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Need Help Deciding what printer new printer to get

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Andrew Hodgson

New Member
Hello, I am looking for a new printer to expand the capabilities of my print shop. I currently have 2 HP Latex 260 printers. Majority of our jobs are for Trade Shows, Hotel branding, and corporate events. I have had a pretty good experience using the HP 260 printers and the support has been great, so I have mostly looked at HP printers.

Printers I am looking at getting
- HP Scitex FB750
- HP Latex 360
- HP Latex 1500 (If we got this, then we may not get the 750, then we wouldn't have a rigid printer)
- HP Latex R2000 (This may be out of our price range)

What we cannot do and would like to do
- We would like a printer with white ink.
- We do like the ability for a flatbed printer that can also print rolls.
- We want a printer that can print at least 8' for fabric back walls. I am worried that the HP FB750 doesn't print on fabric that well. Our HP Latex 260 doesn't print on fabric very well. We are not looking at getting a Dye-sub printer at the moment.

Any Ideas for printer that I have not looked at or if you think I would get more use from either the FB750 or Latex 1500?
 
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Asuma01

New Member
White Ink cuts out any HP printer I believe. If you want to print on fabric and have the best results DyeSub is the only way to go. Or it looks faded. IMO.
 
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Andrew Hodgson

New Member
Asuma01 said:
White Ink cuts out any HP printer I believe. If you want to print on fabric and have the best results DyeSub is the only way to go. Or it looks faded. IMO.
Click to expand...

HP FB750 & R2000 has an accessory for white ink. You're right that DyeSub would be best for textile but a majority of our print operations are for other substrates. I've seen fabric printed on a HP 570 and it looked decent.
 
Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Andrew Hodgson said:
What we cannot do and would like to do
- We would like a printer with white ink.
- We do like the ability for a flatbed printer that can also print rolls.
- We want a printer that can print at least 8' for fabric back walls. I am worried that the HP FB750 doesn't print on fabric that well. Our HP Latex 260 doesn't print on fabric very well. We are not looking at getting a Dye-sub printer at the moment.
Click to expand...

As Ron Swanson says, "Don't half ass 2 things. Whole ass 1 thing." For the things you want to do, there are printers that can do it, but there are separate machines that will do it better. For white you want to go with a UV based printer hands down. There are UV flatbeds that also print rolls but they are $$$$$$. For Fabric you want to go with a Dye Sub machine if you want vibrant high quality prints. So yes you could get a hybrid UV flatbed that prints white and also on fabric but it's going to cost you big bucks and it won't do all of those things as well as a separate machine will.
 
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AGCharlotte

New Member
A hybrid flatbed works pretty well to complement the 260's. I have a EFI H1625LED with my HP 310. The EFI runs all my rigid material and whites, use the HP for the majority of the PSA vinyl, banners, posters, etc. I'm not sure I'd recommend the EFI (the 16h is a better machine but wasn't out yet when we got ours) as it's finicky and repair costs seem a bit ridiculous on certain things. You can run roll to roll on the 1625 but it does get a bit annoying switching between roll and rigid.
 
CMYKENGINEERING

CMYKENGINEERING

New Member
An Oce Arizona UV flatbed with a roll to roll module sounds like it can do everything you're asking for. The brilliance/opacity/flexibility of white depends on which ink you use.

I don't think anyone's asked this yet, but what kind of fabric do you want to print on?
 
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TrustMoore_TN

Sign & Graphics Business Consultant
HP Latex on TVF fabrics have come a long way in the past few years. The durabilty and rub off is about 85%-90% of what Dye Sub is in my opinion and would be fine for many fabric applications in a sign shop. I'd still be cautious on the large prints that we do like 8'x20+' for tradeshow backwalls. Also the R1000 plus is $165K but it's only 64" wide. Check into that. The white ink is awesome and the finish of the prints versus UV Flatbed is superior in my opinion. With the R1000 plus, it comes with the roll to roll kit and tables as part of the package.
 
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