Do I really need a Technician for new Mimaki printer setup

[kimd]

Guys, I'm planning on purchasing a new Mimaki JV33-130. I have briefly used Mimaki printers before but don't own one. My questions is, would it be neccessary for me pay for a technician to come in and set up the printer? They're charging me about $600 for a tech to come out, set up the printer and show me some tips. I rather spend the $600 on materials.

My knowledge of computer/printer hardware is above average. I am certified HP and Dell. I do have couple Microsoft certs. I've in the IT field for over 10 years. I know how to setup a network, installing drivers and trouble shooting application and hardware.

I should be able to do it myself, right? The salesperson sounded like I do need a technician to set everything up.

Thank!

 

[HulkSmash]

knowing how to hook up a computer and trouble shoot it won't help you put a wide format printer together right. Pay the 600 or you'll pay even more to get everything done right.

 

[CustomRide]

I thought Mimaki did this for free cause they have to insure it was installed properly for the warranty to start.

Set it up yourself. If your going to put out $600 put it down towards profiling equipment like xrite and training in person.

 

[kimd]

You do have a point there. Rather have it done properly the first time.

 

[HulkSmash]

You do have a point there. Rather have it done properly the first time.

im pretty sure they install the heads, ink lines, dampers, etc.... so its not as easy.

 

[Baz]

You are going to pay either way .... Tech or materials is going to cost you. I would go with the Tech ... As to not damaging anything yourself and if god forbid somethign was damaged or defective. You have the tech there and i am assuming the waranty would be easyer to apply.

 

[signswi]

Having a IT background doesn't have anything to do with learning how to properly profile, but if all they're doing is plugging it in and reading from the manual you could skip that. I taught myself, I'm sure you could too.

That said if you do skip it we're all going to ignore your threads for help with basic things!

 

[WrapperX]

To answer your question - the answer is NO - but it is highly recomended because they do all the dirty work you may not want to do or actually KNOW HOW to do. Don't be cheap - get the tech.

 

[Charlie J]

Aren't you buying the machine from a dealer? When I bought my roland, the techs delivered it and got me up and running.

 

[TheSnowman]

I'm calling that price a steal. If I remember right, I paid upwards of 1K for someone to come set it up. I bought mine from Advantage about 5 years ago. You can do whatever you want to do, but I'd recommend getting a tech and here's why.

I first had a problem w/ my board in it, and had I not had the tech see that, I'd have wasted SO MUCH INK it'd wouldn't have been funny. It wanted to do a full fill from scratch every time I turned it on, which was basically just dumping it into the fill bottle.

The second reason I'd recommend it is because, I've had my printer about 5 years now, and I just had to reformat my computer for the first time this weekend. It took me two days to get it figured out, and I still ended up having to call tech support because I wasn't sure I had the right driver. Had I not had it five years, I'd have REALLY had no clue, but I at least was somewhat in the know.

Hire a tech is my suggestion though, you won't regret everything working right. Having media is pointless if you just throw it in the dumpster because something isn't right.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

That's actually a pretty good price for setup, especially if it includes some training. But honestly, if you know a bit about computers, it's a really easy machine to set up and geet running. I've set up 2 Mimakis, a Mutoh, and an Epson GS6000 on my own with no problems. When I set up our JV33, I had the thing running in about an hour tops, and that's only because the ink fillup procedure takes a bit of time, but I hit no snags. Now software on the other hand can be a pain, depending on what you're using. Again, if you know computers I doubt you'll have any trouble.

And at the end of the day, Mimaki's technical support is pretty good at answering questions and getting you up and running if you do decide to go it alone.

Just remember, you'll need some help actually physically assembling it, it's a 3 person job at least.

 

[Robert M]

Tech

With that printer it comes out of the box CMYK, so if you want lc and lm some of the ink lines need to be changed around. A new printer like that will not have the latest firmware, the tech will make sure it is updated. The tech will also do alignments and he will show you how to do them, he will also give you training on the proper use of the printer and what should be done to maintain it. Less wasted material, less chance of user error damaging the printer, better performance from a correctly maintained and adjusted printer, well worth the $600.00

 

[SAS]

Grimco did mine for free. The tech was at the shop for two days because they only sent 1 cartridge each of CMYK ink.

 

[kimd]

Tech it is...

I guess it's better to have the tech install it. Better do it right and make sure everything is working properly. The $600 is not a bad price since I was quoted 900 - 1000 from other vendors. Plus I have the tech for 3 days.

Thanks for the input!

 

[fmg]

I installed my JV33 straight outa the box and followed the set up instructions with ease.
It was a piece of cake to do.
E mail me if you have probs and I will run u thru it.

 

[boxerbay]

not sure about mimaki but I pretty much set up our epson myself.

crates arrived but then the tech could not get here for another 2 weeks. mind you I already had about 2 weeks worth of work waiting for the epson to arrive. waiting another 2 weeks was crazy. so after walking around the crates for two days I told the owner I'm gonna pop these crates and get things going. the pressure of clients calling was getting high.

I found it pretty easy to set up.

Build the stand, bolt on take up assy, stack printer on stand, plug in the ink washer, it goes thru a fill and drain procedure, pop in the inks, res to go.

then just pop in colorburst cd, add printer to network, give it an ip, add that ip in colorburst, POOF were printing!

Tech arrived and just double checked my work and hanged around the entire day drinking coffee and donuts. He said it was his best install. I bet he didn't do any work! lol.

 

[Artgunner]

I installed my JV33 straight outa the box and followed the set up instructions with ease.
It was a piece of cake to do.
E mail me if you have probs and I will run u thru it.

Mine came with a manual as well to setup machine to filling ink. All other info is on Mimaki website in PDF. No tech manuals though.

Art

 

[BoF]

Guys, I'm planning on purchasing a new Mimaki JV33-130. I have briefly used Mimaki printers before but don't own one. My questions is, would it be neccessary for me pay for a technician to come in and set up the printer? They're charging me about $600 for a tech to come out, set up the printer and show me some tips. I rather spend the $600 on materials.

My knowledge of computer/printer hardware is above average. I am certified HP and Dell. I do have couple Microsoft certs. I've in the IT field for over 10 years. I know how to setup a network, installing drivers and trouble shooting application and hardware.

I should be able to do it myself, right? The salesperson sounded like I do need a technician to set everything up.

Thank!

The machine I had was good to go from the start.
Build the stand, Bolt the printer onto the stand, disconnect some brackets and that was it for twiddling wrenches..
Then all that was needed was to flush the lines, ect. with the OEM solvent from the supplied cartridges, put in the ink cartridges, charge it up, connect to a RIP station and off you go.
Its simple enough to do in itself however, if things go pear shaped I guess that there will be warrenty issues as you havent used the a proper tech.

Not having a warrenty didnt bother me as I'm not in the 'print for pay' business I'm assuming you are so you should think carefully about what you'll do if you have issues at installation or in the future...