Wide format printers

[John Childs]

Not really because I only have experience with my JV3.

But I would recommend one of those, coupled with a laminator, then you won’t be restricted in what you can do.

[George Kern]

We have a Seiko ColorPainter 64s and an HP DesignJet 9000s (same as the 64s) and are taking delivery of the HP DesignJet 10000s in about 45 days. We also have SEAL liquid laminators as well as cold laminators this way we can do all sorts of work. These things are workhorses I must say. We run these machines roll after roll 16-18 hours a day in 2 shifts and they just keep runnin as long as you keep feeding them ink and material. The downside is, the ink is pretty costly compared to other systems. The quality however, is awesome. Once you have them profiled for the media of your choice these things just print beautifully.

[Ryan]

When you say large format, you can get a 3.2M machine at decent prices these days which will print up to 720 dpi 6 colour.

We have a DGI megajet machine which does a good job for us and I think this is supplied by Grafityp now as our supplier moved onto other things. Good machine though and has never let us down. An alternative for an economical machine are Techwin which look the part and also print up to 720 dpi. Supplier here is Backbone digital in Nottingham, the guy who runs it is called Andy Smith who is a top bloke and will talk to you happily about choices in the market without trying the hard sell. These sort of machines will cost you £55-£60k new.

If your looking for something smaller then the JV3 is well respected in the market, as is the Colourpainter although I think this is more expensive to buy so unless high sqm per hour is your aim then the JV3 & 5 (new version) is a good bet. I’d also look at Roland range too, we have a smaller machine with print & cut and it is probably the most used machine we have. Cannot fault them as a company either so worth a look.

[Lynn Normington]

just to clarify, the jv5 IS NOT a replacement for the jv3 its a high production and much more expensive alternative

Lynn

[R Ferguson]

Thanks for all the help so far, I have another question if you dont mind!

Solvent printers all seem to have vents on them, I was planning to place the printer along an exterior wall and connect an extractor fan placed outside to the machine by piping.

Is that what most of you do? or is there a simpler way?

[John Childs]

Well, I’ve not done anything yet, although I know I should.

Ours is along an outside wall and isn’t particularly smelly so, on the odd occasions it becomes a problem, we just open a window. 😀

Although it works, that isn’t really the answer as the fumes are heavier than air and sink to the floor so what I intend to do is to get an extractor fitted at low level behind the printer.

As I said, fumes aren’t really a problem for us, so I think that will be good enough and that ductwork is not necesary. If it was in a totally enclosed space I would think again.

[David Rowland]

well JV5 is the same price of the JV3 when I purchased it 2-3 years ago… and as Lynn says the JV3 is still being sold today, so I think the dealers are keeping them going.

[mong]

if you’re sensitive to the smell, i highly recommend a powerful exhaust fan as your ventilation system if you planned to get the solvent printer like the jv3. a colleague and myself get teary eyes and somewhat nauseate from the fume. it makes a huge difference.

as for which printer i would recommend, i would lean toward the jv3 simply i get more bang out of my bucks. there’re more options on cheap third party inks. the quality of the printer in my opinion is better than HP. works well indoor and outdoor without the need of lamination and finally can print on variety of media.