Hi all! I am in the market for a new lage format printer. I have a distributor that swears by the Mimaki JV3 but then again he does sell them! No really he has been very helpful in the past but this is a very large investment for such a small company. I love the idea of being able to print on uncoated materials and not being tied to one brand of material and also being able to print directly on banner stock but... There are alot of different mfgs. out there and some are offering printers that are 1/2 price of the Mimaki printer. From what I hear Mimaki is about to release a plotter designed to contour cut around your printed objects but again some mfgs. are already including a cut feature along with their printers. AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGG! If anyone has any suggestions they would be deeply appreciated! I currently own an Edge and have been happy with it for the past 5 years but need to add something extra to the lineup!
Posted by Bob Burns (Member # 268) on :
The ROLAND SOLJET would be my choice....prints at 1440 and cuts too.
Posted by Bruce Evans (Member # 44) on :
I'm also shopping at seem to hear that the JV-3 is where it's at. That and the Mutoh Toucan. The Toucan is heading towards the pirce of the Arizona 180 though.
Posted by Joseph Gluchy (Member # 231) on :
Before you buy....check out this site... flaar reports.... Joe Gluchy.
Posted by pierre (Member # 1462) on :
[ July 03, 2003, 10:21 PM: Message edited by: Ron Helliar ]
Posted by pierre (Member # 1462) on :
Goog grief, Bob! What the heck kind of $$s is that thing??
BTW......... The Lost Prairie Drop Zone is just up the road from us.
k31
Posted by Bob Stephens (Member # 858) on :
Pierre that printer is selling for approximately $175k. But it does what I need it to. So hopefully I will be running one in the near future.
Lost Prairie is very well known. I never did jump there but have many friends who have. There are so many beautiful places in the world to skydive. I wish I had seen more of them. Maybe I'll get back into the sport again in the future but after 16 years I need a break.
Posted by Elaine Beauchemin (Member # 136) on :
So many things to consider.
True Solvent solution machines need ventilation. As the content of volatiles are high and could/are harmfull to your health. big investment to buy balance low cost of production. some quotidian maintenance routine needed...depend on the machine. Automated maintenance routines cost inks.
I was at a place with 2 JV3 running beautifull prints with ease. It does need ventilation. They also had manage some heat to speed up on the curing processs. It seemed eazy maintenance, may liquid laminate for outside long term.
Mild solvent need an heater/dryer and some lamination for exterior uses (cold or liquid) drying time vary on different OEM medias and for inks most are propriatory on inks and void warranty on printheads if you shift to an other inks solution. cost of ink/medias is to consider. carefull for type of heads vs type of inks
Thermal? will it print on banners as well?
aquaous pigment? up to 3 years outside with good lamination. most of the time if it fail it will be the media that can't take the test of time. lots of inks solution on the market. Dye inks are for inside uses only.
and there's the puter to run the rip then manage the ICC to profile the colors.
So many... I think I am loosing my script! You are right
quote: AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGG!
Good luck!
Posted by TransLab (Member # 470) on :
Must be the season for shopping new equipment... after debating for the past two years whether to go thermal or solvent, I've got a conference call tomorrow about details on a 16" thermal, (not exactly wide, but at 70k cdn it's a major piece of equipment) may well end up going to Buffalo NY to kick tires soon.
Posted by Elwood Kinder (Member # 2558) on :
Thanks so much to all have replied! This is going to be tougher than I thought! I went 200 miles north yesterday to a great signshop in St. Louis, Mo. that owns a new JV3 and they were wearing the thing out! It was vented properly but still had somewhat of an odor. I am constantly about 5 ft. from my Edge and the thing smells like roses (or is that money). What to do, what to do. I am not sure yet but will keep you posted if I purchase just how well it works.
Posted by Rob McCauley (Member # 2735) on :
Interesting rule-of-thumb I heard about solvent printers... The stinky-er the better
We just bought a Roland Solvent-Jet II. Not to be confused with the Sol-Jet. This one has been hot rodded by a company called Splash of Color in Texas. Printed a 29'(total coverage) RV wrap 3 days after the install. Hell of a way to break it in huh Elaine hit on something important there though, Ventilation. They claim no ventilation is needed on this Roland model but I beg to differ. The darker the colors, the more ink it uses, the more the smell becomes unbearable. Think about power requirements too. Some of the larger units need a 220V power source. I've heard good things about the Mimaki although I'm still partial to the Roland machines. I ran a ink-jet version (Camm-Jet CJ500) at my last job. The print/cut is very cool I used to use the Roland ink-jet as a 54" plotter quite a bit, since my only other plotter was a Gerber 15". That's a added plus if you don't already have a larger plotter.
Posted by Kenneth Sandlin (Member # 3014) on :
A little late to the discussion, but: The site Joseph was indicating was the FLAAR University website: http://www.wide-format-printers.org They have been the only independant authority on wide format printers (and more), until now. I've just finished "Wide Format Printing: An Introduction and Buyer's Guide" http://wfprinting.tripod.com
Your primary consideration needs to be what type of output you plan to primarily produce. This will dictate what type of medias you will need to be able to print on and what type of printing technology you will need.
If you're planning to do primarily longer-term outdoor prints, stay away from Aqueous printers. The JV3 is a good entry-level solvent printer able to print on uncoated medias, which will keep your operating costs down. Venting will be an issue. The SolJet's are excellent Eco-solvent printers, but the medias will be more limited and more expensive.
Having an integrated cutter in your printer is ok, but if you've got a good plotter with registration capabilities you won't have to stop printing to cut your graphics (increasing productivity).
Print quality from the JV3 may not be as good as the SolJet.
Good luck, you need to invest as much in education as dollars when you get into digital printing or you may end up spending a lot more than you planned and making a lot less.
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I used to use the Roland ink-jet as a 54" plotter quite a bit, since my only other plotter was a Gerber 15". That's a added plus if you don't already have a larger plotter.