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HP 360 has anyone used Counterweight kit?
- Thread starter jimmmi
- Start date
Christian @ 2CT Media
Active Member
Yes they help a lot with most medias, it make a big difference in keeping the right amount of tension and not bouncing off the media when rolling.
bannertime
Active Member
I think all the models suffer from some type of length distortion.
bannertime
Active Member
You'd have to go by every minute or so and hit the advance button. The tension bar has a sensor that activates the take up when it gets too low.
jimmmi
New Member
So its impossible. But the cost of $900 I've seen they sell is crazy expensive. Also in one video I think he mentions somewhere that 360 users can order for free? Is that true?
We have a 360 and it was retro-installed for free as it was still under extended warranty. I know it was intended to minimise the fluctuations in print length over multiple tiles, but to be honest it didn't make a noticeable difference. It seems to me that the weight of the take-up is only one contributing factor - even when not using the take-up there are issues with panels not lining up.
Unfortunately, there was a massive negative that results from the counter-weight - now the media moves around A LOT on the take-up roll. It seems that the original heavier weight of the take-up bar helped the media run straighter. Without it, the media moves around side-to-side, to the point where, without constant intervention, it'll cause one side to be so much looser than the other that it lifts and causes head strikes, even with the edge holders. With the counter-weights removed, you can let a full roll run overnight without issue.
TLDR, I wouldn't buy them if I had to pay for them, and they were more trouble than they were worth.
Unfortunately, there was a massive negative that results from the counter-weight - now the media moves around A LOT on the take-up roll. It seems that the original heavier weight of the take-up bar helped the media run straighter. Without it, the media moves around side-to-side, to the point where, without constant intervention, it'll cause one side to be so much looser than the other that it lifts and causes head strikes, even with the edge holders. With the counter-weights removed, you can let a full roll run overnight without issue.
TLDR, I wouldn't buy them if I had to pay for them, and they were more trouble than they were worth.
If you do paneled graphics, they help a lot (along with rotating every other panel 180*). It can cause the take up to shift side to side if you don’t load the media perfectly since it makes the dancer bar lighter.
We found them invaluable when we had several wall and vehicle wraps over the course of a couple of months. We used long run preheating, rotated every other panel, and placed them on the take up reel as straight as we could, and we ended up with very little to no uneven stretch on the seams.
We didn’t pay for ours either since we were still under warranty, but if I had to pay for it, I would. The frustration of panels that don’t line up is way more nerve wracking than shifting take ups to me.
We found them invaluable when we had several wall and vehicle wraps over the course of a couple of months. We used long run preheating, rotated every other panel, and placed them on the take up reel as straight as we could, and we ended up with very little to no uneven stretch on the seams.
We didn’t pay for ours either since we were still under warranty, but if I had to pay for it, I would. The frustration of panels that don’t line up is way more nerve wracking than shifting take ups to me.
jimmmi
New Member
So all these line up problems on paneling is a HP "feature" as I see. With solvents there are no such thing lining up panels etc as far as I know. Why all these happen? Also HP as I see are like macbooks. Buy the Mac and then the adapter to the adapter for the adapter. All these counterweights, output panel covers, too many things to have a good result.
We have UV flatbed, latex and solvent in our shop. The latex gets the most use because the media can be lammed and cut right away. (Roll to roll on our flatbed takes too long to set up in between rigid prints to make it worth while). Short run or long run, there isn’t any wait time once printing has finished.
I think most of the draw backs to the HP latex 100-300 series are a combination of the technology (relies on heat which can be a problem with a lot of different medias) and the over use of plastic parts. If you step up to their 1500 (or maybe even the 500) series, you’ll find the parts they use are much higher quality. You’ll pay for that quality though...10-15x the price. There is no perfect technology out there, but there are techs that work best for most situations in your shop. We’ve even printed on non-printable cast, calendared, metalic, and polyester films and laminates on our latex with great results.
If I could only have one printer in my shop it would be a latex. It’s versatility and overall speed (not printing speed) are the best combination for the vast majority of work we get. If they fallowed Ricoh and added white (from their R series, or any variation of it) to their 300 or 500 line, it would pretty much solidify that’s the printer to get for me.
I think most of the draw backs to the HP latex 100-300 series are a combination of the technology (relies on heat which can be a problem with a lot of different medias) and the over use of plastic parts. If you step up to their 1500 (or maybe even the 500) series, you’ll find the parts they use are much higher quality. You’ll pay for that quality though...10-15x the price. There is no perfect technology out there, but there are techs that work best for most situations in your shop. We’ve even printed on non-printable cast, calendared, metalic, and polyester films and laminates on our latex with great results.
If I could only have one printer in my shop it would be a latex. It’s versatility and overall speed (not printing speed) are the best combination for the vast majority of work we get. If they fallowed Ricoh and added white (from their R series, or any variation of it) to their 300 or 500 line, it would pretty much solidify that’s the printer to get for me.
jimmmi
New Member
Definitely the 500 series is much more robust and makes sense. It's newer machine. More researching. Also about white ink I think all HP user wish this for the next release. And I think HP will make it true. First because they already did it In r2000 and second because Ricoh released the new L5100 with white ink. (previous was rebranded Mimaki)