I AM BUYING THIS MACHINE TOMORROW UNLESS YOU TELL ME OTHERWISE...... Roland UV mG640

depps74 · Dec 21, 2023

I have decided after many failures with my HP to upgrade to a Roland UV specifically this one in link. Any feedback, advice, pitfalls to avoid or harsh warnings welcome. It hits all the marks for my shop, better color, scratch resistant, size, simplicity, speed, power needs, venting is ok etc... I am mostly concerned with consistency and reliability. Will this machine let me down on large long runs? Or is it a good robust workhorse?

any feedback greatly appreciated

/ https://uscutter.com/roland-mg-640-...H6dYOhZVF6KWnc6_CPwkgxPrQM9MUICYaAlKLEALw_wcB

victor bogdanov · Dec 21, 2023

check this thread out:

Review of the Roland LG-640

Review of the Roland LG-640 (2023-Nov) Do NOT buy! As little info is available online regarding the Roland LG-640 (LG-540 & LG300) I decided to write a little review of my experience with the new Roland LG-640 during the last 4 to 5 weeks. TL;DR. Do NOT buy. Reasoning. Excess amount of ink...

www.signs101.com

About the LG series, I'm sure there are significant differences compared to the MG but maybe you'll see something useful.

I think the Roland UV printers are more for specialty work/effects rather than a general purpose wide format printer, far better options for common applications

Have you looked at Epson R series? Which HP printer are you replacing

depps74 · Dec 21, 2023

victor bogdanov said:
check this thread out:

Review of the Roland LG-640

Review of the Roland LG-640 (2023-Nov) Do NOT buy! As little info is available online regarding the Roland LG-640 (LG-540 & LG300) I decided to write a little review of my experience with the new Roland LG-640 during the last 4 to 5 weeks. TL;DR. Do NOT buy. Reasoning. Excess amount of ink...

www.signs101.com

About the LG series, I'm sure there are significant differences compared to the MG but maybe you'll see something useful.

I think the Roland UV printers are more for specialty work/effects rather than a general purpose wide format printer, far better options for common applications

Have you looked at Epson R series? Which HP printer are you replacing

The HP 315 has put me through my paces. It's just so unreliable. Maybe cause I don't print that often? But I really never know what I am going to get. Rarely do I print something without part or all of it needing to be redone or worse outsoourced. I mainly want something reliable and better ability to handle grey tones and midtones. The non thermal heads, and the simplicity of the Roland are very attractive to me.
Also no new electrical needed

victor bogdanov · Dec 21, 2023

depps74 said:
The HP 315 has put me through my paces. It's just so unreliable. Maybe cause I don't print that often? But I really never know what I am going to get. Rarely do I print something without part or all of it needing to be redone or worse outsoourced. I mainly want something reliable and better ability to handle grey tones and midtones. The non thermal heads, and the simplicity of the Roland are very attractive to me.
Also no new electrical needed

Epson R will be much better imo than the Roland MG for your use, you're looking at 40ml waste ink per day with the MG even if you don't use the machine.

Look up Epson R5070, cheaper than the MG too

https://www.grimco.com/catalog/products/epsonsurecolorr5070printer

Epson solvent and roland solvent would be a better choice over the MG too I think

cornholio · Dec 22, 2023

victor bogdanov said:
check this thread out:

Review of the Roland LG-640

Review of the Roland LG-640 (2023-Nov) Do NOT buy! As little info is available online regarding the Roland LG-640 (LG-540 & LG300) I decided to write a little review of my experience with the new Roland LG-640 during the last 4 to 5 weeks. TL;DR. Do NOT buy. Reasoning. Excess amount of ink...

www.signs101.com

About the LG series, I'm sure there are significant differences compared to the MG but maybe you'll see something useful.

I think the Roland UV printers are more for specialty work/effects rather than a general purpose wide format printer, far better options for common applications

Have you looked at Epson R series? Which HP printer are you replacing

The MG is more like a successor of the LEC2-640. It has nothing to do with a LG.

victor bogdanov · Dec 22, 2023

cornholio said:
The MG is more like a successor of the LEC2-640. It has nothing to do with a LG.

Except that Roland has them side by side in all of the marketing and websites

d fleming · Dec 22, 2023

Bought a small roland for small labels I do a ton of. The one year warranty should be just about up. Had 1300$ worth of non covered repair already. It is a print/cut machine and has the worst plotter I have ever used in it. Prints very nice but I now use my graphtec for cutting the prints from it. It is my first and last roland.

Johnny Best · Dec 22, 2023

I would go Epson over Roland, for the main reason of better quality printing and cost savings to get a Summa or Graptec plotter.

Goatshaver · Dec 22, 2023

victor bogdanov said:
Epson R will be much better imo than the Roland MG for your use, you're looking at 40ml waste ink per day with the MG even if you don't use the machine.

Look up Epson R5070, cheaper than the MG too

https://www.grimco.com/catalog/products/epsonsurecolorr5070printer

Epson solvent and roland solvent would be a better choice over the MG too I think

I'd say if you're looking for reliability, look to into an Epson machine, although I don't know much about their resin printers, their solvent printers are incredibly reliable and excellent print quality.

ColorCrest · Dec 22, 2023

depps74 said:
any feedback greatly appreciated

depps74 said:
Maybe cause I don't print that often? But I really never know what I am going to get. Rarely do I print something without part or all of it needing to be redone or worse outsoourced. I mainly want something reliable and better ability to handle grey tones and midtones.

From your forum posts over the years it's apparent you've been struggling with this for a long while.

Seriously consider and budget for color management software and hardware along with investing some time and expense for training. Send me a direct message if you care to or ask here in the thread.

Good luck.

netsol · Dec 22, 2023

ColorCrest said:
From your forum posts over the years it's apparent you've been struggling with this for a long while.

Seriously consider and budget for color management software and hardware along with investing some time and expense for training. Send me a direct message if you care to or ask here in the thread.

Good luck.

Best advice you will ever get!

SlikGRFX · Dec 23, 2023

We run an mg640 along side an epson but there’s no way I would run one as my only printer. It’s far too slow. Below is what I posted on another thread about roll to roll uv printers. You’d be better off with an epson s80600.

“You can print white and cmyk in a single pass on the Roland. Gloss varnish is added on a second pass, so if you’re buying for the spot gloss effect, it will be even slower. Roland will print matte and gloss effect like the Colorado, UV inks are matte by default anyway.

How clean is your shop? Dust is a huge issue with spot gloss. We have never had an issue with dust or debris in the prints but spot gloss shows everything. If you run an extractor for the smell, it sucks in dust from the room so you need to set up a clean room.

Other than that they are really smelly, black ink is not opaque, prints are rough and tough to laminate, and it cleans for 1-2 minutes before every job. We bought one for decals and it seems to make the vinyl brittle too, so not great for that either. Cutter accuracy is also poor after using Summa cutters.

Honestly I don’t see the point of roll to roll uv printers. We thought we could offer more with this machine but it has been disappointing.”

balstestrat · Dec 23, 2023

Well did you buy it or not???? TIME IS UP

TopFliteGraphics · Dec 23, 2023

depps74 said:
The HP 315 has put me through my paces. It's just so unreliable. Maybe cause I don't print that often? But I really never know what I am going to get. Rarely do I print something without part or all of it needing to be redone or worse outsoourced. I mainly want something reliable and better ability to handle grey tones and midtones. The non thermal heads, and the simplicity of the Roland are very attractive to me.
Also no new electrical needed

That's strange. We have had our HP315 for almost 5 years and have never had a single issue other than figuring out the importance of profiles with different media for gray tones especially. I haven't ever had a down day except when I forgot to order ink in time LOL. Maybe you just got a lemon

damonCA21 · Dec 23, 2023

d fleming said:
Bought a small roland for small labels I do a ton of. The one year warranty should be just about up. Had 1300$ worth of non covered repair already. It is a print/cut machine and has the worst plotter I have ever used in it. Prints very nice but I now use my graphtec for cutting the prints from it. It is my first and last roland.

If the printer is set up properly it should cut perfectly. The whole point of getting a print and cut machine is doing it all in one job and not having to take out the print and cut in another machine

balstestrat · Dec 23, 2023

damonCA21 said:
If the printer is set up properly it should cut perfectly. The whole point of getting a print and cut machine is doing it all in one job and not having to take out the print and cut in another machine

BN20 is BN20 no matter what you do.

d fleming · Dec 23, 2023

damonCA21 said:
If the printer is set up properly it should cut perfectly. The whole point of getting a print and cut machine is doing it all in one job and not having to take out the print and cut in another machine

If you intend to laminate it still has to go out and come back in to be cut. I have been using plotters since early 90's. Voice of experience. This thing couldn't cut a clean corner if it had to.

depps74 · Dec 24, 2023

balstestrat said:
Well did you buy it or not???? TIME IS UP

Not yet, replies making me think the HP problems are perhaps ones of my own doing. Back to drawing board of profiling and optimizing printer. Got some great people on here offering to help via phone. I am leaning towards the Roland though. Its such simple looking machine,

balstestrat · Dec 24, 2023

Well make sure they know how to work on latex. It's most important to have good printheads before doing anything else.

Notarealsignguy · Dec 27, 2023

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I AM BUYING THIS MACHINE TOMORROW UNLESS YOU TELL ME OTHERWISE...... Roland UV mG640

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