HP 8000s purchase questions

[jrsc]

Hello everyone,

I'm going to start with a quick background about my business. We do a variety of items including vinyl signs and graphics, apparel printing including screen and dtg, sheetfed digital printing, laser engraving, and large format printing. We currently have a hp 5500 for doing posters are photo prints for our customers. We are getting a lot more requests from customers for outdoor full color sign items that a solvent printer would be needed for. Some of the short term stuff we can handle on our 5500 but media is really expensive and it still doesn't equal the quality of a solvent product. Most of these products are either banners or vinyl mounted to coroplast. Our volume is probably on the lower end so production speed isn't as much of a concern as reliability and easy maintenance.

We have an opportunity to buy a 3 year HP 8000s for about $4500. It also comes with an air scrubber and the onyx rip software that HP included with the printer. I've read what I could find by searching but I'm finding that the 8000 wasn't a real popular printer. From the little bit of info I was able to find I'm understanding that it is a good quality printer that has relatively low maintenance. This printer was used on average to print about 3-5 banners a day over the last 3 years. The lines were just flushed and it was prepared for transport by a HP dealer. I've never owned a solvent printer but am familiar with how they work. Now here is my series of questions.

1. I having a hard time finding pricing to compare this to. It seems like an ok price but I wanted someone elses opinion.

2. I understand the printheads on this are user replaceable unlike the 9000. How often do they usually need to be replaced, where is a good place to buy them, and about how much are they?

3. Is my understanding correct that this is a relatively reliable printer?

4. What type of maintenance expenses might I be looking at during ownership. I am about 2 hours away from a service provider for any large format printer and am used to never having to get service on my 5500.

5. Is there anything that I might not know about that I should be checking before I make this purchase?

6. Where is a good source to purchase ink for this printer? I understand that the original ink formula is the one to use over HP's new formula.

Thanks for the help.

 

[HulkSmash]

i have a a couple of hp9000's and i hate them. Does that answer your question?

 

[psigos]

1. not a bad price if you know it works. you can check out sites like globalgarage.net which has a wide assortment of used printers. I have seen 9000 series sell for around this number which would be a better investment.

2. It is hard to say how long the heads will last, it mainly depends on how well the printer was maintained. these printers were meant to print daily. Heads are priced at $1757 on hp's part surfer website.

3. the 8000 is a reliable printer, but again, the better you maintain it, the longer it will last. if you do not perform daily maintenance on any solvent printer, it won't last long.

4. Solvent printers are not water based printers like your 5000. you must spend 10 minutes/day on maintenance. in addition, they require a little baby sitting.

5. i probably wouldn't purchase this unit unless i knew it was printing well prior to the seller turning it off and preparing it for storage. if i remember correctly, there is also a rather expensive kit, $1500 or so you would need to purchase to bring it back into operating condition.

6. you can buy ink from any hp solvent/latex dealer. there is only one hp option as HP canned the newer 781 inks before they ever came out for the 8000 series. email me offline and i can provide you with specific pricing or a dealer close to you.

Do you need 60" capability? If not, I would consider the low cost 42" latex printer. Same thermal heads as your 5000 and no maintenance. Many other advantages over solvent as well.

 

[Donny7833]

1. I having a hard time finding pricing to compare this to. It seems like an ok price but I wanted someone elses opinion.

THAT'S ACTUALLY A PRETTY GOOD PRICE IF THE HEADS ARE GOOD / ALL THE NOZZLES ARE FIRING. IF IT HASN'T BEEN DONE SINCE NEW, BE PREPARED TO REPLACE THE FILTERS IN THE SCRUBBER.

2. I understand the printheads on this are user replaceable unlike the 9000. How often do they usually need to be replaced, where is a good place to buy them, and about how much are they?

I RAN MY 8000 HARD FOR 3 YEARS AND NEVER REPLACED A HEAD. I DID START GETTING SOME NOZZLE DEFLECTION ON THE MAGENTA HEAD ABOUT 2 1/2 YEARS IN. I SWAPPED IT WITH THE YELLOW, DID A FEW HEAVY CLEANS AND WAS PRINTING IN 30 MIN. I'VE FOUND THE KONICA HEADS IN THE 8000 TO BE ROBUST, BUT VERY EASY HEAD TO REPLACE IF NEEDED. PERSONALLY, I WOULD STAY AWAY FROM THE 9000 AND 10000 SERIES.

3. Is my understanding correct that this is a relatively reliable printer?

RELIABILITY IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO MAINTENANCE. I HAD A LITTLE OVER 187K LINEAR FEET RAN THROUGH MY 8000 WHEN I SOLD IT. IT WAS ALWAYS RUNNING, NEVER A SINGLE SERVICE CALL.

4. What type of maintenance expenses might I be looking at during ownership. I am about 2 hours away from a service provider for any large format printer and am used to never having to get service on my 5500.

WIPER CLEANING KIT IS ABOUT $60 AND THE CAP CLEANING KIT IS ABOUT $120. I USED 1 MAYBE OR 2 OF EACH PER YEAR. BASICALLY, WIPE THE CAPS AND DO A CLEAN EVERY MORNING WEATHER YOUR GOING TO PRINT OR NOT. THE WIPER AND WIPER FLUID NEEDS TO BE CHANGED EVERY SO OFTEN, BUT YOU CAN STRETCH IT QUITE A BIT FARTHER THAN HP RECOMMENDED. I ALSO LIKED TO WIPE THE ENCODER STRIP WITH A CLEAN POLY CLOTH, AND CLEAN THE RAILS, BEARINGS AND ROLLERS EVERY 3 MONTHS OR SO. NOTE: THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO CLEAN THE CAPS THAN WHAT HP HAS YOU DO WITH THE GOOFY ROLLERS (WASTES A LOT OF FLUID). IF YOU BUY IT PM ME AND I'LL TELL YOU THE BEST WAY TO CLEAN THEM.

5. Is there anything that I might not know about that I should be checking before I make this purchase?

I DON'T SUPPOSE THE DEALER RAN A NOZZLE CHECK BEFORE FLUSHING IT? LOOK AT THE CAPS, INSIDE THE PRINTER, ROLLERS, ENCODER STRIP TO SEE HOW CLEAN THE MACHINE IS. A GOOD INDICATION OF HOW WELL IT WAS MAINTAINED.

6. Where is a good source to purchase ink for this printer? I understand that the original ink formula is the one to use over HP's new formula.

780 CARTRIDGES CAN BE BOUGHT FROM ANY HP DEALER, I USED GRIMCO FOR MINE. NOTE THAT THE INKS ARE PRETTY SMELLY EVEN WITH THE AIR UNIT, SO BASICALLY I WOULDN'T RUN IT IN MY GARAGE OR BASEMENT.

NOTE THAT BUYING ANY USED PIECE OF EQUIPMENT IS RISKY. BUT IF IT'S A WELL RUNNING CLEAN PRINTER, AND YOUR NOT AFRAID TO WORK ON IT YOURSELF IF NEEDED, COULD BE A GOOD BUY. WOULD I PAY $4500 FOR THE 8000 IF I LIKED WHAT I SAW, ABSOLUTELY.

I UPGRADE EVERY 2 TO 3 YEARS AND HAD A JV3-160 WHEN I BOUGHT THE HP THINKING I WOULD KEEP BOTH. I SOLD THE JV3 ABOUT 4 MONTHS LATER AND NEVER REGRETTED IT. I SOLD THE HP AND BOUGHT A GS6000 A YEAR AND A HALF AGO. NOW THAT I REGRET. IN HINDSIGHT I SHOULD HAVE KEPT THE HP AND RUN THE WHEELS OFF OF IT.

 

[jrsc]

Psigos and Donny,

Thanks for the quick and detailed responses.

1. Donny, All heads are firing. I have nozzle checks from just before the lines were flushed. The filters in the scrubber are brand new.

4. Psigos, I'm well aware of the daily maintenance and the bit of baby sitting. If you want to talk about an inkjet printer that needs baby sitting try buying a DTG printer. What I was looking for was what type of periodic expenses I would encounter maintaining it. Donny's answer gives me a good idea at the expenses I'm looking at.

5. I do know that it was printing well when the dealer flushed the lines. I have seen test prints and nozzle checks from just before it was flushed and everything looks good. The person used this as their primary printer until about a month ago and they are selling it because they needed cutting capability and bought a printer/cutter. Does anyone have any info on this $1500 kit? I was under the impression that I can just add the ink and some cleaning and it would be ready to go.

Psigos, I completely agree with you on the latex printer. Unfortunately we would need the 60" version and thats not in the budget right now.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Donny7833]

I'm not sure what the $1500 kit is for.

I would load in new cartridges and do an initial fill. Same thing that's done when it's a brand new set up.

One thing I forgot to mention, it does take a bit of time to get the heads and sub tanks warmed up on a cold morning. I would usually walk in the door, head straight to the printer and do a nozzle check. By the time you get your coffee and get situated, it'll be ready to go.

 

[jrsc]

That's the way I thought it worked. If I have to buy a $1500 kit to put ink in the printer I'm probably going to pass.