54" Roland VersaCamm VPi - Questions

[Suz]

Hello Everyone,

Anybody know what a take up roller would cost (optional) for this printer? Also, did you buy your printer with or without this option, or did you add it later?

Do take up rollers help with tracking when you are doing long prints/cuts? The reason I ask is that I notice enough travel on our current vinyl cutting machines (anything longer than 3 feet) that I want to be sure to address this before we purchase.

for your input!
-Sue

 

[tampaprinting]

If you plan on printing wraps, I would recommend the take up reel. We purchased ours at the same time as the printer. Get the Roland one, the cheap ones are just that... cheap. I think we paid $1900. It's easy to install and use.

 

[Suz]

Thanks for the reply tampaprinting!

 

[trimguy]

a must for my shop. We have only 3 ft. of space in front of our printer. With the take up reel, we have printed 30ft. banners! I have the same printer

 

[sfr table hockey]

Do take up rollers help with tracking when you are doing long prints/cuts? The reason I ask is that I notice enough travel on our current vinyl cutting machines (anything longer than 3 feet) that I want to be sure to address this before we purchase.

for your input!
-Sue

I don't think this would help if you are having issues with your media feeding in and out straight. In fact there are not many takeup reels if any that will let you rewind off the reel as you cut.

You might need to look at your feed rollers and see if they need a cleaning. I find that using some good tape you can tack the rollers and get some of the crap that gets stuck in the sandpaper like rollers. Brushing them does not seem to get them clean as easily. Kind of like waxing your legs and ripping the stuff off.......except on the printer rollers.

Also I always use media flanges on my rolls and the roll tracks very straight. Do you let your media sit on the roller bars or do you use flanges?

I made my takeup reel for about $20 and have used it for almost 2 years and still works great. Just finished about a 26 ft x 54" media with it and worked like a charm. Uses no power and this one can back up to do cutting. Only thing I have changed from the first build was I added another 5 lb weight so it uses 15 lbs now.

 

[Suz]

Good point Trimguy, this would also be a space saver to have a take up reel/roller.

 

[Suz]

Dear sfr table hockey,

but ouch on the leg waxing! Hehe!

My media just sits on the roller bars, the cutters I have are not the best, but that is one of the reasons I'm going to get something new soon.

Thanks for the tips, we'll keep them in mind when we get a big machine that does both print and cut. I love to be able to make things if I can to save money.

 

[tampaprinting]

I re-read the post.... you can't use if you're printing and cutting all in the same pass. It's only going to be used for printing jobs. Our first wrap print was 70' long, we did it in 2 RIPS, and Prints. We didn't take the vinyl off the take up reel the entire time, and it tracked 100%! I was impressed to say the least since I'm used to my old Graphic plotter not tracking for more than 8 feet! lol!