Roland Ecosol Max Ink VS 3rd Party Ink VP540i 2023

[player]

I have a VP540i and I hardly use it. I am keeping it clean and doing head cleanings etc. I am completely out of ink and have had to put the machine into a head soak until I figure out which way to go on the inks.

In Canada I was given the price of $187 per cart x 4 for the Roland 440ml and $138 for the 220ml carts. I can get 3rd party inks for $85 per 440ml cart. But last time I checked a number of years ago the 3rd party inks were still not without grief.

The other issue is with my limited use the Roland inks have a 2 year shelf life and most inks are at least 1 year into that life at the suppliers, with mfg dates of 2022 and even 2021.

I searched for this here but didn't have and luck finding a current thread.

Thanks

 

[netsol]

how about jetbest?
they probably have the setup where the bottles invert & go into the bulk containers
we use them for our old roland with no problems.
i would PHONE IN an order and only place it if they could tell me the current expiration date on inks currently shipping.

if you expect the inks to last that long, you should probably do a variation of my routine and print a small color wheel every few days & agitate inks AT LEAST weekly (solids will settle)

 

[damonCA21]

I would second that. Get a bulk ink system as it will work out a lot cheaper. It probably is worth doing some printing every few days on it just to keep the heads working and clear. I just make up some artwork with 1 inch blocks of each of CMYK across the width of a sheet of vinyl and print that out.

 

[player]

I would second that. Get a bulk ink system as it will work out a lot cheaper. It probably is worth doing some printing every few days on it just to keep the heads working and clear. I just make up some artwork with 1 inch blocks of each of CMYK across the width of a sheet of vinyl and print that out.

Which bulk ink system is not going to eat the heads or clog or give me color matching issues or whatever other problems people have?

 

[damonCA21]

I use jetbest inks in my bulk system, but have used others like Lotus in the past and never had any problems with them. The actual system itself you can use any ink of your choice in it