I am considering a roland lej-640FT. i know its not the biggest, baddest, or fastest printer but I do like the fact it can print on thick substrates. I dont see much discussion on these machines and was wondering if anyone has any real experience and feedback on these. We do a pretty wide variety of materials. I know they have some limitations as do all machines. I would love to hear from any actual owners.
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roland flatbed
- Thread starter Fast46
- Start date
Pauly
Printrade.com.au
Nope. A lot of flatbeds have that option. My Oce Arizona had a clear option. I couldn't find to many uses for it so I oped for double white instead. Lately spot varnish has becoming more popular on branding now.
I actually just purchased one 3 months ago and the reason I chose this machine was because it can print up to 6" thick substrates. Although you will rarely ever get a request to print on something that big, it was beneficial to be because I also do laser engraving, sublimation and a lot of other things and this machine works great for promotional items and bigger more expensive crystals that are thicker than the traditional 1-3" flatbed machines.
I opted for both the white and clear ink even tho I can't see myself utilizing the clear as of yet but again I am also not marketing it. Like you said all machines have pro and cons.
Going back to what you said I personally LOVE my roland and i tend to usually stay with roland products because they have been great for me, so the biggest pro for me is the thickness and the prints that come out with my machine at even the high speed low dpi settings comes out great. That being said the bad things about this machine are:
1. the speed is pretty slow at high speed settings on a 4x8 board with full color saturation takes about 24min to print
2. the table vacuum is not that great on how it is made, the 4 zones are not really configured correctly in my opinion at least
3. there is A LOT of auto cleaning so ink seems to go faster than i expected but i am pretty sure most machines will have that problem ( i factor that in my pricing so no big deal to me)
4. because of how high it prints even time i re hone the machine takes longer than i like because it goes all the way up and comes back, again i can deal with it because when i am printing the same substrate i don't need to hone or level it out i just return it to origin at the same head height and keep printing.
Sorry if i was rambling or not making sense in my post I normally don't post but i will be more than happy to answer specific questions if you have them, i did demo other machines and I don't regret my decision with this but my next machine will definitely be for speed and production
I opted for both the white and clear ink even tho I can't see myself utilizing the clear as of yet but again I am also not marketing it. Like you said all machines have pro and cons.
Going back to what you said I personally LOVE my roland and i tend to usually stay with roland products because they have been great for me, so the biggest pro for me is the thickness and the prints that come out with my machine at even the high speed low dpi settings comes out great. That being said the bad things about this machine are:
1. the speed is pretty slow at high speed settings on a 4x8 board with full color saturation takes about 24min to print
2. the table vacuum is not that great on how it is made, the 4 zones are not really configured correctly in my opinion at least
3. there is A LOT of auto cleaning so ink seems to go faster than i expected but i am pretty sure most machines will have that problem ( i factor that in my pricing so no big deal to me)
4. because of how high it prints even time i re hone the machine takes longer than i like because it goes all the way up and comes back, again i can deal with it because when i am printing the same substrate i don't need to hone or level it out i just return it to origin at the same head height and keep printing.
Sorry if i was rambling or not making sense in my post I normally don't post but i will be more than happy to answer specific questions if you have them, i did demo other machines and I don't regret my decision with this but my next machine will definitely be for speed and production
I appreciate your response. I have 2 roland printers as well and that definately is an influence. I can understand the speed issue and that is kind of a letdown but I think i can deal with that if it does its job well. We also do a pretty diverse array of products and thats one of the reasons I am liking the thickness ability. Just curious if you have done any bottle printing? We also do a lot of laser engraving and a lot of hydroflask engraving. I would like to see if we could do some stuff on this machine. It would be cool if there was an adapter to roll the bottles and print them like some of the smaller machines. might have to figure that out if I get one.
Do you use vesaworks only, or do you have another rip software?
Do you use vesaworks only, or do you have another rip software?
Steve Weist
Mimaki UV Flatbed Specialist
Fast 46, the Mimaki JFX Series flatbed printers from PDS Equipment can print up to 6" if needed. Call me if I can help or test products for you. Are you coming to Print 17 's SGIA?
Call me anytime
Steve Weist
615-812-3001
PDS Equipment
Steve Weist
Mimaki UV Flatbed Specialist
The
Steve weist
615-812-3001
Mimaki UJF and JFX Series all have gloss clear, mat clear and textured clear. AMAZING. stuff
Steve weist
615-812-3001
Mimaki also has clear ink.
Sorry for the delay was not in the office a few days. I use the vesaworks DUO which is pretty good and i also have the old versaworks for my older machines. So far I have not had any limitations on what i can do other than round bottles and I wouldn't be surprised if they had something for that to attach on the machine. As for everything else small or big I usually make jigs and then stack alot of them at once and just go for it, i have messed up my share of things doing this but again you can't get better at things without making mistakes along the way.