Epson Stylus Pro 11880 for vinyl, banners etc?

[speedmedia]

Got a clinet that told me they are buying one of these Stylus Pro 11880 to do everything in house because paying the "ridiculous" prices sign shop charge is getting out of hand....

I laughed and said have at it. I will buy it in a few months for half what he paid because he doesn't know how to use it. Typical now a days.

Anyways is this Stylus Pro 11880 setup for long term outdoors? Doesn't seem like it to me but I could be wrong.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[Letterbox Mike]

Nope. They'll come crawling back to you when the ink on their banner runs after the first decent rain, then snatch the epson up from them, it is a good printer, just for indoor stuff only.

 

[speedmedia]

Sweet, good! That'll teach them....

Looks like a nice little indoor rig..

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[noregrets]

Yeah really nice indoor printer, not at all suited for signage stuff though - they will be back

 

[jmcnicoll]

We have an 11880 and I have been using Epson Aqueous for 7 years. Great printer! Anything they do would cost much more than producing it on a solvent machine. Banner is way more, inks cost more and they should be laminating it. All in all I love our 11880, but print all our outdoor stuff with solvent. My experience is that the inks will not run if not laminated, but will fade very fast compared to solvent. If laminated they could last for years, depending on where they are outside. I have an Epson aqueous printed building sign the faces north and still looks great after about 4 years.

Jim

 

[DRamm76]

The Epson 11880 is one of those machines that people may have some success with short term vinyl decals if laminated but banners are a total gamble when considering outdoor use. You can't laminate a banner and it's a total crap shoot.

For the $9000 he is looking to invest in an Epson, I would use half of that as a down payment and lease a Roland from a local dealer. Especially for banners.

 

[jmcnicoll]

Aqueous banner material is very expensive, but usually smoother than solvent banner. It can be laminated. Also have tyvek banner option that laminates great, prints great, and is pretty darn strong. That said, not the best option for printing an outdoor banner.

 

[AllSquare Jason]

Fine art, Canvas, Photo, Backlit, Trade Show - its perfect. Indoors the ink will last over 100 years on certain media. Awesome printer for the price (under $8k), but not one you buy to produce banners or adhesive back vinyl.

Pigment ink cost is almost twice that of solvent ink -

Materials must have an inkjet receptive coating = typically 3 x's the cost of solvent media with a fraction of outdoor longevity.

If any quantity of banner/vinyl, they won't be able to compete against an eco solvent printer.

 

[kdw1975]

Why do I hear so much incorrect information about Epson's printers and their ability to print outdoor banners? It's very frustrating to hear people on message boards spouting incorrect info to someone who came asking for honest information. If you don't know what your talking about then just don't say anything.

We are a commercial printer than does banner and poster work as a side business. We have been using Epson's 24" and 44" printers for years without any issues. We pay around $115 a gallon for the inks, which doesn't seem like much to me, but maybe solvent is cheaper. The vinyl material we print on is 17 mil and we use it outdoors all the time without any fading or problems. If the banner is going to be used long term, more than 4 months, then we apply liquid laminate to it which lasts many years. Our oldest banner still hanging on a chain link fence is 3 years old and still looks great. No fading and the laminate is still looking good.

We charge $3.99 per square foot grommetted and coated.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

Why do I hear so much incorrect information about Epson's printers and their ability to print outdoor banners? It's very frustrating to hear people on message boards spouting incorrect info to someone who came asking for honest information. If you don't know what your talking about then just don't say anything.

................

We charge $3.99 per square foot grommetted and coated.

Hmm. Interesting...

 

[wes70]

17mil? That must include the backing?

Anyways, I have a HP Z2100 that has water-based pigment ink. Great printer for indoor stuff, but I do have some laminated prints that have been outside for 3 years now and still look great. As a rule (my rule), anything that needs to be outside for a year or more, I'll sub out for solvent prints. Depends on the enviroment and what the prints will be used for and adhered to.

 

[kdw1975]

We have started using Sepiax ink on our 24 inch Epson 7600 and I have to say I am very impressed. I would put it head to head with solvent inks any time. I just don't see the advantage of solvent.

 

[sfr table hockey]

We have started using Sepiax ink on our 24 inch Epson 7600 and I have to say I am very impressed. I would put it head to head with solvent inks any time. I just don't see the advantage of solvent.

What are you finding you need the heat plates set at for the latex inks?


Also what is the price of their ink compared to solvent?

 

[kdw1975]

Our printer is in a rather warm area but we are heating the material to 128F. As for the inks we are paying $200 per liter of the Sepiax while the ultrachrome ink only costs us around $115 for a gallon. So you pay a huge premium for the ability to print on virtually anything. That is why we left our 9600 on the ultrachrome ink.

Dealing with inkjets and laser printers makes me appreciate how fast and cheap our offset presses are to operate.

 

[iladi]

Our printer is in a rather warm area but we are heating the material to 128F. As for the inks we are paying $200 per liter of the Sepiax while the ultrachrome ink only costs us around $115 for a gallon. So you pay a huge premium for the ability to print on virtually anything. That is why we left our 9600 on the ultrachrome ink.

Dealing with inkjets and laser printers makes me appreciate how fast and cheap our offset presses are to operate.

can you tell me where are you buying ultrachrome ink from? recently i was strugling to find a decent waterbased pigment ink and switced to dyes. can you print on glossy papers with this ink?

thanx,
Adrian