Roll to Roll UV Printer Purchase

[Goatshaver]

So I've been thinking about adding a UV printer so I can do spot gloss effects on stickers or short run label work I do. I have room for a 54" but it would make things rather cramped with it being next to my S40600. So I've been looking at the Mimaki UCJV300 series because I can get the 75 version and save some room. Not opposed to a larger machine though. I know they are just coming out with the UCJV330 series but hat is only in 54" and up.

What other options are out there that have this spot clear feature and white?
I also like the fact I can cut with this mimaki, but that's not a totally important as I have 2 standalone cutters available.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Pauly]

most stock comes on a 54" roll, i personally wouldn't go smaller

 

[akuarela]

UV Printers and Printer/Cutters | Roland DGA

Supplying VersaUV technology for product customization, Roland DG offers a range of large-format UV flatbed and print/cut devices.

www.rolanddga.com

Roland also had some convincing models, 30", 54" & 64" saw these at Printing United, somewhat similar pricing to the Mimaki models.

 

[Goatshaver]

most stock comes on a 54" roll, i personally wouldn't go smaller

Yeah that's one why I'm considering a 54" my existing setup I run all 54" so I wouldn't have to buy different sized material. I'm just in a pretty small space is why I was considering the 30".

 

[Goatshaver]

So it really looks like there are 2 options. A Mimaki UCJV 300/330 (330 isn't available yet) or Roland LG model which is just coming out.

What are people's experience with service in general from either company? I've just read a lot of gripes or complaints about Roland and how they've changed who can service the machine and such. Also the one video I was watching of the Roland LG, it was 4 months old and the machine was already replaced once.

I wouldn't be opposed to a Mimaki UCJV 300 series since it's been out for a few years and they probably have a lot of the kinks worked out. As far as I can tell the new 330 models the only advantage will be speed and slight resolution bump with new heads.

I'm assuming these can do most printing in a single pass. I was watching a video of the Roland LG where you had to print the white first on every piece on the run and then go back to origin to print the 4C and other effects. Not sure if that's been addressed but that seems like a big downside. Where the Mimaki can do multi layer printing.

 

[White Haus]

We've been happy with our UCJV. White point is really good on the white ink. Don't have gloss so can't comment on that part but it's been a good printer for us.

It's a good addition if you already have other printers. We've done lots of wall wraps and even box truck wraps with it and they're holding up really well.

It lays down a lot of thick ink, and is painfully slow when printing white/layered, but it definitely has it's place.

 

[petepaz]

we recently demo'd the roland LG and looked pretty solid. we currently have the LEJ we are looking to replace.
the LEJ was great and owes us nothing. definitely a work horse but slow as hell. the LG is faster, also has cut option which is great and has new color combos available.
don't really know much about the mimaki

 

[parrott]

Put the canon Colorado on your list. The new one has white and gloss/matte finish. We have had ours about a year and it has been great.

 

[zspace]

Do you have white ink and gloss/matte finish on your Colorado? I'm trying to decide if it's worth upgrading my 1650 and really want to know how good the white is and the real cost for white ink. (I've heard they spit a lot.) I also haven't identified a steady market to justify the flex finish.

 

[SlikGRFX]

You can print white and cmyk in a single pass on the Roland. Gloss varnish is added on a second pass, so if you’re buying for the spot gloss effect, it will be even slower. Roland will print matte and gloss effect like the Colorado, UV inks are matte by default anyway.

How clean is your shop? Dust is a huge issue with spot gloss. We have never had an issue with dust or debris in the prints but spot gloss shows everything. If you run an extractor for the smell, it sucks in dust from the room so you need to set up a clean room.

Other than that they are really smelly, black ink is not opaque, prints are rough and tough to laminate, and it cleans for 1-2 minutes before every job. We bought one for decals and it seems to make the vinyl brittle too, so not great for that either. Cutter accuracy is also poor after using Summa cutters.

Honestly I don’t see the point of roll to roll uv printers. We thought we could offer more with this machine but it has been disappointing.

 

[Goatshaver]

You can print white and cmyk in a single pass on the Roland. Gloss varnish is added on a second pass, so if you’re buying for the spot gloss effect, it will be even slower. Roland will print matte and gloss effect like the Colorado, UV inks are matte by default anyway.

How clean is your shop? Dust is a huge issue with spot gloss. We have never had an issue with dust or debris in the prints but spot gloss shows everything. If you run an extractor for the smell, it sucks in dust from the room so you need to set up a clean room.

Other than that they are really smelly, black ink is not opaque, prints are rough and tough to laminate, and it cleans for 1-2 minutes before every job. We bought one for decals and it seems to make the vinyl brittle too, so not great for that either. Cutter accuracy is also poor after using Summa cutters.

Honestly I don’t see the point of roll to roll uv printers. We thought we could offer more with this machine but it has been disappointing.

I'm leaning towards the Mimaki right now as it just sounds overall like a better machine and compared to the Roland R2R UV offerings. (Also my local Roland dealer seems to not want to contact me about them for information. Kinda off-putting.)

The Mimaki dealer said the inks have less of an odor than my Epson solvent. Is that true? Also I feel like my area is fairly clean but I'm in a basement so dust may be an issue with the clear if the same issue with the clear attracting lots of dust will show.
I'll have to ask my Mimaki dealer about machines they have sold and what condition's they operate in.

For me it's a perfect niche machine. I do a lot of low quantity labels and they all want cool special effects and this type of machine seems like it would be a great fit.

 

[SlikGRFX]

The smell is just different. The Epson is worse whist it is printing. Its kind of an acrid smell that hangs in the air. But it quickly dissipates after printing.

The Eco UV ink just stinks. A strong chemical smell that’s permanently there. Ours was a demo machine. When it was delivered I could smell the printer inside the van before they even opened the doors. I’m told it’s just a smell and not dangerous, but it does give me a head ache if I’m in the print room for any length of time.

But either way, smells can be dealt with and if the printer performed well it wouldn’t bother me. But we have just found it to be hard work to achieve perfect results.

 

[Goatshaver]

Ok so I'm seriously revisiting this idea of a R2R UV printer.
I'm not sure if I should go with the mimaki UCJV330 coming out, the 300 to save a few thousand $.
I thought maybe a UJV since I already have a separate plotters here, but that only comes in 64". Space is tight so I'd like to get smaller than 64", but not a 30" since I already use material at 54".

You can print white and cmyk in a single pass on the Roland. Gloss varnish is added on a second pass, so if you’re buying for the spot gloss effect, it will be even slower. Roland will print matte and gloss effect like the Colorado, UV inks are matte by default anyway.

How clean is your shop? Dust is a huge issue with spot gloss. We have never had an issue with dust or debris in the prints but spot gloss shows everything. If you run an extractor for the smell, it sucks in dust from the room so you need to set up a clean room.

Other than that they are really smelly, black ink is not opaque, prints are rough and tough to laminate, and it cleans for 1-2 minutes before every job. We bought one for decals and it seems to make the vinyl brittle too, so not great for that either. Cutter accuracy is also poor after using Summa cutters.

Honestly I don’t see the point of roll to roll uv printers. We thought we could offer more with this machine but it has been disappointing.

I haven't ever really had dust issues with my regular prints. I try to keep it pretty clean down here and the only foot traffic is usually just myself and occasional customer. I'll probably have to invest in an air scrubber if I have a UV plus my Epson S40 in my area. I'm just in an open finished basement area.

 

[SlikGRFX]

Ok so I'm seriously revisiting this idea of a R2R UV printer.
I'm not sure if I should go with the mimaki UCJV330 coming out, the 300 to save a few thousand $.
I thought maybe a UJV since I already have a separate plotters here, but that only comes in 64". Space is tight so I'd like to get smaller than 64", but not a 30" since I already use material at 54".


I haven't ever really had dust issues with my regular prints. I try to keep it pretty clean down here and the only foot traffic is usually just myself and occasional customer. I'll probably have to invest in an air scrubber if I have a UV plus my Epson S40 in my area. I'm just in an open finished basement area.

Regular prints are fine for us too. Unlaminated or with good UV specific laminates, dust isn't really a problem. The only issue comes with spot gloss. Any dust trapped in the first CMYK pass or the gloss pass will show as an inclusion in the gloss. As the varnish is printed as a 2nd job, there is twice the opportunity to get dust in the print. You can't run a job that is longer than 1m unattended because it will hit the floor when it rolls back through.

 

[Goatshaver]

I'd love to get a new UCJV 330 machine but would it really be wroth the extra cost over the older 300 model?
As far as I can see the big main difference is a new head technology allowing for better prints and faster speeds. Also it looks like some new clear functions have been added over and added layer functions. (supporting up to 5 layers)

For what I do, stickers and short run labels it would be perfect because everyone wants the cool effects and just by the fact I cannot do them in-house I'm losing customers. It would open up a lot more material options that are rather difficult with solvent inks.
I don't really need an integrated cutter but I think it would be fine as I could just leave prints in the machine and cut immediately after the print was done without sheeting it off or moving a roll to a new cutter.

 

[Heebeegeebee]

We've got the UCJV300 and it's a pretty great machine. The few downsides are how slow it is. In my opinion, it's how slow all the functions are in between printing that drive me nuts. The clear printing is great. You can print it in the same pass, you just have to know what settings to use. If you try to print a full layer of 100% clear in the same pass, you will get bleeding ink in your image. That said, you absolutely don't need to lay down that much to get a nice glossy print. We don't have a stand alone cutter and I will say that the cutting could be better. On some materials you REALLY have to dial in the settings and even then it can go wrong but we have found a vinyl that we really like for stickers and it cuts like a dream. I'm sure you will find some materials you prefer to cut on your stand alone but plenty that are great in the UCJV.
The smell doesn't really bother us at all. We are not a sign shop. We just run stickers and other prints in addition to our other services so we are not running it 24/7 but even when we are running it all day it doesn't smell very much in my opinion. I have been very surprised to hear folks complain about it at all.
One other downside is that Rasterlink is pretty clunky software and constantly needs to be updated but once you have it figured out it's not so bad. I have heard other people use Onyx which is supposed to be better but doesn't have as many printing profiles yet.

 

[Goatshaver]

Does anyone have thoughts on Roland LG UV machines?
I was talking to a dealer about one of those. Just looking comparing the Roland LG and the UCJV300 they seem to be on par with each other as far as print capabilities.

Both do 8 colors, layered printing, inline cutting...

 

[petepaz]

Does anyone have thoughts on Roland LG UV machines?
I was talking to a dealer about one of those. Just looking comparing the Roland LG and the UCJV300 they seem to be on par with each other as far as print capabilities.

Both do 8 colors, layered printing, inline cutting...

just a heads up, we did end up purchasing the LG-640 and it's a good machine but they are having issues with the red and orange ink. we have been waiting for like 6 weeks for roland to ship out the new ink. the did give us a work around by putting cleaning cartridges in those two slots but i am disappointed in roland. we have had 7 roland printers over the last 20years, this is our 8th and they have gone down hill in my opinion. the machine it self prints great and versaworks is easy to use but the speed of their new solvent/eco-solvent machines is not up to par for production and now the issues with the red/orange inks is a problem.

 

[netsol]

what issues are they having with the inks?
i am aware that some of those reds & yellows FADE fairly quickly
but i really don't keep up with these things

 

[petepaz]

what issues are they having with the inks?
i am aware that some of those reds & yellows FADE fairly quickly
but i really don't keep up with these

they had some issues with the inks printing correctly, dropping out and they developed a new formulation. supposedly shipping out mid march but as of yet i have no new inks