Latex Printer

https://signs101.com/search/8684103/?q=latex+printer&o=date&c[node]=282

 

I mean thats a little hasty to say. Every printer can have issues. Theyve been solid workhorses for me for quite a while. I wouldnt immediately write them off.

 

You determined this because there are a lot of threads about them? Wouldn't want to search Roland printers then either I guess.................

Regarding the latex printers, like anything else there are people that swear by them and then there are people that won't touch them. From what I've seen it all depends how you intend to use it and what your expectations are.

 

And your knowledge and what you are willing to learn.

 

What I have got from the research and prints i have seen is printer is nice. Works perfect for wraps and things not up close 24 inches or less. Prints fast. Does have a little more waste of vinyl since you have to have some into the curing tunnel otherwise you will get a head strike. Prints grainy but so does your printer now. Ink comes off dry and scratch resistant.

 

If you just read the titles then it probably looks bad. However, you typically find it was either a bad machine, user error, or high/wrong expectations. You've got to determine if the machine is for you. It's been amazing for us.

 

Pro's
Good print quality. Proper profile and passes look great up-close or far away.

Good speeds. It's not flatbed or 120+" roll-to-roll fast for sure as it's about a 1/10 of the price (used large format) and limited to 63" media for banners.

Easy to profile. By far one of my favorite features of this printer. Don't even care that it will eat up about 10 or so of media to profile it for new media types.

Print roll-to-roll and walk away. Then come back to a well tracked roll and load a new roll.

Works great with Caldera.

No fumes, no smell... far better than solvent or uv inks when displaying indoors. Many regulations are in place now that prevents solvent and uv from being in hospitals, schools, etc...


Con's
I don't like to load them as I had Roland's for years. But the tracking on it makes me quickly forget about having to feed it from the front. So, let's consider this a 1/2 con.

De-lamination Issues. There are some issues here and will need to see improvement to rebuild the 100% trust for the process in future models. We have not had a horror story as of yet, but I've seen it come off of printed calendared and cast vinyl a bit to easy. Which leads to concerns and has us testing the prints more before they leave. We use s cold laminator w/ no heat assist. Perhaps that is part of the problem? I don't yet...

It's not a printer that will last 10+ years. It's built and priced for a cycle of 5-8 years by my projections. But when you can pick them up new in the 15k range at times and used for less than 10k, let's be real on how long it should last. Quality build with modern tech, but I would never think it would last 10+ years for sure. Another 1/2 con as it's priced about where it should be for a mid range printer in terms of years.

Even with issues... HP over all other small roll-to-roll for our company going forward. No printer is perfect and they all have been built for us to decide what is best for us in terms of production solutions for our primary product lines. HP is best for us right now and another latex version rises above them.

 

haha no all good homie. i use both (hp latex 560, 1500 and roland xf-640) so honestly it comes down to each individual printer and the environment it is in. (and obviously the care in which it is given and the knowledge of the operator) People seem to forget that no two things are absolutely identical, so small discrepancies and bad machines can happen. we all just hope we dont get one thats bad out of the box you know? lemons will be lemons and so forth. Latex can certainly help speed up your workflow (on my 560 we actually just ran 10 4x8 banners yesterday in about 98 minutes on 6pass and came out great. if your trying to do some heavy reproduction or fine art work, epson may be a better choice in terms of fine image quality. for general signage though, hp latex is a solid contender amongst ecosol and uv.

 

Everything said here is pretty accurate. The latex printers have a little more learning curve if you started on a solvent, but mostly the curve is in the heat/optimizer settings that aren't present on solvent/eco solvent and getting used to setting that up. The delamination issues only happen if the ink isn't fully cured...if it's not fully cured it will have an unnoticeable greasy film on the surface which causes the delamination, but if curing heat is turned up or print is slowed down it will fully cure and delamination is not an issue. I'm a huge fan of latex technology and in my opinion HP makes the best latex, the longer time goes on the better latex will get. With that said the Epson S line has my attention right now, it's eco solvent and I saw them in action at ISA last year. They have a superior gamut, fast dry times (laminate in six hours), and are fast too. They have a wider color gamut using only CMYK than other printers that are using CMYKLcLm. So you are saving on consumables with less inks and you don't have to buy the optimizer cartridge that the latex uses or replace the disposable heads all the time. And they price in at around $12,000 new. In my opinion its the hottest printer in it's class right now, I've ran HP Latex, HP UV, Roland, Mimaki, and this Epson will be the next roll to roll that we get. I keep a close eye on the current printer technology and the Epson is the winner right now for anything under $20,000 in my humble and educated opinion

 

CMYKLcLm has nothing to do with increasing gamut in fact one could argue that it decreases gamut.

Like you I keep an eye on the Epson but fade resistance issue seem to crop up with them.

 

You are probably correct on the gamut for LcLm vs regular CMYK, I haven't done my homework on that. But my point still stands that a regular CMYK Epson can achieve an excellent gamut and you can save money by not using the LcLm, regardless of gamut.

As far as fading....from my understanding the fading issue is only present in the specialty inks other than the regular CMYK such as the orange, red, metallic, LK, white, or clear ink sets. Those are where the fading issues are present but those inks are only available in the S60 and S80 and I wouldn't want those specialty inks anyway I would just go with dual CMYK on the S60 or stick with the S40. Again I've never owned one but from what I'm hearing the regular CMYK don't have fading issues.

 

About the ink drying and lamination on the Epson SureColor S series there is a whitepaper, very informative. You can download it here :
https://blog.epson.com/small-business/wp-solvent-printing/

 

Not 100% true, Epson has always had an issue with Yellow fading significantly faster than other colors. From my research, it may still be an issue to some extent for some users.

 

I think the GS6000 had yellow fade problems.
Haven't heard about that with the Surecolors.. But with the Surecolors, the orange doesn't last. That was my take anyway

 

I wouldn't be without a latex.
With the crazy turnarounds these days they just make so much sense for instant dry and unlaminated vinyl prints.
Having said that we do use eco solvent or UV where it suits better.
There's no such thing as a perfect printer for every application.