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eco jet pro 2?
Had a demo on a eco jet pro2 today at Victory design don’t know if to go for it or not unsure about the refillable inks idea. Has any got one? does it do as good a job as they say it does? Im a virgin in the digtal print game always got someone else to print the things
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11 Replies
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Its a Roland machine thats converted to use different inks.(not sure whether they agressive solvents or eco sol or just a bulk ink system)
There are a lot of threads here re Grenadier vs Roland and solvent inks vs eco-sol etc. If you read em , you will be in a better position as to how to go. Personally I wouldnt buy a converted machine. -
why not? the conversion is Roland approved & it is a refillable bulk ink system, could you tell me the pitfalls of such a system?
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I know what the conversion entails in terms of pumps etc if its a full solvent one. Depends how its implemented and if they use presitaltic pumps and so forth as to its reliability and how much maintenance is required. Roland does not approve ANY mods afaik and you will not have their support if anything goes wrong. Should the inks NOT be eco-sol or not exactly the same as what is used in OEM machines , then you can’t take advantage of the all the profiles there are out their. You most likely wont be using the same RIP.
I have not seen any aftermarket Eco-sol inks as of yet , so its probably unlikely that the bulk ink system uses the OEM inks.
Basically its like either buying a new JAG from the agents or a modified one from a modifier. I have burnt my fingers buying this way in terms of support etc – so as I say , PERSONALLY , I wouldnt buy a modified unit if there is a normal one around.
You also have to look at the mod to see whether its worth while. Ink costs arent that high with OEM and ink costs , albeit important , are NOT the be all and end all and are acually relatively unimportant in the TRUE cost of printing (which is NOT just media and ink costs)
One thing I MUST stress is service , training , warrantees and backup are what should make you decide. If you are newly into digital printing , the learning curve is VERY steep , so excellent training is a must. Competent technical support etc is also a must , if you are producing , a few days down can cost a LOT of moeny. A set of heads on this machine can run to 3k quid , so a decent warrantee or extended warrantee is vital
You will also have to buy a large format laminator as well as trimming tables etc , cost this into your purchase.
There is a new Versacam coming out , the 540 and it will be priced a lot cheaper than the machine you are considering , and it will do 95% of the quality and work at about 65% of the speed. -
Do you know anything about the Uniform Grenadier? it is the same machine as the SolJet ProII EX Model SC-540, but i’m not sure if it has been modified in any way to run different inks.
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Its the same machine , modded to run agressive solvents
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Have a look at this machine
http://www.rolanddg.com/news/20040901SP-54V.htmlHeres a reply from Roland america as to where this fits in and price etc
While announced in Japan on September 1st, the 54” VersaCAMM, model SP-540V will be announced to the North American market in late October and won’t be available for sale until later in Q4, 2004.
The SP-540V has a targeted list price of US$19,995 and is designed to fit in-between the (4-color) 30” VersaCAMM, model SP-300 with a list price of US$13,995 and the (6-color) 54” SOLJET Pro II EX with a list price of US$29,995.
The SP-540V will be a 4-color printer (CMYK) with print speeds that are approximately 5% faster than the SP-300, (which are less than half the print speed of the EX series at comparable resolution) owing to the efficiency gained from the wider print carriage. The machine will come bundled with Roland’s own VersaWorks RIP, which is a robust, full-featured RIP that includes an Adobe® Postscript ® 3™ engine, and is able to import a wide variety of file formats including PDF1.5 (Acrobat 6.x compatibility).
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quote Andy@Acorn:Had a demo on a eco jet pro2 today at Victory design don’t know if to go for it or not unsure about the refillable inks idea. Has any got one? does it do as good a job as they say it does? Im a virgin in the digtal print game always got someone else to print the thingsI bought an eco jet from victory 1220 wide less than a year ago for 15000 pounds and i found out its only worth a few thousand today, i was looking to sell it but not at that price,i cant loose that much money in one year. if i was you make sure you have the customers to keep it running as i found it hard to keep from drying up!!!! then it costs you a fair wack everytime you sort it out… i am fairly upset about the amount it has gone down in price by a second hand one that prints and cuts too
good luck
Paul Howard
Vital-Signs@ntlworld.com -
if you have to buy a converted machine then i think bp should have it sorted by now they have sold enough of them if all of these convertions are so good then roland would have done them themselves.
Plus I personaly would not buy a paper clip fron victory and they know it
my 540ex is nearly 2 years old and wonderful thank you
chris
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We have a Roland SC540EX which has been converted by Vinyl Logistics in conjunction with Ink Technologies. This give a half way house while not eco sol it is not full solvent. The conversion includes replacing the peristaltic pumps (peristaltic pumps are usefull for certain applications but by the nature of the way they work they are not suitable for printing, they use the circular actions of rollers to squeeze fluid round the tube thus causing friction and stress to the tube on an ongoing basis) and the tubes to much stronger ones (pumps have lifetime guarantee). The benefit is much longer lasting prints and ink at £140 per litre.
We have sprayed finished product with chemicals and hot powerwashed them till the cows come home, we have graphics on vans and lorries and it anint fading one bit.
Excellent technical suppport and Vinyl logistics have one of these machines themselves and have an inhouse profiler so you can get ay profile you want. We have been running this machine for 5 months with only the odd hiccup. Conversion from neew machine was about £1400 but Vinyl logistics installed the machine free of charge. Roland agreed to honour the warranty (but we have tried phoning Roland a couple of times and its a waste of time, phoned Vinyl logistics and got the answer quickly.
Regards Adrian (still trying to sellGerber Edge 2 and envision 375)
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adrian it does get confusing dont it.
roland do a sol ink (sc540) then a eco sol ink (sc540EX) then the bp grenadier full solvent ? where does your converion sit in that lot and how do the inks come and load in to the machinechris
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We have a Roland SC540Ex Eco Solvent and the way I understand it is we are half way between and SC540EX and the Grenadier.
The inks come in either half litre or litre bottles and you just pour it into the cartridges in the back of the machine (using a funnel of course), the cartridges have removable caps
Hope this explains
REgards Adrian
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