Epson GS6000

[GoodPeopleFlags]

Scene, sorry to hear about your problems, but we've had our Epson since October and have nothing but great things to say about it and Advantage. Great printer and great service! It's possible something might've went wrong with your installation, but shit happens. I'm sure you've probably had a few jobs go out where things just went wrong and I'm sure you did everything you could to fix it, right? Advantage is an excellent company. But it's your perrogitive not to deal with them.

I have never had, or heard of, any problems with our Graphtec Fc7000 reading the registration marks and we use the 3165RA vinyl, which is glossy.

I don't have the takeup reel problems others have mentioned. But we don't run 150' at a time. I'm curious why you would run so much at one time? Overnight, I guess? I've never had any take up reel problems that weren't "operator error".

The only thing I wish they would have done differently when making it is the way the media is loaded. It would be impossible to load a new roll of banner or vinyl by 1 person.

 

[nate]

We'll be purchasing a Summa T series shortly.

Great choice.

 

[scene329]

scene329 good luck with having an attitude like that!

I'm not allowed to get upset or frustrated about having a $25,000 printer that doesn't work right? I don't know how valuable your time is or how busy your shop is but, we're growing quickly and need equipment and support that I can count on.

Not to sound like a dick but, I don't like wasting time or money. You have your opinion and your entitled to it.. So am I. I just simply stated that the GS6000 could have been setup properly and that the sales reps should know how to use the equipment and software before they sell you something you don't need. Instead they are just worried about making a few bucks hoping you'll come back and buy more supplies and equipment.

Also, just so you know I've spent about $55,000 with Advantage in the past 8 months on equipment and ink cartridges alone. One would think they might take us more seriously. I know that it's not a lot of money in the scheme of things.. However, I would just like to feel like my business matters to someone.

Maybe... I need to deal with another sales rep..

 

[scene329]

Scene, sorry to hear about your problems, but we've had our Epson since October and have nothing but great things to say about it and Advantage. Great printer and great service! It's possible something might've went wrong with your installation, but shit happens. I'm sure you've probably had a few jobs go out where things just went wrong and I'm sure you did everything you could to fix it, right? Advantage is an excellent company. But it's your perrogitive not to deal with them.

I have never had, or heard of, any problems with our Graphtec Fc7000 reading the registration marks and we use the 3165RA vinyl, which is glossy.

I don't have the takeup reel problems others have mentioned. But we don't run 150' at a time. I'm curious why you would run so much at one time? Overnight, I guess? I've never had any take up reel problems that weren't "operator error".

The only thing I wish they would have done differently when making it is the way the media is loaded. It would be impossible to load a new roll of banner or vinyl by 1 person.

We run the hell out of our printers. When we are printing we send enough jobs to finish a roll. We also laminate everything. It's more productive to print roll to roll as well as laminating roll to roll... less set up..

I don't see the point of running 20ft of material then cutting it off and repeating that process.. especially when we have enough jobs to run whole rolls of material.

 

[signage]

scene329 what I am trying to tell you is bring/calling out the supplier is no way to go about getting thing corrected! A lot of us on here have had good experiences with them! Maybe you are expecting too much from just having the equipment installed on Friday and expecting to get right to full blown production! All equipment has a learning curve and by giving them a chance before calling them out I would think would have been a much better way to go, getting them negative publicity isn't doing either of you any good!

 

[Rooster]

In my experience Epson builds find print heads (for slower print speeds) and provides a good quality ink.

I've never been impressed with their printer chassis.

The GS6000 was the first use of the newest epson heads. It won't be long before Mutoh, Mimaki and others start sticking the same heads into a more robust chassis. Hopefully with the same CMYKLcLmOG inkset.

 

[SE SignSupply]

In my experience Epson builds find print heads (for slower print speeds) and provides a good quality ink.

I've never been impressed with their printer chassis.

The GS6000 was the first use of the newest epson heads. It won't be long before Mutoh, Mimaki and others start sticking the same heads into a more robust chassis. Hopefully with the same CMYKLcLmOG inkset.

The Epson GS6000 chassis was built by Mutoh, it is very similar to the VJ1614/1618.

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

I'm just saying the problems you're having have not been experienced by any of the rest of us who have spoken up so far. You can choose not to do business with them if you want but don't slam them publicly when it seems that no one else is having the same issues.

In response to running an entire roll full of different jobs, that's cool if that's how you want to do it. Just seems to me that if you cut a few jobs off at a time, those can go on to work tables and be completed before the roll runs out. But obviously, you do more business than us so who am I to say! Whatever works!

I stand by my statement that the Epson is a great printer and Advantage is a great company.

To each their own!

 

[Molenbeek]

Thank you all for your kind words of support and continued business!! We do all really appreciate it.

The Epson has been one of the most reliable printers and along with the Graphtec FC8000- make for a great combination.

Jeff- I'm not sure exactly what is going in with your situation as I have not been involved with it from the start. I do know Tom is a stand up guy and would never intentionally lead you astray.

Have you spoken with our techs? Have you worked with anyone from Epson or Graphtec on the issues you are having?
I do know the myepsonprinter is in beta and not perfected- that may be an issue but may not have anything to do with the struggles you are experiencing.

I know the Epson prints great on long runs and the Graphtec is able to cut glossy media all day long. I would strongly suggest getting in touch with Tom or our support team to get it resolved and if I can be of any assistance- I am only a phone call away. 877-237-4464 *1590

Thanks

Matt

 

[Rooster]

The Epson GS6000 chassis was built by Mutoh, it is very similar to the VJ1614/1618.

Yes, Mutoh builds all the wide format Epson chassis from what I've gathered.

It's still built to Epson's specs though.

 

[scene329]

I work for Advantage Sign Supply- and have for 12 years now. There is much more to this situation then presented.

The install was done last Friday- the printer was running great until additional software for the MyEpson was added. this stopped the machine from running. This could ONLY be resolved by an Epson Technician as that is the way that Epson works. The next business day was a Monday - which an Epson technician showed up and fixed the problem and now is running. Advantage did not back off- but did everything that we can. We don't have every code and way to do everything as some manufacturers restrict certain things. This is the case.

Im sure a ton of customers can attest- and Thank You to those that have/are - that we take care of situations when they arise. Sometimes, unfortunately, like this one they are beyond our control. I am 100% positive that if we had been given the information by Epson to resolve it- Rich would have done everything he could have to gotten it up and running within minutes.

Matt

Not to be an asshole but this was installed Thursday not Friday. So again, Advantage Sign Supply proving they keep accurate records.

If you are so interested in keeping up your image you still have yet to contact me about this..

Great service!!! I think I know how I will solve my problems.. I should buy another GS6000 and use it as a giant paper weight.

 

[scene329]

In my experience Epson builds find print heads (for slower print speeds) and provides a good quality ink.

I've never been impressed with their printer chassis.

The GS6000 was the first use of the newest epson heads. It won't be long before Mutoh, Mimaki and others start sticking the same heads into a more robust chassis. Hopefully with the same CMYKLcLmOG inkset.

WOW prime example of why people should proof read what they post. I bet your customers love getting your emails.

From what we've noticed the extra 4 colors are a waste of money.

 

[Rooster]

WOW prime example of why people should proof read what they post. I bet your customers love getting your emails.

From what we've noticed the extra 4 colors are a waste of money.

Huh?

Care to explain some of that?

 

[randya]

BTW, Mutoh has been using those same heads (and some newer ones from Epson) for some time.

 

[scene329]

So, we ran the printer last night and noticed some vertical lines / banding on solid colors. Did a cleaning and still saw some. Any idea of what could be causing this? Epson has still yet to get back to us.

Also, I'm not sure if this has ever happened to anyone.. but, we use Flexi as our current RIP program (we are going to give Onyx a try shortly).. anyway a 91' job finished printing and the job was set to delete once it finished printing.. next thing I know it's trying to run the same job again.

Any ideas?

In my previous posts I don't mean to sound like a dick however, we've had nothing but problems..

 

[Rooster]

BTW, Mutoh has been using those same heads (and some newer ones from Epson) for some time.

Is the GS6000 still using the DX5 heads? They listed the machine as having an all new print head design. Is it 360 nozzles per color per head or do they combine the nozzle count from both heads?

In my experience Epson has always reserved the use of their newest heads for their own printers before releasing them to other manufacturers. If they've changed this policy or are still using a DX5 head then I'm definitely in error. This was the policy I was used to seeing when I owned my 9000's, 9500, 4000, 7600 and 9800.

What head is Mutoh using from Epson that's newer than the DX5 series?

 

[Rooster]

In my previous posts I don't mean to sound like a dick however, we've had nothing but problems..

No worries man. I was angry all the time when I had a shop full of epsons. Don't get me wrong they're good little machines, but they can get very fussy when you push a lot of media through them. High production printers have not typically been epson's forte.

Try cleaning your encoder strip. It's usually the source of vertical banding. Unless the bands coincide with the media feed rollers. Then turning up the heat should expand the pores of the media a little better and reduce the effects of roller banding. Although I had one guy here tell me reducing the heat worked for him so try both if one doesn't work.

Not sure what to tell you on the job restarting. Sounds more like a rip or networking issue. Try asking about it in the flexi forum. You might have more luck there if it's rip related.

 

[scene329]

No worries man. I was angry all the time when I had a shop full of epsons. Don't get me wrong they're good little machines, but they can get very fussy when you push a lot of media through them. High production printers have not typically been epson's forte.

Try cleaning your encoder strip. It's usually the source of vertical banding. Unless the bands coincide with the media feed rollers. Then turning up the heat should expand the pores of the media a little better and reduce the effects of roller banding. Although I had one guy here tell me reducing the heat worked for him so try both if one doesn't work.

Not sure what to tell you on the job restarting. Sounds more like a rip or networking issue. Try asking about it in the flexi forum. You might have more luck there if it's rip related.

Things like this would have been good to know. I don't know if we're heavy volume or not but, we've ran about 6 rolls of 54" x 150' material through the printer since we've got it up and running which has been a little over a week. We expect to push this printer to (2) rolls of material a day.. It just doesn't seem possible.

I also think there media feed system is terrible. They could have done what Mutoh did and have one media flange be stationary. This makes setting up the Epson a pain in the ass. The media flanges also don't even sit level when you put a roll of material on it. It's almost like it can't take the weight.

If things can't get solved quickly I'll be sending the printer back and buying (2) more Mutohs because they've been work horses.

 

[Rooster]

That's a lot of volume for an epson. Good luck with that.

 

[scene329]

That's a lot of volume for an epson. Good luck with that.

Great!! LOL I was looking into the Mutoh 1618 A dual Head Printer which holds (2) CMYKs I guess for 1000ml each. As of right now our Mutoh prints color better then our Epson. It also seems like the Mutoh has the auto align take up reel...

Does anyone have the Mutoh 1618A?