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Gerber IonX Owners...Can you help?

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jdwilliams1

New Member
I am in the research mode for a new flatbed. I am looking at a couple that are in my price range(used) I make aluminum novelty signs and thanks to the help of others on this forum I am slowly weeding out printers that will not fit my needs.

The Ionx seems to be a possibility and could fit my product line well. I have seen some negatives as far as speed and ink runs from a couple of people but I need to know how my items will looks after they are printed. Does anyone have one of these close to Indiana...and if so could I send you or bring by a couple substrates to see how it prints on them?

Please let me know.
 
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jdwilliams1

New Member
Ok, I may be able to get my hands on a Gerber Ionx at a very good price.

I thanks to many of you I am aware that Gerber is getting out of the flatbed business but this might be a good way for me to get into the flatbed uv product line at a decent price.

My question is this...I need a technician in Indiana. Does anyone know of one?

The unit I am buying was decommissioned by a reputable and well known company and I have seen the report, but I will need help getting it back together after I get it home to my shop.

One other thing, this machine was decommissioned, but they had a pr0fressional company do it and break the machine down. It has been in a crate in a temperature controlled office for about 6 mos. Is that a problem?
 
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oldgoatroper

oldgoatroper

Roper of Goats. Old ones.
If you can find a tech that knows the setup, figure about two days for a by-the-book installation.
 
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hydo1

New Member
"I've made a terrible mistake", remember that phrase because you'll be repeating it several times a day if you buy that printer.
 
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LarryB

New Member
I used to own one and was very glad when it left my shop. Broke down a lot with every issue imaginable. I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

If you buy it what is going to happen for service? Is Gerber going to have to fly someone in? Have you checked the price for replacement heads or service calls? That alone could put you in the market for a new machine.

PM me if you want anymore information.
 
oldgoatroper

oldgoatroper

Roper of Goats. Old ones.
Pat White said:
At the risk of sounding like an ***.....which part of these are not going to be supported anymore makes you want to buy one?

Regardless of the price.....I can't think of any reason why anyone would pick one of these up at this point.
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Why not? We have one and it works very well. Yes, there have been a few issues, but they have been dealt with. Gerber has promised us support for five years. That means keeping an inventory of ink and parts for every part of the printer. When five years is up, they're not going suddenly throw all their parts away... they'll likely just let the parts run out. As for ink, a rep has promised that by then there will be an alternative source.



hydo1 said:
"I've made a terrible mistake", remember that phrase because you'll be repeating it several times a day if you buy that printer.
Click to expand...

We've had generally a good to very good experience with our IonX. Especially compared to the nightmare of the ColorSpan 72UVR we had before.

Yes, they are not blazingly fast and the ink is not cheap, but if you were to find one in new or in good shape for a third of what they cost new, it could be very worthwhile...

<edit> I would add, though, that you should ascertain that you would have the services of a tech who knows the machine well and is relatively close by.
 
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hydo1

New Member
jdwilliams1 said:
Ok, what would you buy?
Click to expand...

I suggested in another thread to buy a Gerber Edge FX if you are doing a significant amount of one-offs. I use it at our store to do traffic signs all the time. You could also expand out to small printed decals. I am assuming your blanks come white? Print green onto white vinyl, run through the plotter and do a quick install. Should cut your time down significantly from cut vinyl without added expense of transfer tape.

You would still need a pretty big investment: EdgeFX printer, envision 375 plotter, software.
 
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hydo1

New Member
jhilldesigns said:
...unless of course his signs are bigger than 11.8" or whatever
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This is true. You would be limited to 11.75" maximum print height. I want to say that he/she said the signs were 8" tall?

The point is that the two flatbeds options they have come up with are both legacy printers with known significant problems. I've had a ColorSpan and right now it is sitting and taking up a bunch of space because it won't run, is too expensive to fix and nobody wants to buy it. The best offer I have had is $700 and right now it looks pretty darn good.

The Gerber Ion series are going to be totally unsupported in a little over 4 years and while they do have some success stories out there I have mostly only heard about problems. My local suppliers talk about it like it is a complete disaster.
 
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jdwilliams1

New Member
Just to touch on this a bit more...I know the machine is awful, but lets say I get it...

Who knows of service tech for this machine in the Indianapolis area?

That was my original question as I am having a difficult time finding who can set the machine up for me and offer me maintenance options.

Thanks
 
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