Equipment prefrence

[Solid Retail]

Hello my fellow professionals.

I wanted to know what printing equipment, cutters and software you all prefer and why? As I begin research for new or newer equipment. The possibilities are endless! We not only want the best. I do not want to get violated on the costs do to so many manufacturers claiming to be the best for applications we do not need or utilize on the daily. So in a effort to reduce time and money. I wanted you opinions without bashing any one manufacturer.
I am leaning towards a Roland VG-540, Printer cutter and a Roland VersaUV LEF-300 UV printer. along with a Graphtec 8600 , a Royal Sovereign RSC 1402HW laminator, with all utilizing Sign labs 10 and versa works.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

[BigfishDM]

What applications do you want to focus on? Right off the bat I would say Latex if you are not going to print daily. The 8600 is a great cutter but Summa also has a great option also. Laminator your good but would also look at GFP brand. What is your overall budget? What are your marketing plans?

 

[ColoPrinthead]

I prefer solvent printers, have only worked with Graphtec cutters (seem to do just fine), and have worked with several of the laminators mentioned; The current laminator I have is the same you listed and my only complaint is that the take up is faster than the max speed, which I intend on fixing and this particular machine is the only one of about 5 I have worked with that has the issue.

Stay away from throw away plastic machines with a lot of consumables; they break easy and don't last very long.

 

[Solid Retail]

What applications do you want to focus on? Right off the bat I would say Latex if you are not going to print daily. The 8600 is a great cutter but Summa also has a great option also. Laminator your good but would also look at GFP brand. What is your overall budget? What are your marketing plans?

Focusing on large format print, Heat press apparel, cut vinyl, Banners, Vinyl printing, Fabric print, wall paper printing and accessory customization, (Cups, phone cases, tablet cases, ETC.) Have traditional screen printing. and it has paid for itself 10 fold. Just trying to add additional options for our customers. I wanted to go latex as well. But, the setup and power consumption will require us to install 400 amp service at our location. Which is a excessive cost to do so. We may not be printing every day. So Latex would be a better option. Just can not get over the power requirements.

 

[BigfishDM]

Focusing on large format print, Heat press apparel, cut vinyl, Banners, Vinyl printing, Fabric print, wall paper printing and accessory customization, (Cups, phone cases, tablet cases, ETC.) Have traditional screen printing. and it has paid for itself 10 fold. Just trying to add additional options for our customers. I wanted to go latex as well. But, the setup and power consumption will require us to install 400 amp service at our location. Which is a excessive cost to do so. We may not be printing every day. So Latex would be a better option. Just can not get over the power requirements.

Well you just let me know what they want to charge you for the power installation and maybe I can just cover it for ya.

Latex does all those applications pretty well, you won't be doing much fabric in Solvent and when it comes to paper prints Latex crushes that application also. (Cost of most papers for Solvent are much higher than Latex) Your wallpaper prints won't smell if you use Latex and you will have the environmentally friendly card in your back pocket as well.

 

[rjssigns]

Buy your printer from the dealer that is in your town. No matter who makes it it will break, and it will happen in the middle of the biggest contract you've ever landed. When it goes down you want a tech on site within 24 hours.

Roland is a solid rig. My SP540V turned eleven this year. Good feedback on this site regarding HP, Mutoh and Mimaki.

400amp service for a latex?!!!! Nope. IIRC 110/310 series are 3A print and 13A cure according to the install prep sheet.

No experience with Graphtec, but I will recommend a Summa. Just got a D140R less than 2 weeks ago. Right after setup I cut laminated graphics to do 4 big box trucks. Yesterday I cut 196 equipment decals. All cuts were on the money. Only one issue because I was sloppy loading the material.

We have a RS1650C that's been great. Laminating is an art not science. As long as you take the time to learn the laminators sweet spot you'll be fine.

 

[dale911]

Who told you about the power requirement causing you the need to upgrade? That's extremely far fetched. Even first gen was only 2-220 circuits with both under 15 amps each. You got bad info.


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[equippaint]

Were upgrading the panel in our shop to 400 amp. The panel and meter can were $2500 and I got it at cost. Labor will probably run another $2000.

We dont run our mimaki everyday, and have no problems. Our roland may sit for a month and still run perfect without doing anything. Just clean the captop and plugged in if its gonna be parked for awhile.

 

[Solid Retail]

Who told you about the power requirement causing you the need to upgrade? That's extremely far fetched. Even first gen was only 2-220 circuits with both under 15 amps each. You got bad info.


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You are absolutely right. I can run 2 220v lines and run this printer without an issue. However, we can not run anything else that requires alot of power at the same time without overloading the fuse, causing it to pop. I am currently leasing an older building with 100 amp service. But was renovated by owner who chose not to upgrade the electrical. That being said. If we decide to stay here we would have to upgrade the electrical. Which does mean we have to upgrade everything electrical. We already have several $1000 in networking, I will not be held financially accountable for the much needed upgarde. We can run a printer without any issues. But do not try to run 2 computers, a rack server, 2 personal printers and 1 large format printer, a laminator, a cutter and a heat press at the same time. We have experienced a pop in the main several times.

 

[jfiscus]

If you are in Indianapolis, stop by Advantage Sign Supply and have them demo some equipment for you. personally, the latex wasn't a good fit for us and we now run Epson machines. They sell both. Also, be sure to check out a GFP laminator while you're there, they're awesome.

I am not going to bash any manufacturer; I run Mimaki, Roland, HP, Epson and others, and personally I think the Epsons are top notch and the best ones going right now.