Exile Spyder II feedback please

[Rockers]

Our shops might splash out on a Spyder II. I personally have not much knowledge about this wax printer.
I assume it`s a very good product, fast from what I`ve heard. How about the printhead. Someone once mentioned to me they need to be changed every few years and are kind of expensive.
How about the general running cost. In line with other CTS systems?
Anything else we need to consider?

Thanks.

[Dottonedan]

From what I have heard from other past owners, they didn't really have a problem with them in general. Like you mentioned, Heads go a little faster than wet ink due to the heat needed to melt the wax but that's about all I've head in terms of anything negative. I don't know about the consumables like how much the wax cost and how fast it goes through it.  Earlier versions of DTS's used to really go through the print heads but they have come a long way.

For another brand for example, (not this one your mentioning), but one of the most earliest models (for at least this one shop) went through replacing all heads...about 5-7 times a year. They were probably exaggerating but even at that, LOL.  That's a ton ...but they still said DTS was and all of those heads was still worth it so, imagine that!

[zanegun08]

You can read my post about my experience here - http://www.theshirtboard.com/index.php/topic,14636.0.html

We had one head go bad very early on, but it was due to user error (trying to recycle wax), but was replaced under warranty.  We are still using that same head to this day, so from Mid 2015 - 2018.  It's had some head clogs, but you can turn off portions of the head, and then my operator reopened it slowly to utilize more of the head and the clog fixed itself.

Don't quote me on this, but out of warranty I believe a print head is around $3k.

Wax is great, it sticks to everything, no need to worry about what emulsion, is well dark enough, stays put so don't have to worry about moving from printer to exposure unit.  Besides printing a little slower than an inkjet machine, the other benefits make it a superior CTS in my opinion.

You won't be disappointed, and Exile team give great support.

[T Shirt Farmer]

Over a year on my Spyder and absolutely ZERO issues, Exile is acutely a very small group of a very large company in another industry you will not find better customer service. The only pet peeve I have is the waste wax which is about $35 (1 brick of wax) every 3 months.

[Rockers]

Over a year on my Spyder and absolutely ZERO issues, Exile is acutely a very small group of a very large company in another industry you will not find better customer service. The only pet peeve I have is the waste wax which is about $35 (1 brick of wax) every 3 months.

For some reason it seems our Spyder is eating  wax like crazy. We are in the second week now and are down 3 wax blocks. Two have been used up during install which took 4 days. I was told we can get up to 150 screens out of one block depending on image size.
Do you leave your Spyder switched on over night or do you turn it off at the end of the day?

[T Shirt Farmer]

Over a year on my Spyder and absolutely ZERO issues, Exile is acutely a very small group of a very large company in another industry you will not find better customer service. The only pet peeve I have is the waste wax which is about $35 (1 brick of wax) every 3 months.

For some reason it seems our Spyder is eating  wax like crazy. We are in the second week now and are down 3 wax blocks. Two have been used up during install which took 4 days. I was told we can get up to 150 screens out of one block depending on image size.
Do you leave your Spyder switched on over night or do you turn it off at the end of the day?

We purge every morning for 2 seconds @ #4 pressure, i guess it would add up to a block of wax ($35) every 2+ months. Number of screens per block will be all over the place dependant on coverage area. We have had one serious head clog that required a block of wax and a few hours to clear out. Do Not reuse the wax from the purge container it is contaminated, trying to save a few bucks is so not worth it. IMO the expense of wasted wax and power consumption is such a small price to pay for all the benefits DTS brings.

Hope this unit works out much better than the last one.