Just Purchased a New Toy!! VS540i

[splizaat]

Hey Guys!
I just wanted to take a second to say THANK YOU to Pacific Coast Sign Supply (Portland, Oregon) and Bobby of CS-Sign Supply (online). Over the last two and a half weeks, I made the decision to upgrade printers from our SP300V to a 54" Roland Print/Cut - but I wasn't sure which one. My original choice was a refurbished VS540 from Roland, and after my dealer had made me a great offer on that, they also presented me with an incredible deal on a refurb VS540i.

The price difference between the two wasn't too much but I just wasn't sure which one to go with, and then, which ink configuration. After numerous texts, calls, visits to Pacific Coast Sign Supply and then a lengthy conversation with Bobby at CS-Sign Supply (Bobby offered his cell number to me on SUNDAY and told me to call him!) Bobby really sold me on the new VSi because of how great the new Eco Sol Max 2 ink set is, especially the white. Bobby explained how to treat white ink, and gave me an honest unbiased opinion that totally put me at ease and solidified my decision on a VSi for the extra cash.

I went to Pacific Coast Sign Supply today and made the purchase on the refurb VS540i machine today and now I am so incredibly excited to have this new machine arrive next week! Already the anticipation is killing me. Our sp300v was such a great machine, it printed 90% of what we sold, and we ran it for years with zero hiccups. I can't praise that little machine enough!!! But...we will be selling our beloved (and incredibly well taken care of) SP300V and 38" Daige Laminator for the new big machine

WAHOOO!!! Thank you Shawn/Richard @ Pacific Coast Sign Supply and Bobby @ CS-Sign Supply. Bobby is outside our territory for Roland sales for those of you wondering why we didn't buy from bobby, and he was still willing to talk to me on his cell on a sunday and give me a boat load of information

Now - Who's got tips and tricks that I need to know for this new machine!? and printing white!

 

[Gino]

Big congrats on your new addition(s)

 

[rjssigns]

Always take the time to make sure your media is loaded squarely. Run a print/cut job then reload the media, squarely. Using the sheet cut feature just gives you a perfectly straight line on potentially skewed media.(wife found that out the hard way) You probably knew that already, but it's worth mentioning.

When doing large runs of smaller laminated decals keep your sheet length around 4 to 5 feet.(you'll thank me later) 54" material runs differently in my experience and the shorter sheets are sooo much easier to handle.

 

[CarNate69]

Printing white with a Roland, lol, good luck making your customers happy with the poor color opacity, super slow printing, crappy interface with versaworks and trying to get the machine to line up the cmyk on the white underbase after doing the white pass / cmyk 2nd pass printing. Not to mention the all to often cleaning cycles, wasted ink, and potential cap top problems down the line if you don't maintain the machine to the T.

After months of research, these are all problems realized by all roland white users it seems.

 

[argenis83]

subscribed for tips and tricks !!!! I also just ordered my vs540i should be here by tomorrow 9am can't wait

 

[GZ SIGN DESIGNS]

We have 3 roland printers sp540, vp540, and just purchased the vs640i Didn't go with the white and metalic cartage option just dual cmyk prints really fast, and a must have take up reel with external heater. We went with the 640 so we can cut 60" solid color wrapping films for larger graphics. And print larger images.

 

[DravidDavid]

good luck making your customers happy with the poor color opacity, super slow printing, crappy interface with versaworks and trying to get the machine to line up the cmyk on the white underbase after doing the white pass / cmyk 2nd pass printing.

Those experiencing problems with opacity aren't agitating their white ink cartridges daily like they should be.

Never had issues with the second pass printing, but it is incredibly slow and you have to horse around in illustrator with spot colours before VersaWorks will acknowledge you want something printed in white.

 

[CS-SignSupply]

... if you don't maintain the machine to the T.

This is key, regardless if you are using white, metallic, 7 Color, Dual CMYK or whatever. Maintain your equipment and follow the procedures recommended.

White and Metallic ink require more effort and time to achieve consistent quality printing; of which you should be selling at a premium.

All procedures should be properly covered during the installation and training provided by the dealer. If not, press them for detailed instructions.

If you purchase a printer with White ink installed and do not use it for a month or two or more, you will waste money and time as well as regret going with white.

 

[splizaat]

Just took delivery of our new VS540i today and so far I LOVE THIS THING! Such a HUGE upgrade from our Sp300v. The print quality is absolutely incredible....how did I go without it for so long??!

I'm really wanting to pop some clear 3651 into this and play with some white printing. I've got to admit though, I'm a little nervous to play with it. Should I be? Can someone walk me through the menus to circulate the white ink...

 

[splizaat]

Wow some excellent information there Pat, thank you! I may be in touch with you via PM for more tips.

Did a ton of test printing just to find the limits of this machine today...the only thing I'm having trouble understanding is how the printer is 75% faster than our old printer, but doesn't seem so. We use the 3165 profile on just about every media on both the sp300v and this new vs540i. Is it the profile that determines the speeD? Where are they coming up with this "75% faster" figure based on the comparison of both printers' square footage? School me.

 

[splizaat]

Not sure....I haven't looked at the claimed print speeds on those models. I don't care what they say the only print speed numbers that matter are the ones you'll be able to pump out at a quality that your customers will like. I print HQ or standard 720 x 720 for the most part on our Rolands and very rarely print any faster. I'm sure with proper calibration and custom profiles you can print using the faster settings but it has worked for us in the meantime.

Are you referring to printing white or just in general? White printing, especially combined with cmyk is extremely slow even on the soljet models but once you know that you just factor it in the job.

Referring to printing in general. What profiles are you typically using?

 

[splizaat]

Print quality on this printer....INSANITY. I can tell you I hate hucking 54" rolls of media around the room though....it sucks!

 

[WESTERNSIGNCO.]

Which profiles are you guys using with the vsi540 for basic gloss print media??i have been using Denco sales house brand (aspire) with our vp 540 and now with the new VSi but having nothing but issues with color management??any ideas??

 

[splizaat]

Oracal 3165 Profile for almost every media we print...banner, vinyl, canvas, etc.

We went with seven color + white ink configuration and the only thing that bugs me is that we can't get a real deep deep black. I don't know if it's because of light black ink, but we can't get a super solid dark black.

 

[splizaat]

The light black has been a freaking GODSEND! Incredible grey, black and white, etc. It has changed. my. life. No more fussing around with test prints and worrying about whether a customer will mention grey looking green or brown.

We used to run 0-0-0-100 max impact on our sp300v and every time it was solid black, to the point where it was raised up on the vinyl. Trying the same thing on this VS540i and I can't get that same thick dark black. I'm going to have to try 20-20-20-100 max impact just to see what happens. I figured it was throwing light black in there which might have been dumbing it down a bit, but again, I'm not an expert

 

[Jackpine]

always willing to help

Bobby Fosson and CS-Sign Supply staff are always willing to help anyone in the industry. They are a credit to the industry.

 

[splizaat]

Bobby is THE MAN. We don't have any real problems, was just curious if it was because of the light colors we didn't have before on the old SPv

 

[JP4]

+1 On Bobby Fossum/CS Sign Supply.

 

[Jester1167]

My go to black was always 60 40 0 100. My theory was that yellow doesn't make it darker, but you can't fade this black either because it's too blue.