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Question What Printer would you stake your business on?

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Reveal1

New Member
Their recommendations are to buy more machines or get an industrial class machine.[/QUOTE]

It's like that with almost everything isn't it? In the eighties I bought a BMW thinking it was my traveling sales solution. It was durable and definitely a cut above the time in quality, but still left me stranded a couple of times, with limited and expensive service options compared to a newish Ford every several years. Or how about cordless tools? Can buy 'industrial' Hilti which are definitely higher quality, but service is sparse and they are pricey, versus buying 'decent' Ridgid' or whatever at Home Depot with lifetime replacement. Maybe a solution is to have a relatively inexpensive backup (I had two used 25500s for a while) and/or a service plan on the critical machines. I feel your pain.
 
Christian @ 2CT Media

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
Reveal1 said:
Their recommendations are to buy more machines or get an industrial class machine.

It's like that with almost everything isn't it? In the eighties I bought a BMW thinking it was my traveling sales solution. It was durable and definitely a cut above the time in quality, but still left me stranded a couple of times, with limited and expensive service options compared to a newish Ford every several years. Or how about cordless tools? Can buy 'industrial' Hilti which are definitely higher quality, but service is sparse and they are pricey, versus buying 'decent' Ridgid' or whatever at Home Depot with lifetime replacement. Maybe a solution is to have a relatively inexpensive backup (I had two used 25500s for a while) and/or a service plan on the critical machines. I feel your pain.
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These 570s would essentially become that, backups. We own them outright so there would be no benefit to getting rid of them.
 
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iPrintStuff

Prints stuff
What I haven’t really mentioned so far is the feed consistency. With the Colorado you can start printing bang on wherever you want (from about 5mm at the start of a roll).

basically, I just measured how much vinyl I need to get a job through the laminator without having to switch back to the backing paper. So every roll I print has the exact right amount of vinyl at the end of the roll to get the job through and out my laminator without stopping. Not a massive deal but it’s better than just guessing (as per the old mimaki).

not sure how the latex works either but on the CJV30 it was almost impossible to print dead centre on a roll. Colorado does that as default!

saved a bunch of time as now we buy our banner material in a few sizes +2” for hems and now we don’t need to cut the banners. They just come off ready to hem. (As long as you set the feed correction right on the short edge too).

for small runs I just let banners etc fall off the front and onto a self made basket. Could let them fall onto the floor if I wanted to though. The ink simply will not scratch without you needing to damage the media underneath it.
 
TomK

TomK

New Member
2CT Media you didn't order 2 of the 60600L's yet? :D

They are $5k off at the moment, and I'm sure Grimco will do even better than that, and may even offer a "trade in" on your HP's by just giving them the serial #'s and not really wanting them back (Epson promotion).
 
Christian @ 2CT Media

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
TomK said:
2CT Media you didn't order 2 of the 60600L's yet? :D

They are $5k off at the moment, and I'm sure Grimco will do even better than that, and may even offer a "trade in" on your HP's by just giving them the serial #'s and not really wanting them back (Epson promotion).
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Not Yet, there are significant comparisons to be made... we have 3 front runners as options with different price points but also different production speeds and abilities.
 
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KingsofWraps

N.C.
I’ve have multiple 300 series printers but if you want serious horsepower consider a 3000 series. Dual roll, lower ink costs and you can expand into different markets. The quality is superb your running 2x1 print heads for all your colors.
 
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Christian @ 2CT Media

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
But there are also tremendous downsides at least for my company to go that route. 1 it's still HP and 2 there is a colossal amount of waste with the latex industrial machines
 
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KingsofWraps

N.C.
It was hard getting use to wasting a few feet on the beginning of every roll on vehicle wraps but it also saves a ton on production time 12 rolls in 6.5 hours that one man can do. Your doing industrial sq footage numbers only a Colorado can handle that but it’s not good for vehicle graphics.
 
B

bannertime

Active Member
TomK said:
If i had that volume, I'd buy a few medium speed machines vs 1 giant fast machine, esp if it is an HP and has issues/downtime.
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I agree with this. In my opinion, I think the only reasons to get the 3000 is for the extra print width.
 
T

TrustMoore_TN

Sign & Graphics Business Consultant
KingsofWraps said:
It was hard getting use to wasting a few feet on the beginning of every roll on vehicle wraps but it also saves a ton on production time 12 rolls in 6.5 hours that one man can do. Your doing industrial sq footage numbers only a Colorado can handle that but it’s not good for vehicle graphics.
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@2CT Media’s numbers can be achieved with the Colorpainter M64s, and it’s great for vehicle graphics. When you’re doing that much production, the waste at the front and end of a roll is less important. I ran 3 Mimaki JV33’s and printed full rolls of vinyl daily. I would feed the vinyl out to the take up reel and let it run. I didn’t have time to wait for the print to reach the take up reel - My time was more valuable that a few dollars of vinyl waste. I would suspect that 2CT Media would be in the same situation.
 
jpescobar

jpescobar

New Member
More and more users and printer owners ditched the HP Latex for more trusted and reliable brands and models. The HP Latex despite all the services bundled and provided with the printer still lack efficiency when it comes to color accuracy and consistency especially in production mode.
Personally I prefer the Epson SureColor S-Series, 100% Epson build with the PrecisionCore printhead technology that blows any other printhead whatever the brand and the printer model in its range.
Combined with an Easymount Sign laminator 1600 from Vivid, a Roland GS-24 vinyl cutter since I don't make too much vinyl cutting, just some stickers, decals and heat transfer, TC7 heat press from Secabo and a 124" cutter bar from KeenCut is all I need for my business.
 
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mark galoob

New Member
I’ve been running mutohs for 10 yrs or so. I know it’s the cheaper alternative however they make me money and have been very stable. My 1304 was 8 yrs old and still running fine. I sold for a 1324 because of the mutoh deal they were having and bulk ink would be cheaper. it runs fine so far. someday I d like to move to a UV flat bed.
 
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