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Looking at a new printer!! Water Based - What do you have? DO YOU LIKE IT!

beachBumGraphics

beachBumGraphics

New Member
Greetings!! We are looking to upgrade our printer. We currently have a Roland SP-300V Versacamm. We want to go larger. 36" and up? I was looking into what people are using for water based inks and the performance? We print banners, outdoor/indoor signs, window clings, decals. If you do not print daily with our versacamm problems will happen! It just seems very tedious! looking for new technology and i have heard so many good things about newer printers. I do not have the budget for a $10-$20K printer. We already laminate our work so that is not an issue. I want a good working printer that we can print with and cut jobs out on our the other plotter. The all in one printer, cutter seamed cool but also slows up production at times. I would rather have a printer that does that great! Then have a cutter/plotter that does its job. LOL

I appreciate your wise thoughts and suggestions in advance! Hope this message found you all well!!

Thanks,
Jeff
Beachbumgraphics.com
 
beachBumGraphics

beachBumGraphics

New Member
I am looking at a HPZ3200 - it is classified as a photo printer. I have seen the wide varriaty of things come off a Z3100 HP and it was a great print!!! I have not see a print on vinyl. Anyone use a latex printer in the $3-$6K range?
 
OldPaint

OldPaint

New Member
the only WATER BASED is the LATEX HP PRINTER. most other water based printer are INDOOR ONLY. beachbums? robertsdale is in the middle of cotton fields))))))
 
beachBumGraphics

beachBumGraphics

New Member
HAHA... well, we have come along way... we are on Hwy 59 and it is even in black top!! Most of our customers are on the beach, when we are not in the shop, we are at the beach or on the water! I would like to find a used few old printer. 36" to 44" would do. I am just wondering the difference between the ink. Latex vs the pig. I do not only think inside the box and only do what the industry and the sheep in the business do. Some people only know what they are told and if it is not common practice it can not or should not be done. I am testing the waters and seeing what is possible. The investment difference is large. $4,900 for a designjet HP that pumps out gallery quality prints! amazing colors. Then you step into a latex and your up to 61" min and start at $17K. I want to see if anyone is thinking outside the box and getting the job done more cost effective. :)
 
Biker Scout

Biker Scout

New Member
beachBumGraphics said:
I do not only think inside the box and only do what the industry and the sheep in the business do. Some people only know what they are told and if it is not common practice it can not or should not be done. I am testing the waters and seeing what is possible. The investment difference is large. $4,900 for a designjet HP that pumps out gallery quality prints! amazing colors. Then you step into a latex and your up to 61" min and start at $17K. I want to see if anyone is thinking outside the box and getting the job done more cost effective. :)
Click to expand...

Uggh... ok, it comes down to actual science in this matter and available materials/substrates. Pigment based photo printers use an ink that will not stick to regular sign industry grade vinyl. Seriously... just try this as a test. Take a piece of regular Oracal 651 white. Try and print on it. If your magical photo printer can print on that material and not smudge with a wet thumb, then you have an industry grade sign printer, and you've even skirted having to buy the more expensive vinyl, like Oracal 3651 (which is the equivalent to 651, but made for digital printing. Since it's cleaner, and has a smoother surface) Darn those manufacturers, always trying to milk us out of money at every turn, with their fancy words, and highfalutin marketing gimmicks.

The only water based ink that you could run in an actual photo printer is the AquaRes or Sepiax Ink set. But those inks will not run through a bubble jet style printhead like Lexmark or HP. They can only run through piezo-electric printheads, like the Epson DX series. So, to that end, if you had an Epson Photo Printer, you could technically run the aforementioned Oracal 651 though it and get the ink to stick. Only thing with AquaRes and Sepiax Ink Set is that you have to be able to heat up the substrate prior to it entering the printer. So an overhead infrared preheater would do the trick.

If money is really your only issue, then just import a printer. I've imported a really nice 64" printer with the latest Epson DX7 printhead for less than $5k, and that included shipping and customs. Runs industry standard Eco-Solvent inks, for $40 a liter. And it will print on anything, including Oracal 651! :cool:
 
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UnlimitedBT

New Member
Are you still looking for a printer?

Hi, I can offer you a Xerox 8264E which rebaged Mutoh ValueJet 1614. It is practically new - all components life is at 100% and they all original. It is a 64 inch wide EcoSolvent printer. I can palletize and ship it within USA.
Let me know if you are interested UnlimitedBT at Yahoo.com
Roman.

http://youtu.be/tYlSgRKCyq8

http://www.office.xerox.com/latest/K64BR-01U.pdf
 
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neil_se

New Member
I think your idea is excellent, good luck. I wish I had thought of buying a 5k printer and just hoping for the best, rather than being a sheep and buying a proven machine designed for the industry. It surely takes an out-of-the-box thinker like you to show up the rest of us!
 
Biker Scout

Biker Scout

New Member
Well, you see... it's "The Man" trying to keep us down under his thumb, and spurn development into new and uncharted areas. After all, "They" have the monopoly on ink, so why wouldn't they want us to be dependent on what they are trying to sell us?

In all seriousness... if you want to advance the wide format industry, invest in some money into the MemJet technology so that it can run an ink set that is commonly used in our industry. Think about that mounted to an overhead gantry on a 4x8 or 5x10 table. It'd lay down full width 4x8 board in less than 10 seconds. LED UV Cure light bar mounted to the same gantry. Cures as it prints!
 
R

rubo

New Member
Pat White said:
Must be nice to smoke spliffs all day and dream up crazy ideas on the beach......

"Why pay for proper technology when with wishful thinking I can make an indoor photo printer work and sell the prints as outdoor durable!!"

:covereyes:
Click to expand...
Are you serious? "pay for proper technology" is insulting to say the least. and " smoke spliffs all day and dream up crazy ideas on the beach......" is the best thing to do - I'm going back to the beach now - and here is why:

[video=youtube;2PyXcrOqC4g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PyXcrOqC4g[/video]
 
MikePro

MikePro

New Member
does it really have to be water-based? any flatbed printer can do the same as what you're showing here.

for your budget, you're most likely going to hard-pressed to find anything but a used printer. quality might be reduced, but if you're printing on tiles... then who cares? the graininess of the material makes up for your lake of dpi.
 
TyrantDesigner

TyrantDesigner

Art! Hot and fresh.
All your waterbased printers (aqueous and pigment inks) aren't going to be outdoor resistant even in the slightest unless you want to spend about 3 times more on ink getting UV inks ... and be hard pressed to find the inks since the norm for UV resistant ink is now solvent and latex.

If you don't have a budget for a large printer, look into selling your old machine since it's probably worth 10k used if it's in great working order ... finance the rest. Pretty much anything larger would pay for itself since if you're making money on a 30" versa .. going to 54" is just the next logical step after a couple years. ... if you're not making money on your machine and want to go bigger thinking that's the problem ... :noway:
 
R

rubo

New Member
Pat, tnx for the thumbs up! wish you the same! sorry you have no idea how things related, but they do - and this is as lowbrow as I will get - you'll just have to take my word - or not, don't really care :thumb:
player - yes you can, but it's not worth it; then ask artbot here what he runs trough his printheads
mikepro - yes it does - I have to protect the print by way of powder coating - the UV inks can't withstand the heat. As for graininess - you haven't seen anything, sorry for grainy video - guess had too much smokes on the beach - but I print on glass, aluminum etc...with waterbased inks - and people pay good money for it. If you want to see something PM me and I'll send you a sample.
So the ugly truth about waterbased inks is - there is a way(s) to make them stick to pretty much anything and stay without fading for at least as long as solvent and/or UV inks.
 
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