Is this an ancient Roland?
Yes.
And, would it be worth buying?
It depends on who you ask, and if it's working. I've personally owned one, and it did what I wanted it to do - and it made me money. I"ll tell you though, I made my decision to buy one based on the fact that I was previously using Alps printers, so it was comfortable for me. It was pretty much like owning an Alps that could cut.
The key really (in my opinion), if you're going to get one, would be to make sure it's working and not
banding at all. If it needs to have the head replaced because of banding I'd say pass on it. Simply not worth the effort or money (again in my opinion) to fix one of these, unless it's free and you can fix it cheap. In that case I'd then sell it on eBay and put a down payment on a solvent machine.
This machine won't be the most profitable for you - if you go after the same market that is currently being fed by solvent machines. There is a lot of stuff you can do with a thermal machine that can't be done with a solvent, like print foils. It's expensive to run but if you use the machine wisely I think it can pay off or at least pay for itself quickly. I have to admit I really like thermal technology - I think the next printer I buy might be a thermal.
Gene