Buying an used or brand new Roland BN-20

[Guilherme P]

Hey guys, I own a small business here in Brazil and my main products are custom mini plate keychains and necklaces.

I'm currently outsourcing all the printing/cutting of stickers sheets and applying the epoxy coating(doming) in my company. However, my demand increased in the last couple months and the logistics aren't working anymore.

After searching the small/desktop printers, I came up with the Roland BN-20. Basically I have two options: buy an used unit (aprox. 40% cheaper compared to a brand new after taxes, $6k) or a new one from one of the Roland Dealer Reps ($8,5k).

This will be my first plotter so I'm a little afraid to get my feet wet with and used machine and also the biggest investment as a company so far.

According to the seller, the printer is in mint condition, they even not finished the original cartridge and he also sent me a print test

What would you guys recommend for a guy starting on this Industry?

Thanks in advance,
Guilherme

 

[Jim Hill]

I would take a chance on the used printer.

Almost 10 years ago I also purchases a used Roland SP-300 and it has paid for itself many times over.

Jim

 

[Technician]

Hi. I will say be careful of the used machine
the test print don’t look good. It’s deflection in black and it’s yellow in cyan. That can be because of possible head crash and internal bleeding between channels.
A new print head is expensive.
This machine has one Printit head with 8 channels so you can’t change the colour having problems. Maybe you should think of others machine that will handling wider

Mike

 

[Technician]

Material, so you can use the machine for other products for your business.

 

[Technician]

And make sure you can get a proper training to use and maintaining the machine.

 

[asd]

look for a sp300v its way better than the bn20 and the price of a used one may be cheaper than the bn20

 

[scott700]

I have a BN-20 and a SP300V. I don't recommend the BN-20. There are a lot of flaws in it's design, it's slow, there's no front control panel, it can only be repaired by a roland technician with a special app, and I'm constantly having issues with missing nozzles. The SP300V is more reliable, it's faster, and it's easy to repair.

 

[Jim Hill]

look for a sp300v its way better than the bn20 and the price of a used one may be cheaper than the bn20

I second the idea of buying a used SP-300v

Jim

 

[brdesign]

I don't have any experience with the bn20 but I have considered one in the past, and it just doesn't seem like a good value for the price. For about the same price you can buy a much larger printer, if you have the room, and print a lot more decals with every pass of the printhead.

 

[signheremd]

That test print is not from a printer in "mint" condition. You would be better off buying new before purchasing this printer. Some folks have already chimed in about preferred models - those recommendations sound like very good advice.

There is a learning curve on new equipment. That said, I feel your business would be least interrupted, and you would have fewer headaches, by purchasing a new machine: fully functioning; warranty; service support. but I would make a point of using it everyday and running a basic cleaning cycle everyday.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

This is a 2.5 year old post, and the original author hasn't been seen on here since posting... I don't think any additional comments are necessary.