New to the idea of Latex...!

[MikeyG]

Hi there!
I'm new to my company (and fairly new to large format printing), but have been asked to spec equipment for a vinyl printer/cutter combined or individual equipment.

I've been looking at the various Roland/Mimaki solvent options available (mainly because we have an ancient Mimaki JV3 solvent beast here at the moment!), but have only just discovered the concept of latex printers!

I'm thinking either the 260 or the L26500 might just do the job for us here!

We would need it to print vinyl, ready for lamination and contour cutting on a dedicated cutter (yet to be decided on, too!).
Additionally, we print wallpaper, window-cling, canvas and who knows in future! (We are an exhibition design and manufacturing company.)

I would love to hear any opinions on the Solvent/Latex alternative! Maybe from anyone who has used both?
In fact, I'm so new to this idea, I'm happy to read anything anyone wants to write about these machines!

A thousand thanks in advance!

 

[pnklout]

latex rocks -imho- but be careful there is a little catch. it consumes a lot of electricity, fairly more than any ecosolvent machine. at least that was the deal with the 25500's I ve worked with the past years..

 

[ProColorGraphics]

I would not go without having my HP latex printers. I might add another type of solvent print, but I would always at least one. I would beg to differ on the electricity consumption. My bill has changed maybe $300 for the YEAR! AND, I printing at least twice as much as I did when I had my Roland. So the electricity consumption is very minimal. Plus, being in Minnesota, the heat keeps my shop warm in the winter, making my gas bill very cheap! Yes, that makes the AC run more in the summer, but that is included in the $300 yearly increase!

For a cutter, I would never own anything other than a Summa S-Series T class! Works flawlessly with my latex printers. Unlike the Graphtec I had before.

 

[Hicalibersigns]

I would not go without having my HP latex printers. I might add another type of solvent print, but I would always at least one. I would beg to differ on the electricity consumption. My bill has changed maybe $300 for the YEAR! AND, I printing at least twice as much as I did when I had my Roland. So the electricity consumption is very minimal. Plus, being in Minnesota, the heat keeps my shop warm in the winter, making my gas bill very cheap! Yes, that makes the AC run more in the summer, but that is included in the $300 yearly increase!

Everyone thinks that because the unit requires 2 220v outlets that it is a huge consumer of electricity. The voltage and indeed the number of outlets has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of kilowatt hours a machine consumes. Our experience has been much the same as ProColorGraphics. It hasn't been significant. We are in the third year with our 25500 and we have been very pleased with it. It has been a true workhorse.

 

[Tim Aucoin]

Started with a Roland print/cut... got tired of waiting the gas-out time to laminate and/or cut, so took the plunge on the L25500 4 years ago and haven't looked back! Love it to death! Amazing quality, excellent speed and instant dry. Solvent has it's purpose (I have a smaller one here also), but I would never give up my latex! I can't speak to the electrical consumption, as my electric is included in the rent I pay in my building. Hope this helps a little!!

 

[FrankW]

Latex-Printers consumes more electricity than a standard Solvent printer, but if you check your costs of a KWh (if they are on a similar level than in Europe), you will see that one or two more KW's per hour will not be very expensive calculated on the printed square meters per hour (in our region we pay around 20 Cents per KWh, what will mean average 2 Cents per square meter).

And don't forget: latex prints are immediately dry, and there are no VOC's around the printer. If you add an additional Dryer to a solvent printer and an air purification system to let a solvent printer nearly compet with a latex printer in this items, it could be at the end that your solvent equipment in total consumes more power than a latex.

 

[danno]

We have latex, solvent and aqueous here in our shop. The latex machines catch the brunt of the work for the instant drying capability. If we need bite into a particular substrate, we go solvent. Sounds like you should be happy it. I would also recommend the Summa plotter listed above. We still have one in our shop to compliment our Zund. As for power, yes it does require 2 220v outlets. But amperage is minimal. Make sure you have an A/C that will handle the heat it puts out in the summer.

 

[ddarlak]

love my latex and would never go back.

extra elecric usage is a farce, i pay my electric bill and the few dollars more, and i mean few dollars more is made up in the countless hours saved in maintenence...

 

[ProColorGraphics]

love my latex and would never go back.

extra elecric usage is a farce, i pay my electric bill and the few dollars more, and i mean few dollars more is made up in the countless hours saved in maintenence...

Haha, I forgot about the maintenance. I am so used to not having to do really any routine cleanings, that it is just normal now.