Another Roland BN-20 thread

[rabb]

I'm looking at investing in a Roland BN-20 primarily for t-shirt transfers and possibly some stickers.

The question is, I believe they're not the quickest so do any of you recommend them or should I be looking at something a bit quicker?

[Paul]

hi,
I have one.
My question is - is your client database is so large that machine will slow you down?
and can you afford larger and faster model?
if yes, go for the large and quick machine. If you just starting out and planning to use occasionally but often enough to justify having it than BN20 is the answer. I am quite a busy man this day but bn20 is still plenty enough for me and my customer's needs.

[RichG]

Hi Paul, butting in here as we're also looking at a BN20, infact we've been to see a demo on one today. If you don't mind could you tell me what your main use for the printer is please? Also do you have white, magenta or metallic? We're looking at Workwear, sportswear, decals and possibly some banners etc. Cheers

[Paul]

Hi Paul, butting in here as we're also looking at a BN20, infact we've been to see a demo on one today. If you don't mind could you tell me what your main use for the printer is, please? Also do you have white, magenta or metallic? We're looking at Workwear, sportswear, decals and possibly some banners etc. Cheers

I use my bn20 for 99% for garment printing.
I have a double magenta system. white is pointless for me if you don't print clear window stickers as all media is white anyway.
silver? nobody asked me for anything metallic yet. if I had I I could probably push it more, but metallic in is extremely expensive so most of it would go down the waste tank anyway.
so CMMUK is the only way for me. if i was buying it again today, I would also buy same system knowing that what my customers need.

[RichG]

Great thanks. How do you find the speed as this is often mentioned in reviews and comments? I've also been told that having the white system slows it down even more but I guess this is only when it's actually printing white which the printer will actually only do when asked to, obviously no need on white media. We also looked at an Oki 8432wt which is very compact, very fast, great quality prints but is limited to media. Horses for courses I suppose

[Paul]

speed is slow if you go for the best quality. and quality is nuts! But a lot of artworks can actually get away with lower quality settings and still look great. this is when a printer speeds up. I tend to print less but for more expensive customers so I don't have to run massive jobs. but if I have loads of stickers to print, I simply set the job to print at night I wake up and money is printed

[Dalbag123]

Hi guys, could you give me some insights into the BN-20
i was thinking of buying one from eBay (used)
I usually get transfers made up and sent me when needed but I don’t get a huge amount of work for transfers. but sometimes a customer will say ‘do us 2 more tshirts’ and then you have to order them again, postage etc etc
I literally have no clue about how they work, are maintained or what else can be done with them.
is is it worth buying one?
how often does the print head need changing and is it an expensive process to change?
what other maintenance do you have to carry out
can it be left off for weeks at a time?
Are they reliable?
easy to set up images and logo to print and cut?

Thanks
Dal

[Quinsfan]

can it be left off for weeks at a time? No is the simple answer.

If this going to be a regular occurrence then I would keep buying them in but always order 3-5 extra and add that into your original costs.

Yet if you can add other products to your range like stickers and banners then it may be worth it.

You may be better looking at the other systems for garment prints. I don’t use them myself but I believe the Magic Touch do a good system.


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[Paul]

can it be left off for weeks at a time? No is the simple answer.

I would like to disagree with it. Once Roland is hooked up to the main power, it has a self-maintaining mode where every few hours drop of ink is sucked in to avoid head drying.
I left my BN20 for almost 4 weeks and no problems.

[Quinsfan]

Very lucky Paul. On other forums and speaking to engineers this is not recommended with solvent printers. It maybe that the BN-20 print head is different but for wide format solvent printers I wouldn’t like to leave it for more than a couple of days without at least doing some kind of printing.


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