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Decent Grommet Machine and supplies to buy???

RebelGraphics

New Member
looking for a grommet machine and grommets that can pierce corners (multiple layers) with little elbow grease.
Any recommendations?

bonus inquiry: a decent banner tape?
 

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
We love hiker, plus they are right down the street from us.

For banner tape we 100% switched to Killer Red from Bron. Better price than "real" banner tapes and 5x the hold strength.
 

RebelGraphics

New Member
This one?
 

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Greg Kelm

www.cheetaprint.com
Edward Segal (American Made Machines) and stimpson grommets. JDS Industries sells 'Gold-Line Premium Tesa Tape', which is really good stuff!
 

MikePatterson

Head bathroom cleaner.
There is a new automatic grommet press out there that a new vendor showed me. One piece grommets, looks freaking awesome. Call up Rob at Reliable Sign Supply -
- 972-474-9900

I think this is the same machine: https://www.toolots.com/semi-automa...cs-eyelet-with-2-hand-press-banner-tools.html

We bought one. We still have our old Stimpson press that is awesome and bulletproof. But the new automatic works good. It is weeping a little tool oil right now but we just make sure and wipe it off before we use it. How long it lasts is TBD, I would suspect a few years before something plastic breaks.
 

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
We bought one. We still have our old Stimpson press that is awesome and bulletproof. But the new automatic works good. It is weeping a little tool oil right now but we just make sure and wipe it off before we use it. How long it lasts is TBD, I would suspect a few years before something plastic breaks.
Did you buy a manual or a Pneumatic?
 

MikePatterson

Head bathroom cleaner.
The manual one. It auto feeds from a hopper. It is the one in the link. We bought it from Peter (sales rep) at Reliable Sign Supply 972-474-9900
 

ikarasu

Active Member
I had a cheap $100 Amazon one for my house (Work has a pneumatic) I had to put so much elbow grease into grommeting anything...all my weight. I hated using it, but for the odd banner I do at home I needed one. One day when I was doing a banner It snapped in half... so I bought one from Grimco.

Captain Series Hand Grommet Press $191 CAD

The first time I used it... I was putting so much pressure on it and it wouldnt budge... I thought I got a piece of crap worst than the $100 amazon one. but it turns out the grommet was pressed in all the way... So I tried a new one with very little pressure...sure enough a perfect grommet. grabbed some coro... tried it and with 1 finger I could do a perfect grommet... It was amazing the difference. I thought all handhelds were crap... turns out just the cheap $100 amazon / ebay ones are crap.

I cant imagine it being easier than this cheap grimco one... but I wouldnt hesitate to buy a simpson or hiker for $3-500 now that I know theyre not all garbage.

Whatever you do, stay away from ebay/Amazon ones...
 

zspace

Premium Subscriber
There is a new automatic grommet press out there that a new vendor showed me. One piece grommets, looks freaking awesome. Call up Rob at Reliable Sign Supply -
- 972-474-9900

I think this is the same machine: https://www.toolots.com/semi-automa...cs-eyelet-with-2-hand-press-banner-tools.html
I bought one like that a few years ago. It was so tempting - for about the price of 2000 grommets you get a machine plus 5000 grommets and refill grommets were less expensive.

The secret - they use super light grommets with no backs so they are more eyelet than grommet. They were ok for short term banners. The grommets didn’t hold well for outdoor long term and didn’t work at all for thick material like coroplast.

The auto feed was fast to use in production. In initial tests it out ran a manual grommet machine about 5 to 1. The difference might have been less if we left backs off on the manual machine. Over time we lost all the gain because the thin grommet walls deform and get stuck in the chute or hopper frequently, so you have to take the machine apart to remove jams.

Bottom line - it’s sitting on a shelf while we use Stimpson manual presses.
 

2B

Active Member
for a "manual" press, Hiker is what we selected.
better price for the unit and the self-piercing [HASHTAG]#grommets[/HASHTAG]
 
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