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I'm So confused !!!!

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wrapworld2

New Member
ok to make a long story short. I been researching which printer I need to get my shop.about three years now. Mimaki , Roland , Mutoh , Epson , I know i'm leaving some out but come on.... I do car wraps, magnets, decals, banners, and 80% of my work ends up outdoors. I'm outsourcing $3 - 5K a month in printed material. I'm really getting tired of seeing that i could have bought my own printer and paid for it two and a half times now.over the last two years.... please someone help me . I'm in it to win it. 11 years in the business now and love my job..... ALMOST everyday.....lol ..... thanks lee
 
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wrapworld2

New Member
and i've decided at least a 54" printer but not one over 65" thank you in advance for all of your professional advice in advance with this issue..... and yes i would love to find a good used one thats been maintained by one of you all that is wanting to upgrade....... Thanks so much Lee in tennessee.......
 
HulkSmash

HulkSmash

New Member
lee, i'd suggest the HP Latex. Great printer at a great price point, Little Maintenance, and great quality.
 
Christian @ 2CT Media

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
HP L25500 60" you'll love it, we do! It takes so much stretching for the latex ink to white out and most times the material fails before the ink does. You can laminate right away after printing and it prints on everything+ solvent can.
 
Custom_Grafx

Custom_Grafx

New Member
Hi there,

There's a review section on this site with quite a few listed...

http://www.signs101.com/reviewpost/index.php

I didn't see any latex section though - unless I missed it. They sound pretty good to me but I'm on a Roland VS640 at the moment running double cmyk. Good machine.

You'll also need a laminator. There are a few good brands out there by the sound of it. Also a few bad ones.

If you have access to a few suppliers in your area - book in demo appointments and get a feel for the stuff. Definitely gives you a bit of peace of mind, because every supplier says they're stuff is great... but only you know what you think is great and not...
 
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wrapworld2

New Member
HP L25500 60" does it contour cut as well........? I'm checking it out now. thanks you all are so helpful.... I just ran up on this forum a few months ago and have learned so much it's overwhelming how nice and informative you all are..... even the sarcastic ones are full of useful info lol right..... THIS FORUM ROCKS !!! thanks so much my signs are my life's blood.
 
WrapperX

WrapperX

New Member
I would go with a Mimaki JV33 or JV3 if you want to go Solvent but the HP L25500 is a great machine. And if you are an ecological person, which it seems alot of people are jumping on - "We are a GREEN Company - this makes us better then those polluters over there" then the latex is technically better for the environment.

And +1 to having a stand alone plotter.
 
Tim Aucoin

Tim Aucoin

New Member
Another vote for the HPL25500 and a stand-alone plotter. I've been running the HPL25500 since last December, and I never print on my Roland now, as this HP is very fast and very, very good quality. :thumb:
 
HulkSmash

HulkSmash

New Member
WrapperX said:
I would go with a Mimaki JV33 or JV3 if you want to go Solvent but the HP L25500 is a great machine. And if you are an ecological person, which it seems alot of people are jumping on - "We are a GREEN Company - this makes us better then those polluters over there" then the latex is technically better for the environment.

And +1 to having a stand alone plotter.
Click to expand...

to be honest, i dont care weather my printer is green or not
ive tested mimaki, latex, epson, rowland.


Latex is superior to all. The only thing that's weak on it - is the take up roll.

The epson has the best color, and isnt as much as a production machines as the latex.

the mimaki is really nice, it seems like its built stronger, but it still isnt up to par to the latex/epson.

the rowland - Depending on which one you're looking at. Quality is good, but overall i think it's overpriced. I can get a 60" Latex cheaper.. much cheaper than a 54 inch rowland.
 
WrapperX

WrapperX

New Member
Hey Colorado - what about the HP take up don't you like? I'm not defending it, I'm just curious. Do you have the laser sensored take up that attaches to the footing? or a different take up system?
 
Christian @ 2CT Media

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
Rolands are great Machines, I have a buddy who has had one running 12hrs/day for the last 10 years and it never gives him a hiccup. The Latex is newly emerging Tech and is working very well for us adopters of the technology, but EcoSolvent is widely popular and has lots of cheaper 3rd party ink options.

BTW another factor for Latex is ink cost. We average $0.14 (Stickers), $0.17 (wraps), and $0.21 (High Quality Interior) per sqft, which is pretty dang good for OEM inks!
 
Christian @ 2CT Media

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
We have issues with the take up reel after about 75', I ran 150' print and about 75' in the take up over heated and I had to hand crank the rest. As soon as the print finished it started working again.

We are looking into a Roll away take up system that we can feed directly into our laminator.
 
HulkSmash

HulkSmash

New Member
WrapperX said:
Hey Colorado - what about the HP take up don't you like? I'm not defending it, I'm just curious. Do you have the laser sensored take up that attaches to the footing? or a different take up system?
Click to expand...


it just seems weak/brittle. not as strong as others.
 
Rooster

Rooster

New Member
WrapperX said:
latex is technically better for the environment.
Click to expand...

While the inks may be better, I'm not sure as a whole that a machine that uses up so much in electrical energy can be any greener than my solvent machine.

Over the life of the machine I wonder which would have a greater impact on our environment? With the HP's requiring dual 220 lines and my Mimaki plugging into any household outlet I know my operational costs excluding inks are going to be lower. Since the vast majority of HP latex users are printing onto the same non-biodegradable vinyl medias I'm using, they're all going to wind up in the dump eventually.

If you're plugging your latex printer into a windmill I suppose this is moot. However the majority of us are getting our electrons from coal so the greenness of these latex inks needs to be balanced against their machines increased energy consumption.
 
messmedia

messmedia

New Member
For the sake of this conversation, and this man's power-bill - I will ask a question based on hear-say things: is it true that HP latex printers need extremely high power - ... POWER (if this is sane on english?)
I heard they need 20KW + of power, meaning power bill is gonna go 'through the roof'?
 
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