questions about L360

[Drip Dry]

Looking to buy an L360. Have been using a Roland for 10 years, so that's all I know.

The dealer is apparently a new dealer and the salesmen either is not well versed, or he keeping info from me.

Some of my basic questions.

1) What vinyl do I print on ? He says I can continue to print on 3651. I thought that was coated for eco solvent ?
Can I print on uncoated vinyl such as Avery a-6

2) I don't want to be a tech... Is there a Hugh learning curve ?
When I first got the Roland, hitting colors such as red was a real pain. Can I reasonably expect to print good colors out of the box, or am I going to be fiddling with profiles

3) I really only need the 54" machine. Would I be sorry if I bought the 310 rather than the 360 ?
I realize one is faster than the other and there is the ink collector option

4) The salesman keeps skirting around the issue about service. What is the care pack. Does it come directly from HP. I think I can buy up to 3 years ? What is it and how much does it cost

Thanks for any comments

 

[AF]

You can easily print on on 3651. Maintenance agreement is expensive but worthless if your local tech is terrible. HPtouts that latex can print on more media than solvent. This is not entirely true due to issues with heating the materials, but latex is sound technology at this point.

 

[FrankW]

1) You can check media compatibility with the media solutions locator:

https://ssl.www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/2013/ga/MediaLocator/home.html

Currently, the Oracal 3651 have an entry for the "old" Latex models only, but regularly media compatibility is higher with the new machines than with the older ones. Never saw a vinyl until now what can't be printed.

2) The printer have an 8" Touchscreen display, for a lot of tasks are assistants available. In addition, the printer have a complete manual on the display including QR-Codes for some chapters to link to videos.

With the new latex 300-models, there is an internal color management functionality wo lets you re-linearise standard profiles (310/330) or create complete media profiles with ICC (360). In addition, there are until now Profiles for more than 400 popular media available for direct download to the printer. And that profiles are compatible with every RIP-Software which can drive that printers. Instead fiddling around with some profiles, you could easily create an own one with the 360. Even re-linearizing profiles with the 310 or 330 will be a huge advantage in opposite to "fiddling around with standard profiles":

3) You would be sorry. The 360 have a lot of useful functionality the 310 don't have: OMAS automatic feed adjusting is one sample, double sided banner printing an other. With the 360 internal color calibration system you could create ICC-Profiles, with the 310 internal color calibration system you can only re-linearize.

4) In our country, the services with the care pack will be served by the dealer. But because of print heads and much other things are user serviceable, there would be no urgent need to buy a carepack.

 

[Asuma01]

Good info here. If you feel like the dealer you are working with isn't being straight forward then I would suggest finding another one. Lots of places sell these things.

 

[matthatfieldart]

HP Latex 360 Demo and Media Showcase

The new HP Latex ink is extremely versatile making it compatible with a very wide variety of media including tons of new specialty substrates. Its also redesigned specifically to be one of the most user friendly printers on the market. I do not own one but have access to and have printed on the HP Latex 360 and it truly is a dream machine - fast printing, prints vivid colors, fast drying time... i could go on and on. If interested, DaVinci Technologies, a Northeast distributor of the HP Latex 300 Series will be holding an open house featuring the HP Latex 360 and other new printing equipment and media. Ill post more about the open house but it is June 5th 10am-4pm. 8 Niblick rd. Enfield, CT.

I do graphic and web design for DaVinci, and im also a customer of theirs. They are very knowledgeable and good people. davinci-technologies.com <browse their website, much of the media is compatible with HP Latex.

 

[Drip Dry]

Thanks all

Looks like we will be getting the 360 rather than the 310

Can I ask another question... It can do double sided banners. How does it print the second side ?
Do I load it again after printing the first side, or is it so smart that it knows how to print the second side.


And a comment... I watched a demo on it. The tech loading the material was on his knees loading it from the bottom.
Not what I'm looking forward too. I'm too old to be doing this. I do have a youngster that can do it for me, but there are times when I'm alone and need to do it myself. Tell me there's an easier way.

 

[ProColorGraphics]

Thanks all

Looks like we will be getting the 360 rather than the 310

Can I ask another question... It can do double sided banners. How does it print the second side ?
Do I load it again after printing the first side, or is it so smart that it knows how to print the second side.


And a comment... I watched a demo on it. The tech loading the material was on his knees loading it from the bottom.
Not what I'm looking forward too. I'm too old to be doing this. I do have a youngster that can do it for me, but there are times when I'm alone and need to do it myself. Tell me there's an easier way.

Itll print a registration make when setup to do double sided printing. You do have to reload into the printer. It will automatically feed out extra on the start of the print job, but make sure you leave enough extra before you cut it off the roll.

ill either squat down or take a knee when loading mine.

 

[FrankW]

And a comment... I watched a demo on it. The tech loading the material was on his knees loading it from the bottom.
Not what I'm looking forward too. I'm too old to be doing this. I do have a youngster that can do it for me, but there are times when I'm alone and need to do it myself. Tell me there's an easier way.

Sometimes, when I have a lazy day, I load it while sitting in a chair with rollers. It works.

 

[EffectiveCause]

Yeah just got our 360 in. The tech will be here in a week and a half to set it up. Very excited! Counting down the days.

 

[TXFB.INS]

Yeah just got our 360 in. The tech will be here in a week and a half to set it up. Very excited! Counting down the days.

10 days to get trained? yikes hopefully that is due to the holiday but still 10 days and not making money........

BTW congrats on the new toy it is always an exciting time

 

[signsvictoria]

Hp 360

So our shop purchased the HP360 in March. Its a nice machine, print quality is good... ALTHOUGH its a pain in the A** to load, not to mention getting the material on the take up reel! Its very time consuming, loading and unloading can take up to 20mins. We use Onyx and there seems to be some issues with the communication between the 2. We love that the material can be laminated once its done printing but the machine runs super hot! Its a faster machine but it has its drawbacks.

Just thought I would add in my 2cents!

Thanks
KT

 

[cowashee]

I love our 360, it prints colors great, I love the alignment when putting in new material (although it takes forever) and i've never had issues with banding.

My only issues are minor:
Testing/profiling material uses A LOT of material, and only uses one side of the material (wasteful!)
Moving the material, wake from sleep, cancelling a job and startup take a really long time for the machine to run through it's steps.

 

[Kwiksigns]

So our shop purchased the HP360 in March. Its a nice machine, print quality is good... ALTHOUGH its a pain in the A** to load, not to mention getting the material on the take up reel! Its very time consuming, loading and unloading can take up to 20mins. We use Onyx and there seems to be some issues with the communication between the 2. We love that the material can be laminated once its done printing but the machine runs super hot! Its a faster machine but it has its drawbacks.

Just thought I would add in my 2cents!

Thanks
KT

20 minutes? It takes me 1 minute to load (if that) and 20 seconds to put on the take up reel. unloading is even less... you just hit one button. You must be doing something wrong. I like loading from the front as it saves space and time. don't even sit down to load it, i don't see why you would have to unless you're like 6'5" or something.

 

[dypinc]

20 minutes? It takes me 1 minute to load (if that) and 20 seconds to put on the take up reel. unloading is even less... you just hit one button. You must be doing something wrong. I like loading from the front as it saves space and time. don't even sit down to load it, i don't see why you would have to unless you're like 6'5" or something.

Maybe that his touch screen response is even slower than mine.