads also add calibration and running cost, so size against peak demand, not the largest brochure figure.

Printhead count is the main lever on throughput, and it is also the main lever on cost and on maintenance discipline. A six-head machine and a twenty-four-head machine can share the same platform and the same 2100 × 3000 mm print area, yet their production modes sit in different brackets. Within this range the spread is wide enough that choosing by head count alone is a mistake in either direction.

The right approach is to convert your volume into a real weekly figure rather than a peak one. If your busiest week is driven by a handful of large jobs, a mid-range head count with two shifts will usually beat a high-head-count machine running one shift, because the second configuration leaves capacity unused for most of the year while still carrying the full calibration and consumable burden. Where volume is genuinely continuous, the higher head count pays back through labour and delivery speed rather than through ink.

Do you need white ink and varnish channels?

White ink serves dark or clear stock; varnish adds gloss.

White underlay makes colour readable on dark boards, glass and metal; a varnish channel creates gloss and raised texture you can sell at a higher price.

White ink is not a marketing feature; it is the reason UV printing works on substrates that would otherwise swallow colour. On a dark board, a coloured acrylic or a metal panel, the white layer is what the colour sits on, and its opacity determines whether the finished print looks saturated or muddy. Ask how many white channels a configuration provides, because white is usually laid down as a solid flood and consumes head capacity disproportionately.

The channel configuration then constrains everything else. The AJ2130G/R is specified with an extended eight-colour system of CMYK plus light cyan, light magenta, white and varnish. The AJ2513G/R is specified as CMYK plus white, with light cyan, light magenta and varnish available as options. The AJ3220EX is specified with an extended seven-colour system of CMYK plus light cyan, light magenta, white and varnish, while the AJ2130EX and AJ2130Ultra are specified as four-colour CMYK machines. The AJ3220G/R is specified as CMYK plus white and varnish, expandable to eight colours.

If you already know that your product list needs a tactile or spot-gloss effect, treat varnish as a specification requirement rather than a later add-on, because a channel decision changes the head layout and cannot be retrofitted by software.

What should the vacuum platform and origin system do?

Zoned vacuum and a repeatable origin protect alignment.

A four-zone platform holds small parts without taping the whole bed; a manual origin system lets an operator re-register a panel for a second pass.

On a flatbed, the platform is the machine. The published specification for the AJ2130 and AJ3220 flatbed models is a hard-anodised aluminium platform with a four-zone vacuum system, which matters for two reasons. First, small parts can be held with only the relevant zones open instead of masking the entire bed, which changes changeover time on mixed-batch work. Second, zone control lets a warped or narrow panel be held without lifting at the edges.

The origin system is the second, quieter requirement. If a job needs a second pass — a white base followed by colour, or a colour layer followed by varnish — the operator has to return the panel to the same position. A manual origin point system makes that repeatable without measuring each time. Anti-static equipment belongs in the same category: a static charge on acrylic or PVC board pulls ink and dust across the surface, which is why some configurations add an external ionizer bar.

Which RIP and colour workflow will your team run?

Pick a RIP your operators can run without outside help.

ICC-based profiles, curves and density adjustment keep colour repeatable across boards and shifts — but only if your operators can reach those controls daily.

The published software position for this range is a controlling application plus RIP software supplied with the machine, with ICC-based colour profiles, curves and density adjustment, and support for TIFF, JPEG, EPS and PDF files. The AJ2513G/R and AJ2130Ultra are additionally specified with Onyx as an option, and the AJ2130 and AJ3220 flatbeds with RIIN Print or PhotoPrint.

What matters commercially is repeatability across materials rather than software brand. A profile built for one board will not transfer directly to another, so the number of profiles your team has to maintain grows with the number of substrates you sell. Where colour is contractually specified, the ability to adjust curves and density on site is more valuable than a larger profile library, and the machine needs a data path that can carry large files: the flatbed models here are specified with a fibre optic interface, while the AJ3220G/R uses USB 3.0.

For a colour-managed workflow, the reference point is the International Color Consortium, whose specification defines how profiles describe device behaviour across a production chain (ICC specification).

What do loading, power and ventilation require on site?

Plan power, extraction and access before delivery day.

The flatbed models are specified at AC 220 V, 50/60 Hz, and most draw more than 20 A, so a dedicated supply and extraction route must be arranged before delivery.

Physical planning fails on three things: doors, floor and services. A machine specified at 4,172 × 4,250 × 1,390 mm and 1,850 kg will not pass through a standard goods entrance, and the AJ3220EX is specified at 5,272 × 2,842 × 1,390 mm at the same 1,850 kg, which changes both the route and the floor loading. Check the delivery path before the loading dock does it for you.

Services follow from the specification. The AJ2130 series, AJ2513G/R and AJ3220EX are specified at AC 220 V, 50/60 Hz with a requirement above 20 A; the AJ3220G/R is specified at AC 220 V, 50/60 Hz. Operating conditions are stated as 20–30 °C at 40–60 % relative humidity for several models, with the AJ3220G/R specified from 40 to 80 % relative humidity, non-condensing. For extraction and operator protection, treat the printing room as an industrial process area and check the applicable national guidance — in the United States the OSHA printing-industry pages cover ventilation and exposure control (OSHA), and in the United Kingdom the HSE printing pages set out equivalent duties (HSE).

How do you compare m²/h throughput claims fairly?

Compare m²/h at the same colour set and print mode.

Draft and quality modes differ by more than forty percent on the same machine, so only compare figures from the same colour set and pass mode.

Published throughput is normally quoted across three modes, and the gap between them is not a rounding difference. The AJ2513G/R is specified at 27.46 m²/h in draft, 17.71 m²/h in standard production and 13.02 m²/h in high-quality mode. The AJ2130EX is specified at 128.6, 92.9 and 74.6 m²/h respectively, and the AJ2130Ultra at 140.7, 120.5 and 104.5 m²/h. The AJ3220EX is specified at 154.3, 111.5 and 89.6 m²/h, and the AJ3220G/R at 35.88 m²/h for standard four-colour production.

Three questions make a comparison valid. Which colour configuration produced the figure, because an eight-colour job runs fewer square metres per hour than a four-colour job on the same hardware? Which mode, since quality mode is what a contract job will actually use? And at what coverage, because a heavily inked panel consumes both time and ink at a different rate from a light one. Ink cost is published at approximately $0.80 to $1.20 per square metre, or $0.07 to $0.11 per square foot, for a full-colour print, and it moves with saturation and resolution rather than with bed size.

Which machine fits each production profile?

Match the model to your largest board, then daily volume.

The AJ2513G/R covers 2500 × 1300 mm, the AJ2130 series covers 2100 × 3000 mm, and the AJ3220 series reaches 3200 × 2000 mm; head count then sets the achievable m²/h.

Read the table by column rather than by row. Start with maximum print area against the boards you sell, then move right until the printhead count and ink configuration match the jobs you want to win. A model that satisfies the format but misses the ink channels will force you to turn work away; a model that satisfies both but is two sizes above your volume carries capacity you pay for every month.

What should you verify before you sign?

Test your own material; check what the warranty excludes.

The two-year warranty covers non-consumable mechanical and electrical parts; ink, tubes, filters and printheads are excluded, so plan consumable cost separately.

Work through the following list in writing, with the supplier's answers attached to the quotation rather than given verbally.

• Usable print area inside the outermost vacuum zone, confirmed against the board you run most often.
• Adhesion on your actual substrate, not on a sample board supplied by the vendor. Adhesion is measurable: the ASTM D3359 tape test is the standard method for assessing coating adhesion (ASTM D3359).
• Wear performance for parts that are handled, stacked or cleaned, where abrasion resistance is normally assessed with a Taber abraser under ASTM D4060 (ASTM D4060).
• The exact ink channels included in the quoted configuration, and the price of adding white or varnish before delivery rather than after.
• The consumable schedule in writing: ink, ink tubes and filters are not covered by the two-year warranty, and neither are printheads.
• Which conformity marking applies to the machine and to your market, and which documents the supplier will provide — the EU CE marking framework sets out the manufacturer's obligations (European Commission).
• Waste handling for used ink and cleaning materials, which falls under national hazardous-waste rules where applicable (US EPA).
• Site readiness: delivery route, floor loading, supply rating and extraction, all confirmed before the shipping date.

What the decision comes down to

The specification that fails is rarely the one buyers spend the most time comparing. Bed size and usable area decide which work you can accept. Media thickness and weight decide whether the platform can hold it. Printhead count and ink configuration decide what the machine can produce, and in which colour set. Everything else — RIP, extraction, service radius — is engineering detail around those choices, and it is cheaper to resolve before the order than after installation.

Two numbers should determine the shortlist: the largest board you sell, and the square metres you print in your busiest week. Put those against the published formats and production modes, request a test print on your own substrate in the colour configuration you intend to buy, and the decision reduces to a comparison rather than a guess.