Costing ink usage

[simon haysom]

Hi there.

Looking at purchasing a brand-new printer. Either a Epson, Mutoh or Mamaki.

All at the bottom end of their ranges, all in the 1300mm-1600mm size range.

All are similar prices. $18000-$22000NZ

All seem to be a similar print quality.

Just trying to do a costing on ink usage. Obviously, they all claim the cheapest running costs against their competition.

I know there is a formular for working out, I just don't know what it is.

thanks Simon

 

[Stacey K]

Following...I'd like to know as well.
My HP115 I use .29 for contour cut and .32 for full coverage square foot. That's based on a post on this site I found on here a few years ago. I'll try to find it, the guy also calculated electricity and maintenance costs.

 

[MikePro]

i've always been below, but i quote based on $.33psf full coverage on my hp365
if I really wanted to sharpen my pencil, or know that I have enough ink remaining in the printer for overnight runs, I'm able to see ink estimations when I rip my files into Onyx ProductionHouse.

 

[Solventinkjet]

They will all be pretty close in cost. 0.33 ish per sq ft. is a good rule of thumb. The best way to get the lowest cost on any of these printers is to properly calibrate and profile them. That way you use the least amount of ink while still hitting the full gamut the printer is capable of.

 

[damonCA21]

There are so many variables involved ( print settings, the artwork etc... ) you will never get an exact real world cost but all printers are pretty much of a muchness. In any case ink cost for a job is less than 5% of the price you charge the customer so isn't really a factor you need to think about.
Pick by the machine you get on best with and has good local technical support as this is a lot more important

 

[Snydo]

Rather than base your purchase on ink costs, I'd suggest basing your purchase on which printer manufacturer has the best service in YOUR area.

 

[simon haysom]

Rather than base your purchase on ink costs, I'd suggest basing your purchase on which printer manufacturer has the best service in YOUR area.

Good idea, I guess it would still be handy even just for quoting. ta Simon

 

[unmateria]

I would suggest u a mutoh with ms51 inks. With proper calibration exceeds a lot the gamut of ecosolvent, and altough the ink costs near x2, u need less than half of ink,... Mantaining all advantages. But like solventinkjet said... U really need proper profile calibrations for each media (about 90min each one)

 

[May-artisJet]

Now the printing tech is more matured, printing quality or the ability are nearlly the same. But printing speed, printing&maintenance simplicity, the workflow is a more important part besides the cost.
If just cost, printing cost---Ink cost--- is only a part of the operational cost. The regular replaced parts affect too. To get a better unrtanding on Costs:
1. How many heads: Print heads have similar lifetime. The more heads the printer use, the more cost you need to invest per year
2. Other ink system parts: ask for a list of price and inquire the recommended replacement frequency
Other invisable cost like the labor and time you put on printing ,maitnenance touble shooting can not be calculated easily, that is how the speed and workflow simplicity affects.

 

[CMYKENGINEERING]

As others have said, reliable and timely service should be one of the highest, if not the highest, priority for your purchase. EVERYTHING breaks down eventually.

In terms of ink costing, you can work out from a printer's logs how much ink is used in a job and do some basic division/multiplication. The most conservative number should be reached by printing a square with 100% of each ink channel. This is not the normal mode that prints are completed, so this would give you a number that you can be confident compares worse to your everyday printing, i.e. $0.33/sqft from a 100% CMYK square would mean your actual costs are less.