Summa F bed size question

[victor bogdanov]

I plan on mostly cutting wallpaper panels on either a Summa F or a Colex, the panels 100" long on average. Would a longer bed be much faster/better for cuts this size, F1382 vs F1612 or SXC1717 vs SXC1732. There is a significant price difference between the sizes, would the bigger bed be much better for cutting mostly 100" x 28" panels?

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[CanuckSigns]

It would be faster yes, with our 1612, once it has finished cutting a segment, it takes about 45 -60 seconds to turn off the vacuum, advance the media, turn the vacuum back on and read the next batch of crop marks and start cutting again, with a larger bed it doesn't have to do this as often. I can't see accuracy being affected, my 1612 cuts bang on where it's supposed to every time.

It's up to you to decide if saving 2 minutes per sheet is worth the added expense. If you plan on getting the router attachment, the larger machine would be a good choice, so you don't need to deal with 4x8 sheets hanging off the front and back of the machine, we use an outfeed table when processing sheet goods on ours or else your parts fall on the floor when the sheet advances.

 

[victor bogdanov]

It would be faster yes, with our 1612, once it has finished cutting a segment, it takes about 45 -60 seconds to turn off the vacuum, advance the media, turn the vacuum back on and read the next batch of crop marks and start cutting again, with a larger bed it doesn't have to do this as often. I can't see accuracy being affected, my 1612 cuts bang on where it's supposed to every time.

It's up to you to decide if saving 2 minutes per sheet is worth the added expense. If you plan on getting the router attachment, the larger machine would be a good choice, so you don't need to deal with 4x8 sheets hanging off the front and back of the machine, we use an outfeed table when processing sheet goods on ours or else your parts fall on the floor when the sheet advances.

Do you think your 1612 would be able to cut 5 rolls 60" x 100ft into 28" x 100" panels in a 8hr workday, or how long do you thing that would take?

 

[CanuckSigns]

Yes it would do that in less than 2 hours I would think.

I had a job recently for some 16" round floor decals, it was 2 full rolls worth, the summa had them cut out in about 2 hours, and there is much more cutting involved in that job then yours.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Just to expand on my answer, you would be looking at getting 24 panels out of a full roll, in my experience the summa would take about 15 minutes to cut a full roll of that.

if you have the barcode workflow enabled the summa can be left on its own to chew through the full roll while you have a coffee or whatever, as long as you have someway of handling the cut pieces as they come off the front of the machine so they don't get kinked or dirty.

 

[victor bogdanov]

Just to expand on my answer, you would be looking at getting 24 panels out of a full roll, in my experience the summa would take about 15 minutes to cut a full roll of that.

if you have the barcode workflow enabled the summa can be left on its own to chew through the full roll while you have a coffee or whatever, as long as you have someway of handling the cut pieces as they come off the front of the machine so they don't get kinked or dirty.

Ok that is good to know that I do not have to get the bigger bed versions, the f1612 price is much easier to do that the bigger beds.

Are the barcodes / registration marks done in the rip (I'm using Onyx Thrive) or is there a summa software/plugin that will add those (kind of like Graphtec ads the barcodes/marks in illustrator)?

 

[CanuckSigns]

Ok that is good to know that I do not have to get the bigger bed versions, the f1612 price is much easier to do that the bigger beds.

Are the barcodes / registration marks done in the rip (I'm using Onyx Thrive) or is there a summa software/plugin that will add those (kind of like Graphtec ads the barcodes/marks in illustrator)?

the barcode and registration marks are generated automatically in Onyx. There is a plug in for coreldraw and illustrator that will add the registration marks but not the barcode.

With the barcode, the machine will automatically scan for the barcode, pull the correct file from your server and automatically read the registration marks and start cutting, once that job is done it will scan for the next barcode and repeat until it reaches the end of the roll, 100% hands off except for material management as I said earlier.

 

[balstestrat]

Just a note, for the automatic barcode you need to purchase the GoProduce Pro pack.

 

[ProColorGraphics]

If your cuts are all the same on the roll, you don't need the barcode. I run full rolls of labels through mine without the barcode reader.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Yes that is true, it's annoying that you drop $90,000 on a machine and it has a feature that is disabled in the software unless you pay an extra $2500 it costs summa absolutely nothing to enable it.

 

[balstestrat]

It is only a guess of mine but they probably have to pay for a barcode camera recognition license or something else like that for every activation.
Or maybe they just want that exta $$$ F-performance is free thou

 

[victor bogdanov]

I'm getting quotes on the F1612 and SXC1717, if the price is close which one is the better choice. Anyone have experience with both brands?

 

[CanuckSigns]

I'm getting quotes on the F1612 and SXC1717, if the price is close which one is the better choice. Anyone have experience with both brands?

I've heard great things about the Colex, we went with the summa because there were 2 dealers within an hour of our shop with technicians, where as the nearest colex dealer was in another province.

Make sure you ask your dealers how many tech they have trained to fix these machines, they are much more complicated then a printer so it's important you get someone who understands them.