Attention HP l25500 owners!

[Bly]

Thanks Chris.
Sounds like there are a lot of happy users out there.

 

[cdiesel]

The only downside I've heard of (and I don't know if there's a fix out there for this yet) is it's tough to print on perf. The heat apparently is causing the edges to wave a little, causing head strikes. We print a lot of perf, otherwise, we'd be trading at least one of our Rolands for a L25500. I'd just add an L25500 and keep both of our Rolands if I had the space, but as anyone who's seen our shop can attest to, we do not!

 

[jayhawksigns]

When we were testing our contour cutting problem we were taking the prints directly out of the printers and into the cutters.

The test prints off of the JV3 curled within minutes of being cut, the test cuts off of the HP prints didn't, and still have not lifted.

 

[jasonx]

We run two Rolands also, and love our latex machine. Granted, it's the bigger one, but it's awesome. Wraps are SOOOO much less aggressive with latex vs solvent. Couldn't tell you on the unlam'd decals question exactly, but I can tell you that when peeling & sticking large panels on wraps, the latex doesn't curl anywhere near like solvent does.

How do you compare the latex loading times in terms of loading the media and the warming up time compared to your Soljets? Is it a problem or is it similar to loading the Roland and doing your calibration prints etc and making sure its all good? (I've seen the loading video on youtube).

 

[Bly]

Another quick question.
I'd like to get rid of my old HP5500 if I get the latex.
I really only use the 5500 for art paper prints and quick dry posters these days.
I'm sure the latex posters will dry quickly.
Has anyone tried fine art watercolour paper?
Not that this will be a dealbreaker.

 

[Printmaine]

I've just been offered one of these printers at a crazy price and wondered whether I should take it up.
I already have 2 Roland Soljet IIIs and an old HP5500.
Maybe the latex would be handy for sertain applications, such as printing wraps.
Also - do you get the edge curl on full colour stickers when unlaminated?

Thanks for any input.

What price were you quoted if you don't mind us asking ? We are thinking about picking one up in the near future. Thanks.

 

[Bly]

We are in Australia so may not be of interest.
$15k down from $25k.

 

[ProColorGraphics]

Give Advantage Sign Supply a call. That is where I found the best price!!

 

[HulkSmash]

How do you compare the latex loading times in terms of loading the media and the warming up time compared to your Soljets? Is it a problem or is it similar to loading the Roland and doing your calibration prints etc and making sure its all good? (I've seen the loading video on youtube).

Loading is easy... Loading banner is semi annoying, but i guess you get the hang of it.. Takes like 6 minutes to warm up in the morning. And if you let it sit more then 20 minutes, then it starts cooling itself off..I dont have to do any calibration printing with ours, and it's always good. It seems like it prints slower, when in reality it's just curing the ink on the heaters... dry prints are worth it though.

 

[Freese]

Give Advantage Sign Supply a call. That is where I found the best price!!

Grimco had a good price too, probably similar.

Comes with install, training, inks, sample rolls, shipping...

 

[Freese]

Loading is easy... Loading banner is semi annoying, but i guess you get the hang of it.. Takes like 6 minutes to warm up in the morning. And if you let it sit more then 20 minutes, then it starts cooling itself off..I dont have to do any calibration printing with ours, and it's always good. It seems like it prints slower, when in reality it's just curing the ink on the heaters... dry prints are worth it though.

Yea loading banner I usually do the manual load just so it doesnt jam.

If you use Onyx, you can become good at "preparing the print" before RIPPING so time to print is less.

 

[ProColorGraphics]

Caldera also has a "prepare to print" button as well to preheat the printer.

 

[cdiesel]

How do you compare the latex loading times in terms of loading the media and the warming up time compared to your Soljets? Is it a problem or is it similar to loading the Roland and doing your calibration prints etc and making sure its all good? (I've seen the loading video on youtube).

We run the bigger LX800, so loading is a pain. 10' core supports to wrestle, and the whole carriage moves up and down to facilitate loading (this alone takes 3 mins up, 3 mins down. The 800 is definitely not a one-off machine. You also have to connect the media to the take up reel, so there's 4' of waste on the front end, and you lose about 4' at the end of the roll. Again, this is for the LX600 & LX800 only!

That said, I've heard loading the L25500 is a little slower than some of the solvent machines. I believe you don't have the issue of material waste.

 

[HulkSmash]

Caldera also has a "prepare to print" button as well to preheat the printer.

um where?

 

[ProColorGraphics]

um where?

I am using VisualRIP+, when you drag an image to the printer and the dialog opens, if you click on the "specific printer settings" (mine looks like a wrench) the screen that pops up has a button on the bottom that is says "prepare to print" which makes the printer start to heat up. I didn't notice it until the tech pointed it out to me.

 

[Latigo]

Our L25500 loads just as fast as our Mutoh Falcon Outdoor.
We're just not finding some of these minor problems listed for the L25500. It's quick, clean and easy to operate.

 

[ProColorGraphics]

I think loading is super nice with the table and the front load. I have been using a new Canon iPF8300 for my fine art and canvas work, which is also a front load, but no table. I really like it. Also like being able have the printer pretty much up against the wall.

 

[signswi]

Another quick question.
I'd like to get rid of my old HP5500 if I get the latex.
I really only use the 5500 for art paper prints and quick dry posters these days.
I'm sure the latex posters will dry quickly.
Has anyone tried fine art watercolour paper?
Not that this will be a dealbreaker.

I haven't tried it yet but Museo, makers of very very good artist inkjet papers, have profiles available for the HP L25500 on a good number of their papers: http://www.museofineart.com/index.php/icc-profiles/

That said the color gamut isn't even close to a Canon iPF or Epson Aqueous--CMYKLcLm isn't very broad. Will do fine for Joe Average off the street though for sure.

The front loading system on the L25500 is great but the take-up is really annoying and you have to catch it at the right time in order to tape off as you can't pause the machine. Either that or pre-tape the take-up and lose 4' of material. Plus how the take-up works after attached is fussy as well but if you've had experience with HP machines you've already used this system. The L25500 is just the HP 6100 body with new print guts.

 

[signswi]

All that said we did same day service on a few hundred coro signs for an event yesterday (that was happening that afternoon). Couldn't do that with our JV3.

 

[Tim Aucoin]

The only downside I've heard of (and I don't know if there's a fix out there for this yet) is it's tough to print on perf. The heat apparently is causing the edges to wave a little, causing head strikes. We print a lot of perf, otherwise, we'd be trading at least one of our Rolands for a L25500. I'd just add an L25500 and keep both of our Rolands if I had the space, but as anyone who's seen our shop can attest to, we do not!

I was given a 54" x 10 yard "test roll" of 3M's new paper-backed perf to try on my L25500. Works like a charm! No curling, no head strikes, great looking prints and it laminates (with the big squeegee) like a dream!