Latex L25500 Question

[jkdbjj]

SO, we have had our unit for about 2 years now. We are certainly not a Merritt Graphics company scale wise, but we do couple hundred thousand a year on the machine. My question is concerning the Print Heads. I may be jinxing myself at the moment by saying this, but we have still yet had to replace any print head. Are others getting this kind of life out of print heads on this model? I have heard otherwise, and my curiosity is when we do replace them, it will become a regular thing after that.

 

[MikePro]

running my 26500 non-stop for the past 6 months... says my printheads are only 1/4th of use before replacement.
1-2 years sounds about right, but I was told it could be less.

 

[nate]

They are under HP Warranty for 1 Liter of ink to pass through them. After that they will continue to work, but you're on you're own. They might last another 2 liters; they might last 8. It just depends on how you run them.

 

[ProWraps]

SO, we have had our unit for about 2 years now. We are certainly not a Merritt Graphics company scale wise, but we do couple hundred thousand a year on the machine. My question is concerning the Print Heads. I may be jinxing myself at the moment by saying this, but we have still yet had to replace any print head. Are others getting this kind of life out of print heads on this model? I have heard otherwise, and my curiosity is when we do replace them, it will become a regular thing after that.

im trying to figure out which part is bullsh*t.

the couple hundred thousand a year, or never replaced a head.

im thinking the first lol.

 

[HulkSmash]

SO, we have had our unit for about 2 years now. We are certainly not a Merritt Graphics company scale wise, but we do couple hundred thousand a year on the machine. My question is concerning the Print Heads. I may be jinxing myself at the moment by saying this, but we have still yet had to replace any print head. Are others getting this kind of life out of print heads on this model? I have heard otherwise, and my curiosity is when we do replace them, it will become a regular thing after that.

For you to do Hundreds of thousands worth of prints off one printer, it would need to be running at least 6-7 hrs every single day. And if you were to be running every day for 6-7 hours You would have like 5000 ML total through all the heads... a week. Yeah.. sorry not possible..Not even in the slightest.

For you not to change a head once in 2 years, you have to print maybe no more then twice a week.. if that..

I have over 100k SQFT through both my l2's...
we have 3 of each head in stock. We print 8-10 hrs a day on both machines, and are changing them out quite a bit.

 

[jkdbjj]

Hmm, very literal interpretations here.

The question is, how long should these heads last? I haven't had any reason to change them yet. So I thought it was strange.
The figures in my opening post are generalized as to what I make a year from inhouse work, and then there is what we make from outsourced work.
From in house work we do a couple hundred thousand a year (which may include, foamboards, prints, banners, etc etc...) I wasn't implying it was 200,000 worth of just prints. Still it is a lot of prints, or at least more than I thought these heads would handle, since they are disposable.

As the merchant member posted, some people get an excessive use out of their heads, and maybe when I change them, it won't be like that.

 

[Bly]

When we notice any change in print quality we do a test print and swap it if it looks like there's any problem with one.
The onboard diagnostics will sometimes tell you a head is fine but it can still be misfiring.
Could be anywhere from 2 to 10 litres of ink

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

SO, we have had our unit for about 2 years now. We are certainly not a Merritt Graphics company scale wise, but we do couple hundred thousand a year on the machine. My question is concerning the Print Heads. I may be jinxing myself at the moment by saying this, but we have still yet had to replace any print head. Are others getting this kind of life out of print heads on this model? I have heard otherwise, and my curiosity is when we do replace them, it will become a regular thing after that.

??

 

[jkdbjj]

For you to do Hundreds of thousands worth of prints off one printer, it would need to be running at least 6-7 hrs every single day. And if you were to be running every day for 6-7 hours You would have like 5000 ML total through all the heads... a week. Yeah.. sorry not possible..Not even in the slightest.

For you not to change a head once in 2 years, you have to print maybe no more then twice a week.. if that..

I have over 100k SQFT through both my l2's...
we have 3 of each head in stock. We print 8-10 hrs a day on both machines, and are changing them out quite a bit.

We need to do less than 1000.00 a day to make 2 hundred K a year.

That equates to:

1. 2 4'x8' banners which we sell for 160 piece (or 320)
2. 5 foamboard prints 24x36 which we sell for 60 a piece (300)
3. 3 Window Decals Size 3'x4' which we sell for 72 a piece (216)

Total comes to over 200k a year in a normal working year. That doesn't include any vehicle wraps, and larger print runs, etc...
I am a little confused as to why it isn't possible to do what I said in a year? Just the 3 items above in that list, take about 3 hours to complete.

Anyway, sorry for the confusion. I did see where I wrote in the opening "couple hundred thousand on that machine"

 

[ProWraps]

we run 3 of these machines. we go through close to a hundred heads a year. you must have some of that next level crytonite super hp heads that no one can get.

and yes we HAVE done hundreds of thousands of dollars on the machines.

 

[P Wagner]

we run 3 of these machines. we go through close to a hundred heads a year. you must have some of that next level crytonite super hp heads that no one can get.

I would be curious to see what the 'average' usage is for print head life (in terms of ml) before the head is replaced. You can obtain this information from the printer's control panel > Ink Menu > Printhead Information > Printhead #.

We see wide variations between different machines, but the reasons why this occurs are elusive.

 

[ProWraps]

I would be curious to see what the 'average' usage is for print head life (in terms of ml) before the head is replaced. You can obtain this information from the printer's control panel > Ink Menu > Printhead Information ? Printhead #.

We see wide variations between different machines, but the reasons why this occurs are elusive.

right now we are lucky to get 1.5 liters out of them.

then they fail for various reasons. some the printer saying replace, some degrading or failing completely.

i replaced 4 heads yesterday alone.

we also print ALOT.

 

[jkdbjj]

we run 3 of these machines. we go through close to a hundred heads a year. you must have some of that next level crytonite super hp heads that no one can get.

and yes we HAVE done hundreds of thousands of dollars on the machines.

Obviously in the wrap business you print more than I do. I have a mixed bag of products we sell.
I'll take a look at the printer specs and maybe we just haven't printed nearly as much as I think we have. Hundred heads a year is a lot indeed.

 

[HulkSmash]

We need to do less than 1000.00 a day to make 2 hundred K a year.

That equates to:

1. 2 4'x8' banners which we sell for 160 piece (or 320)
2. 5 foamboard prints 24x36 which we sell for 60 a piece (300)
3. 3 Window Decals Size 3'x4' which we sell for 72 a piece (216)

Total comes to over 200k a year in a normal working year. That doesn't include any vehicle wraps, and larger print runs, etc...
I am a little confused as to why it isn't possible to do what I said in a year? Just the 3 items above in that list, take about 3 hours to complete.

Anyway, sorry for the confusion. I did see where I wrote in the opening "couple hundred thousand on that machine"

my point is you're not printing that much if you haven't changed heads.

 

[ddarlak]

i have owned my printer for the same time period as you, My sales are in your range ($225,000-$250,000 - zero employee's - 1 partner), 90% of the work coming from my 25500 and i haven't changed a head in a year.

i might have printed 10 hours in the last month.

3 months out of the year it's about 8 hours a day.

in the first year i had to change out two cyan heads about a month apart, but they were under warranty and happened within the first 5 months of owning the machine.


side note, any one got a 42" latex they wanna sell?

 

[jkdbjj]

i have owned my printer for the same time period as you, My sales are in your range ($225,000-$250,000 - zero employee's - 1 partner), 90% of the work coming from my 25500 and i haven't changed a head in a year.

i might have printed 10 hours in the last month.

3 months out of the year it's about 8 hours a day.

in the first year i had to change out two cyan heads about a month apart, but they were under warranty and happened within the first 5 months of owning the machine.


side note, any one got a 42" latex they wanna sell?

I think it just boils down to how much or often it is run. As I said, I average a couple hundred thousand from in house work. Yet, when I looked at my printer spec for the first time yesterday. I am only at about 7 liters, through the heads I have. Which are the original heads. So that means, I have made a ton of money, but haven't run my printer a fraction of what some of these other places are running. This simply has to do with I also make money with other products. Seeing I only have run about 7 liters through each head since I have had the machine, I am sure it is due to go out here soon. I imagine ProWraps and others go through 7 liters in a couple weeks or so... Different businesses different models.

 

[P Wagner]

I think it just boils down to how much or often it is run. As I said, I average a couple hundred thousand from in house work. Yet, when I looked at my printer spec for the first time yesterday. I am only at about 7 liters, through the heads I have. Which are the original heads. So that means, I have made a ton of money, but haven't run my printer a fraction of what some of these other places are running. This simply has to do with I also make money with other products. Seeing I only have run about 7 liters through each head since I have had the machine, I am sure it is due to go out here soon. I imagine ProWraps and others go through 7 liters in a couple weeks or so... Different businesses different models.

Is that seven liters through each of the six heads (7 liters x 6 head = 42 liters)

 

[Matt-Tastic]

The average i have seen for heads is anywhere from 3-8 litres per head. If you have your printer in an office condition (rather than a warehouse), you keep up with the other maintenance parts, and are running fairly standard stuff through the printer, 7+ litres shouldn't be uncommon.

For those that get significantly less regularly may be able to find out if there are SMKs that haven't been done on the machine. Some of the HP service visits will calibrate the printer and replace parts that get overly used, meaning that it will care for itself better. You may be able to get more life out of the heads, but you may also be running the machine like a dog (white is great!), in which case, the heads may just be getting worn out faster.

 

[Suz]

Currently, I am printing less than all of you and have have gone through too many print heads. I'm to the point where I have had to replace each head 2x, but I think that the reason for this is due to lack of use. I just don't have enough of a Customer base yet. Have had a difficult 2 years with things that have happened with family and have also moved my business to a new (more secluded) location. Anyhow, I wanted to just chime in and say that I think you go through more print heads when not using the machine on a regular basis. Also, better to keep it running in sleep mode than to turn it off completely, you lose print heads that way. Hope that helps

 

[jkdbjj]

Is that seven liters through each of the six heads (7 liters x 6 head = 42 liters)

Just about, some less some more, I suppose cause the printer uses less of certain colors than others.

I was pretty surprised at the number. It seems I run more than that.