I hope this isn't a too common question. If a guy wanted to do vinyl decals for outside work, one color straight cut outs and multi color decals for company logos, shipping label stuff and what not. Which of the used printers would you recommend? Would the Roland PC 600s still be a good deal or should you look for something still in production? Was kind of trying to stay in the $5000.00 or so budget so most definately we are talking used.

Thanks for letting a green-horn as an old question!

LouisT

I picked up a pretty good 20" Vinyl Express unit with software for $1500 on Ebay.

The software with manuals and dongle are available, I am using something different. Make me an offer if you need the software.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

I've just made a decision to not take that avenue for at least another 12 monthes for a variety of reasons, but I have loads of information on the type of equipment you are looking at.

There are three basic types of printer cutters:

Heat activated wax or resin "ink" on tapes. Roland or Gerber are the only two mfrs of which I am aware that makes/markets this type of equipment I'm aware of. Start around $6K for a desk top model. (Note: I had to of the Roland ColorCam12 and both were returned because they don't work as advertised)

Solvent ink printer cutter Far as I know only Roland makes these. Start around $16K. No experience with this machine at all, but read the specs.

Aqueous based ink printer cutter: Only Graphtec makes this one. I got to test drive one last month in Nashville, TN at Advanced Plastics, Inc. (Advanced-Plastics.com) A great machine, easy to run, can create great quality hi-res banners and posters. Graphtec MSRP is arount $15k but you'll get a much better deal from Advanced Plastics.

Output:

• Except for the Gerber, each can operate as a stand-alone cutter for those single color jobs.
• Thermal wax/resin color decals will last about 12 to 18 monthes outside (St Louis, MO sunshine and weather) before noticable fade.
• Solvent inks, in general, don't require special substrates: print onto most brands of vinyl with good results. For long term outdoors use lamination is still recommended.
• Aqeous inks are a bit less expensive but must be used on treated substrates and for long term and most short term outdoors applications the product must be laminated for UV protection.

Roland has a nice new 30" solvent printer/cutter with a street price of around 12k. Very nice piece if you can live with the 30 inch limit. I would stay away from thermal ribbon with the costs of the ribbon being much more than the consumables of the ink jet solvent.

www.rolanddga.com/products/printcut/versacamm/

Are you looking at something like this???

www.signwarehouse.com/colorprinters/jx2000.htm

If it is, what you are looking at is a basic waterbase unit and the media that you print will not last as long outdoors as the media printed on the solvent units we were discussing without lamination.

The only reason I am even posting at this point is so that you know what you are getting. Your initial request seemed to have your products headed for outdoor use. Unless the unit you are looking at is solvent based, you will need an overlaminate, and the durability will still be inferior.

We have a Roland FJ500 that is running archival pigment ink and you can only trust it outdoors for around 6 months when applied to the right coated material. There are a few ink jet products that give you a year outdoor life, but that is a far cry from the 3-5 years you will get from a solvent or thermal ribbon printer.

Good luck,

Brian G.