2013 hp latex 26500 – looking at upgrading from eco solvent

[John Dorling]

Just go and buy one and don’t look back! We came from a VersaCamm to a L26500 and just the fact that we can print and laminate same day saves time and space, not to mention the potential of damaging prints that are left hanging around for 48 hours with solvent inks out-gassing.

The print quality is very impressive, with no banding what so ever. Colours very vibrant if you play about with the settings a bit. I havent found anything yet not to like, except I’ve found it seems to go through ink more than my versacamm, but this is probably due to the fact that I haven’t played around with the settings too much yet.

My one regret is that I didn’t buy it a year ago.

John

[David McDonald]

Hi

We have both Roland eco-solvent and HP latex and we find reason to print on both.

If we need the best accuracy in contour cutting then we find the Roland better than on the HP.

If the printed output isn’t required immediately and isn’t very long then sometimes its just quicker to load and set off printing with the Roland than the HP.

If we need to print on cheap banner material then the Roland is better than the HP.

Overall we find ink costs are less than on the Roland per square metre. (all original inks).

We cant get certain media to dry in time to use the take up on the Roland (poster paper and roll up media), the HP is fine

Designs with large areas of solid spot colours looks much better off the HP, as do gradients / fades over a longer distance.

As mentioned above banding seems to be a thing of the past on the HP, although infrequent we do get some with the Roland.

We use Onyx and Versaworks and although Oynx is more feature packed it sometimes feels more difficult and ‘clunky’ to use than Versa.

Not every media we’d like to use on the HP has a vendor profile available at the moment (although catching up), Roland seems to edge profile availability.

Obviously as per its main selling point the HP prints are immediately ready to use – ideal for us printing tons of wrap.

In summary we want to carry on with both technologies side by side but If we had to keep just one it would be the HP.

Hope that helps

Cheers
Macky

[David Rowland]

Solvent for banner
Vinyl for HP

dont look back

[Simon Worrall]

Quote from David. "Obviously as per its main selling point the HP prints are immediately ready to use – ideal for us printing tons of wrap."

David I was given to understand Latex inks were not good to be used for wraps. Am I wrong?

[David McDonald]

Hi Simon
The HP is superb for wraps. Looks as good if not better than anything we’ve ever printed on the Roland. We like the flexibility of not having to have all the wrap printed in advance, ie bonnets for vans are sometimes best to print from your own measured template rather than vehicle outlines book. So if its a new van we’ve not done before then we can just wait for the van to arrive instead of getting it in advance, or going out to the customer to measure. And of course if we do make a mistake then a reprint doesn’t cause a 2-day delay.

As dave says, we now use Eco-solvent for banners and latex for vinyl

Cheers
Macky

[Luke Smith]

We’ve had a Latex L25500 for 2.5 years and it is a brilliant machine for all sorts of jobs for clients, from banners, to canvas prints, to cut vinyl – it does the lot and without the need for loads of space to dry prints. Print as you go, saving you time, money and space for production.

Go for it!

We are upgrading to a new machine. Our old L25500 is for sale in the BUY/SELL forum. Take a look, might be a good first step into the world of Latex printing.

Thoroughly recommend you go for it.

All the best.

[John Dorling]

quote Simon Worrall:

David I was given to understand Latex inks were not good to be used for wraps. Am I wrong?

Latex prints are great for wraps. The ink doesn’t affect the glue like solvent ink can so even heavily printed areas are like using unprinted film.

John

[Simon Worrall]

Maybe i am confusing latex with uv.

[Praveen Jayawardene]

Hello All,

Firstly thank you all for the feedback on my progression to move from eco solvent to HP latex. From the feedback it seems evident that LATEX technology is the way to move for the future.

In saying this i have decided to place an order for the HP L26500 and looking forward to enjoying the efficiency in not having to wait for prints to dry and also not having to deal with the fumes from solvent printing.Not sure about the power usage but this all comes with new technology .Cant have the cake and eat as well.

Once again i would like to thank the forums for the experienced feedback and looking forward to sharing my experiences with the Hp Latex in the coming months.

Cheers,

PJ