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Versacamm gone, Cadet In
We have just ordered a new Uniform Cadet Plus after so many problems with our versacamm, mainly with durability. I would like to hear from others who have switched to find out what they thing of the Cadets.
Thanks
Asif
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9 Replies
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I didn’t switch, but I rejected the Versacamm on the basis of durability after testing samples.
I had a sample of banner print in last week from Vinyl Corp. One light scratch of my nail and the print came off. It was labelled Eco !!!
Peter
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im glad some find the same results uksignboards.com have with result of various tests we have done on previous prints. 😀
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When you consider that Eco-Sol is alcohol based and all othe rinks are solvent based but the amount of solvent is the only question in the mix.
All MILD solvent inks B & P, Lyson,Roland, etc, will scratch on prints, the sacrifice is how many print heads you want to pay for to be able to use agressive inks to print with. -
I have used a soljet for close on 2 years , Eco sol inks and have NEVER had a print back for any reason whatsover. Myself and a lot of others that DO use aggressive solvents realise that no print is invincible and choose to protect those that are used in environments which are harsh
You are more than welcome to put out unprotected prints believing that they will survive better than the same with eco sol etc , BUT its relative. Yes they will survive abraison and some chemical attack better – but it’s not absolute and other factors like UV protection etc do not come into this equation.
I have no issues with what anyone uses , however the main reason for using or converting to solvent inks is not really durability – it is cost and the ability to use a bulk system , neither of which you enjoy with some of the converted machines.
Solvent ink costs are in the 70-90 quid per litre price bracket and are available from reputable supplier like bordeaux, Triangle etc. These inks are as good if not better than some OEM.
I pay round 50 quid a 220 ml cart (which I think is rediculous) for eco sols and bear in mind there is always around 15 ml in the cart when “empty”
IE round about 250 per litre
If I could get ink costs to 100 quid a litre , I would be hugely competitive in the higher volume market but would alos need a bulk system if I were churning out the volumes , espcially for unattended printing.
I think this whole OEM ink thing stinks – we as consumers are being gouged , despite agreements with head mnfgrs to use their inks, those inks are coming in at very high prices to us
The more digital printers are sold , the more competitive the field will become , we already have guys printing at 7 quid a sq meter to the end user here and the printer suppliers will soon realise that they cant have their cake and eat it – either reduce costs of inks and still make a little or you risk losing that ink consumer entirely to aftermarket.
Already happened with media , very few folk are keen to use media supplied by the printer guys considering there is a ton of other stuff out there thats more than suitable at far cheaper prices.
In essence , buying OEM inks means that we are subsidising other folks printer purchases as mostly the profit here is used to reduce selling price of the printer a little , however if one does mild volumes , the savings over OEM inks will soon eclipse the cheaper purchase price.
Doing 100 sq ft a day which is not much , ink cost will reduce from about 35 quid a day to about 15 – over a 150 day year , the savings are 3000 quid and that is just for small volumes. With a soljet , one can easily do 3-4x that and save 3-4x the 20 quid a day.
(the average ink usage is about 15ml per sq meter or 1.5ml per sq ft) -
quote pshaw:One light scratch of my nail and the print came off. It was labelled Eco !!!Before I bought my Versacamm, I did Robert’s finger-rub tests and although there was a difference, it was very slight (prints were on Metamark vinyl) and not enough to concern me. Scratching with my finger nail took the print off both the Cadet and the Versacamm prints.
If a print is to be used in an environment where it is likely to be scratched it needs to be laminated, whether it be a Versacamm print or a Cadet print. No matter how thick the vinyl, the ink is still only microns deep.
My Versacamm is ultra reliable, has never sneezed once in one year, and needs no maintenance whatsoever.
The advantage of the cadet would be its inks resistsnce to solvent attack, but this lets me sell lamination easier to my customers and increase my profit.
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Ive had my VC for over a year now with no problems at all….touch wood,
the only thing Iam dissapointed with is banner printing, the ink just comes off to easy. -
I would be interested to know if the life of the print head on the Cadet is compromised in any way by the more agressive ink used? Does anyone know if the Versacamm is better in this respect or is there no difference?
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quote Sticky Mark:the only thing Iam dissapointed with is banner printing, the ink just comes off to easy.Mark. Do you mean by the rubbing test or does it just scratch off easily. I have done some banners, and yes some ink does come off with rubbing, but surley in the everyday use of the banner the rubbing test is really of no value in my eyes.
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We have replaced a printhead on our soljet – BUT , it cost us very little , nowhere near full price as the printer generates a report of how many million/billions of dots the print head has issued and it was found the head had got no where near its warranted perfomance – we paid about 25% of the true head cost and labour was apportioned the same amount. roland paid the rest , it was relatively painless.
I have no idea if this policy is applied or this is included in the warrantee of other machines or converted machines.
Actually , whats most important in terms of good head life is not really the solvents , its cleaning cycles and the capping of the heads when parked . Heads will get damaged by a lot of other things rather than the solvents. Particle size , cleanliness of inks and the heads drying as well as head strikes are the worst offendors. The moment a nozzle gets blocked thats when damge occurs in either trying to clean it or it not being able to be unblocked or even flushing that “forces” the blockage out. Thus in some respects the choice of solvents will compromise the heads in regard to how quickly they flash off and what happens in the heads when they are parked for any length of time etc. I have no ide of whether the solvent itself will attack head components. I do think that using super agressive solvents like some of the grand format machines with other types of heads used might well destroy the epson DX3 heads used in the rolands due to chemical reactions.
Depending on print load , a set of heads can last from 6 months to 2-3 years. The soljet has multiple heads and they cost about 3000 quid a set
As I say , treat them as a long term consumable – put away some money so that you can afford to replace them in 18 months or so.
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