Xc-540

[KenG]

Hi all,

We have been looking for an upgrade to our EnCad Novajet 750 which is still plugging away and still gives great Quality.

Initially we were looking at 60-65 inch printers with the favourite being the Xerox 8265 because we are based in the Caribbean and have a close relationship with the local Xerox.

However given we are in a small market and the fact that we have three other print shops with same size or bigger we investigated some further and came across the Roland XC-540.

We are mid volume, actually an ad agency with our own print shop and a number of clients by islands etc.

How reliable is the XC-540. We are experienced with running a large printer, as with the Encad, but we are liklely buying the XC 540 from Miami and as such we want to be able to pretty much run it as we have our Encad, on our own, following the cleaning and maintenance guidelines.

Our output will be mainly banners, posters, labels, signs, vehicle graphics. We outsource our really large format stuff anyway.

The Xerox 8265 does not have the variety the XC-540 does and as such the XC 540 is our favourite. Yes its smaller, but its cheaper, and has the cutter too.

Also want to know how quick the XC-540 actually runs at the normal working resolutions.

thanks

 

[rdm01]

Our XC-540 is very reliable. It is a great machine, and haven't had any
problems with it. Easy to clean/maintain, cut system works great.

That being said it isn't the quickest of devils. Unless you really need the Lc
and Lm I would suggest going for a four color production machine. You will get
quicker printing with good quality. Never before have I had to run in high
quality mode, or probably actually needed the six color option (even though it
prints anyway.) Most of what sign shops do is on the level of 75-150 ppi,
which looks great at standard printing resolutions.

 

[Gino]

Welcome from PA......................

 

[KenG]

Our XC-540 is very reliable. It is a great machine, and haven't had any
problems with it. Easy to clean/maintain, cut system works great.

That being said it isn't the quickest of devils. Unless you really need the Lc
and Lm I would suggest going for a four color production machine. You will get
quicker printing with good quality. Never before have I had to run in high
quality mode, or probably actually needed the six color option (even though it
prints anyway.) Most of what sign shops do is on the level of 75-150 ppi,
which looks great at standard printing resolutions.

Thanks very much for the feedback.

Well given that we have the 750 the XC will probably feel like a rocket ship in comparison. We want to be able to be faster of course.

We have a chance to get one at 22k new.

The Xerox is most likely faster but we are at best mid volume in terms of activity so I am wary of a larger production machine. Plus I cant find a review anywhere for the Xeroxes and am searching for reference sites. I am told its a rebadged Mutoh RockHopper 3.

 

[KenG]

Welcome from PA......................

Thanks.

 

[osmasterflex]

I also have the XC-540.

I love the thing, I have printed banners in the high speed and billboard mode, and the color quality is actually quite good. Vinyl printing is crystal clear, and the cutting is excellent. It was definetly one of the best investments i've made in a while.

 

[SignsOfMaine]

We went from an encad novajet (POS in my opinion) to an XC540 and we´ve been thrilled with the results. Works great, no banding (huge issue with the novajet), and the ink is put down pretty thick, it can actually fool you into thinking it´s cut vinyl, you can see a tiny raised edge with an area of e.g. pure black.

I know there are two versions of the printer and there´s a slower one. We have the faster one and I´m glad we do, like RDM said it´s not a speed demon. But it´s not bad either. The thing automatically cleans all the time, you might want to rip around the print heads once a week and that´s all you´ll need to do. Changing inks on it is super easy too. Awesome quality and average speed and almost 0 maintenance to deal with is a good mix for 22k. Go for it.

 

[KenG]

Thanks everyone.

One last question. What kind of prices are you guys paying on ECO-Sol 440 Ml's or is it like bad mojo to ask this. Also is it better to use the Roland or are third party inks as good.

thanks

 

[SignsOfMaine]

We use the official stuff, I think if you use 3rd party ink it voids your warranty.
From the official site it´s like 66 bucks a cartridge, cheaper if you buy a 6 pack. I think we pay around that or maybe a hair more because we can drive to a place down the street for it.

 

[ykapadia]

For XC540, does heat lamination work or do I need cold lamination ?

 

[premiercolour]

We are a third party ink supplier here in S. California.

We offer $80/liter for Roland XC540. There is no hose cutting or computer software updating. Simply unplug and everything will look like the day the printer shipped to you. No worries about warranty if that is really your concern.

We have quiet a few forum users for ink, happy users I'd say.

 

[KenG]

We use the official stuff, I think if you use 3rd party ink it voids your warranty.
From the official site it´s like 66 bucks a cartridge, cheaper if you buy a 6 pack. I think we pay around that or maybe a hair more because we can drive to a place down the street for it.

Thanks very much.

Have you used the white ink ? We have some potential packaging and label clients who we'd love to fulfil on this but cannot get much info on how easy the white ink is run on these machines.

I guess when we get it we will try it.

 

[SignsOfMaine]

never have tried the white ink. Fieldcenter - sounds good. Roland doesn´t spell it out anywhere but I saw another company claim it didn´t void the warranty (but that seemed to be backed up by them saying they would honor roland´s warranty if you could show their ink caused damage). Not sure how all of this is supposed to work, doesn´t seem likely a different ink will kill the machine, but when there´s 20+K invested in it, I worry.

 

[synergy_jim]

We love our XC.

we used roland inks for the 2 years we were under warranty.

Recently we switched to eleven ten inks. 80.00 per 440ml cart.

Way cheaper and they perform like a champ... and they work with stock profiles.

 

[rdm01]

It is not legally supposed to void the warranty, but if you are having problems
and you are running third party ink, they always say that is the problem right
off the bat, and offer not much more advise. Although some third party ink
has caused problems in the past, it seems to be getting better all of the time,
and I think after warranty is up I would switch to a reputable bulk ink system.

You have to have your machine converted to white ink, it is not a plug and
play or use it when you need it type of thing. Therefor you would really want
a steady income of jobs requiring white ink before making the leap.

 

[premiercolour]

From a third party ink party view, the only part from a printer touches the third party ink is the print head and some tubes. Just get new print heads/ tubes, they should rehonor the warranty. Like I said before, it is SOLVENT. Even original ink will clog your print head if you dont flush/ clean well enough after times. I would suggest to do a reserach of where the ink come from, how long the ink has been on the market. Get some referrals from the supplier who is using it locally. You should be set to go.

We do have referrals from the forum, we have 100% eBay store feedbacks. Fieldcenter has been existed for the past 14 years. J-star ink has been on the market for the past five years with same formula same ink.

Francis

 

[KenG]

Just when I thought my mind was made up along comes another option. A Mimaki print and cut, a CJV30 - 160 which can print a larger size than the XC and is being priced to us at 18,500 US.

The printer apparently is relatively new, which is my first concern but the aggressive pricing is something.

However the XC540 remains favourite even though I will try to get a look at the Mimaki.

 

[SignsOfMaine]

Let us know how the mimaki does. That's a pretty nice price. Keep in mind your laminator width before letting that extra width seduce you tho I dunno how mimaki compares in quality to roland... but I can't imagine anything looking better than the roland. Also, isn't that mimaki a full solvent ink? If so you're gonna need a vent system for it, which sucks...