Discussion I've owned an HP R1000 since April 2019, ask me anything

[Lunar Graphix]

Thanks RJH, so with your template or skid you are placing coasters in there individually I am assuming that are already precut? We are printing the full 40x60 sheets then cutting them on our summa.

John

Yeah they are precut 3.5" heavyweight pulp coasters. We get them from Katz America for $0.0257 a piece plus another 0.02 ea for ship.

We use 3 men to run them, 2 to load the sleds 1 to unload and re-box for ship. Running on a 4pass we can do 15,000 in about 7 hours. Drop the curing heat way down since they soak up the ink. Quality is decent, fine text is a bitch though. Still easier than printing styrene

 

[tollerdad]

I have an R1000 that the outfeed monitor side lost the touchscreen capability. I am suspecting it is the monitor and not the software. Does anyone have this experience? It's a 2018 model.

 

[balstestrat]

I have an R1000 that the outfeed monitor side lost the touchscreen capability. I am suspecting it is the monitor and not the software. Does anyone have this experience? It's a 2018 model.

No it's actually a software problem on the display. Let me dig up the fix.

Spoiler: Fix

1. Restart the screen by pressing the power button.
2. Check that the USB cable is connected properly at both ends, to the screen and IPS computer.
3. Apply a patch only to the affected screen using the following steps:

a. Connect a mouse to the affected screen
b. Disconnect the USB cable from the screen that works properly.


4. Run the tool OneClickUpdate.exe as an administrator.

a. Wait about a minute until the tool returns the message “Touch firmware upgrade complete!”

 

[tollerdad]

No it's actually a software problem on the display. Let me dig up the fix.

Spoiler: Fix

1. Restart the screen by pressing the power button.
2. Check that the USB cable is connected properly at both ends, to the screen and IPS computer.
3. Apply a patch only to the affected screen using the following steps:

a. Connect a mouse to the affected screen
b. Disconnect the USB cable from the screen that works properly.


4. Run the tool OneClickUpdate.exe as an administrator.

a. Wait about a minute until the tool returns the message “Touch firmware upgrade complete!”

 

[Lunar Graphix]

Hi guys

Just wanted to report in as I don't check the forums too often.

I started this thread several years ago to document my findings and knowledge on what was, at the time, a newer technology without much in the way of online resources. The HP knowledge center now has a lot of what you'll find in here, which is great. I hope this thread has helped others make an educated decision. I appreciate balstestrat and other R series owners for contributing. I'm curious how many R series are out there now?

Our R2000 Plus is still running great, 8-10 hours a day, 6 days a week. Between it and the summa I can have 1 man do the job of 3 most days.
Having owned both the R1000 and R2000 for over 18 months each, I have to say that the R2 is the way to go. The 5L ink boxes and associated cost savings are too beneficial to overlook.

Our most common items are:

coro
foamboard
SAV
transparent vinyl w/ color-white-color sandwich printing
48pt chipboard
max metal
110# high gloss poster paper
roll-up film
mesh banner
blockout banner
040 aluminum

There is no end to our workload. Once people find out you have this kind of machine, you start getting calls and emails daily just from word of mouth. The print quality and durability ensures repeat business. The IPS provides a super low learning curve that anyone can pick up on after 1 shift.

I love the machine and would buy another if I had the space. The cost of production is cheap due to the high throughput. The maintenance is dummy proof and takes minutes, leading our downtime to be almost non-existent. My only real gripe is that sometimes fine text doesn't come out as crisp as what we can get on our epson roll to roll, but otherwise the R2 does what it's designed to do and does it well.

The included warranty provided a great education. The engineers I worked with are insanely knowledgeable and have a real passion for helping people. Several of them even helped us in a bind after hours or on the weekend. I want to give a shoutout to Randall in particular, he saved my ass on more than one Friday night.

Now my warranty is up, and in case anyone is wondering here's what HP's extended warranty costs are:

Unfortunately, in my opinion, the contract is not worth the bill. HP designed a machine that when properly cared for does not require many on-site visits from technicians. I believe I've seen most, if not all, catastrophic part failures and fixed them myself at this point. Once you know the procedure for fixing these things they are simple and require minimal tools. The most memorable machine failures so far are:

cistern had ink in it- 1 person fix, 10 min
pip sensor got ink on it - 1 person fix, 10 min
alignment bar / gate failing - 2 person fix, 60 min to swap out a motor
carriage belt ripped itself in half - 1 person fix , 20 min
white intermediate tank exploded - 30 min clean up
white ink box exploded - 30 min clean up

Perhaps if the warranty included a print head allotment I would reconsider. I will ultimately see if my decision to go without warranty is wise. The priority parts shipments are the only real benefit I see in that chart. And I'm sure HP prices their parts at a fair rate without warranty...

Wishing you all continued success.

Best,
Ryan

 

[balstestrat]

Yeah I agree, they made it too good to justify those prices. After working on them close to 4 years there's fairly low amount of issues.
Even the maintenance kits have half of the parts something that's not necessary to replace just because timer ran out.

 

[garyroy]

Ryan, that's a fantastic update. It's nice when machine's humm and make money.
I noticed you did not mention Polystyrene on your list of substrates.
.015, .020, .030, etc. Any success with that machine printing on Polystyrene?

 

[Lunar Graphix]

Ryan, that's a fantastic update. It's nice when machine's humm and make money.
I noticed you did not mention Polystyrene on your list of substrates.
.015, .020, .030, etc. Any success with that machine printing on Polystyrene?

Unfortunately because of the high temp curing process styrene is a real mother to print. The largest size sheet we can consistently print without head crashes from warped material is 28x40". We will instead offer customers rollup banner material or PVC vinyl sheets, both great alternatives.

 

[mbasch]

Has anyone found a way to avoid the scratching on double sided prints? We get them on both coro and ACM with heaving ink coverage. Our theory is that the head from sending it through a 2nd time softens the ink and some of that ink ends up sticking to the belt on side 2.

 

[rx7boy]

Has anyone found a way to avoid the scratching on double sided prints? We get them on both coro and ACM with heaving ink coverage. Our theory is that the head from sending it through a 2nd time softens the ink and some of that ink ends up sticking to the belt on side 2.

Hello we to had this issue bad and it seemed I followed what everyone was telling me to lower the heat and vacuum as much as possible which did help but had head crashing because of lowering the vacuum. Then our on ramp tech came at about our 4 month period from installation and all is good since then.

What he told me, have vacuum at maximum, lowest curing height possible but upped the overcoat from 0.5 to 0.8 and then all is gone and no scratching. I think the biggest player is the overcoat because I had overcoat turned to 0.1 for a laminated Coro job the other day and forgot to change it back, then there were spots all over the second side, putting it back to more overcoat 0.8 there is no spotting at all. All has been good for the last 3 months.

 

[mbasch]

Hello we to had this issue bad and it seemed I followed what everyone was telling me to lower the heat and vacuum as much as possible which did help but had head crashing because of lowering the vacuum. Then our on ramp tech came at about our 4 month period from installation and all is good since then.

What he told me, have vacuum at maximum, lowest curing height possible but upped the overcoat from 0.5 to 0.8 and then all is gone and no scratching. I think the biggest player is the overcoat because I had overcoat turned to 0.1 for a laminated Coro job the other day and forgot to change it back, then there were spots all over the second side, putting it back to more overcoat 0.8 there is no spotting at all. All has been good for the last 3 months.

Thank you. I'll try that.

 

[Lunar Graphix]

Hey guys, I'm back again with a update.

Would anyone be interested in purchasing an R2000 that was in a print shop that was briefly on fire?

I'll be making a post in the classified section soon. Waiting on my premium membership to be approved. I'll link it in this post when it's live. If anyone would be interested in a discounted R series, DM me. I'll be able to fully disclose details after 1. HP visits and does an evaluation and 2. insurance makes their decision on what will become of this beast.

For those of you who have read through this thread you'll know my very high opinion of this machine. This could be the deal of a lifetime for the right buyer. I will potentially also have other equipment for sale in the same thread. My intent of listing these machines for sale prior to insurance clearance is to gauge the market for equipment that has been exposed to a disaster environment.

Happy holidays everyone,

Ryan

FAQ
1. The equipment itself was not on fire. The fire was started outside, spread to the building, melted our electrical panels and tripped our fire suppression sprinklers. The equipment was exposed to: freezing temps for 36 hours, heavy soot, high humidity, and in some cases direct water. Full disclosure of each machine will be available as our multi-way investigation progresses. Documentation from manufacture technicians, fire marshall, and insurance can be provided when available.
2. Fire was started by an arsonist. She's in jail looking at many years.
3. I'll be fine, I had good insurance coverage. I know a fair number of fellow industry professionals and we are farming out jobs where necessary.
4. The equipment will obviously be sold as-is but I will provide full reports from the manufactures about their condition.
5. We're looking at 1-3 months before we get the green light to replace and salvage/sell the affected machines.

 

[Brandon708]

Do you have issues with ACM getting scratches? I use Maxmetal Digital Print and I get a bunch of scratches just transporting the material from the printer to the production table.

 

[BullDog613]

+1 interested in metrics info, if avail.
...or at the very least, what's the psf cost of ink&optimizer to print single-layer full coverage rich black?

I have an R1000 and corrugated plastic always has a strike on the 2nd side. Any tips?

 

[signsdoneright]

Hi everybody .. Anybody knows a R2000 tech in Florida or close to Miami ?
Let me know.

 

[johnnysigns]

Anyone have any feedback on roll to roll skew and shorter prints if you're running a paneled job?

 

[balstestrat]

Anyone have any feedback on roll to roll skew and shorter prints if you're running a paneled job?

Can't say I've really heard about much problems.
Are you having consistent problems on multiple media or random?

 

[MGB_LE]

We recently got the invite to purchase a service contract, after we encountered a problem that stopped us from printing. We didn't find them to be a good value, because the machine has been rock solid.
Instead we paid the $200 remote service fee to get counseling over the phone. The problem was fixed in under an hour. A couple weeks later we had another issue related to a failed printhead. That stopped us from printing. A couple of dedicated operators, cleaned up enough of the white ink spill that we were able to get the replacement printhead to work, which saved us another $200 phonecall. No, the service contracts, even the most basic, do not have a good ROI.

 

[johnnysigns]

Can't say I've really heard about much problems.
Are you having consistent problems on multiple media or random?

I'm still in negotiations to purchase an R2000. It's just been something that's been brought up in demo'ing the machine. My understanding so far is that there can be alignment issues with long run panels - meaning 75-100 ft

 

[CypressSigns]

Having issues when printing double sided coro, its like the ink is being pulled when flipping the sheet to print on side b. I tried lowing the vacuum and heat but nothing has seem to work