Best HP Latex for lower volume shop?

[Logoadv]

Now, I'm sure everyone will chime in and say how much they love their HP 570 and they print 10 full rolls a day and it also makes a lovely cup of coffee that never gets cold, but the price range of that machine is really beyond what I can ask the shop owner to spend on new equipment. We are still running a Roland VP-540 that archaeologists date from around 1300 BC, but I keep growing the sign / wrap side of our business slowly and we are talking about adding a 2nd printer, and keeping this Roland for digital heat transfer prints and really short run contour cut stuff where the print / cut makes more sense than swapping between two machines.

The cost on the 365 is so much lower than the 570, I'd probably be able to talk him into a Summa tangential cutter to go with it rather than a drag knife. For a shop like ourselves doing a few prints a day, is this machine the one to go for or are there other options I'm not seeing?

Thanks!

 

[BigfishDM]

Now, I'm sure everyone will chime in and say how much they love their HP 570 and they print 10 full rolls a day and it also makes a lovely cup of coffee that never gets cold, but the price range of that machine is really beyond what I can ask the shop owner to spend on new equipment. We are still running a Roland VP-540 that archaeologists date from around 1300 BC, but I keep growing the sign / wrap side of our business slowly and we are talking about adding a 2nd printer, and keeping this Roland for digital heat transfer prints and really short run contour cut stuff where the print / cut makes more sense than swapping between two machines.

The cost on the 365 is so much lower than the 570, I'd probably be able to talk him into a Summa tangential cutter to go with it rather than a drag knife. For a shop like ourselves doing a few prints a day, is this machine the one to go for or are there other options I'm not seeing?

Thanks!

Depending on what you have to have, you could probably get a 335 or even a 315.

 

[eahicks]

Now, I'm sure everyone will chime in and say how much they love their HP 570 and they print 10 full rolls a day and it also makes a lovely cup of coffee that never gets cold, but the price range of that machine is really beyond what I can ask the shop owner to spend on new equipment. We are still running a Roland VP-540 that archaeologists date from around 1300 BC, but I keep growing the sign / wrap side of our business slowly and we are talking about adding a 2nd printer, and keeping this Roland for digital heat transfer prints and really short run contour cut stuff where the print / cut makes more sense than swapping between two machines.

The cost on the 365 is so much lower than the 570, I'd probably be able to talk him into a Summa tangential cutter to go with it rather than a drag knife. For a shop like ourselves doing a few prints a day, is this machine the one to go for or are there other options I'm not seeing?

Thanks!

If you're only doing a few prints a day, I would say sub out to a dependable shop with a printer. It doesn't sound at all like you 'need' a second printer. Unless your company just has 15-25K just laying around and looking for something to spend it on, I'd hold out till you need one.

 

[Logoadv]

Depending on what you have to have, you could probably get a 335 or even a 315.

We really want to go 64" on our next printer. I know not much vinyl will get printed at that size, but we do a fair bit of banner business and being able to offer larger sizes would be a nice selling point.

 

[BigfishDM]

We really want to go 64" on our next printer. I know not much vinyl will get printed at that size, but we do a fair bit of banner business and being able to offer larger sizes would be a nice selling point.

Ok then I would look at the difference between the 335 and 365, you can get the 64" on the 335.

 

[bannertime]

I really love our 330. We were subbing stuff out left and right, so much so that we stopped doing production in house. So we got the 330. We didn't need to print on textile or need the x-cutter. Wasn't interested in the larger screen. We've have two clients that are super color conscious, and have had no issues matching their colors. 64" 335 is the way to go.

 

[BigfishDM]

We really want to go 64" on our next printer. I know not much vinyl will get printed at that size, but we do a fair bit of banner business and being able to offer larger sizes would be a nice selling point.

Here is a quick link with the differences between the models. HP Latex Printers | Gans Digital Media Solutions | authorized dealer for HP Latex printers, Graftech cutters, and GFP laminators

 

[Logoadv]

Here is a quick link with the differences between the models. HP Latex Printers | Gans Digital Media Solutions | authorized dealer for HP Latex printers, Graftech cutters, and GFP laminators

Thanks BigfishDM. It seems like the 365 gets a lot of extras vs the 335 for not a huge cost difference (about $3k based on one store showing current pricing, but maybe more or less elsewhere)

 

[Neville]

Now, I'm sure everyone will chime in and say how much they love their HP 570 and they print 10 full rolls a day and it also makes a lovely cup of coffee that never gets cold, but the price range of that machine is really beyond what I can ask the shop owner to spend on new equipment. We are still running a Roland VP-540 that archaeologists date from around 1300 BC, but I keep growing the sign / wrap side of our business slowly and we are talking about adding a 2nd printer, and keeping this Roland for digital heat transfer prints and really short run contour cut stuff where the print / cut makes more sense than swapping between two machines.

The cost on the 365 is so much lower than the 570, I'd probably be able to talk him into a Summa tangential cutter to go with it rather than a drag knife. For a shop like ourselves doing a few prints a day, is this machine the one to go for or are there other options I'm not seeing?

Thanks!

In my experience the difference between Solvent and Latex is to huge not to change. I'm not sure what the ink cost are like where you are but in New Zealand the latex inks are way cheaper ........ but that's not why we bought the our 360. As with any solvent printer you need to cure the ink before laminating (i'm sure everyone with a solvent printer is doing that, yea right ) with the Latex you go right from the printer directly to lamination. But it doesn't stop there, when you put a solvent ink on a film with solvent acrylic adhesive it sits there like a solvent soup waiting to cure, the adhesive swells and becomes sticky and in the case of say vehicle wrap films like 3M IJ180c that swelling of the adhesive can encompass the glass bead (Controltac) which means you lose your slide-ability when wrapping, same goes for Avery MPI1105 with its slide-ability feature or other slide-able films etc.

Have you noticed when you have a solvent print with contrast between dark and light colours and you apply over the light colours your squeegee will slide nicely then when it gets the heavy ink load it will tend to bite …… well Latex doesn’t do that. The way the Latex system and ink works it by heating up the latex polymer and forms a new interface on top of the film means it’s not messing with the adhesive.

Also with the OMAS in the latex (Optical Media Advance Sensor) this takes a media advance reading on every pass so on say a full roll of media the advance doesn’t need to pull as much at when the roll is getting down, it adjusts itself on the fly, this reduces banding.

Really the list goes on and on and on and trust me if you buy you won’t look back, more like say to yourself why didn’t we do it sooner.

Hope that helps

 

[iladi]

Exactly one year with a 310 model:

3350 sq meters

30 liters of ink

1 maintenance cartridge

0 heads


One of the best and maintenance free machines I ever had ( and I had Canon, Roland, Mutoh, Epson). I only hope that it is as reliable in long term as my soon 10 year old Roland.

 

[Split76]

Exactly one year with a 310 model:

3350 sq meters

30 liters of ink

1 maintenance cartridge

0 heads


One of the best and maintenance free machines I ever had ( and I had Canon, Roland, Mutoh, Epson). I only hope that it is as reliable in long term as my soon 10 year old Roland.

I have similar results with 360, 4000 sq meters, 8 months, something like 40 liters ink, 1 maintenance cartidge and that's it. 0 heads, which was suprise, with older 26500 i guess something like 10 heads were ***ked.. and usually same heads
LM / LC head have fired 2 liters at the moment and the rest 4-10L .. I have 2x every head for spare and i'm going to change all of them next week to keep colors consistent and good. I hope the money doesn't go waste, at finland the cost / head is something like 120euros

 

[Ryan Scott]

I have a 370. LOVE it. I've ran Mutoh, Vutek, Expedio. It's the most maintenance free, hands off printer I've worked with. You probably don't need the 370, it has all the upgrades and features, but as far as the HP Latex printers go, they are amazing.