Mimaki vs Roland Print Quality??

[splizaat]

Heyyyyyyy!

Up for a little discussion this morning. Was browsing the internet last night, bored, and ran across the CJV30 series Print/Cut Mimakis. Before this, I had no interest in running anything but a Roland. As of now we only run Roland Print/Cut machines, but it got me curious how the Mimaki print quality compares to the Rolands. We'd ONLY be interested in a print/cut solution as we do a TON of stickers.

We recently picked up a sample booklet of sublimated fabrics run on a mimaki and I feel like the print quality on FABRIC was a lot clearer than I get on vinyl out of my roland. Who's got real experience with this?

Matt

 

[tsgstl]

We do a ton of DECALS and because of this I would never want a all in one

I put reliability and cost of maintenance before print quality. They all print good enough for 99% of customers right out of the box.

 

[splizaat]

We're not busy enough to run a two-machine setup - we run out of a big garage right now. I'm more curious about how the print quality compares though...

I DO know it'd be a hard switch as we have fantastic support on Rolands here and so far our little Roland machine has been bulletproof.

 

[P Wagner]

Heyyyyyyy!

Up for a little discussion this morning. Was browsing the internet last night, bored, and ran across the CJV30 series Print/Cut Mimakis. Before this, I had no interest in running anything but a Roland. As of now we only run Roland Print/Cut machines, but it got me curious how the Mimaki print quality compares to the Rolands. We'd ONLY be interested in a print/cut solution as we do a TON of stickers.

We recently picked up a sample booklet of sublimated fabrics run on a mimaki and I feel like the print quality on FABRIC was a lot clearer than I get on vinyl out of my roland. Who's got real experience with this?

Matt

Both Mimaki and Roland offer multiple printers, with different classes of ink available, depending on the application. The bulk of both companies' sales have been printers with solvent ink (or variations thereof), but both also offer disperse dye sublimation inks that are primarily used for fabric printing. Indirect dye sublimation is a terrific ink set for fabric printing, because the ink sublimates (gasifies) before embedding into the fabric. It can produce a terrific color gamut that is washable and durable. However it is limiting in the fact that polyester fabric is essentially the only (or at least the bulk of) the media types that is compatible with this type of ink. In other words, dye sub is very purpose-specific ink.

Solvent ink on the other hand is far more versatile in that it can print on a much wider range of substrates, both coated, and in the case of PVC, uncoated.

 

[SightLine]

I'd say, comparing apples to apples meaning a newer generation Mimaki such as the CJV or JV33 which has a DX5 print head running solvent versus a newer generation Roland running the exact same print head and solvent inks..... the one that prints better will be the one setup the best with custom profiles.

Even older generation machines both brand which used 4 older DX4 heads.... both machines are essentially the same as far as what makes up print quality. They use the exact same print heads, same ink technologies. In that respect it comes down to use preference on build quality of the machine, support, etc. Both include a basic RIP, both are excellent machines.

If you are already used to a Roland and using Versaworks RIP then I'd say stick with that.

 

[tomence]

As far as i know Roland uses newer printhead than the Mimaki, also prints faster and better. If you are used to the Rolands then stay with them.
If you really want a combo than Roland is your best choice, it takes less time to switch from print to cut, and it's easier to navigate.

 

[Robert M]

Value

As stated above they both use Epson print heads so the image quality is similar. I think the Mimaki is a better value as it comes with inks (up to 2k worth) and they all come with a reversing take up that allows for print and cut where on some Roland's the take up is a 2k extra.

 

[wmshuman]

I currently own a Roland SP-300V and just yesterday I ordered a Mimaki JV33-160 using Mimaki's $4000 end of the year discount. I drove up to Pittsburgh and had some print samples made on a similar machine. Only difference was it was a 130 instead of 160. I could not believe how much better the JV33 was than my SP300V. What really blew my mind was that it was a 4 color machine as well (dual cmyk actually). Not too mention the JV33 was five times faster with better quality. I got the SS21 inks cause they dry fast and don't scratch easily.

I was really considering on buying another Roland because my current one has been great and is still using the same head since 2008. A great, solid machine. I really like the print/cut feature on the Rolands so I was interested in something similar, just wider.

Since Mimaki had that sale going on, I looked into the CJV33-160 and from what I was told by a Mimaki tech, that machine is not great when it comes to speed, cutting accuracy (at long runs) and productivity.

If you are doing small runs, it's perfect, but in my case, we print thousands of decals at once. I was told that we would have to group them into as sets of about 4-6 feet long at most. If it takes 12 linear feet of material to do a set, I would rather do them at once versus having to create three or four sets of registration marks. Basically, telling me it is not a productivity machine. He had good things to say about the machine, basically that it prints really well and fast but the cutting was not great. Also, the maximum downforce was 250 grams. My 10 year old vinyl cutter has 300 grams. I want my cutter to be able to cut sandblast mask and possibly 30 mil magnet. The combo machines won't do anything even close to that.

After doing some other research, I heard a lot of people saying that buying the JV33 was the way to go and add a separate cutter so that's basically what I did.

I went with a JV33-160 and I will use my Roland to cut if needed for the time being. The plan is to eventually buy a 54" Graphtec that can cut up to 400 grams.

 

[wmshuman]

As stated above they both use Epson print heads so the image quality is similar. I think the Mimaki is a better value as it comes with inks (up to 2k worth) and they all come with a reversing take up that allows for print and cut where on some Roland's the take up is a 2k extra.

Good point. The Mimaki comes with a 2 year warranty, two sets of 440 ml cartridges and a take up reel.

I paid $13,500 for mine with everything listed. The closest thing Roland has that's similar is the RE-640 and it is listed at $16,995 without the second ink set and take up reel.

Can't wait til it makes it here.

 

[splizaat]

Good to know...because I read somewhere that the dot size on the mimaki was much smaller than that of the roland. I want smooth gradients like on paper damnit!

 

[tomence]

Good to know...because I read somewhere that the dot size on the mimaki was much smaller than that of the roland. I want smooth gradients like on paper damnit!

Send me a file with gradients and I will send you a printed sample from my RE. The jv33 can't touch the Roland when it comes to printing gradients.

 

[premiercolour]

We have three roland XC, VP and SPi and CJV30. Print quality is about the same BUT speed wise, CJV = XC > VP > SP. I would choose XC > CJV>VP>SP (speed)

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Printing on fabric (or canvas in my experience) always looks better... try printing on some canvas with your Roland...

Also... what Roland are you running?

 

[SightLine]

There will always be arguments such as this which have no real basis. Yes printing gradients on one with excellent well optimized profiles will definitely be better than one with poorly optimized profiles.

This all depends on the RIP and the profiles and between these 2 machines has little to do with the actual machine. A JV33 with good custom made profiles can print perfect gradients every time. We use and i1 and create our own custom profiles optimized for our machine and environment (which is a huge factor). Perfect greys, greens, blues, coca cola reds, and perfect gradients are no problem at all. Using the rather poor canned pre-made profiles were a much different story.... We do also run Triangle solvent inks which have a wider color gamut than OEM inks as well which also helps.

Run a quickie dot position correct and print with a 1440 profile and I can print excellent perfectly legible 4 point text all day on our JV33. I'd say with confidence the Roland can as well if properly optimized.

Send me a file with gradients and I will send you a printed sample from my RE. The jv33 can't touch the Roland when it comes to printing gradients.

 

[tomence]

Printing on fabric (or canvas in my experience) always looks better... try printing on some canvas with your Roland...

Also... what Roland are you running?

And why shouldn't I be able to print on canvas?

 

[tomence]

There will always be arguments such as this which have no real basis. Yes printing gradients on one with excellent well optimized profiles will definitely be better than one with poorly optimized profiles.

This all depends on the RIP and the profiles and between these 2 machines has little to do with the actual machine. A JV33 with good custom made profiles can print perfect gradients every time. We use and i1 and create our own custom profiles optimized for our machine and environment (which is a huge factor). Perfect greys, greens, blues, coca cola reds, and perfect gradients are no problem at all. Using the rather poor canned pre-made profiles were a much different story.... We do also run Triangle solvent inks which have a wider color gamut than OEM inks as well which also helps.

Run a quickie dot position correct and print with a 1440 profile and I can print excellent perfectly legible 4 point text all day on our JV33. I'd say with confidence the Roland can as well if properly optimized.

I will just use the canned profiles, no need for the i1 thing, printing in standard mode which is 720 x 720 or i can use much faster mode and still get better results then the JV33. You said it yourself you have to print in 1440 to get legible 4 point text, i don't have to.

 

[Olivia]

searching for printer that prints on latex

Hello, does anyone know what printer is able to print on latex sheeting?

 

[SightLine]

There is no point in debating/arguing with one who is so overwhelmingly convinced of their superior opinion that they are blind to the possibility that there could be anything else but.

Just for the heck of it I just printed 1 through 12 point text on my JV33 at its lowest resolution 540x720, 4 pass. It is perfectly legible down to 3. If you think canned profiles are okay, more power to you. Every printer from ever brand is unique in its own way, a very critical element is the environment. The average temperature and humidity a printer is in greatly affects it's color profiles. Using profiles that are optimal for another machine and another environment will never give you the best results. Anyone who knows even a little about chemistry, color profiles, and whatnot knows this. It is an irrefutable and simple fact. Keep your head in the ground though. Does not bother me. I'm not at all stuck on my opinion of the machines, I think many machines are capable of great output in the right hands. I've given my thoughts on the machines so I'm done in this thread. Both are equally capable machines. One needs to look at other factors such as availability of support, inks, included options, bonuses, price, etc.

 

[tomence]

Just buy a Roland, you will cry less in the long run!

 

[nate]

Just buy a Roland, you will cry less in the long run!

Or buy a HP Latex machine and don't cry at all.....