The HP Latex 260, the worst printer

[printndisplay]

I am new here and had interested to start a t-shirt printing company with good graphics and really confused which machine to go.

I prefer to go with HP latex 310 machine as it is versatile and can do more applications like wall, floor graphics and fine art reproduction. But some industry experts advised latex ink may not be suitable for garment heat transfer.

Can anyone help me advising with their experience on which may be best machine/ink for garment heat transfer and which media will provide best soft feel results and last longer.

 

[juf1an]

I am new here and had interested to start a t-shirt printing company with good graphics and really confused which machine to go.

I prefer to go with HP latex 310 machine as it is versatile and can do more applications like wall, floor graphics and fine art reproduction. But some industry experts advised latex ink may not be suitable for garment heat transfer.

Can anyone help me advising with their experience on which may be best machine/ink for garment heat transfer and which media will provide best soft feel results and last longer.

I have a roland, you can print eco solvent and transfer inks. The roland in mode eco solvent can print adhesive and banner.
With the transfer inks you can print in transfers papers and made t shirts with heat.

 

[frojasferrari]

Been working with my HP LATEX L260 for a year now, and for now I am very pleased with the printer, it prints great, is fast, and the production Print-Laminate-Cut time is great, really fast.
I´ve had a couple of problems but all of my problems have been just becuase my lack of knowledge, is my first wideformat printer.

If I can be of any help I´m from Chile, PM of you need any help in spanish, I dont know EVERYTHING but maybe it can be helpful.

 

[eahicks]

Here is what I get...

Put in L26500 61" instead, you should get the 12.xxxxxx download.

 

[P Wagner]

Here is what I get...

If you select OSX 10.5 you will get the current firmware release 12.x.x.x

 

[Split76]

My L26500 is 2 years old, first I had head issues but those resolved with less on/off per day and more printing time. I think i have had 6-8 "broke" downs at this time. First the curing element, then the heat sensor. After that the funnel was stuck.. really good and then tech came and unassembled right side from the printer and took it away (even he couldn't get it off the way it should have been taken) . This was under warranty. After that one year warranty period, carriage bushings have been changed twice (clean and lubricate the carriage rail after 4%) and the motor once. Now the printer is complaining 50.1.11 which is Error with Media Advance Sensor or with cable. OMAS could be disabled from the rip but sadly printer is whining about this after turning it on, which means it must be the cable or 2 electric boards in the printer.
This morning i disassebled the plastic cover which is covering these boards and moved the cables with my fingers (5 times when i turned the printer on, it failed because of 50.1.11) and it finally turned on after this. I guess this continues next week i'm still in belief that i will have to change one or both electric boards.. cable fault would be too easy and cheap for my luck
Just when you think I have had enough bad luck.. -> at the same time I bought my new L26500 i bought Summa S2 140T
It's 2 year warranty ends 10.10.2015. .. It was one year old when the whole cutting head had to be changed because of coil failure. Now, few weeks before warranty ends, the cutting head needs to be changed again. "Up and down encoder not working! Reboot!" errors and the cutter is cutting ... well.. let's just say it have seen better days.

After all this ****, i'm still believing in HP and Summa. I have used summa cutters for 17 years without problems so i'm believing i'm just having very, very bad luck. I've been using HP for only 2 years but I will be never going back to solvent/eco-solvent again.
I'm hoping for better in future

 

[greysquirrel]

L260 cyan head premature falure...check your 220 power at box. Put a set of meters on the fuse and send a print...do twice for each breaker...if your power fluctuates, you need a buck boost transformer installed...I have seen this on three printers...cyan heads will fail prematurely before others...my guess, cyan ink is thicker...

 

[Split76]

heheh, update on my problem, OMAS PCI card was faulty, I took a minor risk and ordered it and changed it. 15 minute job, saved atleast 1000e by doing it myself (card costed 480euros) Service manual is your friend with L25500/26500 (also nice and helpful tech helps also) . I changed lower felts and got rid of constant clean and lubricate message. Next time, i'll learn to change the bearings myself. 2 full rolls of printing this week without problems. :Big Laugh

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

heheh, update on my problem, OMAS PCI card was faulty, I took a minor risk and ordered it and changed it. 15 minute job, saved atleast 1000e by doing it myself (card costed 480euros) Service manual is your friend with L25500/26500 (also nice and helpful tech helps also) . I changed lower felts and got rid of constant clean and lubricate message. Next time, i'll learn to change the bearings myself. 2 full rolls of printing this week without problems. :Big Laugh

The constant clean and lubricate message comes from a sensor. The pulley has a tension sensor on it. It always moves at a certain speed but pays attention to when it requires more effort to move it that fast. Once the resistance is too strong it gives you the clean and lubricate message. Your felts must have been super dirty, but just because the felts are clean doesn't mean the top and bottom rod are clean from end to end. I like to take the right and left covers off every six months or so and vaccum out every little dust particle I can get. Then clean the rod with a lint free and ethanol and then re lube the rods. Make sure to do both the maint. manuals used to only say the bottom rail and you can hardly see the top rail.

 

[Split76]

The constant clean and lubricate message comes from a sensor. The pulley has a tension sensor on it. It always moves at a certain speed but pays attention to when it requires more effort to move it that fast. Once the resistance is too strong it gives you the clean and lubricate message. Your felts must have been super dirty, but just because the felts are clean doesn't mean the top and bottom rod are clean from end to end. I like to take the right and left covers off every six months or so and vaccum out every little dust particle I can get. Then clean the rod with a lint free and ethanol and then re lube the rods. Make sure to do both the maint. manuals used to only say the bottom rail and you can hardly see the top rail.

The bearings and felts were 4 months old (tech changed). Before that, those were last changed 6 months before that. I've been cleaning and lubricating both carriage rails 2 times in month for the last year. So i'm not missing or skipping anything. Last week when i did that procedure, the message came straight again after cleanin and lubricating. After that, i took the power off, took the printhead cleaning kit out and slided the printing unit to the center of the rails, took the lower felts off, cleaned both rails really good and slided the printing unit both directions and cleaned and slided and cleaned again.. then i oiled the rails, did more sliding and after that , assembled the felts, slided and oiled once more
That helped for atleast those 2 rolls.

 

[Split76]

The bearings and felts were 4 months old (tech changed). Before that, those were last changed 6 months before that. I've been cleaning and lubricating both carriage rails 2 times in month for the last year. So i'm not missing or skipping anything. Last week when i did that procedure, the message came straight again after cleanin and lubricating. After that, i took the power off, took the printhead cleaning kit out and slided the printing unit to the center of the rails, took the lower felts off, cleaned both rails really good and slided the printing unit both directions and cleaned and slided and cleaned again.. then i oiled the rails, did more sliding and after that , assembled the felts, slided and oiled once more
That helped for atleast those 2 rolls.

blaaah, after that, clean and lubricate message came again, i cleaned and lubricated and after half a roll same thing happened again. I ordered new carriage rail bushings and will change the upper felts also. I hope that service manual will guide my way

 

[Andy D]

I have used a HP Designjet L65500 Latex printer( I think that was the model) and I hated it.
Very hard to load materials & every time you changed materials it would take 10-15 to self check & mornings were worse, it would take almost a hour from the time you turned it on in the morning
for it to go though all it's self checks and heat up and you could start printing.
It had light vertical streaks on many materials.. and there were other issues that I can't recall.

 

[P Wagner]

The HP L65500 was the first Latex model on the market, in the years 2009-2010. They learned a great deal from the initial users experiences and have made dramatic improvements across a whole range of fronts. The current model uses HP Latex 3rd-generation inks, and the vast majority of customers and users are more than satisfied with these printers (Latex 3000 / 3100 / 3500).

 

[player]

The HP 3500 looks massive:

 

[Split76]

The bearings and felts were 4 months old (tech changed). Before that, those were last changed 6 months before that. I've been cleaning and lubricating both carriage rails 2 times in month for the last year. So i'm not missing or skipping anything. Last week when i did that procedure, the message came straight again after cleanin and lubricating. After that, i took the power off, took the printhead cleaning kit out and slided the printing unit to the center of the rails, took the lower felts off, cleaned both rails really good and slided the printing unit both directions and cleaned and slided and cleaned again.. then i oiled the rails, did more sliding and after that , assembled the felts, slided and oiled once more
That helped for atleast those 2 rolls.

I changed the bushings today myself. Right one looks quite funny, last time both bushings looked like that (4 months ago) . I think the carriage is somehow damaged and the bushings are not where they should. These bushings lasted 1500m2 (22 full rolls). Bushings cannot be inserted wrongly or at wrong place so maybe the only solution is to change the carriage.
I guess i'm laughing my *** off when I get the price for new one

 

[juf1an]

thanks to all:
I have a question,
Can someone please tell me what are the maintenance to be Give you a printer?
It is to be lubricated rails, and what else?

the printer latex 260
thks

 

[JoeBoomer]

User error.

Oily prints and slow print time is pretty easily fixed. You have to learn how to use the printer properly before you can bash it.

I had the l25, l26, and now l360. All we're progressively better and 10x better than solvent crap.

Either user error (my guess) or you got a lemon.

 

[MMG]

Hi juf1an,

In the link below you will be able to find all the information about the necessary maintenance of a HP Latex 260 Printer. The document is quite long, but you'll find the maintenance information in the section 4 (page 11 to 39)

Maintenance and troubleshooting guide