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Gerber or Oce 550xt

blackbok

New Member
My employer has recently decided that we should venture into the world of flatbed printing to increase our productivity and expand our business. As part of this, we will also be incorporating a router to do the profile cutting of signs. We have looked into this for about a year, looked at Agfa, Vutek, HP... been to sign shows (most recently Vegas) and read A LOT of literature. There still seems to be a lot of questions, some seem to do things great, while lacking in spots, while others are all around good, but are pricey and too big for our current shop space (Oce). In Vegas I got a chance to see the newest 5 x 10 Gerber (dont remember the model, but it was a neon green machine), and was really impressed. The one drawback was it's innabillaty to print white ink. We do a lot of signs on black 3mm and 6mm pvc, and it seems like that lack of white printing would hurt us in the long run. Other than that, I really like the Gerber, especially paired with it's router.

On the other hand, the Oce prints white, prints nice, but takes up a football field. It just seems too much for what we do. Is there a way around the Gerber's innabillity to print on black? I know there is a white faced black gatorfoam product, dibond as well, but again, the cheap easy to use pvc is our bread and butter.

Any help on this wold be great!
 

HulkSmash

New Member
Its called the Gerber Cat, and if you ever want to get ANY signs done-- dont buy it. It's extremely slow. The 5x10 or 4x8 oce is not that big... maybe a bit wider than the Gerber and that's because it's built better... oce is fast.. good quality and overall a great product.. especially the support.
 

econolinesigns

New Member
We have had the Gerber Solara Ion X in service for just over two years and have had a great experience. There were some bumps in the beginning but Gerber stood behind things completely! Great product, great build (in the USA), the best support on any printer we have ever owned, and the best ink adhesion out there (no special adhesion promoters like Oce/Fuji - just 99% Isopropyl Alcohol). Depending what you are planning to do with it, the Gerber is a great machine! The Cat will be a slower but higher DPI than the X. They also have a flatbed cutter which works seamlessly with the Ion or the Cat.
 

blackbok

New Member
I have a sample from the Oce, and noticed a lot of chip out of the ink along the edges. That is a HUGE consideration as we will be doing ALOT of routing on full bleed signs, and most of our clients are not going to want to leave a 1/16" stroke to prevent chip-out. Is this a problem with pretty much ALL flatbeds/UV inks? Not happy about $250k + on a printer that will end up making signs with chipped edges.
 

10sacer

New Member
Printer

JUst my two cents...

may want to take a look at the new CET printers. Priced right and mine is 8 color (6C + white + varnish) same heads as the Oce and just about as fast as the 350GT.

I really like the 550 and hope to graduate to something like that, but it does cost alot of hamburgers right now.

They also have a new inkset that seems to address the chipping and adhesion issues they have had in the past. i can't speak to how good or bad it is - i just know there is a new inkset.

DOn't know much about the Gerber other than you better be able to take REAL good control of your temperature and humidity.

If I was in your shoes and were gonna take a flyer on one of these models - I would go with proven components and technology and look at the CET.

I was also looking forward to the Rastek T1000 - but it won't meet your speed needs - nice prints though.
 
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