New Thermal Printer/Cutter, 30in. DC4 SX List $12,995

[Mike Paul]

Anyone else see the add for this in the latest issue of Sign Business?
It's not on their website yet but is suppose to be available soon. Accepts 24in. and 30in. material.
It's suppose to be at the A/C show in a few weeks.

[GXSignCo]

I find it quite intriguing myself as I have always had an eye on them. Here is a link with lots more info. Looks like they are trying to compete with the rest of the 30" market, which personally seems to be shrinking. However, since I already have a 54" inkjet, a 24" - 30" thermal might be okay. I wonder if they are as "versatile" as they now claim.

http://www.summastore.com/cutter_detail.php?product_id=26&sess_id=f2c734e0e3be78f674813ea9cb50da61

[SAS]

I saw the ad yesterday. I have always liked the Summa. But the cost per sq. ft. has been keeping me away. But I agree with you Chris if you have a 54" or bigger ink jet it would be nice to have for smaller stuff.

[cdiesel]

I, too, agree with Chris. We only have the 30" versacamm, and kick ourselves everyday for it. But, if we had a 54"+ machine, the summa would be great for short run stuff like decals, or one offs. No laminating, just print and cut.

Chris

[GXSignCo]

...But the cost per sq. ft. has been keeping me away...

Agreed, but you can get more PSF on small stuff so the higher running cost would be overshadowed by some of the advantages for the "specialty" market that I see this more applicable to.

[iSign]

plus... as much as I thought it sounded one-sided... GMS (or was it Hyatts?) had a very well thought out cost comparison between inkjet & thermal. One of the few points they brought up to consider were the use of office space. The space used by my inkjet equipment (& laminator) represents a significant enough portion of my overall rent cost, that compared to a Gerber edge... it could represent a reduction in the relative overhead costs of thermal vs inkjet. They had a number of other considerations such as material waste when buying huge 54" rolls for example... but sometimes using that media for jobs that don't make efficient use of that size roll. The hypothetical inkjet costs that they stacked up began to sound biased... but to a degree, they made some valid points as well.

My money would still be on the Edge as a second digital printing solution. If I'm not mistaken, it can print on far more media then the DC4. If you can find a good used Edge2, there are also more foil suppliers to choose from... & when you get a job where the 11.8" capacity is an unacceptable limitation... then you have your inkjet.

[SAS]

Agreed, but you can get more PSF on small stuff so the higher running cost would be overshadowed by some of the advantages for the "specialty" market that I see this more applicable to.

I was talking about the sq. ft. price on a 54" Summa if that was your only printer.
I would love to have both, but I would not buy the 30" or the 54" Summa if I did not have a ink jet to do larger runs.

[Mike Paul]

My money would still be on the Edge as a second digital printing solution. If I'm not mistaken, it can print on far more media then the DC4. If you can find a good used Edge2, there are also more foil suppliers to choose from... & when you get a job where the 11.8" capacity is an unacceptable limitation... then you have your inkjet.
I love my Edge2 but since it's not being manufactured anymore repairs could be a costly/problem in a few years. The Gerber Edge FX with a very basic Gerber cutter seems to be around $17-18,000. The Summa machine prints on reflective, banner, and static cling. Gerber has more foils and material but I've never put anything but Cast and Calendared vinyl in mine. The Gerber Edge has been a great asset to my business over the years but I like the fact that its starting to get some competition in the thermal transfer market.

[Taurusndixie]

I would think the summa thermal would be better than head clogging inkjets and all the mess or potential problems asscociated with inkjets. I really don't know as I have never had either one. Just some things I read. I would like to find out about durability and potential problems with heads on the thermals.

I would like to buy a 30 inch printer cutter, what would any of you recommend if you could afford only a 30 inch printer, Versa Camm or Summa thermal ??

Thanks,

Don

[geedub]

I like the thermal printing because of the metalics and the possible color gamut because of spot color foils. Hitting a PMS color without a hitch is nice, then throwing in some metalic is nice too. These printers are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO slow. You realize if you're printing process colors, it runs the yellow ink the full way through, feeds back through, runs the cyan, feeds back through, runs the magenta, feeds back through and runs the black. 34 sq ft./hr on that thing, my soljet pro III, given it's 54" wide, prints at over 400 sq ft./hr. The 30" versacamm has to print faster than 34 sq. ft./hr. If you print a lot of metalic, or can't color match worth a damn, then a thermal is a good choice. With the way roland has taken their eco-sol's there really is not mess, no head clogging, it's almost as if it's an aqueous printer. So when you say "inkjet" please define what type of "inkjet" you're talking about, "head clogging inkjet" is not a true statement. Aqueous printers, like your epsons and your hp designjets, don't have a clogging problem because they use a water based ink. Solvent printers of yester year have a problem with the solvent ink drying in the print heads, technology has fixed this and these "head clogging solventjets" are older machines, nothing you're going to run into when buying a new eco-sol printer.