Need Help Ready To Upgrade - Not Sure Direction... Solvent, Latex, Other...

[methogod]

Looking at new wide format, not sure which direction to go. Like the features of the roland soljet but want to be ability to print small and clear. We do labels and decals. Dont care about print and cut but don't mind having it in one machine.

Always a fan of eco-solvents, but open to latex and UV

Not looking for new but something 1-2 years old.

The latex with the eye1 is a nice feature.... just not sold on latex ink.

 

[equippaint]

Mimaki has some really aggressive pricing on the jv and cjv right now. You could probably grab one of those brand new for the same or less than whatd you spend on a good slightly used machine.

 

[peavey123]

If you are doing lots of decals / print & cut stay away from the HP's they require much more heat than solvent so getting accurate cuts is much more of a P.I.T.A. than on say a Roland.

 

[methogod]

looking at mimaki and rolands eco-solvents.... Need small print to be clear as well (6x6 for up close viewing)....

 

[BigfishDM]

I can hook you up with a demo Latex 360 which is only a year old, what do you need to be convinced on Latex?

Looking at new wide format, not sure which direction to go. Like the features of the roland soljet but want to be ability to print small and clear. We do labels and decals. Dont care about print and cut but don't mind having it in one machine.

Always a fan of eco-solvents, but open to latex and UV

Not looking for new but something 1-2 years old.

The latex with the eye1 is a nice feature.... just not sold on latex ink.

 

[BigfishDM]

Not sure if you have seen this is real life but I can tell you that it was being done the wrong way if those were your results.

If you are doing lots of decals / print & cut stay away from the HP's they require much more heat than solvent so getting accurate cuts is much more of a P.I.T.A. than on say a Roland.

 

[peavey123]

Not sure if you have seen this is real life but I can tell you that it was being done the wrong way if those were your results.

So Latex prints don't require way more heat to cure the ink than solvent?

The answer is yes. I didn't say it couldn't be done, it's just easier/ more reliable on a solvent machine that requires much less heat. I've used both. If you're a shop doing mostly decals a solvent machine is by far the best choice. Plus you can setup with white ink for those clear prints. For mostly decals only a salesman or someone who hasn't used both could argue Hp is better.

 

[bannertime]

Some facts about daily use on an HP Latex machine. We installed our machine Jan 2016.

-Print/Cut is accurate to about 1/64th inch or less using type 1 ARMS marks.
-Banners may be UP to about 1/4 inch off in length.
-You lose 6-7 inches of material for every load. Maybe 18in on window perf.
-Colors are accurate enough for 98% of digital print jobs.
-Takes a bit to spool up the first job or turn on.
-A seriously small amount of maintenance required. (Service packs last forever.)
-Take up reel system may be the best one ever.
-No generic inks, inks may be a bit pricey.
-Consumables are irrelevant if you're charging proper prices.
-The ability to give a customer a banner in less than an hour is awesome.

If I think of more, I'll add them.

 

[Johnny Best]

-No harmful VOC

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

So Latex prints don't require way more heat to cure the ink than solvent?

The answer is yes. I didn't say it couldn't be done, it's just easier/ more reliable on a solvent machine that requires much less heat. I've used both. If you're a shop doing mostly decals a solvent machine is by far the best choice. Plus you can setup with white ink for those clear prints. For mostly decals only a salesman or someone who hasn't used both could argue Hp is better.

That's not true... I've used both and I'd say the Latex is as accurate as any solvent for cutting. Spending the time to dial in the media preset (ams) and the cutter is critical. We cut 10s of thousands of decals at a time with no issues on our summa.

 

[AKwrapguy]

We're looking a picking up a new printer as well and this is also our question. After doing a lot of research, we are finding that for our needs we're leaning towards HP 570 Latex. The fact that you can print and laminate right afterwards is a going to be pretty cool. One thing that you do have to be aware of with the Latex is that it requires 220 rather than 110 so you might need a run some power to where your printer is.

 

[CanuckSigns]

a eco-sol or UV printer opens up the possibility of white ink, which if you are doing decals may be worth looking into.

 

[Caliber Sign Guy]

We were facing the same decision. We had an old HP L25500 latex and an old Roland SC-545 eco-solvent. They both certainly had pros and cons - I too loved all the benefits of the latex but observed one other trait which was less than optimal. Stretching the printed material around curves that were a bit more extreme created whitish streaking where ink coverage failed to be sufficient... though they certainly may have improved latex ink performance since then. Our latex finally just got to the point where it wasn't reliably hitting important colors.

The Roland was nice because it seemed to spend a lot less time thinking and processing and more time printing...and I think we contour cut more accurately with it. But as pointed out in the other responses, other people seem to have dialed in and succeeded with using a separate plotter to register and cut....we did and yet it seemed more finicky - just my opinion.

Question was answered for us when our Roland was stolen and replacement through our insurance was easier as like-for-like...I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the new Roland will be awesome!

 

[tomence]

I have been using the HP L26500/L260 for 3-4 years now and this POS never printed as good or as reliable as my solvent or eco sol printers I have owned in the past, once this thing breaks and cannot be fixed anymore I am going back to eco sol or mild sol, either Mimaki or Roland depends on who provides the best service, I might consider the Seiko as well.
My latex never matched panels when printing wall murals, prints always stretched when print and cut, print heads constantly failing in the middle of the print, 20% full ink carts saying are empty, I can go on and on.

 

[jayhawksigns]

In the same "what to get" boat too. Looking at an S80600 or L560. Something we will live with for several years so making the right decision as what works for us is important.

 

[BigfishDM]

I will put a machine in your shop for 60 days to play with if that will help convince you that Latex is the answer. If you don't love it then I will pull it out and you can go with an Epson.

In the same "what to get" boat too. Looking at an S80600 or L560. Something we will live with for several years so making the right decision as what works for us is important.

 

[tomence]

One more thing I forgot to mention, you buy brand new latex for $16000 now and let say you are not happy with it and try reselling it next year, you will be lucky if you get $4000 out of it. Buy Roland for $16000 now and next year you can still resell it for at least $12000.
HP is all about hype and bit time marketing, that's all it is.
My HP had to be fixed 5 times in 3 years that cost me well over $8000 in repairs and parts and this is after warranty expired, while in warranty it broke in the first 2 months.

 

[tylercrum]

Lots of "this happened to me so it's true for everyone" opinions in here. I'll just give you my experience and opinion.
Before switching to latex I ran a couple mimakis.
Had an l25500 for about 7 years, just recently sold it for $2500. We currently have a 360 for our dedicated roll printer, and while we are not running MILES of decals, we do get orders for decals fairly regularly. And I can tell you the only time we've had any issues with running decals it ended up being the cutter that was the issue. As far as color issues, if we maintain the environment (temp, humidity, etc) that the printer is in, we can print roll after roll with zero color shift. We have had the 360 for about 18 months now and I just replaced all the print heads about 2 weeks ago. And honestly, only one head needed replacing but I'm big on color management and frankly I just wanted to replace them all. Are there lemons out there? Yup. There's also Roland lemons, Epson lemons, mimaki lemons (mimaki latex anyone?) etc etc
Truthfully it does take a little effort to maintain a consistent print environment, but it's all worth it when that ad agency calls and says "we have a 25 foot wall that we need wrapped tonight before the such-n-such festival tomorrow" and we can just load it up, hit print and start sticking it KNOWING our colors are good. Or when a client calls panicked because Tim thought Joan ordered the decals for the tradeshow, and Joan thought tim did...and we can say "relax, they'll be ready to pick up in the morning."