The question shops ask when they start looking at a flatbed is "what size do I need?". It is two questions wearing one coat: which sheets you want to print in a single pass, and how many of them you need out of a shift. Bed size answers the first only.
Bed sizes in the current lineup
| Model | Print area | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| JHF F3900 | 2500 × 1300 mm (98 × 51") | A full 4×8' sheet in one pass, media up to 120 mm thick |
| JHF F5900 | 3200 × 2000 mm (126 × 79") | Oversized panels past the 4×8' standard |
| JHF M3300 (hybrid) | 3200 mm (126") wide | Rigid boards up to 50 mm and roll media on one machine |
| SOVA Otus 70 | 1800 mm (70") wide | Roll media only |
The 4×8 standard
Most commercial substrates — Sintra, Dibond, foam board, MDF — are sold in 4×8' (1220 × 2440 mm) sheets. The F3900's bed clears that sheet whole, which is why it is the usual entry point for sign and display work: no cutting a board in half to print it, and no seam to line up afterwards.
Panels beyond the standard sheet — trade show walls, architectural cladding — are what the F5900's 3200 × 2000 mm bed is for. If those jobs are occasional, outsourcing them is usually cheaper than buying the bigger table.
Bed size is not throughput
A smaller machine in a faster head configuration can out-produce a larger one in its base configuration on standard sheets. The F3900 runs up to 633 ft²/h, the F5900 up to 1033 ft²/h, and both are offered across a range of channel counts — up to ten channels, double CMYK, or CMYK plus white and varnish. The head count changes the speed as much as the bed changes the sheet.
Before deciding on size, write down three numbers:
- What sheet size do 80% of your jobs use?
- How many boards a day do you have to produce?
- Do you need white, varnish or the light colors?
If part of the work is roll
A shop running both rigid boards and flexible media has two ways to go. The M3300 hybrid handles rigid and rolled on one machine, which removes a second printer from the floor plan. Where roll work dominates, a dedicated roll-to-roll — the V398 at 3200 mm or the V698 at 5000 mm — will out-run a hybrid on those jobs, and the flatbed then only has to cover the rigid ones.
Send us your job mix — sheet sizes, materials, volumes — and we will work back from it to a bed size and a configuration.