Continue with Roland print and cut solutions or move to a 2 piece print and cut solution?

[ml4cs]

Hello,

I have 2 old Roland sp-540i printers, been working with them for about 2 years while getting our business off the ground, they are built like tanks and just keep going and are easy to work on when something does go wrong. We are moving to a larger space and looking to upgrade. Should we move to the newer Roland TrueVIS? if so SG2 or VG2? Or should we move to a separate print and cut solution? I have looked around and seems like Mutoh printers are a high-quality option, don't know much about the cutters though. I am familiar with Summa as we own one, and Graphtec as I have used one in the past. But I see these Mutoh printer cutter combo packages offered up, how accurate are they? does it make a difference as they are the same brand?

We are also looking to get a laminator as well which would likely mean makes more sense to move to a separate solution

I know almost anything will be light-years higher in speed than what we have now

Thanks

 

[GAC05]

General consensus here is a separate cutter with Summa being top of the line and Graphtec 2nd. The less complex the printer is the longer it is going to run with fewer issues. Much easier to replace a cutter or even a printer over having to replace the whole thing when one issue deadlines the combo.
I have a Mutoh printer and a Graphtec cutter - both do the job and are not hard to work on when things go south. Not a lot of support out there for the Graphtec - at least in my searching.

 

[victor bogdanov]

You can use your current printers with a separate cutter or a new roland sg2/vg2 with a separate cutter.

I have 2 sg2 that have been trouble free printing everyday (vg2 will be a little faster). Most of the time now I use graphtec to cut but sometimes I'll still cut on the rolands depending on what it is.


Once you get the hang of printing and cutting on separate machines it is very easy, I love the Graphtec FC 9000 barcode function, can cut without even being connected to a PC

 

[FrankW]

The Summa OPOS X for example works much faster and with much more functionality than the roland system.

 

[FrankW]

If you like Roland, you can buy a Truvis VF2 Print-Only.

 

[rjssigns]

If you don't need extra capacity then keep the Rolands for printing and do all the cutting with the Summa. I did that for years and finally sold the Roland when I needed a faster printer.

 

[Sean@CedarHouse]

I run Roland Print and Cut. If I laminate I set the file up to run in the SUMMA, if I don't it's just easier to do it on the Roland. Set and forget. We have a Mimaki that's print and cut as well, but I have nothing but issues with cut accuracy on it. So that is now a print only machine.

If you are running hundreds of labels that are 10 feet long then I use the Custom Cut feature to do smaller sections at a time. Cut spot on every time and it's been 5 years so far with the VS.

 

[untitled]

Like everyone else has said go with separate machines. If you have the space available for separate machines do it. I have recently move from a Roland print/cut setup to separate machines with a Summa and I am kicking myself that I didn't do it years ago. Definitely way better.

 

[Ldiprinting]

I have a Roland VG540 print/cut printer that I upgraded to the new tru vis 2 ink and have had zero issues. I just looked at moving over to the HP 700W for the water based ink with the white ink and a seperate cutter but it was pricing out at about $40k Canadian. Hard to justify replacing a printer cuter thats an amazing workhorse! So I'm going to hold off until my Roland dies.

 

[ikarasu]

40k?! Where you shopping at?

We just got a brand new 700w with a full set of ink for 31.5k cad after taxes with all the go installs and everything. 2 vendors with the exact same pricing (vendors arent allowed to sell it for more than MSRP) If you were quoted 40k, time to find a new supplier!

 

[balstestrat]

40k?! Where you shopping at?

We just got a brand new 700w with a full set of ink for 31.5k cad after taxes with all the go installs and everything. 2 vendors with the exact same pricing (vendors arent allowed to sell it for more than MSRP) If you were quoted 40k, time to find a new supplier!

He also said cutter. Summa S2 could make that total to 40k easy.

 

[Ldiprinting]

40k?! Where you shopping at?

We just got a brand new 700w with a full set of ink for 31.5k cad after taxes with all the go installs and everything. 2 vendors with the exact same pricing (vendors arent allowed to sell it for more than MSRP) If you were quoted 40k, time to find a new supplier!

Sorry to be clear that includes the cutter too

 

[ml4cs]

Thanks for the feedback, if I have a bunch of files already with the cut contour roland line, will that be an issue with Summa or Graphtec? or would I need a different cut contour line? Also does this work in versaworks with 2 machines or do I need to migrate to Flexi or something else? Sorry if these seem like newb questions but still learning, have only been doing this for about 18 months and have just been using roland versaworks and print/cut with it

 

[victor bogdanov]

Thanks for the feedback, if I have a bunch of files already with the cut contour roland line, will that be an issue with Summa or Graphtec? or would I need a different cut contour line? Also does this work in versaworks with 2 machines or do I need to migrate to Flexi or something else? Sorry if these seem like newb questions but still learning, have only been doing this for about 18 months and have just been using roland versaworks and print/cut with it

with Graphtec cutter you can continue using versaworks to print, you will need to make new print files that include the Graphtec registration marks and barcodes, it is easy once you get the hang of it