ROLAND SC-500 vs MIMAKI JV3 Series

[Rodney Gold]

You would not want the SC500 – its already outdated , you would want the SC 540 Pro II EX machine that prints on uncoared media. I think there is a JV4 out there too . The SC 500 is very slow , but it can be retrofitted with a heater and use the new semi solvent inks – to print on uncoated.
It’s almost impossible to make a definitive statement on which printer is best as all have their quirks and problems , Im using the big Soljet and having lots of success with it , prrint quality is exceptional and it prints on just about anything you throw at it and it does it fast too.
It depends on your application , we bought the soljet cos we do exceptionally fine detailed graphics and it prints and cuts these very very well.
If you are looking to pump out loads of outdoor low res billboard graphics , maybe its worth while looking at an Arizona or some other type of high speed low consumable cost machines.
We use our Soljet as a sort of Swiss Army knife and do lots of different stuff on it each day – I will just make one point about this machine – a lot of the work we do on it is from other digital printers who cant do the resolution or cant do the speed with their exisiting machines.
there is really no digital printer which you can just unpack and press print – there are a whole lot of other considerations , like learning to use the rip , colour matching , best print modes etc – all take a lot of fiddling around with to get 100% right.
There are lots of other posts here and on various forums regarding these machines , the Roland user group forum is a good place to start at the American roland site (www.rolanddga.com) and there is a quite a nice thread on the digital print section of signforums.com.
The best way to test what machine is good for you , is to ask for a sample of your intended work to be printed on your intended substrates.
Take multiple files , like vector , raster , both combined etc. See what machine fits your workflow , enquire about warrantees on heads etc – whether the machine is upgradeable when new stuff comes out , is there a trade in program , how user friendly is the RIP. Is output dry or does it dry quick , what maintenance you have to do each day , realistic fastest speed , realistic operating costs etc.
Most salesmen will give you the best case scenario – 1/2 speeds and double costs to arrive at a realistic figure.

[John Singh]

Hi Vincent

Just want to say Welcome to the board 😀
Keep the questions coming

Look forward to your posts

John

[Innocent]

Hi vincentstokes, welcome to the board !

I can’t comment on the roland, but I have just purchased a JV3, we’re about 2 months into it and we haven’t had any major issues yet. We have had a few minor issues regarding materials and not having profiles for them, but apart from that, it is an excellent machine.

We bought our mimaki on it’s ability to print high resolution graphics on uncoated media, and produce excellent spot colour simulations (I think the RIP has a lot to do with the quality of the finished prints). In it’s high quality settings, it isn’t particulaly quick, but can be left unnattended to print overnight with no problems. Our usual practice now is to queue up the jobs and let it loose overnight (freeing up the machine for urgent stuff during the day) You can speed the thing up to high speeds by reducing the quality (havent got too much into this yet) but in high quality mode it blows machines like tha arizona, zund away.

My opinion: It’s a machine designed to print high quality output but can match other machines on speed basis and even at the higher speed modes will at least match the quality of machines like the arizona. Print costs per metre are pretty much the same as all other machines in this format.

[Roger T]

Hi people. new guy again… May I enquire about your individual machines, are they both solvent based or eco solvent? I have seen a zunds work. I am planning to buy something in coming months for vehicle graphics, wraps, banners, usual stuff…! alot to learn I know…

[Robert Lambie]

welcome roger & thanks for the self picture submission 😉

Innocent, look forward to hearing anymore finds on your machine.
out of curiosity. did you compare to the grenadier?
i did look at your machine but there was somthing i wasnt 100% on and cant place it at the mo.. maybe width.. whats the width? 🙄 🙄

[Roger T]

Hey, cheers for the message, I havent got a machine as yet, but will be having a demo with the rockhopper 2 – 50 or 64″ width I think! dont quote me! eco solvent tho… I’ve been readin / absorbing alot of info all you guys have been chatting about and this site is amazing, with loads of helpfull people, well cool!! 😆 i will look @ grenadier too, thanks…

[Innocent]

Hi Rob,

No I didn’t even look at the grenadier, didn’t hear about until I had decided on the JV3 and I couldn’t wait any longer (had confirmed orders stacking up and having to sub them out) I would be interested on any comments on the grenadier though.

Maximum print width on the Mimaki is 1600mm I believe, but I haven’t needed to go over 1450mm yet so I can’t be sure. I have a 1500mm job lined up, and once I can find a roll of media wide enough (probably 1550mm) as i’m not sure about it’s capability of printing up to the edge of the vinyl, I’ll let you know the results.

I am working on some specialist materials, and with a bit of trial and error I am getting good results on print quality / speed, and in my opinion, the Mimaki, will be a very versatile machine.

Delete this line if unnapropriate, Rob

We will be offering a high quality digital print solution to the trade. Price will be dependant on the job in question.

you can call me G, or Gee now that I am getting to know you.

[Innocent]

just hit my first brick wall with the JV3

printing spot orange ! I cannot get a colour match. I can get solid colours and I can get near to the tone but I cannot get an exact colour match. Surely this has to be down to the fact that orange is made up from red and yellow and a cmyk printer does not have red ( i know magenta is a sort of red, but it’s not the same, and I know I can print red spot simulations) but I am very limited on the output range on orange.

Any cmyk guru’s out there that can help ?

[Rodney Gold]

Hiya , You will never get orange as bright vibrant orange – you would need a CMYK O+G inkset for that – match as close as possible. There will be other spots you wont get either – the inksets have limited colour gamuts.

[Innocent]

thanks for confirming that Rodney, I was nearly questioning myself

[Elofmark]

Hello,

I’m new to this board and want to say HI! It’s snowing here in Holland, Michigan. We are right on Lake Michigan across from Milwaukee, and a couple of hours north of Chicago.

I have an “out of gamut’ color question –how does the Mimaki JV3 or the Roland SolJet print GOLD? I’ve subbed some work out to an Arizona, and they just can’t hit the gold. It’s either too green, or brownish/tan looking.

Also, in the States, the dealers I know who sell the Mimaki are supplying the ICC profiles with the machine–at least for the Avery print media.

[Innocent]

hey, I can answer this one, I just printed some digital pictures of a new drinks can, the design was black and gold (like JPS from the 70’s) anyway the print came out fine and looked like gold, although the metalic side of it was real and enhanced with photoshop, but the gold was gold.

The mimaki has excellent colour reproduction compared to the arizona, mainly because of the dpi (arizona 360 i think, mimaki 720-1440) but the rip can play a major part in the finished colour as well