# Epson 9880 or Roland SP-540?



## mtbapparel (Sep 7, 2006)

I'm deciding between an Epson 9880/9900(media width-44") or Roland SP-540VS(media width-54") for the large format sublimation works I'm doing. 

The Epson cost much less than the Roland to own. 

Which printer is better in terms of 
1. print quality and consistency
2. maintenance (downtime, clogged print heads etc) 
3. Cost of ownership 

Anybody got experience with either printer? Thank you!


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## Screenanator (Feb 14, 2007)

well the Roland is a print/cut machine where the Epson is not...you never have limits with a Roland.


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## quasinuker2 (Jan 22, 2009)

If you are doing sublimation I would say the epson
The roland would be more versital in that it can do tee shirt vinyl ,stickers,mag. vinyl along with poster/signs ect....I think it would be overkill (if you did set it up for dye sub).
But it all depends on what you need/want
hope this helps


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## sid (Oct 6, 2007)

What are you going to use the printer for? Multiple printing of small products or large imaging? We use 9800's if we were to upgrade I would do Roland. It's faster and wider.


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## mtbapparel (Sep 7, 2006)

sid said:


> What are you going to use the printer for? Multiple printing of small products or large imaging? We use 9800's if we were to upgrade I would do Roland. It's faster and wider.


It's for printing large format designs on sports apparel.


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## JaeAmera (Dec 25, 2006)

Have you given any thought about your contingency plan?

No matter how new, how fast, or how well maintained; printers need maintenance and they do breakdown / malfunction. What do you do then? 

How do you met you deadlines with a printer that has a printhead that just won't fire or keeps ruining transfers with dye drips or has a bad board that makes it skip 2cm after every 4 passes.

The answer: Have a back-up printer or printers in place until the printer issue is resolved.

Getting a back-up Epson(s) isn't nearly as steep as an extra Roland. Trust me, if you want to keep your workflow as seamless as possible you will want to have identical printers.

So keep this in mind if you plan to get into Large format printing / imaging. What to do about a back-up printer.

Hope this helps

Jae'


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## mtbapparel (Sep 7, 2006)

JaeAmera said:


> Have you given any thought about your contingency plan?
> 
> No matter how new, how fast, or how well maintained; printers need maintenance and they do breakdown / malfunction. What do you do then?
> 
> ...


Hi Jae! Thanks for the advice! Never given much thought on that until you brought it up.


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## clubnick (Feb 18, 2009)

You might want to think about print speed and how easy it is for the printer to be able to print with just 4 colors of ink (CMYK or dual CMYK) because light colors are nothing more than diluted from the original and fade quicker. The human eye cannot detect light color sublimation inks (light cyan or light magenta) on fabric! Print speed, of course means everything because the faster you can produce shirts in a day, means the more money you will make. I highly recommend the Mimaki JV33 so you can print 2 up at a time - however the printer is more expensive. A JV33 can print full graphic tattoo tees (full coverage) at an average of 214 shirts every 7 hours at 540x720dpi and it has only one head to worry about.


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## fatdogvw (Aug 20, 2008)

If your thinking roland. The Sp-540 is the wrong printer to use your better off looking for a used fj-540 this is the printer roland markets as a dye sub printer. used on ebay 6-7 thousand. With the right Rip you can run this printer as a dual cmyk printer.


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## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

clubnick said:


> You might want to think about print speed and how easy it is for the printer to be able to print with just 4 colors of ink (CMYK or dual CMYK) because light colors are nothing more than diluted from the original and fade quicker. The human eye cannot detect light color sublimation inks (light cyan or light magenta) on fabric! Print speed, of course means everything because the faster you can produce shirts in a day, means the more money you will make. I highly recommend the Mimaki JV33 so you can print 2 up at a time - however the printer is more expensive. A JV33 can print full graphic tattoo tees (full coverage) at an average of 214 shirts every 7 hours at 540x720dpi and it has only one head to worry about.


Can you use a Roland VersaArt RS-540 or RS-640 for sublimation set-up? Will this print much faster than a Mimaki JV33, or is it "overkill" as previously commented. Is the Epson 9880 using a printhead with much smaller nozzles, therefore it would be more prone to head clogs?


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## fatdogvw (Aug 20, 2008)

Any of the roland printers with the epson head will work for sublimation. If your doing fabric, resolution is only a small factor 360x720 will work fine because during the sublimation transfer process the dots are lost in the fabric grain.


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## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

fatdogvw said:


> Any of the roland printers with the epson head will work for sublimation. If your doing fabric, resolution is only a small factor 360x720 will work fine because during the sublimation transfer process the dots are lost in the fabric grain.


Thanks, I have confirmed this with our vendor yesterday. We're now in the process of acquiring the Roland VersaArt 640 for wide format sublimation printing.


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## synchtec (Sep 21, 2009)

Hi Byron, 

Just a few hours ago i was talking to Paolo (who also happens to know you) to seek some advise on how i could start this printing business. I am planning to purchase the Epson Stylus Pro 9880 since i wanted to focus on dye sublimation printing. I was hoping i could also get in touch with you sometime for your advise.

Thanks.

sTeven


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## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

No problem Steven. You can call me on my PLDT mobile..331-3481.


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## RedVictorian (Nov 7, 2009)

vctradingcubao said:


> Thanks, I have confirmed this with our vendor yesterday. We're now in the process of acquiring the Roland VersaArt 640 for wide format sublimation printing.


Hi Byron,

May I ask if you can print directly onto the fabric with the Roland VersaArt640 printer?
If yes, do you pre-coat the fabric even if it's already 100% polyester?

Still new to the non-silkscreen printing technology


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## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

Hi Red,
No, we don't & can't print directly on the fabric. We use 60 to 64 inch wide sublimation transfer papers, then heat fix on our jumbo press.
On some direct printing sublimation systems, I think you'll have to use pre-treated polyester fabrics. I think this is only done by the larger production houses.


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## RedVictorian (Nov 7, 2009)

Thanks for the prompt response 
I thought it was direct to fabric coz the sportswear samples from your site looks cool!


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## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

I would dare say from my limited knowledge that results from using subli-transfer papers are generally better than those using direct to fabric sublimation ink-jet systems.


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## Susie (Oct 19, 2007)

Do you need to use chip-resetting with Rolands' on empty carts or do you just fill 'em up without that Epson nonsense? Ditto on the maintenance tank.


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## RedVictorian (Nov 7, 2009)

vctradingcubao said:


> I would dare say from my limited knowledge that results from using subli-transfer papers are generally better than those using direct to fabric sublimation ink-jet systems.


Yeah, I agree with you on that. I went to a Roland distributor last week and saw how ugly direct-to-fabric printouts were and the transfers did look BETTER. 

But I was just thinking there must be a way to get better printouts using direct to fabric... I just feel like having to use transfers takes a lot of time and effort...


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## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

Susie said:


> Do you need to use chip-resetting with Rolands' on empty carts or do you just fill 'em up without that Epson nonsense? Ditto on the maintenance tank.


Fortunately for us here, Roland printers were already "converted", at least on the ink systems...so, we don't need to use chip resetting anymore. On installation (of a brand new unit), the sublimation inks are just loaded on the CMYK refillable cartridges.


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## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

RedVictorian said:


> Yeah, I agree with you on that. I went to a Roland distributor last week and saw how ugly direct-to-fabric printouts were and the transfers did look BETTER.
> 
> But I was just thinking there must be a way to get better printouts using direct to fabric... I just feel like having to use transfers takes a lot of time and effort...


Well, to get better print outs, that's the only way:
Treat or coat your own fabrics, or, buy pre-treated fabrics. If you think about it, doing your own pre-treatment means a lot of investment, and/or more time and effort and perfecting it is even another story. In buying pretreated fabrics, your choices will be limited and maybe you can't even find the fabrics that you really wanted.

Having your own pre-treatment facility is ideal for the high volume, industrial type of garment or textile production. Those large sign shops with steady requirements of sublimated fabrics for signage & advertising purposes would do well using pre-treated fabrics, as they will only be using a few or even 1 type of fabrics. For smaller shops like us, who wants to do sublimation on ready made shirts, pre-cut fabrics for sportswear, satin or nylon flags, felt cloth pennants, pre-cut fabrics for bags & even the smaller printed patches - using a wide format printer and a jumbo flat press is the best and only option (at the moment)


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