what would you buy 1st, HP530 or Summa F

[ozpall]

Hello everyone,
we are currently thinking about expanding our shop and going to look for more equipment.
the owner wants to get an HP530 flatbed printer, we currently have a fairly new hp700w that works perfect and also an old hp360 that works fine as my backup or overload printer.
currently we are mounting and cutting all jobs by hand, so i feel like a flatbed cutter like the summa F would be more beneficial instead of the printer.
what do you all think is the right move?
thanks for any input!!!

 

[P Wagner]

The R530 is an All-In-One printer which prints directly to boards up to 2 inches thick, and also converts to printing to flexible roll media. It would have the potential to eliminate the mounting that you are currently doing by printing directly to the substrate. It supports pre-cut boards using an N-Up workflow, or full size boards. Cost efficiencies are realized on jobs that are currently being mounted, by savings on vinyl media and labor.

The flatbed cutter would add cutting capabilities for both rigid and flexible medias, Depending on the cutting tool being used, kiss cutting & through cutting are possible for both rigid and flexible medias, saving on labor. The Summa F Series is a very capable flatbed cutter.

Both can add significant efficiencies to a large-format production business.

 

[ozpall]

The R530 is an All-In-One printer which prints directly to boards up to 2 inches thick, and also converts to printing to flexible roll media. It would have the potential to eliminate the mounting that you are currently doing by printing directly to the substrate. It supports pre-cut boards using an N-Up workflow, or full size boards. Cost efficiencies are realized on jobs that are currently being mounted, by savings on vinyl media and labor.

The flatbed cutter would add cutting capabilities for both rigid and flexible medias, Depending on the cutting tool being used, kiss cutting & through cutting are possible for both rigid and flexible medias, saving on labor.

Both can add significant efficiencies to a large-format production business.

i just don't think it will be cost effective ordering pre cut foamboards or coroplast, the mounting is no big deal is the cutting that i feel takes longer and is not as accurate doing it by hand. that's why im leaning more towards the cutter than the printer.

 

[balstestrat]

Cutter.

 

[ProColorGraphics]

If I could only keep one piece of equipment, it would be my Summa F.

 

[chrisphilipps]

If you can only get one of them right now, go with the Summa F Series. Almost every single one we have sold, the customer has told us they should have bought it sooner.

 

[Flatbed Tools]

Hello everyone,
we are currently thinking about expanding our shop and going to look for more equipment.
the owner wants to get an HP530 flatbed printer, we currently have a fairly new hp700w that works perfect and also an old hp360 that works fine as my backup or overload printer.
currently we are mounting and cutting all jobs by hand, so i feel like a flatbed cutter like the summa F would be more beneficial instead of the printer.
what do you all think is the right move?
thanks for any input!!!

A flatbed cutter is probably the biggest missing piece in your workflow. If your HP700W is keeping up with production, I’d put my money into automating the finishing side before adding another printer.

We’ve spent over 30 years helping companies install and optimize flatbed cutting systems, and in many cases the cutter provides a bigger productivity gain than adding another printer. You’ll reduce labor, improve accuracy, speed up turnaround, and open the door to applications that are difficult or inconsistent to do by hand.

 

[ecilop]

We produce around 4000+ decals a month for a large manufacturer, and the Summa flatbed is a workhorse in cutting those to size. We recently got an HP 530 flatbed and it has really reduced the time and costs involved in doing a lot of 4mil corro signs. We buy precut 18x24 blanks for large yard sign jobs. We load 3 at a time and hot load 3 more every 3 minutes on large orders. No more printing on vinyl, mounting to sign blank and then trimming edges if the customer wants full bleed, which is especially great when they order 250 double sided at a time. It boils down to which one is going to save you the most time and make you the most money.

 

[Enting]

I would go for the cutter all day long. Ours has revolutionised our business. We still print and mount, and have cut our finishing times by 75-80%.

 

[White Haus]

Tough call. Both will dramatically change your operations but I'd have to agree that a flatbed cutter will change things the most.

You can always mount vinyl to boards but you can't compete with the automation and capabilities of a flatbed cutter.

We bought ours (F1612) 6 years ago and we use it every single day. My only real complaint is that I wish we would've gotten a bigger size, but that's not the machine's fault.

 

[Flatbed Tools]

Tough call. Both will dramatically change your operations but I'd have to agree that a flatbed cutter will change things the most.

You can always mount vinyl to boards but you can't compete with the automation and capabilities of a flatbed cutter.

We bought ours (F1612) 6 years ago and we use it every single day. My only real complaint is that I wish we would've gotten a bigger size, but that's not the machine's fault.

That’s probably the most common thing I’ve heard from customers over the years. Almost no one regrets buying a flatbed cutter, but many wish they had gone with a larger table once they saw how much they relied on it.

 

[Enting]

We were lucky, in that we had space for a cutter that will take a full 10 x 5 sheet. Not a Summa, but a Vivid Veloblade in the UK.

 

[balstestrat]

Tough call. Both will dramatically change your operations but I'd have to agree that a flatbed cutter will change things the most.

You can always mount vinyl to boards but you can't compete with the automation and capabilities of a flatbed cutter.

We bought ours (F1612) 6 years ago and we use it every single day. My only real complaint is that I wish we would've gotten a bigger size, but that's not the machine's fault.

Easy problem to solve tho. Those 1612 sell really easy used.

 

[ProColorGraphics]

Tough call. Both will dramatically change your operations but I'd have to agree that a flatbed cutter will change things the most.

You can always mount vinyl to boards but you can't compete with the automation and capabilities of a flatbed cutter.

We bought ours (F1612) 6 years ago and we use it every single day. My only real complaint is that I wish we would've gotten a bigger size, but that's not the machine's fault.

I was SO CLOSE to going for the F1625 Vantage, but the more I looked at my scenario, my F1612 isn't my bottleneck, so it would have definitely been a "want" purchase. haha

 

[White Haus]

I was SO CLOSE to going for the F1625 Vantage, but the more I looked at my scenario, my F1612 isn't my bottleneck, so it would have definitely been a "want" purchase. haha

Are they a lot more than the the F1612 was? I get inflation, bigger size, newer version etc.... but just curious.

What's your bottleneck if it isn't the cutter? I find ours (F1612) is definitely our bottleneck, especially when we jump between kiss-cutting, through-cutting, and routing.

I think we'll add a new S3-160T at some point to move all our kiss-cutting to, which should free up the F for through-cutting and routing.

 

[White Haus]

Easy problem to solve tho. Those 1612 sell really easy used.

That's good to know.

 

[ProColorGraphics]

Are they a lot more than the the F1612 was? I get inflation, bigger size, newer version etc.... but just curious.

What's your bottleneck if it isn't the cutter? I find ours (F1612) is definitely our bottleneck, especially when we jump between kiss-cutting, through-cutting, and routing.

I think we'll add a new S3-160T at some point to move all our kiss-cutting to, which should free up the F for through-cutting and routing.

My bottleneck is me! haha. I need to get things figured out and hire some people. lol. Being by myself, I can hit cut or print and go do something else.

 

[balstestrat]

Are they a lot more than the the F1612 was? I get inflation, bigger size, newer version etc.... but just curious.

What's your bottleneck if it isn't the cutter? I find ours (F1612) is definitely our bottleneck, especially when we jump between kiss-cutting, through-cutting, and routing.

I think we'll add a new S3-160T at some point to move all our kiss-cutting to, which should free up the F for through-cutting and routing.

It's some what proportionally more. Largest 3.2x3.2m should be around $100k.

 

[ozpall]

thank you all for the feedback, much appreciated!!!

 

[airborneassault]

balstestrat this is insane I just got a quote for the 1625 and it was over 120k for just the machine with no tooling. I'd love their 3.2m version for 100k