HP Latex 360 Printer cost per square foot?

[GrantX01]

OK I want to know what the cost per square foot is on the HP 360 Latex. I currently run a HP Latex 260 and hear is the best explanation I have found about the cost per SQFT.

$0.18/sq ft for ink, $0.12/sq ft for heads (This is a high average), and $0.17/sq ft for cleaning kits (changing the container every cycles). We factor on $0.47/sq ft for 8 - 10 pass standard ink coverage.

That sounds about right to me, is it the same with the 360 and how about if you add in the Optimizer?

 

[P Wagner]

OK I want to know what the cost per square foot is on the HP 360 Latex. I currently run a HP Latex 260 and hear is the best explanation I have found about the cost per SQFT.

$0.18/sq ft for ink, $0.12/sq ft for heads (This is a high average), and $0.17/sq ft for cleaning kits (changing the container every cycles). We factor on $0.47/sq ft for 8 - 10 pass standard ink coverage.

That sounds about right to me, is it the same with the 360 and how about if you add in the Optimizer?

Your numbers for printhead cost and cleaning kits would appear to be quite high. The ink cost might be a bit on the low side. The most accurate answer is for you to go your Embedded Web Server (browser interface) for your Latex 260 and review historical job data there. You can get the aggregate totals for ink consumption, media consumed, and job-specific costing information via the EWS interface.

Surprisingly, the Optimizer is among the lowest-used inks (it generally is the absolute least-used ink) on the Latex 300 series machines.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

1 square foot of full ink coverage .17cents
1 square foot break down for Ink and cleaning kit .3 cents
1 square foot print time for 10 pass is generally the same as the 260. A little bit faster but not much at that pass.

We factor .20cents square foot for printing. Granted the majority of the stuff we print is not full color. If everything we did was full color I might bump it up to around .30cents. I would like to know how you estimated the cost of the print heads and cleaning kit? If ink and a print head are almost same cost and you can put 3 or 4 ink containers through a print head. The cost per square foot for print heads should be about a third the ink cost.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

On our L260 based on the web server, we are between .14 and .18 for ink, the cleaning kits we get 2.5 cartridges before changing so we factor .05/sq ft based on average ink usage, and our heads are lasting a minimum of 10000ml so that breaks down to .06/sq ft. All in all we factor for $0.32/sq ft with a little error room.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

On our L260 based on the web server, we are between .14 and .18 for ink, the cleaning kits we get 2.5 cartridges before changing so we factor .05/sq ft based on average ink usage, and our heads are lasting a minimum of 10000ml so that breaks down to .06/sq ft. All in all we factor for $0.32/sq ft with a little error room.

This seems right in the ballpark of where the L360 is as well. If your switching from a260 to a 360 it is not to save money on print costs.(Excluding Time) It's for the new capabilities of the L360. Unless you print 4 or 6 pass and then maybe for the extra speed.

 

[Robert Gruner]

Grant,
On vinyl at 8 pass, 6 color mode at 100% coverage, would expect the total cost to be .22 psf - including ink, printhead and maintenance cartridge. The mix is .18 of ink, .03 for the PH (based on expected life of 4,000 ml) and .01 for maintenance cartridge (expected life of 14,000 ml). Also - above based on US list prices. The Embedded Web Server (EWS) will tell you your ink consumption to the ml for every job if you check it - and if you build out your cost assignment - can you give you an ink cost for every job - so you could actually do your own math if you want based on your actual prices etc. You could even build out your media portfolio to include media costs as well. You access the EWS by typing in the printer IP address into your browser. Hope this helps.

Bob Gruner

 

[spooledUP7]

Here's my take on this. Obviously your mileage will vary, but in order to get a true cost you need to include all factors. This is includes summing cost per ml, and cost per KWH

Ink $0.174 ml - I purchase at around $135 USD per 775 ml
PH $0.143 ml - I pay about $95 USD per PH
PHCK $0.01 ml - I pay about $125 new
MK $0.01 ml - about $125 new
Electricity $1.06 hr - I pay about $0.33 per kwh estimated 3 kw/h

With those factors I have created a spreadsheet which calculates and sums the resources based on the Accounting reports of completed jobs from the printer's EWS.
Then I average the total sqrft

Bottom line. Average sqrft $0.38 full coverage and $0.29 for my contour cut jobs. It's constantly changing based on the art but I am quoting on the high side to cover it all.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Here's my take on this. Obviously your mileage will vary, but in order to get a true cost you need to include all factors. This is includes summing cost per ml, and cost per KWH

Ink $0.174 ml - I purchase at around $135 USD per 775 ml
PH $0.143 ml - I pay about $95 USD per PH
PHCK $0.01 ml - I pay about $125 new
MK $0.01 ml - about $125 new
Electricity $1.06 hr - I pay about $0.33 per kwh estimated 3 kw/h

With those factors I have created a spreadsheet which calculates and sums the resources based on the Accounting reports of completed jobs from the printer's EWS.
Then I average the total sqrft

Bottom line. Average sqrft $0.38 full coverage and $0.29 for my contour cut jobs. It's constantly changing based on the art but I am quoting on the high side to cover it all.

I'm of the opinion that if you need to know the exact cost of ink/ heads etc to price your jobs, you aren't charging even close to enough. The cost of these things are so irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

 

[spooledUP7]

I'm of the opinion that if you need to know the exact cost of ink/ heads etc to price your jobs, you aren't charging even close to enough. The cost of these things are so irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

I agree with you however the topic was about HP Latex running cost, and I simply illustrated my experience and consideration for true cost.
In my opinion, if you didn't factor in the incidentals then you are not getting an accurate overview of your costs. I use a multiplier for my cost when estimating. When multiplying the closer you are to an accurate number the better your net will be and the more confident you can be when in competing bids. With some of my products the ink is 0.001% of my cost and insignificant, but when I am running 2000 sqrft of full flooded print the ink cost is a significant expense. My eye is on the net, and I like to know what my potential profit is prior to estimating.

But maybe you're right, I may not be charging enough.

 

[Yeahgor]

Here's my take on this. Obviously your mileage will vary, but in order to get a true cost you need to include all factors. This is includes summing cost per ml, and cost per KWH

Ink $0.174 ml - I purchase at around $135 USD per 775 ml
PH $0.143 ml - I pay about $95 USD per PH
PHCK $0.01 ml - I pay about $125 new
MK $0.01 ml - about $125 new
Electricity $1.06 hr - I pay about $0.33 per kwh estimated 3 kw/h

With those factors I have created a spreadsheet which calculates and sums the resources based on the Accounting reports of completed jobs from the printer's EWS.
Then I average the total sqrft

Bottom line. Average sqrft $0.38 full coverage and $0.29 for my contour cut jobs. It's constantly changing based on the art but I am quoting on the high side to cover it all.

This calculations very close to reality... Do you have any updates for 2020?
Have questions to HP latex users:
As I understand in case using the printer HP is 370/570 model the Ink price reduce to $0.125/mL because of HP871 2 litter pack.- Right? However do any other Maintenance Kit and PrintHead Cleaning Kit price are the same as 335/365/560 models?

 

[balstestrat]

This calculations very close to reality... Do you have any updates for 2020?
Have questions to HP latex users:
As I understand in case using the printer HP is 370/570 model the Ink price reduce to $0.125/mL because of HP871 2 litter pack.- Right? However do any other Maintenance Kit and PrintHead Cleaning Kit price are the same as 335/365/560 models?

Big cartrigde is 3 litres and yes every other cost is the same. Remember L365 is about half the price of L570 so you have to use it quite a bit to gain back the Advantage.

 

[Yeahgor]

...Electricity $1.06 hr - I pay about $0.33 per kwh estimated 3 kw/h

I think HP 365 Latex 4kW isn't it? The time spending for SQ/FT depends on the quality of the printing job, isn't it? Too many impact details...
I agree with some of the commentators here the real world will never keep in mind all these details all prices should be as high as possible to keep business grow.

 

[Squared2002]

A lot of these replies are pretty well thought out and appear to have a lot of valuable info. Having said that has anyone done the same amount of costing for an HP 570 Latex Roll to Roll?

 

[balstestrat]

A lot of these replies are pretty well thought out and appear to have a lot of valuable info. Having said that has anyone done the same amount of costing for an HP 570 Latex Roll to Roll?

It's not that far away from the other models. Obviously you are supposed to use it more so if you do that, it will lower the cost eventually. But ink usage is still the same and heavily depends on what you do!

 

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

How different are the head cleaning cartridge trays between the L260 and the 360 ?
(I'm wondering if the fabric roll can be transferred from a 360 to a 260?)

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[truckgraphics]

Don't forget depreciation. Price of the machine/years of use/sq. ft. per year of material.

For example, $20,000/5 years....$4,000 / 16,000 sq. ft. (per year) = $.25 per sq. ft.

This is an example as I have no idea what an HP printer costs or how many sq. feet you print per year.

 

[balstestrat]

Don't forget depreciation. Price of the machine/years of use/sq. ft. per year of material.

For example, $20,000/5 years....$4,000 / 16,000 sq. ft. (per year) = $.25 per sq. ft.

This is an example as I have no idea what an HP printer costs or how many sq. feet you print per year.

Supposed to print about 100 000sqft per year with L360.

 

[truckgraphics]

Supposed to print about 100 000sqft per year with L360.

$.04/ft. given my other ballpark figures. Not insignificant.