Need advise.. WTD with my old printer (Roland XC-540)?

[Jumpshoutmedia]

Recently replaced my beloved Roland XC-540 because I was having problems with 1 of the print heads, and because the printer was down a BIT too long while I was waiting for the parts to arrive to repair it, I had a second head get clogged and expire!

So, since the printer was getting old and prices on a brand new VG3 were SO good at the time, I just decided to go ahead a replace it with a brand new machine.

Now, I'm left with a REALLY clean, LOW-hour, well-maintained, Roland XC-540 that still has a ton of life left in it.. but, it just needs a little TLC (in the form of 2 new print heads).

I know it's a relatively old model, but since I'm a single owner/operator with no employees, and I baby my equipment, this particular printer is kind of a unique specimen in that it's immaculate (aside from the heads mentioned above). There's literally not a drop of ink anywhere that it's not supposed to be inside or out, and it looks and runs like most other printers that I've seen that are only 3-5 years old. So I would think it's still got some value left in it maybe.

I can't really value it based on comparable printers of the same age because it's in such better shape than most. It's like having an older car that's got really low-miles on it.

But that said, I realistically know I'm probably not going to get a fortune for the thing, so the question remains.. what do I do with it?

My options are:

1. Replace both of the bad heads and get it printing 100% again, THEN attempt to sell it on the used market (and hope I can recover the additional costs I incurred repairing it)?

2. Attempt to sell it "as-is" (with the bad heads).

3. Tear it apart and sell the major parts to others who need them to service their own printer. (example: I found one listing for just the main board alone selling for $1700)

4. Something else entirely?

Thanks guys!
-D

 

[ddarlak]

Put it on eBay as is. Anything else and your either wasting time or chasing nickels.

 

[cwstevens]

I believe we had that same model printer, purchased in 2005 and held up well until we found another that was too good a deal to pass up on a newer Roland about 2 years ago now, 6 months later: we had went from trying to sell the 540 (on the cheap) to just asking if someone would come get it for free... it wasn't immediate but someone finally came and took it off our hands...

 

[DL Signs]

Good luck.

Throw it up for sale on a couple platforms, and if it doesn't sell quick, strip it for parts and/ or scrap it. Milwaukee area has a pretty good population, you might get a taker, or just giving it away for next to, or nothing.

By the time you put heads in it, you're into it for more than most will give you for one that age. Few will buy a printer needing heads when they can probably buy a newer printer that's currently running for the same money, or buy a new entry level latex machine for not much more than the cost of heads. Either way, they usually just end up taking up space, collecting dust, and time and money if you keep maintaining them so they're more sell-able. If you don't keep it loaded with ink or cleaning cartridges and have it do regular cleanings, eventually more things will dry out, then you just need more parts and labor to get them back in service. Sitting printers turn into money pits.

If it doesn't sell fast, don't waste time and effort is my recommendation. Used printers just don't sell in many areas. I'm just a few hours north of you and had a Mimaki CJV300 in like new condition, was taken out of service when we upgraded to a new 64" plus series. It had one brand new head in it, other head was still working, but would probably need to be replaced within a year or so. Cutter on it had never been used, so even that was all like new. Was even putting up a copy of RasterLink with it, put it up for sale on a bunch of different platforms and got crickets. Kept it plugged in, cleaning cycles active, did test prints every week, took time to keep maintaining it until all the ink cartridges I had in stock were gone, new printer uses cartridges with the bags, so we no longer stocked the plain cartridges. My choices were keep pumping time and money into it, buying expensive ink cartridges or cleaning cartridges on the outside chance that someone "might" want it, or just put it out of it's misery. I now have a tub of parts that will work on the other one (there are quite a few, fans, filters, pinch roller assemblies, motors, take-up reel parts, etc) and the rest went to the scrap yard. Was sad to see it's life ended like that, it was such a good machine.