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Life Expectancy of Solvent printers
Hi Guys,
Has anyone ever been given any indication of the expected lifespan of their wide format printers.
My Roland PNC 1100 is now 9 years old and performs as well today as it did when it was first plugged in. Outstanding longevity.
Has any salesperson ever gave anyone any indication of how long a Cadet, Versacamm or Grenadier is expected to last without any major component replacements or overhauls?
It`s a lot a money, well compared to plotters, and it`s got me wondering about how long they are expected to last.
Rod
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4 Replies
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As with most things it depends on many factors. Looking after a piece of kit ie cleaning it etc is obviously important, but sometimes you just get lucky and things run seemingly forever with no problems. On the other hand, I’ve had kit (not printers) that have been trouble from day one. I doubt a salesman will ever commit to giving you an expected lifespan these days. One thing that does bug me: the standard 12 month warranty on most goods doesn’t exactly instill a lot of confidence. What sort of warranty period do they give on printers these days? I’d expect at least a 3 year warranty.
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i recon with something like the big printers, routers etc the warranty is always good to keep, but having said that. some are damn expensive and will be a continual debt till we decide to buy new again? i had warranty on our router for 5 years. never once did i get a bit oof hassle. 5.5 years on after canceled warranty. pop! a chip blows due to cold weather and surge of electricity and it cost us a grand! a grands not bad considering, but when you see what the grand was for? 👿
solvent machines like cadet and gren… ide say the plastic pipes are gonna get attacked over time. how long, i dont know… if under warranty of course these are covered. if not, a complete re-pipe is gonna cost about £1000 as that is how much it is to convert your machine from eco-sol – solvent and i “think” pipes are part of that. but i could be wrong.
the rest of the machine is guess work, has to be down to enviroment etc ide have thought? -
The lifespan is measured in months , not years. the mechanicals might survive 3-5 years , the heads a LOT less than that (24 months if you dont print a fortune)
BUT thats not a true measure of the lifespan. Problem is , new faster and cheaper models come out all the time , so in reality you have to amortize the WHOLE cost of the machine over 2 yrs – sell a machine that old , especially if its a 3rd generation to whats out there – and you get NOTHING!!!
Obviously , if it still produces for you , it’s worth it. Problem is the cost of production comes down a huge amount on newer machines and thus you either have to reduce pricing to stay competitive or get the next best thing to sliced bread.
Digital printing is not quite bleeding edge stuff (where if you an early adopter you heamhorage (spelling?) money) , but its still the hurting edge!! -
Robert , consumables on the machine are dampers , tubing , pumps , wipers capping station and heads. thats apart from any scan motors etc.
Applys both to solvent and eco-solvent.
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