Ink tracking with HP L26500

[Scotchbrite]

We just got started with our 26500 last week. I'm working on figuring out our ink costs for pricing purposes and I'm wondering how accurate the ink usage statistics are. I'm talking about the numbers you get if you go to the printer's IP address and get the numbers there under the "accounting" section.

We have a Mimaki JV3, and the vendor just gave us a per square-foot ink price to use for job costing, but I always like to figure this stuff out myself. I found a couple of sources that say the 26500 should run about 20 cents per sq-ft. I'd like to verify this myself and also make sure we figuring in enough to cover the other consumables and print heads.

When I was looking at our accounting, I noticed an oddity with a particular job we printed. The same file was printed numerous times and about once every 10th job, it used a little bit more ink than a majority of the jobs.

That made me wonder if in general people have noticed those ink usage numbers being very accurate. Maybe I'm just too anal about it. LOL!

 

[Freese]

I don't see why the accounting function of that wouldn't be accurate.

 

[ProWraps]

firgure .25 per sq/ft and your fine.

some prints will be MUCH less. some may be more.

you wont be pricing each job for its own ink signature.

 

[Slamboni]

Hp l26500

I suppose you could break down the costs for yourself based on cartridge prices and compare those figures to the web server figures, but I doubt anyone has verified the costs that way yet given the convenience of the server data. Plus if you want to be super anal you would have to factor in wear and tear on the machine etc.

We have an L26500 here at our facility and we barely account for the inks in our pricing as most of our signage is on diamond grade reflective so that's where the accounting is more focused for us.

We have had several interesting struggles with this maching since February and I would be interested to compare notes with another sign person.

 

[Scotchbrite]

firgure .25 per sq/ft and your fine.

some prints will be MUCH less. some may be more.

you wont be pricing each job for its own ink signature.

That looks like about what I came up with based on the info I had available.

I wouldn't price a job based on the ink signature but use it for cost analysis afterwards. We track the time and materials for each job and then do a profit & loss analysis to determine if we made money on the job.