HP 5500 UV – Any good for signmaking?

[Stafford Cox]

Hi Nick. You’re absolutely right. You would still need to laminate/encapsulate your work to fit it outside.

The options are Dye or UV. Dye has a better colour gamut but will fade if you even so much as think about warm sunny days near it. UV is not such a good colour gamut but is much more durable in direct sign light. They are both water based and easily swappable from one to the other if you have the ink line assembly. I got it down to a fine art and could do in under 10 minutes when I was running the demo room at Shiraz. The machines themselves are still really good in my opinion. They are getting on a bit now and I don’t know how much longer you’ll be able to buy the print heads and cleaners (I would speak with Perfect Colours about consumables) and they’re not the best machine for colour matching, however, if you just want poster after poster, just set it running and walk away. There are some real bargains to be had on them, especially the DJ5000 (more or less the same machine but a better colour and has a small heater on the front), but it was replaced many years ago by the 6100, which has been replaced by the 6200, which I believe has now been replaced by the 6300??? If you can stretch to a 6100, you’ll be future proofing yourself for many years to come.

Get in touch if I can help at all.

Stafford

[Nick Dowell]

Hi Stafford,

Really appreciate your reply. Just as a guide then do you think the UV option would give 3 year odd lifespans? (When laminated) I.e similar to an Eco solvent machine?

Thanks again

[Stafford Cox]

It should do. I guess it depends on the laminate you’re using and the media it’s printed on. I don’t see any reason why not though. I’m more of a nuts and bolts guy though, others on here should be able to give you more of an idea from first hand experience.

[Martin Pearson]

No it won’t give you 3 years outdoor durability the same as eco sol max inks, if it did every signmaker would be running one rather than a more expensive solvent machine.
There is a place for this type of machine in the industry but it isn’t producing external signage unless it is for short term use, even with the best quality uv laminates no supplier is going to offer you more than about 18 months outdoors.

[Nick Dowell]

Thanks for the help guys. I think I will go back to the Eco solv route then unless anyone else has first hand experience and knows otherwise?

Good deals on the versa art at the moment, what’s people’s thoughts on this?

[Martin Pearson]

Hugh Potter has a HP machine, think it’s a 6000 series he might be worth contacting for a second opinion but I can tell you (first hand) that using this type of machine is not a good idea for external signage. I buy most of mine in as I don’t get asked a great deal for it but would print it myself if the machine was capable.
These are NOT the same as UV curable inks that need a UV light to cure them so the UV part is a bit missleading.

[Colin Crabb]

Hi Nick,

We had the HP 5500 a few years back, the UV version as previously said, just means the ink has more UV protection from fading.
The machine was designed for indoor large format printing, with lamination I’ve know these poster to be displayed for about 6 months outdoors.

It certainly isn’t eco-solvent comparable machine (can only print on special coated media, would not work printing onto vinyl)

The HP Z6100 & Z6200 are indeed the replacements to the hugely popular 5500 series (5500 series was a HUGE success for HP, so you will see a lot of these machines for sale), we currently run a Z6200 for our indoor & gallery work, the output is truly stunning, efficient on ink and a good workhorse.

We also run a separate eco-solvent machine for our outdoor / durable work, the print quality is still excellent (we run 6 colour setup), but not as good as the HP Z6200 (it runs 8 colour setup) but both machines are aimed at different markets.

Hope this helps

Colin