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Best thing you can do to keep your heads on Gerber running is to keep their area (catch baskets both sides) very clean and free of dust/debris. If every time you use the machine you give it a quick wipe down (not the head) and a blow from canned air it'll remove even more dust. Also, choose a...

We thought ours really stunk as it heated up the vinyl, even more than our eco-solvent printers. Left a bad taste in your mouth in the print room. Supposed to be "safe" though. idk, but your neighbors will probably not be that excited about the smell.

Also, even though the laminates are specc'd for that long, how long are your ink pigments going to last?

There are a few 3M laminates specc'd for that long of a lifespan. https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/663997O/product-bulletin-graphic-protection-options.pdf

Our primary vinyl here is IJ180c/cv3, but for flat vertical surfaces like signs, IJ35C-10 is a lot more affordable and still has air release for easy installations. I've heard bad things about removing IJ175 so we stay away from it.

Also, you have to determine, for each individual employee, where the problem with speed comes from - lack of experience, or lack of motivation. If they're motivated and really trying/doing their best, then they're worth training. If they're just "not motivated" it is probably best to part ways...

3 guys, 3 days, should be complete with EXPERIENCD, COMPETENT installers. I would say that ANY installer with under 8 months under their belt is not that experienced, and RVs like this are not easy installs. At this point you come back to the age-old saying "good, fast, cheap - pick TWO". FWIW...

I think turning your printer heaters up helps a lot also.

Looking to buy some more of the 3M Decor series overlaminate 102 knit. 3M is back-ordered for a while and our current suppliers are all sold out. Do any of you know of a roll sitting around in a warehouse (or do you even have one by chance?)

It might be related to your profile you are using in your RIP and the corresponding ink limits you have set? Grays are always the hardest colors to hit "solid" without being tinted or banded since they use so little of each ink in them.

The top color is spec'd as "Pantone 144", no mention of WHICH Pantone book though, and the 2nd color is marked as Pantone 144CP; both are different books with different values. Always watch out for those tricky designers using incorrect books screwing up customers' prints!

I think a couple years back when they did a software update to the site (which added all the ads you now see) it reset everyone back to the starting status, but now you can change it to whatever you like whenever. Welcome back!

Every shop I've ever worked at has subscribed to ProVehicleOutlines (or similar) if you're doing vehicle graphics. We do ask that the customer send photos of both doors on semi cabs though, as sometimes they have the little window or other unforeseen/oddball emblems/decals.

Gerber just isn't making any more machines. There are going to be supplies and parts available for years. If you're printing specialty decals and only for in-house jobs a Gerber Edge is going to be your best bet. It also doesn't care much about sitting idle for weeks at a time, where that will...

On our Epsons with Onyx we have our standard profile that we have a Pantone chart printed from, and we also have a "common setting" where in Onyx we bump up every color 15% and we print the chart from that profile also to see where everything hits at there. From this point you can choose either...

Humidity causing humps across the media. Turning the pre-heaters way down or up will cure it, sometimes you have to try both ways. The post-heater can stay up hot.

I would try to do a "per job" rate instead of hourly with contract installers. If you estimate 10 hours and would like to pay $50/hr, tell them the project budget is $500. They can take as many hours, just make less per hour.

Ours was around that price about 5 years ago, not sure where it is now though. It came with a camera for doing registration-based cuts, but we've never used it for that. https://www.visionengravers.com/products/cnc-routers/VR48-cnc-router-engraver-machine.php

You should be able to run all of the machines off of the one station/software. However, it may be easier to manage everything if you add another station/computer/software, if you have the space for it.

If you're looking for "exact fit" templates for things like false windows/recesses, you are going to have to make them yourself, for each variation of each vehicle. No one provides these. Each one you'll have to measure/photo/draw/setup/test cut & adjust/retry if you're cutting it to fit...