Choices Choices (eco)solvent vs latex – advice please?

[Robert Lambie]

HP Latex or Mimaki Solvent, I would go with the HP latex.

Solvent is proven as a winner in many ways. I ran Solvent for about 10 years.
As a result of the time solvent has been on the market, it offered a wider choice of compatible media.
On board contour cutting is great too. no need to remove align and cut then fail on accuracy.
The "only issue for us" was we do lots of truck wraps and out-gassing of the media properly for wraps takes time.

I added a colorific lightbar to our solvent machine. It was an immediate hit for us, production speed increased, ink cost reduced and durability of unlaminated prints were far superior. It also kept the super glossy sharp finish as well!
This came with all the profiles "we required" pre-loaded. So for us it was plug & play.
Overall, the UV ink is also kinder on the machine parts as solvent can be aggressive long term on plastic parts.
UV ink also does not solidify or need as much cleaning as solvent.

We added a HP Latex 26500 as an additional printer to the Solvent machines we had. Soley bought for production speeds of vehicle wraps. It never misses a beat and ready to use once printed. Again speeding up our production ten fold…
limitations was un-laminated print durability wasn’t as good as the Solvent or UV Lightbar.
incompatible media due to drying heat. i.e. budget banner, roll-up stand media reacts bad to the heat.

We then added a HP360 is far better than our HP26500 in many ways. ease of use, speed and ink durability over 26500. Just such an easy machine to run, maintain, change inks, clean and change heads which are a consumable, but inexpensive and changed in minutes.
The media range is much better also, but still has issues with some. i.e. in the past 3 weeks i have changed choice of perforated vinyl media and also roll-up stand media to be more compatible with the HP machines due to drying temperatures.
A note of caution, certain 3M wrapping "laminate" has issues with the new HP latex ink. This is not something other wrapping films appear to have confirmed, but 3M do have issues with a certain range of 3M wrapping laminate. So please check with 3M on this.

Quality of prints on both HP machines are also excellent, but admittedly on the older model HP26500 we have had some consistency issues on some colours like vibrant reds etc.
Although i have zero to complain about and has never caused me an issue, the output of either HP machine is not as gloss and vibrant as a solvent or UV lightbar machine. the ink output / finish is more a satin finish than a vibrant punchy gloss. obviously for vehicle graphics this is irrelevant as all vehicle graphics are laminated, or at least should be laminated.

I love the UV machine and HP machines. all have their pros and cons. the one missing thing from the HP machines though, is the on board cutting. Which of course the UV lightbar / Roland Solvent machines come with as standard.
yes its arguable that separate print and cut machines are better production wise on large scale, but for me I am having compatibility issues with my Graphtec cutters.
I have just upgraded one of my graphtec cutters to the latest model, but looks like i may have to move to a summa to replace my "other" graphtec as i am told it will solve contour cutting accuracy issues. Something I am in two minds about at the moment. but something you need to keep in mind when making decisions. Something the On board cutters do in their sleep.

anyway, i could go on but i have a drink getting warm. 😛 😉 :lol1:

p.s. sorry for lack of views on the mimaki solvent, but i have never run one, but did look at them and opted for Roland machines the past 12+ years.

[Tim de Beir]

Thank you for your thoughts Robert appreciate it, the 360 is a little over budget 🙁 do find THE extra 5000 euro lots of money for the benefits iT has upon 330…

[Tim de Beir]

Signed the offer for a 360 today 🙂

[Robert Lambie]

quote Tim de Beir:

Signed the offer for a 360 today 🙂

Sorry, missed your other reply.
Congratulations on your decision. you wont be sorry! :appl:
Adding any printer to your business will open doors for you. many areas you will not have even considered.
Look forward to seeing what you put out with your new machine!

[Tim de Beir]

Hello Robert,

I have a question, printer will be installed in a storage unit, where I install everything. The first Floor is approx. 100sqm, and i was wondering if I should not make an room in the office room.

HP advises 15degrees temperature for area where THE printer is standing, but i am afraid that in THE weekend in full winter temperature could drop in THE weekend at just 7 degrees…

How do you handle THE room temperature for THE 360?

[Kevin Flowers]

Tim
my print room was central heated switched on all the time with stat to come on at 10 degress, best idea is to make a small print only room but big enough to store media & have printer in there. Fit it out with low consumption green house heaters which keep a constant heat and only cost pennies to run

http://www.heatersuk.com/outbuilding-he … oC_Ejw_wcB

Kev

[Nathan Smith]

We have a HP latex 360 great workhorse had the odd minor issues with it with print heads thinking of they’ve failed turned out to be a software issue, printer does get quite warm on really large runs. We currently use it on a lot of contra vision, vinyl and wallpaper, great machine for profiling media as well.