Roland SP 300V purchase or not?

35396 Views 28 Replies 12 Participants Last post by valhalla Vinyl, Sep 21, 2017

solm96

Discussion Starter · May 22, 2012

I have found a six year old SP 300V for $5800 that has had the print head replaced 6 months ago. I need a printer an do not want to fork out $13000 at this time for a new one.

If I can't find a good used machine I may just get the BN-20 and hope the issues I have heard about have been resolved.

My question,
Should the head need replacement after 6 years?
What else is about to fail?
Is the price right?

1 - 20 of 29 Posts

kirkmansigns

· #2 · May 22, 2012

We've got the VP300i and are very happy with it. As far as what's about to fail on a 6 yr old printer... it's very hard to say. Roland has a very good name. One of my print heads went out with only 100 hrs of printing on it. The other three are still going strong. For the money I'd probably buy it after a good inspection. Get the owner to show you the capping stations, get the printer head to it's cleaning station. If he knows how to do all this and everything looks good, he's probably done the proper upkeep.

Reactions: 1

Decal_Designs

· #3 · May 22, 2012

One of the things to check that one might not think about on the SP 300 are those little metal tabs above the pinch rollers. One of the things they do are to help the printer determine your left and right page margins If one is loose from the screw backing out, and its sitting crooked, you will get page margin errors. It may seem like a small detail, but a tech has to take the whole thing apart and pull the square bar out to get at those screws. That is not the case on the newer models.

Reactions: 1

SamWarning

· #4 · May 30, 2012

It seems like both of you who answered are owners of this machine and I am also looking at a used model. Is this a particularly user-friendly printer, is this something you would recommend for a tech-savvy person but who is not used to such a large printer? We had a DTG and weren't all that pleased with it.

Decal_Designs

· #5 · May 30, 2012

It's not all that hard to operate. The size of the printer doesn't make it any harder to use than any other printer once you know a few of the steps. There are a few new things you have to learn about preparing the art for contour cutting, and about loading the vinyl onto the printer. A few things about using the Versaworks program, which is basically the printer driver settings. Some things about blade pressure and such, but it's all fairly basic stuff that most anybody can do with a little bit of practice.

Maintenance is pretty easy as long as you do it. Basically you are keeping the blade sharp, and doing a manual cleaning of the print heads and a few other parts every once in a while. Changing the ink cartridges is very easy. It will tell you when you are out of ink and it will stop printing. Then you simply take out the empty cartridge and slide a new one in. The printer will resume the job automatically with no error in the print. Always have an extra cartridge of each color on hand.

So when everything is going right, it's simple to use. When they go wrong it drives you crazy.

What didn't you like about the DTG? By knowing some of your dislikes, we can compare those to what you can expect from a Versacamm in a similar situation.

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SamWarning

· #6 · May 30, 2012

wow, thanks for all that!

A lot of it was tech support based we are about 32 hours from the nearest tech support so once things went wrong it made the printer pretty useless. I think that cartridges vs liquid will be a huge plus and there are a lot of issues like print head jamming against cloth and fabric lint jamming things up. I tried doing some straight up print, cut and transfer and it just seems so much easier.

Decal_Designs

· #7 · May 30, 2012

Well I can for me, tech support has been very good on my Versacamm, and I am the second owner. I'm not sure how close an actual tech person is to you, but I'm sure you could find out. The cartridges that are standard for the SP300V are 220cc and 440cc are available and all you do is put them in. You do save money getting the 440cc cartridges but they stick out pretty far and you don't want to knock into them every time you have to go around to the back of the printer. That's why I went back to the 220cc cartridges myself. There are times that you can get a print head strike on the media, which sucks, but it's usually a case of the media being installed crooked, or maybe the media hitting the floor and causeing a buckle, or sometimes needing more vaccum for a media type. Head strikes are rare though. You will find yourself printing so many more things, and more profitable things than just shirt transfers too, so that helps a lot with paying the printer off.

theflowerboxx

· #8 · May 30, 2012

You can do tons of different things with a wide format printer compared to a DTG.

scuba_steve2699

· #9 · May 30, 2012

there is a lot of tech support available online as well. I trouble shoot printers across the US and sometimes internationally. I have done remote tech assist where I have control of the users computer and have even done facetime based tech support. Bottom line, I think we got ya covered!

theflowerboxx

· #10 · May 30, 2012

I can personally vouch for Steve, he's helped me out a couple different times with things on my printer.

Reactions: 1

jaysword

· #11 · Nov 17, 2012

Should I get a used Sp 300v or a new BN-20?

scuba_steve2699

· #12 · Nov 17, 2012

I am not a huge fan of used equipment as there can be many issues with a printer if it is not properly maintained. I would push for a new SP300 if you budget could afford it. It is a much more capable machine in the long run and an new one would be issue free with a great warranty.

infopub

· #13 · Nov 18, 2012

I purchased a new VS-300 9 months ago from Steven. At the time I was considering the BN-20 also, but after talking to Steven, I went for the VS-300. I am so glad I did. I just wish I could get a VS-540 now.

I bough it mainly to do apparel, but since getting it have done a lot of different things with it. I got a job yesterday for 1250 decals, a job which i would have out sourced before. With the VS-300 that job is going to be very profitable for me.

I can vouch for the expert tech support from Steven. He is a super guy, and will help any way he can. The only problems I have had were a result of my lack of discipline to do the maintenance.

Thanks to Steven I am a very happy Roland VersaCamm Owner.

Thanks
Danny

danny95133

· #14 · Feb 28, 2013

My roland SP 300 V need to change new print head . May I know if we can use the Epson printhead DX5 instead of DX 4 to replace the print head for my machine ? Thanks

scuba_steve2699

· #15 · Feb 28, 2013

danny95133 said:
My roland SP 300 V need to change new print head . May I know if we can use the Epson printhead DX5 instead of DX 4 to replace the print head for my machine ? Thanks

I would only recommend using the correct head and getting it from a Roland dealer

Reactions: 1

kirkmansigns

· #16 · Feb 28, 2013

I had to replace a print head also... $ 1000 plus the install. I'd suggest letting the dealer install... was a very involved process to get set back up and aligned properly.

Reactions: 1

danny95133

· #17 · Feb 28, 2013

Thanks Steve.

But the Epson printhead DX5 would work for roland the SP 300 V right ? Thanks

scuba_steve2699

· #18 · Feb 28, 2013

danny95133 said:
Thanks Steve.

But the Epson printhead DX5 would work for roland the SP 300 V right ? Thanks

I cannot recommend that. I am not 100% sure it would work.

danny95133

· #19 · Feb 28, 2013

Hi Steve.

May I know what the different between Solvent print head DX 4 and the epson print head for DX5 . I thought they are the same because they was made by Espon. I like to print on the Vinyl heat transfer paper to print the numbers and logo on the jerseys . Should i use solvent ink or water based ink ? Thanks for your help.

scuba_steve2699

· #20 · Feb 28, 2013

danny95133 said:
Hi Steve.

May I know what the different between Solvent print head DX 4 and the epson print head for DX5 . I thought they are the same because they was made by Espon. I like to print on the Vinyl heat transfer paper to print the numbers and logo on the jerseys . Should i use solvent ink or water based ink ? Thanks for your help.

I do not know enough about the 2 different print heads to give you a good run down on them. I would always go with the correct part from the manufacturer. It may cost a bit more but it is 100% correct and covered by warranty from a company that stands behind their machines 100%. Just my 2 cents

You need to use solvent ink for the heat transfer medias. Water based will not work properly on medias that are coated to receive solvent ink.

Reactions: 1

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