Home Forums Printing Discussions Mimaki Printers can anyone offer some advice on the Mimaki JV-3?

  • can anyone offer some advice on the Mimaki JV-3?

    Posted by simon gregory on 26 March 2007 at 21:22

    Hi guys, i have been a ‘lurker’ on this site for quite some time and have found some fantastic info on here before so here goes,

    i have just bought a mimaki JV3 160s, someone i knew, knew someone who was selling it on eBay, but it was poorly listed, his reserve was £4k and that was what i paid, its 3.5 years old and has always had AIT service cover, its had 2 new heads and one pump,

    we needed a rip software and was shocked to find it cost £2500 the guy we got the printer from was selling Shiraz 6.4 and i didn’t meet its reserve either, so he gave us that and a Shiraz built PC for £750.00

    We also bought 3 cartridges and a grands worth of media for £350.00

    we paid AIT £560 for a days training so all in all it cost £560.00

    The guy from AIT come and said it was in fantastic condition and we had a real steal, which on doing my homework i kinda already knew.

    I have a few inquiries and would be ever so grateful if you could give me some advice.

    firstly people say its cheaper to leave the printer on at all times because it wastes less ink then the clean does when switching it on and off, fair enough but surely if its off for 3 days it would be more effective to leave it off, also if i switch it off from the green button on the front will it continue to clean?

    Also i have seen people post on here about setting the clean to every 24 hours instead of 4, can someone tell me how to do this?

    Also i was told that i should clean around the print head and carriage every day with solvents etc,
    The company i used to buy prints from have a JV3 and they said it wasn’t true and that they only do it once a week

    I did ask AIT about all of the above, but accept its not in their interest to tell me about how to save money that would be spent with them.

    ALSO i have read posts on here stating that 3rd party inks are the way forward, but people i know with mimaki’s say they have tried them and had various problems. i have also managed to source genuine inks for £75.00 each which to my knowledge is a fantastic price.

    I would be extremely grateful for any advice anyone can give

    many thanks

    Simon

    simon gregory replied 18 years, 6 months ago 5 Members · 7 Replies
  • 7 Replies
  • derek longhaven

    Member
    26 March 2007 at 21:47

    Maybe bought a bargain?
    But now you’ll be needing a maintenance contract, we wouldn’t use any printer without one.

  • Peter Normington

    Member
    26 March 2007 at 21:51

    Simon, it may help if you say hello and tell us a bit about yourself, before asking for advice.

    I have a jv3 and I paid quite a bit more than you did, so all things being equal, why should I help a stranger, who may well be a competitor?

    Dont take this the wrong way, its just a bit of friendly advice,

    Peter

  • Jitesh Rana

    Member
    26 March 2007 at 21:59

    i have had my JV3 for about 2 years and love it a very good buy for your.

    Firstly I turn my JV3 off every night and don’t find the waste to be a big problem. I all so just switched to Bulk Ink and the price savings are alone make the waste no problem. My bulk costs me only $175.00 Canadian, or about 75 pounds a letter not 220ml or 440ml like Mimaki sells. I also clean my heads and dock 2-3 time a week. I use my JV3 every day so i have to clean in often. If you use more you will waste less ink. My problem is the media that I waste doing test prints.

    To change the sleep clean

    switch to LOCAL
    press FUNCTION
    press DOWN ARROW till you see MAINTENANCE
    press ENTER
    press DOWN ARROW till you see SLEEP CLEAN
    press ENTER
    press UP or DOWN ARROW till you find the setting you want
    press ENTER

    New Sleep Clean time is now set.

    Hope that help.

    I think you should really switch to a bulk ink system cuts the cost by more then half. I love my system.

    Good Luck.
    JR

  • David Rowland

    Member
    26 March 2007 at 22:19

    Well done on your purchase, looks like I missed that one and I get emailed about mimaki deals on ebay… oh well.

    we dont maintance the machine as much as we should do, the machine prints very well, clean warm room is a good answer with no carpet.

    Ours is purchased from AIT, we have heard that AIT are giving better service now then it did on our first years contract, we had 1 new head and a few pumps over 2.5 years.

    The ink will waste if you dont go out selling prints, so get selling

  • simon gregory

    Member
    26 March 2007 at 22:30
    quote Peter Normington:

    Simon, it may help if you say hello and tell us a bit about yourself, before asking for advice.

    I have a jv3 and I paid quite a bit more than you did, so all things being equal, why should I help a stranger, who may well be a competitor?

    Dont take this the wrong way, its just a bit of friendly advice,

    Peter

    sorry peter,

    Fair play , i didn’t notice the say hello forum,

    mine will be up shortly

  • simon gregory

    Member
    26 March 2007 at 22:30
    quote Peter Normington:

    Simon, it may help if you say hello and tell us a bit about yourself, before asking for advice.

    I have a jv3 and I paid quite a bit more than you did, so all things being equal, why should I help a stranger, who may well be a competitor?

    Dont take this the wrong way, its just a bit of friendly advice,

    Peter

    sorry peter,

    Fair play , i didn’t notice the say hello forum,

    mine will be up shortly

  • simon gregory

    Member
    26 March 2007 at 22:49

    thanks for your advice guys,
    the third party inks seam like a good idea and if i change now then i wont of had anything to compare/grumble about.

    Dave,
    it was a poorly listed item, it was only as a friend emailed me the link i got it, it was listed a wide format printer, without the name in the description, in the description it only had info from a site no history etc.
    Also the guy only had 1 feedback, and IMO no-one would want to hand over that sort of cash on a gamble, but as i said a friend knew the guy so it was all good,

    Derek,
    Have researched the service contract (shortly after researching replacement heads), and found people was insuring their JV3’s for about £350.00, whenever they had trouble AIT or similar would come and fix it, we pay then claim it back, this saving is approx £1250.00

    I put this to AIT and they said they couldn’t guarantee the call out speed etc, i think this may be a slight scare tactic. also we have a company 5 mins down the road we used to use that could help us out while waiting, i know this would mean paying £30 psm but even if it took 3 days it would still pay off with the saving.

    Anyone else considered/taken this up?

    Jitesh.

    You are a gent many thanks 😀

Log in to reply.