So I know when the FC9000 came out, people had a lot of questions... It's new and no one knew how it'd be.
I've been using it for a month... I honestly think it's one of the best purchases we've made in a long time. We have 30+ rolls of vinyl to cut for one job... It's all variable data setup in 14'6" sections... I can send a job, open the other job..send it, and repeat 10 times... walk away, come back in 3 hours and the whole thing is cut and neatly rolled up. I don't have to babysit it, I don't have to worry about it skewing... It just works. I've done about 12 rolls for this job so far without a hitch.
And to top it off... We started making Covid floor decals. We've been selling them at near cost, just to help all the small stores out - I've printed maybe 4 rolls so far... I set it up with a barcode on each set of graphics, hit the barcode button.... And I can walk away and it'll cut the whole roll without any issues! No way we could have helped out with providing all these decals if I had to babysit the machine... so another bonus to it.
It sucks having to switch the blade to do a perf cut - but it's not too bad. I let the roll run with a kiss cut... put the whole roll back in in the opposite direction and let it run with a perf cut. it takes a minute to scan each section only, so I cant imagine summas being much faster not having to swap...and not having to change the cutting mat is great, so I still feel graphtec has the upper hand on perf cutting, even more so now that the barcode option for graphtec is so easy.
So all in all...I give it 2 thumbs up. There are some quirks, but no machine is perfect. some things to note -
1 - The barcode reader... You can have it pull files from your PC or from a USB. when I pull from the PC, it'll make a copy of the file...then the next time it tries to read the same file... it'll have 2 options and sit there asking which one I want. This seems stupid to me, and I'm going to assume for now that it's a glitch in my software - I havent tried uninstall/reinstalling, so it could be something to do with my install - but even if its a software glitch, I can't see graphtec keeping it the way it is. I reached out to support to ask... but with Covid, no reply in 2 weeks. So for now I just put everything on a USB and it works as intended.
2 - The take up reel - You have to go under the bar and tape it up from the back.. so you absolutely have to use a 3-4 FT Leader to do it. I have a 3 FT Scraps of vinyl cut off, the first few times I loaded it was a pain in the ass... now that I've done 15+ rolls, It's super easy. It still feels a bit cumbersome... And can definitely use some improvements in the future, but overall it's not bad once you know how to do it - I can just imagine the headaches trying to teach our backup operator how to use it though.
Long wall of text for a review! I know some people were asking and wondering about it though - Hopefully this helps you decide. I havent touched my FC8000 since we got the 9000... the takeup reel and being able to just cut unattended is such a convenience, I love walking away and operating all the printers...doing laminating and not worrying. I've considered offloading the 8000 on craigslist and buying another 9000... Still considering it!
3 - The takeup reel uses 2 hubs in order to hold the core. Most hubs have a bit of an extension past 3" so when the media wraps around the core... if it's not a perfect fit it'll still have 1/8" on each side. The hubs are flat...so if you push them all the way into the core, you better be dead on when you attach the vinyl. And if you try to push it an 1/8 of an inch out before you tighten the spindle... Unless you're perfectly dead straight (Which I havent been able to do yet) It'll wobble in the take up reel part. Again.. not a big issue, just surprised they went with a straight edge design. I see in their videos theyre usually using a 60" core even for 48" Media.. which I guess is an option. But I have 20+ 48" rolls to do... so once one finishes, that becomes the new takeup core.
The new ARMs sensor - The old FC8000 couldn't read media bowing. So far this is dead on - Even on the cheapest material we print on. It has an option for center marks in the top and bottom, I've used them once and it seems to work ok. All I know is everything is MM accurate now... Our fc8000 was getting old and would on occasion read off... That hasn't happened yet on this one.
The new reverse-print mark system is great too. It makes printing on reflective a breeze - We even printed on chrome and holographic and it read them fine. Much, much bigger improvement than pre-masking all the marks, taking a ruler and felt and drawing the marks in.
It has a new feature called recommended settings. I originally couldn't get it to read on the holographic material, even when I used the reverse print - Theres an option where it'll scan the mark, tell you which mode you should use, what you should set the sensor to, what color the mark, and non printed inside mark is, etc. I dont know why it doesn't automatically change that for you... You have to do it yourself, but it's super easy and a pretty nice feature to have. I was dissapointed I couldnt print and cut on holographic... then I tried this and it read perfectly.
Overall... It's a great system! If you've been thinking of getting one, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
I think it's way more expensive than the summa - We paid $10400 for the 160, $300 for the extra arm, then $3500 to add the take up option.. So it came to $14200 CAD. I believe the summa was about $4000 cheaper, although I don't know the take up reel price... so maybe it's equivalent.
One thing to note - Onyx doesn't support it right now, which I found surprising. I cant use onyx for print and cut, there are no drivers available - Not even for non-barcode operation. Everything has to be done in cutting master... which I generally prefer anyways, however being able to load a bunch of different files and have them auto nest in onyx is great sometimes - not an option... And when they do have it, it likely wont be included unless you upgrade to a new onyx.... so I don't see that happening anytime. It being a completely new system, I'd be surprised if any rips support it - Sai makes flexi and cutting master, so maybe flexi does... but I haven't checked. So if print and cutting via onyx is something you need, it might be best to hold off.
I've been using it for a month... I honestly think it's one of the best purchases we've made in a long time. We have 30+ rolls of vinyl to cut for one job... It's all variable data setup in 14'6" sections... I can send a job, open the other job..send it, and repeat 10 times... walk away, come back in 3 hours and the whole thing is cut and neatly rolled up. I don't have to babysit it, I don't have to worry about it skewing... It just works. I've done about 12 rolls for this job so far without a hitch.
And to top it off... We started making Covid floor decals. We've been selling them at near cost, just to help all the small stores out - I've printed maybe 4 rolls so far... I set it up with a barcode on each set of graphics, hit the barcode button.... And I can walk away and it'll cut the whole roll without any issues! No way we could have helped out with providing all these decals if I had to babysit the machine... so another bonus to it.
It sucks having to switch the blade to do a perf cut - but it's not too bad. I let the roll run with a kiss cut... put the whole roll back in in the opposite direction and let it run with a perf cut. it takes a minute to scan each section only, so I cant imagine summas being much faster not having to swap...and not having to change the cutting mat is great, so I still feel graphtec has the upper hand on perf cutting, even more so now that the barcode option for graphtec is so easy.
So all in all...I give it 2 thumbs up. There are some quirks, but no machine is perfect. some things to note -
1 - The barcode reader... You can have it pull files from your PC or from a USB. when I pull from the PC, it'll make a copy of the file...then the next time it tries to read the same file... it'll have 2 options and sit there asking which one I want. This seems stupid to me, and I'm going to assume for now that it's a glitch in my software - I havent tried uninstall/reinstalling, so it could be something to do with my install - but even if its a software glitch, I can't see graphtec keeping it the way it is. I reached out to support to ask... but with Covid, no reply in 2 weeks. So for now I just put everything on a USB and it works as intended.
2 - The take up reel - You have to go under the bar and tape it up from the back.. so you absolutely have to use a 3-4 FT Leader to do it. I have a 3 FT Scraps of vinyl cut off, the first few times I loaded it was a pain in the ass... now that I've done 15+ rolls, It's super easy. It still feels a bit cumbersome... And can definitely use some improvements in the future, but overall it's not bad once you know how to do it - I can just imagine the headaches trying to teach our backup operator how to use it though.
Long wall of text for a review! I know some people were asking and wondering about it though - Hopefully this helps you decide. I havent touched my FC8000 since we got the 9000... the takeup reel and being able to just cut unattended is such a convenience, I love walking away and operating all the printers...doing laminating and not worrying. I've considered offloading the 8000 on craigslist and buying another 9000... Still considering it!
3 - The takeup reel uses 2 hubs in order to hold the core. Most hubs have a bit of an extension past 3" so when the media wraps around the core... if it's not a perfect fit it'll still have 1/8" on each side. The hubs are flat...so if you push them all the way into the core, you better be dead on when you attach the vinyl. And if you try to push it an 1/8 of an inch out before you tighten the spindle... Unless you're perfectly dead straight (Which I havent been able to do yet) It'll wobble in the take up reel part. Again.. not a big issue, just surprised they went with a straight edge design. I see in their videos theyre usually using a 60" core even for 48" Media.. which I guess is an option. But I have 20+ 48" rolls to do... so once one finishes, that becomes the new takeup core.
The new ARMs sensor - The old FC8000 couldn't read media bowing. So far this is dead on - Even on the cheapest material we print on. It has an option for center marks in the top and bottom, I've used them once and it seems to work ok. All I know is everything is MM accurate now... Our fc8000 was getting old and would on occasion read off... That hasn't happened yet on this one.
The new reverse-print mark system is great too. It makes printing on reflective a breeze - We even printed on chrome and holographic and it read them fine. Much, much bigger improvement than pre-masking all the marks, taking a ruler and felt and drawing the marks in.
It has a new feature called recommended settings. I originally couldn't get it to read on the holographic material, even when I used the reverse print - Theres an option where it'll scan the mark, tell you which mode you should use, what you should set the sensor to, what color the mark, and non printed inside mark is, etc. I dont know why it doesn't automatically change that for you... You have to do it yourself, but it's super easy and a pretty nice feature to have. I was dissapointed I couldnt print and cut on holographic... then I tried this and it read perfectly.
Overall... It's a great system! If you've been thinking of getting one, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
I think it's way more expensive than the summa - We paid $10400 for the 160, $300 for the extra arm, then $3500 to add the take up option.. So it came to $14200 CAD. I believe the summa was about $4000 cheaper, although I don't know the take up reel price... so maybe it's equivalent.
One thing to note - Onyx doesn't support it right now, which I found surprising. I cant use onyx for print and cut, there are no drivers available - Not even for non-barcode operation. Everything has to be done in cutting master... which I generally prefer anyways, however being able to load a bunch of different files and have them auto nest in onyx is great sometimes - not an option... And when they do have it, it likely wont be included unless you upgrade to a new onyx.... so I don't see that happening anytime. It being a completely new system, I'd be surprised if any rips support it - Sai makes flexi and cutting master, so maybe flexi does... but I haven't checked. So if print and cutting via onyx is something you need, it might be best to hold off.
I do like the fast by default, less wear and tear on their cheap buttons that always seem to break... I just wish I wasn't used to it being the other way, and that I didnt have two different machines to use to constantly confuse me!
