Which printer for vehicle graphics and outdoor????

[tommyboy®]

Hi guys, I'm thinking of getting a printer for my dream business but I don't know which one gives the best quality and is most acceptable for commercial use. I'm looking for a printer with reservoir tanks instead of the small cartridges so I can buy the ink by the gallon. It has to be 60" wide and able to print on adhesive vinyl, bond, panaflex and banner (everything outdoor) and must be not more than $25,000 (better if a get an used one for half the prize, jejeje)
Maybe Encad, ColorSpan, DGI, etc... What do you suggest???

[PrintDriver]

You can't get anything really good for 25,000.
Check out www.Flaar.org and go to wide format printers.
They are unbiased in their comparisons.

If you want to do outdoor stuff you may want to consider solvent inks instead of pigment based. You will have to settle for lower dpi inkspread. VUTEk offers several good machines but way out of your price range. Mutoh is another good brand.

If you want good and fast, you can't beat the HP 5500 (yet). The Color span prints as well but take the offered tech course so you can fix it in a pinch. Epson prints as well but is Slooooow as molasses. Encad has been around for ever and is a decent middle ground machine, prints ok in multipass but I wouldn't do anything above 'trade show' or 'throw away' on it.

Be sure to investigate UV pigmented inks. You don't want customers coming back saying their pictures vanished in a week and a half.
Good luck on your dream.

Specialization is for insects...

R.H.

[PrintDriver]

I just read your thread title.

While you can print vehicle graphics on most any printer with exterior capabilities, you really want to go solvent for that. You also want to hire a skilled applicator. Doing the flat side of a truck with no rivets is easy. Other vehicle applications require skill. 3M, Avery and others offer a system of vinyl, ink and overlam. Check into the adhesives and what they will do to a vehicle's paint finish.

Specialization is for insects...

R.H.

[D-Frag]

hey print, i know a place that can sell a HP 5000 for around 10-15K, I would suggest that one but it doesn't have resevoir tanks. if you had around $475,000.00 extra dollars around you could always buy a Lamdba : )

nice link by the way *adds to favorites* http://graphicdesignforum.com/emoticons/specool.gif


http://gallery.cybertarp.com/albums/userpics/13115/Profile_2.jpg


Post Edited (D-Frag) : 4/5/2004 8:38:29 PM GMT

[PrintDriver]

Missed the resevoir tank thing.
Lambdas can't print outdoor banner stuff, only things with a photo emulsion (very messy when they get wet. LOL)
You'd need $900,000 to get the Lambda and the Rho. The Rho will print on anything hard or soft and later this month it will print in white ink. But I think we just blew Tommy's budget.
:)

Specialization is for insects...

R.H.

[D-Frag]

hahhaaha, we have our own little fun over here in the print dept dont we driver...hehe, I didnt know that lambdas didnt do vehicle graphics....oops my bad. I know the hp can though....please tell me im right print ; )


http://gallery.cybertarp.com/albums/userpics/13115/Profile_2.jpg

[PrintDriver]

yep. Sure would be lonely. Except for Keyare I think we're the only two from the production side, unless maybe there's lurkers.

The hp can be used if you lam it. It is INKJET after all, but a pretty durable one on the right medium. Tough to pound around a rivet though. Flat use mostly. I'd rather use a VUTEk print or a 3M transfer print just to avoid inkjet issues. And I'll only do flat truck sides. No car wraps. Rivets I can deal with, fenders suk.

Lambdas are very cool machines but they can't print on anything but a few media, namely Photo paper, Duraflex (polyester instead of paper), Duratrans (litebox stuff), DuraClear (thats CLEAR), and a very sexy metallic base paper. That's it. And the size is limited to 49' wide printable x roll length.

The Rho will eat anything. I just talked to a guy who goes to Home Depot just to look for things to feed it. He did some ceiling tiles that look really sweet. Acrylic, glass, insulation board, plywood, gator, sintra, foam, as long as it's under 2' thick and doesn't melt under UV light, it goes in. Crazy.
It prints on all the standard soft goods too.

Specialization is for insects...

R.H.

Post Edited (PrintDriver) : 4/6/2004 1:55:32 AM GMT

[D-Frag]

PrintDriver said...
The Rho will eat anything. I just talked to a guy who goes to Home Depot just to look for things to feed it. He did some ceiling tiles that look really sweet. Acrylic, glass, insulation board, plywood, gator, sintra, foam, as long as it's under 2" thick and doesn't melt under UV light, it goes in. Crazy.
It prints on all the standard soft goods too.
</div>

http://graphicdesignforum.com/emoticons/eyecrazy.gifhttp://graphicdesignforum.com/emoticons/icon_eek.gif http://graphicdesignforum.com/emoticons/thumbsup.gif http://graphicdesignforum.com/emoticons/ohmy.gif now that is cool, one of the vendors that we use has custom (printable)wallpaper, im seriously thinking about printing out just one wall in my apt.....oooooh now that would be cool.

I heard keyare broke his anti-magneticsionypmopser and is stuck on some remote planet fixing it....either that or my speak &amp; spell + umbrella is getting different radio waves from other afar planets.


http://gallery.cybertarp.com/albums/userpics/13115/Profile_2.jpg

[PrintDriver]

Oh, yeah! Custom Wallpaper.
Get the vinyl stuff. It doesn't stretch and swell when you install it (seriously).
Then find someone with a Dye-sub machine and make window dressings and someone with a VUTEk for shower curtains to match.
LOL.
We joke about this all the time.
Sorry.
:)

Specialization is for insects...

R.H.

[D-Frag]

or, even cooler which I have seen done, print a picture of a door, and mount it to another door....really trips people out!! hehe


http://gallery.cybertarp.com/albums/userpics/13115/Profile_2.jpg

[D-Frag]

sorry to dredge up an old post, but someone was reading this thread 4 hours ago and checked out my photo blog. I think its wierd someone would be lurking this far back in the forum

thanks for checking out my pics lurker!