Mason Street ID Sign printer

[EoD]

I have an old Mason Street LX2000 ID Sign printer that prints 7x44in cardstock. The unit is a modified Epson I believe.

I have been looking for either parts to repair this or some other machine options. I am doing trade show work and this is for printing the signs that identify the exhibitor booths.

I know Mason Street Graphics offers a new version of their printer, but at $10,000 I am want to make sure it is my only option before dropping that money.

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Welcome to Signs 101

 

[Robert Boyd]

If your Mason Street setup is as old as ours, the printer is an EPSON STYLUS 900
I have seen these on Ebay - used for a couple of hundred bucks. Hope this helps

 

[wweaver]

re: Mason Street and Epson 900N

These printers really don't exist much any longer - what you can find on Ebay is parts only and the one guy who used to refurbish them no longer does.
So - has anyone come up with a new printer that handles our 7x44 signs?

 

[klmiller611]

follow up on the previous comment

I work at the same company as the previous poster, and I can offer to expand a bit on what he said. We had 7-8 of the 900s, they had been refurbished by a place in New York, over time, it was about $300 a printer. They did great work, but the last time I called, 4-5 years back now, they told me they could no longer refurbish the 900s, they simply could not get parts. All of ours are plugged up. I've cleaned, followed suggestions, but I think the Mason Street ink system was mostly the cause of it, they seem to last longer and print better using the cartridges.

However, I've calculated that I average printing about 1,800 booth signs a month, with virtually nothing in December, January and July. So they got a pretty good work out. However, no matter what, I could print about 50 signs before the heads plugged, and had to spend 15-20 minutes trying to clear them, then maybe get another 10-15 signs, and repeat ad infinitum.

So, with all the printers on the fritz what am I doing?

I'm printing booth signs on our Agfa Anapurna, in groups of 6 signs at a time, load 3, then load 3 more. Takes a tiny bit longer than the Epsons, but there is sure a lot less waste of signboards, or headcleaning. The ink cost is considerably less too. However, I'd still love to find a current day solution to print these back on a desk top printer.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Best
Ken