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Low Cost Take Up Reels?

player

New Member
I have need for a take up reel for my Roland sp540v printer.

Is anyone familiar with this one?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Take-Up-Dev...731?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a815988b3 1347494127838-628222055.jpeg

I sells for $320 and does not use an eye, but runs continuously with a clutch.

Any other low cost take up reels recommended? I have seem other lower cost units from China that do offer eye type sensors...

Thanks
 

Gene@mpls

New Member
I have been using this homebrew for 3 years I think with nothing but a slip action to maintain the slack. I had plans to build
either a elect eye or mechanical means to turn it off and on but it was not necessary and I moved on. It and the IR heater
are triggered by a motion detector which switches on when the print carriage moves to print and turns off after 5-6 min of
inactivity. I did have to install a second rotisserie motor this summer tho. As an old **** I particularly enjoy the fact that I
don't have to work with the sometimes heavy roll of vinyl on the floor as with most winders.
 

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Shadowglen

New Member
I have a similar one called REEL PRO from Supply 55 works great the one you are looking at looks like the same thing mine was over 500 but still way less than the factory setups.
 

4R Graphics

New Member
I have a Mimaki JV33 which comes with a take up reel.

The take up reel on both my old JV3 and the newer JV33 are both just a slip clutch type no optical eye this is from the factory.

Cant say about the one you posted but to be honest a take up reel is a pretty simple device not much to them so brand and quality (probably not much of a difference at least in the slip clutch type).
 

Stagecraft

New Member
Have been using one of those on our SP540 for a year now...works great. One note though; it uses an adjustable friction clutch to adjust tension and it can get pretty noisy sometimes. It puts out a rather unpleasant groaning noise.
 

401Graphics

New Member
Have been using one of those on our SP540 for a year now...works great. One note though; it uses an adjustable friction clutch to adjust tension and it can get pretty noisy sometimes. It puts out a rather unpleasant groaning noise.
Ive been running mine for 3 years and never heard it make noise.
 

Gene@mpls

New Member
@Gene

Thanks for the detailed post. How much time does the IR heater take off the cure time?

I run it at 80% power (higher warps the vinyl sheets and make for hard laminating) and the vinyl goes directly onto a
spindle over a table leading into the laminator and then to a GX500 cutter. I am into production- the core with the
printed vinyl slips off the spindle by lifting it a couple inches up from the left bearing block (the pivot is on the right side).
I can have vinyl printed/laminated/cut and on the truck/substrate so fast it is amazing. We had a bottleneck with printing
before- no more. Gene
 

mopar691

New Member
That is a very nice setup Gene, looks like it works awesome. I do plan on making a similar unit here in the next month or so once my remodel is done in my shop.
 

phototec

New Member
I have been using this homebrew for 3 years I think with nothing but a slip action to maintain the slack. I had plans to build
either a elect eye or mechanical means to turn it off and on but it was not necessary and I moved on. It and the IR heater
are triggered by a motion detector which switches on when the print carriage moves to print and turns off after 5-6 min of
inactivity. I did have to install a second rotisserie motor this summer tho. As an old **** I particularly enjoy the fact that I
don't have to work with the sometimes heavy roll of vinyl on the floor as with most winders.


I have the same take up reel the OP posted in the first post for my Roland sp540v printer, been using it for a year and it works great. It's a real time saver for all long prints, you can run unattended, it is a clutch based system and mine makes NO noise at all. Purchased on ebay for $320 with FREE shipping from Flordia seller, got it in a few days not like a month from China.

I do plan on making some kind of a sensor to shut off the motor so after printing so it doesn't run all night, I have been using a simple electrical timer, which you plug the take up reel motor cord into. I can set the timer for estimated time, like if the print time is estimated to be 2 hours, I set the timer for 3 hours, then after printing over night, the take up reel motor will shut off after 3 hours and not be on all night.
Gene@mpls: Nice job on your take up reel setup.

How does the motion detector work with the printed media?

I thought yard light motion detectors operated on body heat, the difference between the air temperature and then when a person walks buy at a different (body) temperature?

Does it sense the difference between printed and the non-printed area on the media?

:smile:
 

player

New Member
Update: I bought a used Supply55 Reel Pro off eBay today. It was in Canada, so shipping is cheaper. The thing that made me spend more is my printer dealer sold them for a while but found too many were burning out so they stopped. The Reel Pro has support and parts. A new motor is $40. So I spent about $90 more for a used winder made in the USA with tech support and parts readily available. The quick shipping because of location also helped tip the scales.
 
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