Need a printer and torn what to get

[Ginocol]

Hi I am now in the position to buy a printer but still cant decide what to get.

I was toying between Roland and Mimaki but keep coming back to Mimaki now.

I want to produce window graphics, labels contour cut stickers, standard vinyl prints and wraps.

I am limited to space as my workshop is (5.5Meters x2.5M) and I already have a laminator 2.2Meter desk, computer etc. I have just enough room left for a Id love a UCJV300 130 or similar if im right.. Area left is -1.4Mx 2.7M so should have room to load vinyl etc and move it on the castors to load work on if need be?

Id love a UCJV300 130 as I like the zero drying times and awesome print features etc and i could use l200 inks to print wraps if I'm right?
I'm worried about odour for one. Would I need an industrial Air purifier and can this print just as many different options as an Eco solvent? Does it create more vocs than a Mimaki Eco solvent?
Print wise I may not be printing every day to begin with. Are they easy to maintain and are the print heads durable along with all the other parts and build quality etc? Does servicing cost a lot of ££ along with maintenance parts etc.
My other choice would be a Mimaki CJV150. 1 print head is plenty for me i think as not too fussed about speed as long as it can print all night and be left unattended. Again do these have a good print head, are these reliable do, they give off much odour? What would the maintenance costs be?

Many thanks for any advice in advance

 

[Pauly]

Welcome!

I have no info about the printers for you, but i wont be using UV for wraps. Use ecosol or latex.

 

[Solventinkjet]

The UCJV300 is a good, reliable machine, but a lot of people stay away from UV for wraps and mostly because solvent or latex is a proven solid solution for wraps. From what I've heard you can do wraps with UV inks but installation can be harder due to it preventing stretching etc. That being said, the solvent will stink much more and you would at least want some ventilation in such a small room. If you want a machine that 1000's have used for exactly what you want to do, I'd go with the CJV150. The UCJV300 has nice features and expanded applications but might be overboard for you and more of a hassle when it comes to wraps.

 

[Ginocol]

The UCJV300 is a good, reliable machine, but a lot of people stay away from UV for wraps and mostly because solvent or latex is a proven solid solution for wraps. From what I've heard you can do wraps with UV inks but installation can be harder due to it preventing stretching etc. That being said, the solvent will stink much more and you would at least want some ventilation in such a small room. If you want a machine that 1000's have used for exactly what you want to do, I'd go with the CJV150. The UCJV300 has nice features and expanded applications but might be overboard for you and more of a hassle when it comes to wraps.

Thanks for the advice. Would you suggest a bofa unit to clean the air and they do a resurculating air scrubber version rather then blow all my heat n pollution outside?

 

[Ginocol]

Welcome!

I have no info about the printers for you, but i wont be using UV for wraps. Use ecosol or latex.

Id love a latex but need a printer cutter

 

[BigNate]

Id love a latex but need a printer cutter

HP has quite a few print/cut bundles - get a 700w with the Graphtec cutter and laugh all the way to the bank! (but seriously, it has been covered here a lot - there are many ways to put ink on paper - vinyl?- but my personal recommendation is to find out what the service talent in your area will support. just be aware that this talent can make or break your experience with any machine. Once you know what your locals can keep running, then see what options fit your budget..... the best printer in the world will leave you yelling obscenities if service is $5k and 3 days away!)

 

[Ginocol]

HP has quite a few print/cut bundles - get a 700w with the Graphtec cutter and laugh all the way to the bank! (but seriously, it has been covered here a lot - there are many ways to put ink on paper - vinyl?- but my personal recommendation is to find out what the service talent in your area will support. just be aware that this talent can make or break your experience with any machine. Once you know what your locals can keep running, then see what options fit your budget..... the best printer in the world will leave you yelling obscenities if service is $5k and 3 days away!)

£5Grand for a service!?

 

[BigNate]

£5Grand for a service!?

I used to run a Heidelberg TOK on the North Shore of Oahu - when the motherboard started to fail we needed to call an actual tech. The service call started at $5k + any parts and time past 1-day. (with a 3-day lead to get tech to the island.)

I highly recommend finding what the local talent can do - flying someone 3,000 miles to make a service call should be avoided! (I am aware that my example is toward one extreme, but the example is valid. but the TOK could print about $5k/day in billable so getting it fixed was a no-brainer, just painful.)

 

[MNT_Printhead]

My HPs were giving me fits this year and I reached out to both Mimaki and Roland for demos, only Roland replied and it was by a phone call from my local dealer that services them as well, Mimaki just added me to their email list. I reached out to Mimaki about their latex in 2019 and got no response (I expected that though, I had heard they had given it up, and I can't wait to give up HPs when they drop the 831 inks and make me trash them. The heat seems to cause a lot of big problem if you panel.

I am burning 10 ft to 30ft to reprofile the HPs on all media or more on Onyx, I never had this issue working with solvents or ecosol.

 

[Ginocol]

I used to run a Heidelberg TOK on the North Shore of Oahu - when the motherboard started to fail we needed to call an actual tech. The service call started at $5k + any parts and time past 1-day. (with a 3-day lead to get tech to the island.)

I highly recommend finding what the local talent can do - flying someone 3,000 miles to make a service call should be avoided! (I am aware that my example is toward one extreme, but the example is valid. but the TOK could print about $5k/day in billable so getting it fixed was a no-brainer, just painful.)

Ah it should be way cheaper here, I live on the small island of England

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Using a UCJV300-107 here, and loving it for decals, textured prints, transparencies and even posters. Mimaki printers are the main workhorses here (2x UJF 6042 MKII, 2x UJF-3042 MKII and a CJV150-107 as well as the UCJV300-107). I like that it has a robust service mode that lets me check most sensors, switches and functions out without special software and the service manuals are easy to come by. UV ink has been great, we use the LUS-170 inks and they can handle an insane amount of stretching without cracking and flaking off. Fun to take a solvent sticker with the same artwork and twist/stretch it and then do the same to a UV print to show off durability. Also holds up really well in sunlight, so much so, we don't even bother with a laminator. Ink prices are pretty good as well, at least state-side with ink running under $150/liter for OEM and around $95-120/liter for aftermarket. Since you're not messing with cartridges, you can also use 100% of your ink as the bottles just feed straight into the machine (less trash too, and can use the bottles to dispose of the waste inks).

As for parts, most are decent in price and availability here. The heads are Ricoh Gen5 heads, so pretty dang durable with a stainless nozzle plate. Not quite as tough as the Toshiba Tec CE4 heads Mimaki uses in their flatbeds, but they do better detail.

As for the bad, not super great on high DPI detailed prints where resolution really matters. Things like signage, packaging and stuff, looks great however. The built in cutter likes to drift as well, and recalibrating it can be a HUGE pain as well as just being slow like most print-and-cut machines.

Can't really speak for the Roland, as most machines I have used from them are kicking in the 15+ year mark. Also, Mimaki has announced the UCJV330 series, which uses dual 8-channel offset heads, so can probably get a LOT more square footage/meterage per hour. However, new machines can be a buggy mess, and good luck finding anything used if wanting to go that route.

 

[MrDav3C]

I'm a long term Roland printer user, had an SP540v for over 10 years and recently upgraded to the SG3.

Had a good look at the Mimaki CJV range, was convinced this was going to be the next printer for us for a couple of years but decided to stick with Roland as it's what we already know and the Mimaki CJV was originally produced over 10 years ago so felt the technology may be lagging behind the Roland printers released last year.

The first obvious thing I feel to say is that any solvent printer doesn't like to be left not printing for days, these machines like to be in regular / constant use and never turn them completely off so they can perform cleaning cycles through the night etc.

Colour and print quality on the SG3 are pretty excellent, I'm aware the VG3 is better with the additional colours and wider gamut range but personally can't see anything wrong with the output from the slightly cheaper SG3 models & feel that anything more than this is probably a bit overkill & sometimes feel the quality that the printer can produce is often wasted and not really showcased on simple signs and decals.

Contour cutting has significantly improved from the sp540v to the SG3, on the latter we could only print, lam & cut about 2/3ft at a time before the cutting would run out to an unacceptable level. With the SG3 we regularly print, lam & cut lengths upto 3m with no issues at all & good accuracy.

The SG3 Also comes with a take up unit as standard which works perfect for printing large runs and full wraps unattended without any issue. We regularly combine the use of the take up unit and the perforated sheet cut function to keep prints to a manageable size for laminating and cutting.

The TR2 inks are a significant improvement from the eco sol max with outgassing in just 6 hours according to Roland (we still leave for at least 24 hours), the inks produce an extremely bright and vibrant output, dry well, have much better scratch resistance & have a 3 year lifespan without lamination apparently. They are also not massively strong in odour so should be suitable for a small print room without the need for additional ventilation.

So far the machines feels well built and of good quality & Roland offer reasonable tech support if required. I'm aware there were a number of issues with earlier SG and SG2 models but I feel & hope these have been ironed out and rectified by the time it's came to produce the SG3. I guess time will tell but I certainly don't expect the SG3 to last quite as long as it's predecessor did.

The other thing to mention is that Roland has locked the end users out of Service mode, so for major repairs or upgrades we are now totally at the mercy and expense of Roland print technicians. Hopefully this will change or there will be a way around this in the future as we would like to continue using then same print technicians that we have done for years.

 

[zspace]

The number one thing I look for in a new printer is an excellent support eco-system. Techs, parts, media and profiles are as important to me as the printer.

 

[somcalmetim]

Roland user for years from SolJet 2 through Pro 1 and 2 and now have a VG540 and VG640...the VGs are beautiful machines...they finally brought back orange for better reds and the light black ink helps give untinted greys...had good luck with service.
Getting a new roll of 3M 40c vinyl out of the box smells worse than both VG printers printing full panels in TR2 inks on 3M 180c...
I still got an exhaust fan and some dryer hose and then laser cut a long narrow fume hood extractor box out of plexi...opening is like 36"x0.5" with some spreader baffles, it looks like a giant crevice tool for a vacuum...it sucks air through hinge crack at top of the front flip door and a thin enough wedge the door still opens with it in place...

 

[balstestrat]

I can't wait to give up HPs when they drop the 831 inks and make me trash them.

Good luck mate, it's going to be past 2030 when that happens.

 

[Ginocol]

The UCJV300 is a good, reliable machine, but a lot of people stay away from UV for wraps and mostly because solvent or latex is a proven solid solution for wraps. From what I've heard you can do wraps with UV inks but installation can be harder due to it preventing stretching etc. That being said, the solvent will stink much more and you would at least want some ventilation in such a small room. If you want a machine that 1000's have used for exactly what you want to do, I'd go with the CJV150. The UCJV300 has nice features and expanded applications but might be overboard for you and more of a hassle when it comes to wraps.

thankyou

 

[signsbydebbie]

Just get a HP115/SumaCut combo for damn near free and thank me later. Or I have a working great Roland 540 print/cut machine for sale cheap. Understand I ran the Roland for 12 years and I have never called a service tech in my life, ok I was a service tech in another life before signs so I don't call them. Also because of my other life before signs... I loath Hewlett Packard as a company and I mean that with the deepest conviction. But I'm not a fool, and latex is latex and dry time is dry time and zero dry time is almost intoxicating after years of waiting on solvent to dry. We wrap stuff and so far I love latex for that and being able to reprint a damaged panel quickly or do a 4ft print/lam/contour cut logo set ready to go in less than 30mins. instead of 24hrs, on way cheaper equipment that has no fumes. I can print and laminate wrap parts faster than I can install them most times, this is Twilight Zone stuff compared to solvent. Leave the printer idle for a few days or God forbid unplugging it for week is not fun and games for solvent but a non-issue for latex as far as I can tell. Oh and barcoded print/cut workflow is something I hope to never have to be without again. I love my little printer and the Suma does not disappoint as usual. If something happened to it or I needed more production I would just get another one. In the US at least, an HP vendor will ship the set to you and you can install it yourself, they only do that for the 115 that's why I bought it and would again.