SolJet EJ-640

[rjssigns]

Just got notification regarding Roland's new printer. 1L carts, dual heads, and they claim immediate finishing. They also claim up to 35% savings in running costs.
It uses their new Roland DG EJ INK. Can run dual CMYK or CMYKLcLmLk configurations.

Sounds good on the surface. I'll wait and see...

 

[player]

Aren't some owners of new Roland printers having trouble with print quality, colour consistency and banding?

 

[rjssigns]

Aren't some owners of new Roland printers having trouble with print quality, colour consistency and banding?

You hear about it, but I don't know if it's a widespread issue or just a few bad printers.

We tend to remember the horror stories, never the successes.


On a different note I'm wondering the same thing as Pat. Is it possible to laminate right away? I'd think this is something Roland would have pursued since it's an HP hallmark.

 

[rjssigns]

I seriously doubt you can laminate right away, I think they're being misleading to try to compete with the ever expanding latex market. IMHO, hopefully I'm mistaken.

I don't think we'll get be getting another Roland. They keep adding bells and whistles like larger ink carts and new inksets while completely ignoring the fact that their whole media handling system is flawed. Our take-up doesn't work past 10'. Try running a "production" printer while keeping in mind you need to stop it after 10' or get head strikes. Printing a roll of vinyl a day becomes an all day babysitting affair. We've replaced the take-up and stand, still no change. I've given up on this getting fixed (not our dealer or tech's fault - it's a design problem on Roland's end) and will deal with it until the lease is up and we move to latex. Sad to say but we went from extremely happy with our Soljet 3 to extremely disappointed on our Soljet 4. There are also issues with ink starvation at completely random intervals (since we got it) which can only be solved by printing on HQ setting most of the time. Then there is the fact that this thing dumps a liter of ink every 6 months and cleans all damn day.

The new printer looks interesting nonetheless, but I no longer find them appealing.

Makes me glad I kept my SP540V. It runs well and I can fix it with help from the forum.

Wonder what's going on with Roland? Fixing the feed/take-up issues should be easy. Nothing more than taking the time to align the components then pin them in place. It's called tramming.(seems Roland is getting sloppy) I used to build equipment that had to track perfectly at web offset speeds. (1000 feet to 3000 feet plus an minute)

 

[splizaat]

We have a new VS540I and after working a few kinks out, it runs strong 8-12 hours a day, every day. No banding....

pat - I know you've tried replacing with Roland brand take-ups...have you explored the lesser $300 off brand take up? At this point I think you owe it to yourself before you rule it out. Sometimes expensive doesn't mean better.

 

[rjssigns]

I haven't yet, but I'd like to. Worst case scenario we could always use it on the laminator if it doesn't work on the Roland.

Do you have an aftermarket take up you've worked with? I've looked at the Supply 55 ones but that's about it.

Thanks.

You should see where your feed/take-up reels are in relation to each other.

I'd start by checking the level of the feed/take-up then tramming between the feed and take-up.

Once that is dialed in I would check the tram of both against the linear rail.

You will need a tram rod, dial indicator and a really good level like a Starrett machinist level like this: http://www.starrett.com/metrology/p...nd-Tools/Precision-Measuring-Tools/98-6 W~SLC

Although a good digital level will do the same thing for a bit less money and will be useful on many other projects.

Tram rod is nothing more than a stick that can hold the indicator on one end and a piece of aluminum angle on the other. Camera mono-pods work great for this.

 

[splizaat]

Unfortunately I haven't tried any. 90% of the work we do is less than 12ft, so we just manually roll up in baskets.

 

[jeff412]

I haven't yet, but I'd like to. Worst case scenario we could always use it on the laminator if it doesn't work on the Roland.

Do you have an aftermarket take up you've worked with? I've looked at the Supply 55 ones but that's about it.

Thanks.

I use one of the the aftermarket take up devices. It looks just like the supply 55 one, but it is a cheaper Chinese version. I think it's around $200. If you run 8 to 10 hours a day, like we do, they don't last very long. I get about 3 months out of them then they start to groan and make all kinds of noise. They use a felt washer that functions as a clutch to allow the motor to slip. Once that clutch wears out it just doesn't work anymore. I have tried to buy the felt washer, but haven't been able to find it. To keep from buying a new take up reel every three months, I have added a timer to it. I then set the timer for about an hour longer than the predicted print time. This greatly extends the life of it. It's still a very frustrating device and I feel like I have to babysit it all the time.

Just my 2 cents,
Jeff