This is way it's important to understand your customer base and what kind of applications you're going to be printing for. HP Latex is perfect for doing outdoor banners and things that are going to get abused. You don't need to lam it at all. But the Eco-sol printers are going to make a much nicer looking print for things that are going to be viewed up close like stickers. The downside to the increase in resolution, you have to laminate it. All about knowing your applications. Great video Ken.
sorry i dont own both system, just curious because i love crafting as a hobby, i have a sublimation printer and HTV heat press etc.. When you say lamination what does it mean, can you laminate Eco solvent HTV? what is cheaper and needs less maintainance? Or better said which of both allow you to not have to print every day to keep the system alive and healthy? are there any health issues with those printing methods?
@@danbarb9728 Hi Dan. Lamination is the process of putting a plastic coating on the sheet before finishing. Laminates protect the print from water, UV rays and scratching. However, you need extra equipment to laminate and there is added cost. Latex prints are already pretty durable and UV resistant. Most Eco-sol prints like on Ken's BN-20 need to be laminated to avoid scratching or rubbing of the ink. Latex machines requires a lot less maintenance overall and also are great if you're not going to be running the machine every day. Eco-sol printers needs to run all the time to keep the ink from drying the print head out. But, like I said, there is a trade off. Eco-sol produces finer lines of text and smoother prints. So it kind of depends on your application.
Man your videos are really helpful, honestly i will get the bn-20 because im just starting and getting to know all of this is going to save me a lot of trouble.
Can you do a video on an effective work flow lamination process (on a budget) for those of us thinking of taking the plunge into printing ? Thanks Ken 👍
I love your videos man, always keeping it real. Its funny how people do these tests for stickers and then for shirts they do the stretch test lol. How often do customers clean their stickers with alcohol? Same goes for stretching a shirt on purpose? I like how you proved a great point in this video. There shouldnt be a battle between Latex and Ecosol because they are both great and serve their own purpose. I wanna see more videos on the Roland Bn20 because I am debating between that and the HP latex
right on! i appreciate you! ye i have done tests and talked about alcohol before i mean its not real world exposure lol. like who is gonna rub alcohol like that. if it can withstand just a little rubbing then it can handle a lot of regular use. i like them both ecosol for detailed colors for sure! it's a great little printer! def money making potential. again thx for the support!
@@DaPrintHouse I think I might get the roland just because its more affordable for me right now and also the fact that I do shirts. So I like that I can print on vinyl and print on demand.
the Bn20 what they don't advertise is the process in-between printing and the finial product, you have to either let it gas for 24 hours after printing or get an heater to make it gas its not a ready to got right onto a shirt after printing in a process afterwards and they don't advertise that part.
@@Yshral pretty much everyone knows or who owns ecosol know about outgassing BUT with HTV you can print cut and press to shirt right away, without the worry of outgassing because of the process.
U will get better photo prints on ecosol not that you cant get good photo prints, but from my experience ecosol will do better since most have smaller droplet size in the print heads.
@@DaPrintHouse Hi! Thanks for posting on Ben’s comment 👍 Is there an update on your sticker’s UV/Fade resistance? This is a factor that I am most nervous about since the current stickers I make at home (with a regular inkjet printer) fade within a month when I am testing them on my car, under the Caribbean sun.
@@christina413 well i cant say how well it would do with that beautiful Caribbean sun you get, but i have had them sit in window sills in uv for months. they will last better then the inkjet im sure anyways. label printer pigment ink seems to be better.
@@DaPrintHouse Thank you for the prompt response! Appreciate your insight and aid. I have been binge watching your BN-20 vids all day long to stop overthinking and finally just make the next step towards creating a quality sticker.
@@christina413 Cold laminating is pretty fast and easy to do, and its the only guarantee against wear and tear. Not sure how it would fare under a tropical sun - only way is to test :)
If you can get your hands on TR-2 ink for Roland you will outlast the latex with 70% isopropyl it’s so weird. It’s so much worse with the silver I had in the BN-20. I will see if I can send you some Roland TR-2 prints unlamented if you want and shoot another video. You will be amazed at how it holds up over the latex.
@@DaPrintHouse oh this is legit testing I literally did the exact same thing you did with every single one of my printers as well as 70% 80% and 90% isopropyl alcohol lol just to make sure if someone sprays Windex or something on the sticker it doesn’t come off that’s how I found out the BN20 is best with lamination however I wasn’t testing it for full color I was testing it with the metallics cause it’s smeared with my damn finger. I had a couple videos explaining it but I do believe it’s just because they be in 20 doesn’t have an adequate enough heater personally
Thank you!! Very informative! I’m debating over buying one of exactly these two machines, I want to do invitations and stickers, tho, why does the paper look glossy? Is it just the paper? :) Can it be matte too? And what about the size? Can I try to insert an A4 paper in each of these printers, or is an A4 paper too small? If I only have to make a single sticker, It would really help to be able to use a very small sheet. Is it possible?
I lam everything nowaways, as the real test is the scratch or wear test. To test this, I put lammed and unlammed eco-solvent printed decals on the back of my phone and carried it around for a month or so. The lammed one still looks as good as the day I made it, the unlammed one is completely gone. I only have eco-solvent so it would be interesting to see if this happened with latex. I suspect it would...
Which printable media and lamination do you use as applying laminate will make the final phone skin too thick which will be troublesome on edges and curves and also the laminate would start to peel-off from edges after somedays….
@@articwoodtech I use Oracal vinyl with a Ritrama overlam. It's just a sticker, not a skin. Have not had any issues with delamination. If you hold it up to the light you can see loads of tiny scratches which the lam saved the print from. Still looks as good as the day I made it (6 months and counting)
@@Mr_Chuckles Hi! Thank you for the informative post! Scratch and wear test for stickers are very important to customers. Have you noticed any color fading on your eco-solvent stickers when exposed to the sun over a long period of time, such as a sticker on a car? Besides scratching of sticker design, I’m concerned if eco-solvent stickers are not UV/fade resistant.
@@christina413 Thanks for your message Christina. I am currently testing a sticker on the front bumper of my car, it's been around 3 months now and no signs of change. Exposed to sun, rain, insects, muck and whatever else the road can throw at it. Will see how it looks after a year :)
I'm into making military scale models and am wondering that if I bought a Roland BN20 would it actually be good enough for me to high quality print and cut my own military model decals which are small and fine detail? I would like to design my own decals in Illustrator, but then print and cut with my own BN20, to use on my scale models. Needs to come out professional though. If BN20 no good, am open to suggestions. Real good video. New sub. Keep up the great work. Thanks
haven't tested but im sure it would rub off just not sure which would rub more latex or ecosol, maybe i can test one day, thx for watching and like subscribe if you have not done so!
You talk about doing a durability test then you perform a solvent test. A solvent, alcohol, that will break down the eco-solvent dried bond but not the latex bond. Why not try the same “durability” test with acetone or MEK?
either way not real world use, i don't ever use alcohol to clean any sticker lol. but good points, i was just asked by someone about it. and also newer ecosol inks hold up better anyways
Without lamination for outdoor usage with no physical contact, just sun and rain which ink would fade quicker. And for a sticker without lamination that will be used in phone and laptop will the latex ink fades or not at all, just asking because clients often asked about unlaminate latex for stickers, but ive never own a latex printer so I have no idea.
When alcahol rubs on inc it isn’t supposed to leave scratch tracks? U sure u didnt have something under the rag? Not doubting u i have a bn20a yes it rubs offs but with some real effort but not like that i would say with any prints cure with uv
Nope nothing. What u see when the ink breaks down it balls up and proba ly just that creates it. Not to doubt me but asked if im being sneaky lol thats funny. I have nothing to gain or lose for this test
I just got my bn20 and i hate that the ink comes off when i scratch it with my nail, i have a really cheap inkjet printer that i use to use and that ink never came off when i scratched it, also the ink that came with my bn20 was eco pigment, is that maybe why?
