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ColorSpan 5400 / Designjet H45500 owners?

SignManiac

SignManiac

New Member
I'm looking for current or previous owners of this flatbed printer who would like to share their experiences with myself and others. Please visit our new website.

www.ourhpdesignjet.com

We are interested in sharing our combined experiences on these flatbeds in order to help each other for educational purposes only:thumb:

Please private message me and let me know if you would like to participate in this new user forum.

Thanks
 
SignManiac

SignManiac

New Member
I pulled the site down after reaching a mutual agreement with HP. I've since upgraded to their Scitex FB950 with the roll to roll option. The printer was installed last week and it looks like they have turned this printer into a true flatbed capable of printing on all of the typical sheet goods a full service sign company needs to work on.

They took the original ColorSpan 9840 and rebranded it to the FB910 which was a four color / sixteen printhead machine into the FB950 six color / twelve printhead machine it is now.

There is no comparison between our old ColorSpan 5465 hybrid we replaced with the new one. We can now print full bleed and even multiples like six across 18" x 24" coro snipe signs with near perfect registration.

The first day of printing on it, I ran two 4'x8' sheets side by side through the printer at the same time. I think I'm going to be really pleased with this machine, finally after years of frustration.

Oh and even though HP inherited all of ColorSpans headaches, they really stood up to bat to make things right with me. I can't say enough good about that!
 
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RCstatus

New Member
How are you finding the FB950 so far. I am looking at purchasing one. So far I'm yet to hear any negative feedback?
 
SignManiac

SignManiac

New Member
Well past a year now and only one issue that HP took care of right away. Night and day difference with regards to reliability. It's been everything I expect a flatbed printer to be. Quality, speed, versatility. Don't know what other users experience have been, but I'm very pleased.
 
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THull

New Member
Fb910

We went through a similar experience about 18 months ago, but then we upgraded to the FB910 before the new 950 came out. We were initially impressed, but have issues with poor support and not being able to get consumable parts (we haven't been able to purchase lamps from HP for the past month because they say they are on back order). We have had bouts with them extending to 7 business days with our machine being dead in the water without actually getting a technician here to work on the machine. Usually when we do, they just replace parts without actually knowing what the actual problem was. In hindsight, we wish we would have gone with the Vutek we were looking at. Going forward, we wont be purchasing anymore HP equipment.
 
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RCstatus

New Member
How have you found ink durability. Have there been any materials in particular that have been difficult to print on. Also,what is the maintenance like for the machine.
 
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SecondCityPrint

New Member
Colorspan 5460 user

I currently operate an HP designjet h35500 , formerly a colorspan 5460.
We bought it used and have been operating it for nearly 2 years. This printer has not been reserviced or updated by HP since they bought out colorspan. If I can offer my over all opinion about this printer it would be that it is a sound printer in theory but in practice it has some serious technical and design flaws. We have spent thousands of dollars on new parts and service. Some of the parts on this printer are of such cheap quality it boggles my mind. There are pieces on this printer made out of plastic which should have been made of metal, we had the plastic end cap that holds the drive belt for the printer head crack open where it bolts onto the rail. The trailing cable actually wore through the data and lamp cables at one point forcing us to replace those. Many more little issues like this. Also I have been having declining print quality for the past 6 months. I'm not sure about other peoples experiences but mine has been one of constantly fixing or hacking some part of this printer to keep it going. Perhaps we simply purchased a dud, which explains why it was for sale in the first place...

If your going to buy this printer GET A SERVICE PACKAGE and WARRANTY.

On a positive side note, we also operate an older colorspan 72uvx which is going strong after nearly 6 years and many, many, miles. Go figure.
Cheers
 
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crslgt78

New Member
Hp h35500 & hp h45500

Don't know if anyones interested, but I'm getting ready to put a brand new printhead on eBay for the HP H35100, HP 35500, H45100 and the H45500. Let me know!
 
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wyaldbill

New Member
Anyone still running the 35500? Ours ran beautifully for a few months but having a few encoder strip issues/carriage motion failures? Then the carriage slams into the service end, nice programming HP?? Does anyone find that belt tension affects carriage motion or encoder reading? LMK. Thx. B.
 
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Mspec

New Member
if you have been seeing carriage motion / LVDS error codes that start with 011 or 012, and these have been happening at an increasing rate, followed by the carriage slamming into the end of the rail - all of this adds up to a wearing / failing LVDS data cable.

Regardless of how much you spend on a printer, all of the cables and tubes that run through the chain to the carriage are subject to wear because they flex for each pass of the carriage. Everything in that track will eventually need to be replaced, and it is a classic sign of a worn cable for the errors to start out as intermittent, but become more frequent and even get more severe in nature.

Unless you see damage to your encoder strip, replace the data cable.
 
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wyaldbill

New Member
Update. Reader errors, mid print stops, etc were syptoms of trashed 8 wire ribbon cable Replaced cable after it shorted i/o board. Works like a charm (knock on wood) with new board (2k) and self source 8 wire ribbon cable retrofit. If u get similar symptoms and are ok with taking apart serpentine cable enclosure check the cables. Print well my friends!
 
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justntym

New Member
I have been operating the 5460 (35500) for 5 years now. I agree with the others. It requires monthly inspections on the chain because there is so much movement of the cables. we have had several ink lines and Lamp cables get holes worn in them. We have two of these machines and I typically rob parts from one to keep the other one going and then order replacement parts for the 2nd machine to get it back into service. HP charges an unbelieveable price for replacement parts and they just started charging $195.00 for phone support.
 
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Hoop2125

New Member
Here is a trouble shooting guide i read whenever i have issues
 

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