Full Version: Az Newbie Should I buy Roland EGX-300?
From: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#1]
18 Feb 2007
To: ALL
Hello again from the Arizona Newbie,
Wanted to once again offer my sincere thanks to all that have helped me with my Newbie decision making.
Here's an update: It turns out that the gunsmith owns a New Hermes IS400 that looks to be in very nice condition. But, it has a yellow parallel port security Dongle that is bad. I phoned Gravocare and they told me it would cost $4,500.00 for a new program with Dongle, or I could get their bottom end (text only) software with Dongle for $2,000. They said my bad dongle is totally obsolete, was designed for Windows 98, and that they don't have them anymore. The gunsmith is very un-happy. I presented the possibility of buying it from him and purchasing the new software and Dongle myself but he wasn't interested. Said that right now he is seriously considering hauling it to the dump.
Since my last post of a couple weeks ago I have had a classic car club ask me if I would like to do their "Dash Plaques" for them. They said that they usually need 200-300 at a time. Also, the gunsmith told me that he would give me all his engraving work. (Engraved flat plates, and gun barrels) A machine shop that I know, manufacturer's guns, and in conversation with the owner last week he told me that he was having a very difficult time doing gun barrels with his new 75W Epilog Legend EXT using Cermark. Said the flat stuff was beautiful, but not the round stuff.
O.K., now for my new advice request:
I have decided to purchase an Epilog Mini 12x24 45W Laser. But I feel that I should also own a mechanical engraver just too be safe (as I really don't know what kind of work I'll be doing yet). Since my interests are with Laser engraving, and I don't have the money to purchase a high-dollar Mechanical Engraver after buying the Laser, My question is: What about a Roland EGX-300? What I be making a hugh mistake? Or would one of these fit the bill along with the Laser which I'm hoping and planning will make up 90% of my work.
Another question please. It seems that I've been reading alot about Trophies not being very profitable, and how most of the shops would rather not bother with them. Could y'all clue me in on some of the more profitable items? I am just getting my feet wet, and don't have any idea what to stock my store with.
Than you all again for all of your kind help.
Don
From: Vicky (ANDERI) [#2]
18 Feb 2007
To: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#1] 18 Feb 2007
From personal experience (which isn't that much, in the grand scheme of things ;-) ), I've found corporate awards and commercial/industrial signage to be the most profitable. With sporting groups, especially when young children are involved, you're always dealing with very limited budgets. I suppose it's ok if you can stock large amounts to get volume discounts, but small shops like mine don't have the space for that sort of thing.
I don't know anything about the Roland engraver, but I do have a New Hermes Vanguard 3400 with a very old dongle (the system runs on Win98/DOS). I can tell you that I've gotten some decent graphics out of it. I haven't experimented much with filled graphics (although I recently managed to fill some text, thanks to the folks on this forum :-) ), but it does lineart quite nicely. I have to create the lineart in CorelDraw, save it as a HPGL (.plt), and then use the Vanguard's software to convert it to a job file. Not sure if this helps with your IS400.
Hope this helps a little!
From: sprinter [#3]
18 Feb 2007
To: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#1] 18 Feb 2007
From: Dave Jones (DAVERJ) [#4]
18 Feb 2007
To: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#1] 18 Feb 2007
When you say the dongle is "bad". Do you mean that it is physically damaged (broken pins, bent connector, etc...) or that the software can't see it?
If the second one, then it's possible that the port on the computer is bad or configured wrong. Many computers have parallel ports that can be configured in their BIOS as 3 different types of parallel port. Dongles often only work when the port is configured to a specific one of those types.
And is the computer in question actually running Windows 98?
From: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#5]
18 Feb 2007
To: Dave Jones (DAVERJ) [#4] 18 Feb 2007
Dave,
Thanks for the reply. The Dongle isn't physically damaged. The software won't launch. If I un-plug the dongle from the computer I immediately get a "Dongle Not Present" message when I try to open the software. With the dongle plugged into the parallel port I get a screen come up that has the owners name, the serial number, etc. But the software will not launch. I have un-installed the software and re-installed it.... Same results. I also installed the software into another computer with the same results.
I didn't think about changing the port in the bios. The computer that the software was installed in was the original computer that came with the engraver so I didn't give it much thought.
Do you have any idea why the computer would recognize the dongle but would not launch the program?
Thanks for your help,
Don
From: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#6]
18 Feb 2007
To: Dave Jones (DAVERJ) [#4] 18 Feb 2007
Dave,
Forgot to list in my last post. Yes, the computer is running Windows 98.
Don
From: Dave Jones (DAVERJ) [#7]
18 Feb 2007
To: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#5] 18 Feb 2007
I have no experience with that engraver or software. Just with dongles in general for other types of software.
Hopefully somebody here with experience in using that system will recognize your symptoms and be able to help.
From: Puck (PUCKERBRUSH) [#8]
18 Feb 2007
To: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#5] 18 Feb 2007
Don,
Is the software a DOS program? (The dongle will show but the software will only start up in DOS if it is a DOS program, thats how mine works for the older program I have.)
Do you have both the dongle and the software set to the same port?
(The dongle will work but the software will not if they are not the same.)
Is the original machine still available to look at the setup on it? You might be missing a file that has gone bad on the software or not loading for some reason. Had this happen on one of my older cutter programs when I went from windows 3.1 to windows 98 and had to take the file off the windows 3.1 machine before the program would execute.
Puck
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#9]
18 Feb 2007
To: Puck (PUCKERBRUSH) [#8] 18 Feb 2007
Puck,
Since the machine is an IS400 it likely has Gravostyle 98 software, which is a Windows-based program.
From: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#10]
18 Feb 2007
To: Puck (PUCKERBRUSH) [#8] 18 Feb 2007
Hi Puck,
The software is for Windows 98. As for the dongle and the software both being set to the same port, this I don't know. I took the machine back to the owner last week. (The Gunsmith) and they are closed today so I can't reach them.
The original machine is available. The engraver originally came with the Gravostyle98 software and the original computer came with Windows 98se.
I'm gonna ask the owner of the Engraving machine if I can have it back again for a couple of weeks so I can look into getting the software working again.
I would like to thank yourself, Vickie from Anderi Engraving, Sprinter, and Dave Jones from Dave Jones Design for your generous and helpful replies. It's comforting knowing there are so many wonderful and helpful folks here.
Don
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#11]
18 Feb 2007
To: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#10] 18 Feb 2007
Don,
For $10, you can get a CD with the most current version of Gravostyle 98. It's not their newest version of the Gravostyle family of software, just the latest for G98. I have mine working on Windows XP. It has also worked on Windows Millennium in the past.
From: Vicky (ANDERI) [#12]
18 Feb 2007
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#11] 18 Feb 2007
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#13]
18 Feb 2007
To: Vicky (ANDERI) [#12] 18 Feb 2007
Vicky,
I should have qualified that statement by saying you get it from Gravograph/New Hermes, and that you have to be a registered licensee of the program. You still have to have a functioning dongle.
EDITED: 18 Feb 2007 by DATAKES
From: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#14]
18 Feb 2007
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#11] 18 Feb 2007
Thanks Engravin' Dave,
When I phoned Gravocare they didn't tell me that. I didn't have the serial number of the machine available at that time and they told me it would cost $4,500.00 for their best program with dongle and $1,500.00 for their text only program with dongle. I'll phone them back with all the information and maybe they will be a little more co-operative. According to the owner of the engraver (the gunsmith) they told him the same thing. But I will surely phone them once I get the machine back.
Thanks again for the great tip.
Don
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#15]
18 Feb 2007
To: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#14] 18 Feb 2007
From: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#16]
18 Feb 2007
To: Vicky (ANDERI) [#2] 18 Feb 2007
Thank you for the reply Vicky,
Your comments have been very helpful to me. The corporate Awards and commercial signage are two of the things I am most interested in.
As I mentioned earlier, I had pretty much decided to buy a Laser Engraver, but now I am confused again. I think my biggest problem is that I have no clue where my market will be here.
When I started my sign shop, I just had to have a Wide format Printer. Shortly after I purchased my Wide format Printer, a friend that has an established sign shop in a neighboring town purchased a very large, very expensive ($70,000) Flat Bed Wide Format Printer. Within a couple of Months he had pretty much put the rest of the Sign Shops that were doing wide-format printing out of business. It wasn't long before I sold my printer and just had him do all my printing, as it was actually cheaper for me to let him do it than to maintain my printer and do it myself. I did however, keep my Plotter, and since he lost all interest in doing anything that involved cutting vinyl, my plotter gets to work sometimes.
I have been comparing (in my own mind) a Laser Engraver as being the Wide Format Printer, and a Mechanical Engraver as being the Vinyl Cutter. I know it sounds silly, but when I think of the two in these terms, I think of how my friend has captured the market within a 100 mile radius around here with his big, fancy, expensive wide-format printer. There are four engraving companies within the same area and I believe they are all using mechanical engravers. So my initial thoughts were to go with a Laser Engraver in hopes of filling a portion of the market that a mechanical engraver cannot do. But not really knowing where my market lies, I go back and forth from one to the other. Laser...Mechanical..., Laser...Mechanical..., Laser...Mechanical....
I will be attending the ARA Trade Show in Las Vegas this week. Hopefully I'll have a definate direction (Laser or Mechanical) to go once I spend a couple of days there.
Thanks again for your input.
Don
From: Jim (RETAIL74) [#17]
18 Feb 2007
To: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#14] 18 Feb 2007
Don:
Call them back and request a lockout code. They should be able to give you a code over the phone that will unlock the dongle. I had to do this a few months ago when installing software on a different computer.
Dongles that go bad should be able to be replaced. I would want a better explanation as to why they will not do it. Find out who the salesman is for your region. Maybe he can pull a few strings for you.
From: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#18]
18 Feb 2007
To: Jim (RETAIL74) [#17] 18 Feb 2007
Thanks for the info Jim.
I'll be running amock for the next two days finishing up preparations to go to the ARA Trade Show, but will do as you suggest and phone them again when I get back next week.
The're explanation was that it was an old version of their software and all they could do was to sell us a newer version of their software with a new dongle. I asked the owner of the machine when he purchased the engraver from them, and he told me three years ago. If this is true, and I have no reason not to believe it is, then who ever the salesman was, unloaded an obsolete piece of equiptment onto a naive consumer. If this is true, This is not a Comapny I would want to do business with.
After I phone them when I get back from the trade show, I'll post the results.
Thanks again for your help,
Don
From: Puck (PUCKERBRUSH) [#19]
18 Feb 2007
To: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#10] 18 Feb 2007
Don,
You can't go wrong going to the ARA Trade Show in Las Vegas. Lots of good information there on machines and lots to look at to help figure out what direction you'd like to take. I'm going to pass it up this year and hope to make it next year if I'm still in the business.
I also have a sign business with the vinyl cutters, run two roland plotter/cutters. I have two computerized engravers for the engraving part of the business. I never got into getting in the laser side of the engraving business since there is only one of me and running the machines I have now have always kept me as busy as I needed to be. There is something always to be done and the two businesses blend very well together.
If you can get the computerized engraver up and going it sounds like you will be far ahead with all three things (vinyl signage, computerized engraver and laser engraver). Should be a good set up!
Don't give up on getting the computerized engraver going, that dongle and software should work it's just the matter of figuring them out to make them work.
Puck
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#20]
18 Feb 2007
To: Don (HIGHDESERT) [#16] 18 Feb 2007
Gravostyle98 will run on anything from win 3.1 to WinXP. I have had it on all of them. But if it is a parallel dongle, it needs a parallel port. It is that simple.
The program may have become corrupt. A re-install should fix that.
If the dongle is bad, you should, (?), be able to exchange it for at least a very fair price for a new one that has all of the same features available. (If it was a red dongle it would be a totally different story.) The dongle is proof of a legitimate purchase of the program.
The person you spoke to gave you the price of the program and dongle if purchased as a separate entity. Your future system already has purchased that item so it is not necessary. Call back customer service to get a service person, not a sales person.
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