HP Latex 800 upgrade to Canon Colorado 1650

[victor bogdanov]

Y

There is nothing you can say to convince me to spend 70K on a roll to roll printer that cannot print on magnet, static cling or anything clear. I could own a fleet of Epson s40's for this price and their panel to peel are dead nuts. If you need cheaper ink move up to the s60 or 80 with bulk. I was told service contract after year one is close to $700/m....image quality looks ok and I like the idea of multiple rolls but come on 70K???

you can haul dirt in an f150 but at certain volume a dump truck makes more sense

 

[greysquirrel]

two s40's can do the work of one Colorado...20k or 70k? Ill take the 2 F150s....and keep the 50k for a rainy day. When you need some static cling run, hit me up, I offer wholesale to the trade...but if it makes you feel better I can charge you retail.

 

[victor bogdanov]

two s40's can do the work of one Colorado...20k or 70k? Ill take the 2 F150s....and keep the 50k for a rainy day. When you need some static cling run, hit me up, I offer wholesale to the trade...but if it makes you feel better I can charge you

Uv has advantages over solvent, full bleed with no worry about edge curl. No outgassing etc.

 

[garyroy]

Thanks Guys.

 

[FatCat]

Can anyone attest to the ability to print 2-sided banner or poster on the Colorado? We have several clients that do a lot of double sided banners for indoor POP stuff, it's a very smooth 13oz blockout. Our workflow now is to print the front side on our Mimaki UV, and then cut down and back up on our flatbed UV, then do another trim. Not a perfect workflow, but it works for now. However, if the ability is there to print these banners double sided on the Colorado and then cut down to finish size I would be very interested in doing a cost analysis to see if the time saved would be worth the investment for this machine?

If anyone wants to contact me privately, I would be very happy to talk over the phone about your experience.

 

[victor bogdanov]

Can anyone attest to the ability to print 2-sided banner or poster on the Colorado? We have several clients that do a lot of double sided banners for indoor POP stuff, it's a very smooth 13oz blockout. Our workflow now is to print the front side on our Mimaki UV, and then cut down and back up on our flatbed UV, then do another trim. Not a perfect workflow, but it works for now. However, if the ability is there to print these banners double sided on the Colorado and then cut down to finish size I would be very interested in doing a cost analysis to see if the time saved would be worth the investment for this machine?

If anyone wants to contact me privately, I would be very happy to talk over the phone about your experience.

I've only done double sided a few times but it is pretty reliable at getting within 1/4" to 1/2" inch front/back alignment. There is a couple of feet of material waste so doing small jobs isn't as efficient but if doing half or a whole roll at a time the waste is negligible. There will be a learning curve but the double sided works

 

[White Haus]

Can anyone attest to the ability to print 2-sided banner or poster on the Colorado? We have several clients that do a lot of double sided banners for indoor POP stuff, it's a very smooth 13oz blockout. Our workflow now is to print the front side on our Mimaki UV, and then cut down and back up on our flatbed UV, then do another trim. Not a perfect workflow, but it works for now. However, if the ability is there to print these banners double sided on the Colorado and then cut down to finish size I would be very interested in doing a cost analysis to see if the time saved would be worth the investment for this machine?

If anyone wants to contact me privately, I would be very happy to talk over the phone about your experience.

Hey Sean, I know it's not what you're asking, but we've had decent success printing double sided banners on our UCJV - is there a reason you're not doing both sides on it?
Definitely not trying to talk you out of a Colorado (I'd trade our UCJV for one in a heartbeat if I could) but just curious really.

 

[FatCat]

Hey Sean, I know it's not what you're asking, but we've had decent success printing double sided banners on our UCJV - is there a reason you're not doing both sides on it?
Definitely not trying to talk you out of a Colorado (I'd trade our UCJV for one in a heartbeat if I could) but just curious really.

To answer your question, it's probably mostly due to quantity. We do about 100-150 banners (4x4 and 4x6 size) per month on average for some of our retail accounts. Prior to doing these on UV, we were doing these on solvent, and would print all the fronts to a roll, then cut them down and them back them up individually using the alignment strip on the front edge to register. We could potentially do the same thing with the Mimaki UV, but it is VERY time consuming to load that many banners individually. *I've never had the patience (or faith) that we could reliably print a roll, flip it over and try to print continuous on the back side.

So it works pretty well to print all the fronts, throw the roll on our Summa flatbed, cut them down and just use the pins on the flatbed to back them up. We've got our inks dialed in to where there is very little difference front to back. Ideally, it would be great to have a machine that could print both sides with Summa marks and then simply cut down the whole roll instead of handling it twice.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

To answer your question, it's probably mostly due to quantity. We do about 100-150 banners (4x4 and 4x6 size) per month on average for some of our retail accounts. Prior to doing these on UV, we were doing these on solvent, and would print all the fronts to a roll, then cut them down and them back them up individually using the alignment strip on the front edge to register. We could potentially do the same thing with the Mimaki UV, but it is VERY time consuming to load that many banners individually. *I've never had the patience (or faith) that we could reliably print a roll, flip it over and try to print continuous on the back side.

So it works pretty well to print all the fronts, throw the roll on our Summa flatbed, cut them down and just use the pins on the flatbed to back them up. We've got our inks dialed in to where there is very little difference front to back. Ideally, it would be great to have a machine that could print both sides with Summa marks and then simply cut down the whole roll instead of handling it twice.

Double-sided printing works well on the Colorado 1650. Its stepping is very precise, and I would highly recommend building a media preset specifically for the double-sided banner, as the vacuum setting can get a bit tricky depending on the banner surface. We have not had more than a 1/8" deviation.

 

[MarkSnelling]

two s40's can do the work of one Colorado...20k or 70k? Ill take the 2 F150s....and keep the 50k for a rainy day. When you need some static cling run, hit me up, I offer wholesale to the trade...but if it makes you feel better I can charge you retail.

One part you aren't considering is the cost-per-square foot in ink. Most of my customers claim $.07-$.08/ft2 which is going to be half or more than half of a typical solvent printer. If you are paying around $.20/ft2 for ink, that's the equivalent of saving roughly $75/roll in ink (54"x150').

You couldn't print on clear film but with the new M series, you now can. I don't know anything about difficulties in printing on vinyl cling...I'll have to look into that.

Lastly - in lots of applications you can likely skip laminating...like wall graphics. Lots of people are putting an expensive film like IJ40 with a cast lam for wall graphics. Since the UV gel inks are so scratch resistant, you can print on products like Drytac's Retac and save the cost of the laminate, the labor, and you are using a non-stretchy easy to apply 6mil pvc.... it isn't just a price-is-the-price thing.

 

[greysquirrel]

The M is certainly more appealing. Field upgradeable is a plus. Not sure that I love the idea that you must buy their service contact to have head coverage year one. They say they are dependable heads...they should be covered year one, then the three year warranty after makes more sense. You certainly have a point with wall graphics and no need to laminate as well. Any idea the cost of the new wiping system addition? ALA R-series. I was off the horse when I saw the non-m versions....the m has me curious.

 

[MarkSnelling]

To answer your question, it's probably mostly due to quantity. We do about 100-150 banners (4x4 and 4x6 size) per month on average for some of our retail accounts. Prior to doing these on UV, we were doing these on solvent, and would print all the fronts to a roll, then cut them down and them back them up individually using the alignment strip on the front edge to register. We could potentially do the same thing with the Mimaki UV, but it is VERY time consuming to load that many banners individually. *I've never had the patience (or faith) that we could reliably print a roll, flip it over and try to print continuous on the back side.

So it works pretty well to print all the fronts, throw the roll on our Summa flatbed, cut them down and just use the pins on the flatbed to back them up. We've got our inks dialed in to where there is very little difference front to back. Ideally, it would be great to have a machine that could print both sides with Summa marks and then simply cut down the whole roll instead of handling it twice.

There are a few ways to do double sided printing on the Colorado...there is an element of measuring and making sure you have your files setup correctly. I've got a few customers who swear by it and a few that say it is harder than it should be. I can put you in touch with a few people or even send you a few videos on how to print double sided if you want. We are up in Cleveland and we could even have you up to see our demo unit and run it with you should you want to.

 

[FatCat]

There are a few ways to do double sided printing on the Colorado...there is an element of measuring and making sure you have your files setup correctly. I've got a few customers who swear by it and a few that say it is harder than it should be. I can put you in touch with a few people or even send you a few videos on how to print double sided if you want. We are up in Cleveland and we could even have you up to see our demo unit and run it with you should you want to.

Thanks for the heads up Mark. Yes, if I can find time to get away it would be nice to see one run in person, perhaps I can bring some test files along to see if the workflow would indeed improve and make our life a little simpler? Look forward to your reply.

 

[Brandon708]

Can the Colorado print White ink sandwich mode reverse print on clear?

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Can the Colorado print White ink sandwich mode reverse print on clear?

Yes

 

[MarkSnelling]

Can the Colorado print White ink sandwich mode reverse print on clear?

Hey Brandon - You can print white only, two layer white (color then white or white then color), 3 layer (color-white-color), and 5 layer (color-white-black-white-color). Software comes with the unit to help the 3-5 layer printing. Most popular will be the two layer with white...and the best part is the speed...according to some of my Vutek customers it is actually faster on the Colorado than the Vutek (for $400K++ less)