Need Help Deciding what printer new printer to get

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.

 

Can’t you UV print on fabric?

 

As Ron Swanson says, "Don't half *** 2 things. Whole *** 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.

 

Roland isn't in your list

 

The new HP R series has white ink

 

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.

 

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?

 

Check out Fuji roll to roll. Great white and can print on rigid.

 

Agreed, because Fuji is rebranded Oce

 

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.

 

Why do I bother...