Advice please : HP Latex 310 Printer purchase

[Daniel Evans]

If the graphics are for indoor use only, can you not used water based inks and you open yourself up to the epson 7900 / 9900 printers that are excellent quality, no odour and you can use them straight away and as far as i know, far cheaper than the latex to run?

I’ve been looking at a printer for a while now, i want one that will pretty much do it all as i’m limited on space and I do a lot of different things.

I’m looking at a used printer and from what i’ve seen, the latex printers go exceptionally cheap compared to the mimaki / rolands, why is this?

[Billy Lawton]

Good point Daniel – and good advice! I think I’ll investigate the Epson route – I suppose I was thinking that if a band asked me to produce an outside sign or banner as well as the stands then I would be able to do it.

Thanks for your response

Cheers

Billy

[Daniel Evans]

I understand that, but as you mainly do in doors, you could always outsource the outdoor bits as and when you get them, if you then start to get a lot of out door stuff then you could re invest but as it stands I personally think the epson printers will be ideal for you.

[Billy Lawton]

Yep – I agree!

[Stuart Taylor]

Hi Billy

Personally I would still look at the Latex option for a number of reasons

The Latex will give you versatility than the Epson 7900 or 9900 as these are for interior use only and I’m not even sure you can print onto self adhesive vinyl at all on this platform – as far as I was aware they can only print on limited media, mainly paper. Latex will give you a far wider selection of medias.

The Latex 310 entry model will allow you to print on any standard self adhesive vinyl in the market, plus banners, fabrics and papers if you want. With the Latex you don’t even need to laminate (unless its for longer term outdoor or a very abrasive use) and you can print directly onto Matt White digital printing film.

Latex use is very simple these days and the power consumption of the 310 is only 2.2KW/h when printing (between 25p to 30p per hour depending on your utility supplier) so not that expensive to run. If you’re printing at 10 pass (indoor high quality) you will be getting approx. 10sqm per hour …. in other words the power consumption works out at 2.5p to 3p per sqm. This is a common misconception that HP’s competitors put out that the running costs of Latex are very high.

[Billy Lawton]

Thanks Stuart that’s a great help.

Is this something you can supply?

I’d like to get a sample printed from somewhere on digital vinyl before I commit 🙂

Thanks again!

[Stuart Taylor]

Hi Billy

HaHa, I guess I sounded like a HP Sales person 😉 No we don’t supply printers any longer, only media

We do however use HP Latex within our trade printing facility and have been printing with Latex since the launch back in 2009. We only use Latex and UV printing technology now and don’t use any solvent printing at all now. We are now on the 3rd generation of the technology and at each new generation they continue to improve quality, performance, reliability etc.

Would suggest you contact either CWE solutions or Perfect Colours and I’m sure they would be able to help you.

[Daniel Evans]

Stuarts right on the media for the epson, I didn’t think about the vinyl you would be using, there are some available but you are limited.

Stuart
I was told that latex printers could only use vinyl that were designed for latex printers, meaning other vinyls available to solvent printers could not be used on these latex printers?

There seems to be loads of old 25500 / 26500 on the market at a fraction of the cost of when they were new, I understand printers will devalue but can anyone explain why the solvent printers hold their value better?

[Stuart Taylor]

quote Daniel Evans:

Stuarts right on the media for the epson, I didn’t think about the vinyl you would be using, there are some available but you are limited.

Stuart
I was told that latex printers could only use vinyl that were designed for latex printers, meaning other vinyls available to solvent printers could not be used on these latex printers?

There seems to be loads of old 25500 / 26500 on the market at a fraction of the cost of when they were new, I understand printers will devalue but can anyone explain why the solvent printers hold their value better?

Hi Daniel

There is a lot of bad information out there about Latex, in particular HP Latex which is probably the dominant new sales unit on the market in terms of number of units these days.

Regarding the media pretty much any standard films print as well if not better on Latex with a couple of exceptions. I know Avery had an issue with their 1900/1950 series cast films on Latex some time ago but as a rule 3M, Avery, Metamark, Arlon and Orafol all print very well on all 3 versions of the HP Latex technology. We have used all 3 versions of the technology and although each ink series has slight variations they all print on 99% of standard media in the market place. Another advantage that Latex has is that you can also print on many banners, mesh, fabrics and papers which would be problematic on some solvent technologies.

Regarding a lot of printers available second hand is probably down to Latex users regularly upgrading/trade in from L25500 to L26500 (L260) to the latest L3XX range.

If you’re looking at purchasing a second hand Latex go for the second generation system (L26500) as HP improved many features from L25 to L26 versions …. They would be a newer printer as well. The fact that they’re relatively cheap to buy second hand should be a positive :lol1:

If buying second hand make sure you see it printing though and remember you will still need a RIP (Onyx is my preferred option with Latex)

[Daniel Evans]

Hi Stuart

Thanks for the info.

Personally I like the idea of the latex printers over the solvent for many reasons.

In regards to heads, I understand these to be relatively cheap compared to say a roland head but where as a roland head could last for some time, the hp heads will need to be changed quite often, is this right or again bad information?

[Stuart Taylor]

Hi Daniel

Not bad information but possibly skewed by the industry being used to long life (and expensive) piezo head technology

HP Latex uses Thermal Inkjet head technology so the heads are classed as a consumable – Benefits are they are relatively cheap to replace and operator replaceable …. no engineer required.

Street pricing varies on these but each head (there are 6 per machine) but you will probably pay £70 to £80 per head – They are warranted for 1 litre of ink through them and an average usable life for a set of 6 heads could be anything from 1000 to 2000 sqm dependant on images/coverage etc – I know many users will push the heads even further but eventually you will see a deterioration in image quality and/or colour vibrancy as the heads "tire" – Its a judgement call from the operator really to see if the quality is still there ……. We just build it into our sqm consumable cost that is charged as part of every job, therefore maintaining quality with no big surprises when you need to replace a head.

[Daniel Evans]

Thanks Stuart

Do you have any details on costs of a hp310 / 360 vs a competitor model you can email me

Thanks

[Stuart Taylor]

quote Daniel Evans:

Thanks Stuart

Do you have any details on costs of a hp310 / 360 vs a competitor model you can email me

Thanks

Hi Daniel

As I said to Billy we don’t actually sell printers anymore. I would suggest for a new HP Latex printer to give CWE Solutions and/or Perfect Colours a call. They’re the most established of all the HP Latex dealers.

Stuart

[Billy Lawton]

Brilliant – thanks Doug, I will do – I’ve literally just moved house and business – so will be in touch in a few days.

Thank you!

Billy