Anyone Else Have A Roland PC-60?

[Outline Graphics]

I've been cutting on this pretty well. Lots learned, and lots more to learn. Something dawned on me though. I've not even TOUCHED the printing with this machine. I've got a zillion cartridges for this machine, but haven't even put one in yet.

I've heard alot of negative things about the printer functions on this machine....of course only AFTER buying it :Oops:



Does anyone have this machine, and use it to print? If so, how do you like the quality? Post a pic of something so I can get an idea what my limits are?

Thanks

Any tricks with this machine would be great too...

 

[tinysigner]

I have it. It prints really well, as long as you baby it along. It has its quirks. Make sure you keep your manual handy as it will have various lights and chirps and errors flashing at you occassionally...Sometimes maddeningly. Sometimes it works to shut the whole thing down, clear your buffer and start over, sometimes not. Sometimes the machine has to take a little rest, you have to go relax before you smash it and when you come back everything works perfectly.
The big issue is the amount of color that it uses. If at all possible, use spot colors as you are using only one cartridge instead of 3. It wastes all the ribbon inbetween needed areas on each pass, so if you are making things like labels, jam as many as close together as you can to conserve.

 

[Outline Graphics]

What kind of material do you print on with it? I've heard that the heads don't last that long. Have you had to replace them yet? Do you know what they run?

I've already seen the tempermental side of it

 

[High Octane]

Burn it and buy a Versacamm....you'll never regret it. I had one....cost more money to use the damn thing then its worth....god forbid the print head goes bad....you'll be buying a $500 print head for a $1000 printer.
It very slow too. But....well....hell....good luck either way.

 

[tinysigner]

I print on any kind of vinyl. They all sell white vinyl to print on, but all of it works. You could have banding issues the first times you do printing. If you do, let me know and I will try to find the fix for you.
I have never had to replace the head..knock on wood. You are supposed to be meticulous about cleaning everything with the cleaning pen that comes with it and making sure that the vinyl is speck and dust free. Make sure you don't use air to blow away the dust as it will be sure to settle back down just where you don't want it....every little scrap of fuzz and dust will show up as a white spot on your print.

 

[njsigns]

I have a ColorCamm PC-12. I actually bought it close to 2 years ago, and didn't hook it up until about 2-3 weeks ago. I wanted to get it running as soon as I bought it, but it came with nothing, so I had to order supplies.

As I was reading about supplies, I came across all kinds of information saying the machine was a nightmare and a POS. Printheads going bad, wasteful on materials, and all that type of stuff. So now I was questioning my purchase, but it was too late. I spent a lot of time worrying about the printhead, banding issues and wondered did I just waste way too much money? I then decided I wouldn't hook it up because I was afraid to find out. It sat there for all that time and I tried to forget about it.

Well, low and behold I hooked it up, it took a little patience, but I have to say I am quite pleased with the results. It is rather slow, but is very similar to technology I was using prior to this, the Alps MD series printers (which is what brought me to this solution in the first place).

I get my PC-12 supplies (which from what I've read are the same for PC-60) from Beacon Graphics, which is also in NJ. I use FDC 4200 series white vinyl.

http://www.beacongraphics.com/colorcamm-vinyl.html

I would wipe down the media with alcohol to remove dust/particles and print away! I also made my purchase to make t-shirts and mousepads with heat transfer material and a heat press. I've yet to try the transfer material on dark garments (which is another big reason for the purchase - I was told this is a viable solution), but it looks fantastic on light color shirts.

Hopefully now that the sting of the purchase and money invested in materials is out of my mind, I can put it to use and recoup some of my investment. Even if it is way too expensive to print with, this is money lost.... I have dreams of a VersaCamm, but I will "make do" with this machine until my business can afford it. Hope this helps, if you need any more info please feel free to contact me and I will try my best to help you out.

Gene

 

[tinysigner]

I order my transfer ribbons from www.zeronine.com
I also have the 'pop top' which lets you refill the cartridges.
It is a lot cheaper that way.
When I do a print for graphics for a car or golf cart, etc, I try to get close to $1 a square inch if I have to use the process colors.
The prints are very outdoor durable. I usually give it a shot of clearcoat tho

As far as t-shirts, it works fine, but I think it is way to expensive, but it sure works

 

[Outline Graphics]

Tiny,

I was told by sign warehouse one day that there were certain vinyls you can only print on and that printing on just regular calandared vinyl will cause smears and problems. You print on regular vinyl?


GeniusCreations,

Thanks for the offer. I'm SURE I'll take you up on that. I've got a catalog from Beacon, but was quickly turned off when I emailed them and it's been nearly 2 months and they've not responded I scratched the beacon order list, and made a small order from sign warehouse just to try them out. NOTHING but problems

Have you ever tried ordering from Fellers? I'm VERY impressed with what they sent me. I had asked SW to send me something that I could show to customers to show colors and stuff. They sent me (or had someone send me) an envelope with 6 or 8 pieces of vinyl in it. There was nothing labeling what they were and they were all tore up and wrinkled. Fellers sent me nice sample books for Oracal, Banner Cal, and a bunch of other things. They seem VERY customer orientated from the limited history I have with them so far... SO I'm probably going to drop a big order this afternoon with them. They're cheaper on nearly everything that I saw compared to SW and Beacon.

Only drawback is you can't order online...which isn't really a drawback to me. I like to be able to ask questions about what I'm ordering so it suits me well... but the more experienced people who order from them all the time and get the same stuff...well....I can see where having to call it in could slow them down a bit. AND they have a location in Philly which is a PLUS

 

[tinysigner]

I know they tell you to buy the special white vinyl, but my son has three tinting and motor .shops in northern MN and ND and I have printed graphics and stickers and race entrance tickets for him for years on every color and every brand imaginable and I have yet to have any fading or smearing. Even in the extreme weather conditions, the prints stay good.

 

[Outline Graphics]

Hmmm... maybe I'll pop some ink in it and give it a whirl this weekend.

Hey, has ANYONE tried to cut Magnetic material with their PC-60? How did it turn out?

 

[toonsign]

Not a PC-60 but a PC-12

Hi,

I have a PC-12 which I purchased 2 years ago, and finally made a bumpersticker (set) for my wife's birthday. Took a photo of the dog and made a bumpersticker out of it. This was in february of 2005 and it still looks good, especially in the FL heat and sun, plus 4 hurricanes.

I am really impressed with the quality of the PC-12 and have made just a few small decals/stickers with it. I am now getting ready to be serious and have decided to wholesale (POD and dropship) only.

I ordered a lot of stuff from Beacon, after I received all of their samples of vinyl colors and such. I was amazed at how much product is available to us.

It is my understanding that the PC-12 and the 60 use the same ribbons. I don't know if this is true but I would like to hear from anyone who would be able to verify this.

Unfortunately I do not have a need for a larger printer/cutter but until that day comes, I am very pleased with the PC-12.

Og, by the way. Couldn't figure out how to get the printer working with the software that came with the printer so I simply use Corel 8, drag it to the desktop and then send it to the RCC PC-12. Works great.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[njsigns]

It is my understanding that the PC-12 and the 60 use the same ribbons. I don't know if this is true but I would like to hear from anyone who would be able to verify this.

Everything I have read to date states that the ribbons for the PC-12 and PC-60 are exactly the same. For example if you go to Beacon's website, they are listed in the same area.

http://www.beacongraphics.com/cr-mr.html

I have also heard of plenty of people using the zeronine carts, which I believe are cheaper in the longrun, and may even have more "ink" in them.

http://www.zeronine.com/rindex.html

I've yet to try these, but they will be the next carts I use as a replacement.

You might also want to check out this link for the approximate square footage you can expect from original roland carts.

http://www.rolanddga.com/rnet30/files/support/pc-12_cartridge_information.pdf

I had some more links, but can't remember how I got there right now. Unfortunately I didn't bookmark them

:Oops:

Hope this is of some help....

Gene

 

[StudioSigns]

I had one and hated it. Took forever to print since it puts down each color individually. Got lots of banding with the prints. Sometimes it would be laying down the last color and it would shut down riuining the entire print. I traded it in for a versa camm.

 

[Jackpine]

I had a 600 and it did very good. I printed on Feller's ShineRite 24" vinyl....outstanding. Better than the MacTac Roland recommended. I printed with duracoat and Renoun ribbons. As good or better than Rolands and way cheaper. Sold it.....a good thing.

 

[Gino]

We have a PC-60 and like it very much. It is slow and a little pricey with the ribbons, but it is very dependable and good outdoors for; well ‘Roland’ says three or four years. We have prints out for as long as six and seven years and they still look rather good. Some slight fading, but still good. As far as banding, a light coat of clear always got rid of that problem. When the clear dried, no evidence of banding whatsoever.

There are certain jobs that this machine is not suitable for and you must know the difference. You can’t expect one machine to do it all. Kinda like, not getting a steak dinner at a Chinese Restaurant, but Steak Teriyaki will be fine.

Good Luck.

 

[Outline Graphics]

Still haven't ventured into printing. I just don't know enough about the process yet...but I'm learning. I'm afraid to mess the heads up. I know they're expensive. But I have a couple questions I've not been able to find the answers for yet...

1. Cleaning the heads - Is there a good tutorial somewhere for this? Anyone have tips, suggestions? What do you use to clean it? How do you know it's clean enough? etc

2. How do you know which colors you're going to use. I understand the process colors pretty much do your 'simple' colors, but how do I know which process colors to add into it and when?

Any extra informaiton and/or resources i could read would be seriously helpful

 

[Gino]

You're close by us. We’re not far from Philly. E-mail me directly and I'll give you directions to our shop. :Welcome: We have one and don't use it as much as we used to because we have larger machines now, but I'll show you whatever I can.

One note, we only use 'Roland' cartridges. When you're trying to save money, saving a dollar here or there on a cartridge is foolish. The customer pays for that anyway. The OEM cartridges are designed specifically for the machine, while the aftermarket cartridges are only as close to spec as patent laws will allow. Believe me, we’ve done our share of experimenting and it’s not worth the headaches for a few stupid dollars. We only replaced our head once and that was when someone dropped something on the vinyl and scratched the head. If you let them cool down periodically, you should get 1,000’s of hours of use out of it before having to replace. Overheating the head is your main concern, which according to your posts, isn't much of a concern yet...