6 color ink vs 4 color ink

[robsonr]

Hi everybody,

There is an opportunity for me to purchase Roland SP540V versacamm printer.
I know this is just 4 ink printer, so I would like to know whether there is a much difference in the output 4 ink printer vs 6 ink. Also any comments regards that particular model are appreciated.

 

[sfr table hockey]

I don't think the LcLm are a real big factor in basic vinyl printing. If you were doing waterbased and looking toward art stuff then the LcLm or the OrGr added color option may be more noticable.

Some guys have gone the other way and only print CMYK on a 6 color printer and have said color was as good or better for them.

If anything look at speed that you may get from a printer and base your call on that area. I think on an 8 color you could double up on CMYK and boost the print speed.

Look at replacement costs of parts, heads etc. with 4 color you only have 2 heads on that printer I think.

 

[anotherdog]

I have the VP540. Yes it's 4 colour process. I can count on one finger the number of times in the last year the gamut wasn't quite detailed enough.
The 6 colours will be useful only if you do a lot of high quality work...professional photographic quality. Ordinary sign printing, printing photos, posters etc will do fine on 4 colour process.
6 colour is better for the fine colour gradients (the gamut width is the same).
8 heads will of course run a lot faster.

Go for the 540, you can always go bigger/better later.
Who are you buying from?

 

[robsonr]

I have the VP540. Yes it's 4 colour process. I can count on one finger the number of times in the last year the gamut wasn't quite detailed enough.
The 6 colours will be useful only if you do a lot of high quality work...professional photographic quality. Ordinary sign printing, printing photos, posters etc will do fine on 4 colour process.
6 colour is better for the fine colour gradients (the gamut width is the same).
8 heads will of course run a lot faster.

Go for the 540, you can always go bigger/better later.
Who are you buying from?

There is a guy in Quebec who sells it for good price. Do you know anybody who is upgrading and selling his old machine?

 

[FrankenSigns.biz]

I have Roland 4 and 6 color printers. If I print the same file to both printers, there is no difference that I can discern. Go with the 4 color and don't look back.

 

[robsonr]

Thank you everybody for your replies it is very helpful.

 

[CS-SignSupply-TT]

One note of caution. Before you buy, make sure the printer prints...run it through its paces, including color tests...etc.

 

[Fatboy]

I run a SP540 AND A VP 300. You wont make a mistake.Most guys I know convert their lc and lm printers to 4 colors only

 

[econolinesigns]

We recently went moved from a SC-545EX 6 color to a new 540 4 color and have had no issues. We have not had any problems and this made us realize that we hardly ever used the lc and lm.

 

[4R Graphics]

I run a mimaki JV3 6 color machine and I can tell you that 90% of the prints we do use very little LC Lm.
Example we have a bulk ink system and we average about 2 liters of ink in the CMYK to only .5 liters of LC and Lm.
We print a lot of wraps @720X720 and other than pastel and flesh tones the LC Lm isnt used much.
Our profile and most profiles I have seen are set up to only use Lc Lm when the color is below 30% Example C90 M25 Y45 K34 (dont know what color this is just made up the numbers) but for this example we would use Lm for magenta.