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I have been looking at UV printers. Looks like this is a very exciting technology that is not quite there yet despite the very polished products. XTool has three models in their lineup but forces you to choose between printing on DTF film and printing on leather (unless you buy two machines). /1

Printing on flexible materials requires a dual head UV printer with 12 channels but only has nine different inks. So besides the ability print on flexible materials, all the $800 extra buys you is faster printing of whites and fluorescent inks. /2

Epson also sells an 8 channel head which some of the newer printers use. It is pretty clear that an 8 channel single head UV printer will arrive at some point with an 8-channel direct to fabric/film option. /3

Seems to me that prices in this segment need to drop to half current levels and printers need to be designed so that heads and ink delivery lines are replaceable consumable items. 4/

Currently, any UV printer bricks itself after a prolonged period of not being used. This is a pretty much inevitable situation when your inks are made from vampire juices that turn to stone when they are struck by sunlight. Not an acceptable state for a $2,500 machine /5