I have a Mimaki JV3 that is 10 years old this summer. We bought it alongside a Colorspan 72 UVX.
The Mimaki was reliable for the time, but we replaced the Colorspan a couple of years ago with an HP Scitex FB700. When that happened, 95% of everything we printed on the Mimaki was moved to the Scitex. We used to print banners on the Mimaki, but it didn't make any sense to spend hours printing, and then waiting overnight for curing, when we could print it on the Scitex in a few minutes and be ready to go immediately.
A similar logic has been applied to almost every project: the Mimaki is just too slow for our workflow.
The only advantage to using it is that it prints a much more vibrant color, but I rarely have a project where that outweighs the time required to use it.
As a result, the Mimaki usually just sits there. The daily maintenance doesn't occur often (how do I justify spending an hour every day cleaning a machine we aren't operating more than once a week?), but that has lead to a host of other problems. Namely, the ink builds up on the heads, everything sticks together, and then the capping station is ripped out of place when the carriage tries to move. If I don't notice, the ink dries up in the heads.
The Scitex is overloaded with work frequently (I'd rather not have to switch off of corrugated plastic to print one banner and switch back again), so there's definitely room in our workflow for a second printer. I'm thinking it's time to start looking for something new - something faster - that would help fill in the gaps.
Grimco has been trying to sell me an HP Latex for years, and looking into that was my first thought. They advertise "no daily maintenance," and that's one of my biggest problems running the Mimaki. But then there are the user replaceable printheads that apparently have to be replaced frequently - and that has me concerned about the costs to operate the machine (I generally don't replace printheads even if some jets aren't firing - the printhead has got to be really, truly damaged and causing a significant color problem).
I'm not opposed to using another solvent printer. The Mimaki has been reliable for the most part. The Mimaki just wasn't designed to handle not being used, and requires too much daily maintenance. It's also obscenely slow. My concern is that another solvent printer will have the same maintenance problems. I don't have a large crew. The Scitex mostly maintains itself, and then prompts me to perform periodic maintenance that only takes a few minutes at a time.
I realize there's a lot of people on both sides of the Latex vs. Solvent issue, but does anyone had advice for what might work best for my particular situation? I would hope to keep a new printer busy most of the time - since speed is what took the work away from the Mimaki in the first place - but I can't guarantee that.
The Mimaki was reliable for the time, but we replaced the Colorspan a couple of years ago with an HP Scitex FB700. When that happened, 95% of everything we printed on the Mimaki was moved to the Scitex. We used to print banners on the Mimaki, but it didn't make any sense to spend hours printing, and then waiting overnight for curing, when we could print it on the Scitex in a few minutes and be ready to go immediately.
A similar logic has been applied to almost every project: the Mimaki is just too slow for our workflow.
The only advantage to using it is that it prints a much more vibrant color, but I rarely have a project where that outweighs the time required to use it.
As a result, the Mimaki usually just sits there. The daily maintenance doesn't occur often (how do I justify spending an hour every day cleaning a machine we aren't operating more than once a week?), but that has lead to a host of other problems. Namely, the ink builds up on the heads, everything sticks together, and then the capping station is ripped out of place when the carriage tries to move. If I don't notice, the ink dries up in the heads.
The Scitex is overloaded with work frequently (I'd rather not have to switch off of corrugated plastic to print one banner and switch back again), so there's definitely room in our workflow for a second printer. I'm thinking it's time to start looking for something new - something faster - that would help fill in the gaps.
Grimco has been trying to sell me an HP Latex for years, and looking into that was my first thought. They advertise "no daily maintenance," and that's one of my biggest problems running the Mimaki. But then there are the user replaceable printheads that apparently have to be replaced frequently - and that has me concerned about the costs to operate the machine (I generally don't replace printheads even if some jets aren't firing - the printhead has got to be really, truly damaged and causing a significant color problem).
I'm not opposed to using another solvent printer. The Mimaki has been reliable for the most part. The Mimaki just wasn't designed to handle not being used, and requires too much daily maintenance. It's also obscenely slow. My concern is that another solvent printer will have the same maintenance problems. I don't have a large crew. The Scitex mostly maintains itself, and then prompts me to perform periodic maintenance that only takes a few minutes at a time.
I realize there's a lot of people on both sides of the Latex vs. Solvent issue, but does anyone had advice for what might work best for my particular situation? I would hope to keep a new printer busy most of the time - since speed is what took the work away from the Mimaki in the first place - but I can't guarantee that.
