SR1500 / Edge1 - Would You Buy It?

[TLG]

Question: Have an opportunity to buy a 1997 SR1500 with low printhead minutes (according to the seller). Includes about 20 foil cartridges. I do a small amount of sub'd out digital work now, but could upsell more doing it in-house so the unit cost seems attractive.

I read a post & reply from Fred about the learning curve in the Gerber forum. Any other comments on getting the hang of it?

1. Assuming it turns out good quality spot & four color process files, how do you find out the actual print minutes and what is considered "low".

2. Are repair parts still available?

3. Are the foils/spot cartridges still available (same as Edge2, FX etc.)?

4. What type of maintenance & approx costs would I be looking at with this unit?

5. Price is under $450 incl shipping - Fair???

Thanks for all replies!
Have a safe weekend

 

[TLG]

Bump
:>)

 

[Fred Weiss]

The price is so low it's suspicious.

Here's what you need to know:

• The foils alone are worth $450.
• The printer is ancient and the cost of repair prohibitive, so you will be looking at a replacement whenever it fails.
• The printer is useless without software to run it. ($1500 or more).
• The printer is useless without a Gerber plotter to cut what it prints. ($3000 or more).

If you are inexperienced with Gerber equipment or color printing you will probably be wasting $450 and a lot of your time. If you are experienced and are looking at this as a second printer to increase production or have as a backup, then it's a great deal.

My opinion, assuming you are inexperienced, is to find a used system through a Gerber distributor who is willing to provide training and support. It will probably cost you between $7K and 12K (take out a lease purchase agreement). There is a great market for Edge products. You should try to think first about what you can make and not what you can save.

 

[TLG]

Fred;
Thanks for the reply.
My Bad... :Oops: Been makin' signs for 10 yrs, have an HS15plus and the bomb site. Running GA 6.0. Should have posted that earlier - sorry.

My guess is that the owner doesn't know what the value should be as they are not in the sign business. They are using it for novelty items for ad specialties (mugs, watches, keychains etc) - all low volume work.

Just bought their plotter as a backup and it is in pristine condition so I thought maybe the printer would be a good find too. Was thinking I could get my money back quickly at that price and open the door to some other jobs too.

All replacement parts are unavailable now?
Do I need to have GA 6.2 as the bare min to run an Edge or will 6.0 work too?

Thanks

 

[iSign]

if you bought "their" plotter then you have established some trust in them I gues. I think Fred made a lot of excellent points, but you also satisfied a lot of his concerns.

I've had an Edge2 for close to 8 years & use it almost everyday still. I would want another one if I sensed it starting to fail, though it seems as good as new so far, so I think you will find edge printing to be a profitable addition as I have, & could easily justify a much more expensive one if this one doesn't work out.

With software, plotter... and soon foils in place, combined with a decision to take your business in that direction... I'd say grab it fast & start hunting for a used Edge2 to purchase as soon as one becomes available. Use this one until then, and hand it down for $450 when you find a more reliable one.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Under those conditions, it's a no brainer ... buy it before he changes his mind.

Not sure as to 6.0 running the Edge. I will recommend to you that you upgrade all the way to Omega 2.6. It is significantly better than Graphix Advantage and will pay for itself in nothing flat.

 

[signage]

I agree with Fred and Isign, I have an edge 2 and am very happy with it, if you don't buy that one let me know I may be interested for that price.

 

[TLG]

Thanks to all! Am going to send them a couple of files to do samples (spot & 4 color) so I can see what the image quality will be.

How do I check for the printhead minutes and what is "low" for a unit that age?

Is there a certain recommended level of print minutes that the heads need to be replaced or is it: when they go, they're gone?

 

[Service Sign Co]

Edge repairs

I've had plenty of use from my edge 2, 7 or 8 yrs. approx. GA 6.2 was the software at the time. I've replaced a mother board or a cpu board, can't rember which one. I believe it cost 350.00 to replace. Just recently the print head quit printing 1.5'' from the top, replaced the data link cable. that didn't fix it. Just decided to send it back to Gerber for referbishing.(would hate the thought of not having an Edge) If it is the print head expect to pay $1,500 for the part plus labor. They will go through the whole machine, find any issue and provide a quote for fixing. Basiclly it will be like a new machine. ( I hope ) It also has a 90 day warranty. I may have experienced more problems than others because I bought a demo at the distributor.

 

[TLG]

Thanks again for the replies. My table space is at a premium. Does the Edge need to be placed so it is always "in line" with the plotter or can it be on another table and just take the vinyl off after printing and feed it back onto the plotter for the decal cut?

*Also, can anyone answer the question of how to tell how many print minutes are on the unit and what is considered "low" usage?

 

[tamiya]

Thanks again for the replies. My table space is at a premium. Does the Edge need to be placed so it is always "in line" with the plotter or can it be on another table and just take the vinyl off after printing and feed it back onto the plotter for the decal cut?

yep they're 2 individual separate jobs, plotter can be in different room even

*Also, can anyone answer the question of how to tell how many print minutes are on the unit and what is considered "low" usage?

should be in the LCD menu somewhere, scroll thru all the options

hard to say what is "low", counter should only count when the head is 'down'.

 

[TLG]

Thanks tamiya,
That allows me to be more creative with where it will go.

I can't remember for sure about the cable hook-ups. My security key is in a port on my CPU so it detects it when initializing GA. The HS15 cable is plugged into another port. I guess the obvious is the Edge needs to have it's own cable plugged into the key so it will receive the output orders?

Would think the configuration is covered in the manual, but haven't committed to the purchase yet, so I am just trying to workout things in my mind 1st.
:>)

 

[Fred Weiss]

The recommended setup is to have two LPT printer ports. One for the dongle and one for the Edge. You then must setup the Rainbow Sentinel Driver to see the port where the dongle is attached and to disregard any others.

 

[TLG]

The recommended setup is to have two LPT printer ports. One for the dongle and one for the Edge. You then must setup the Rainbow Sentinel Driver to see the port where the dongle is attached and to disregard any others.

Thanks Fred,
Rainbow Sentinel Driver - Hmmmmmm!
Does this driver come with the GA install package or is there an additional software bundle for the Edge that has it?

Can the Edge plug into the dongle if there isn't another LPT port?

 

[Fred Weiss]

Thanks Fred,
Rainbow Sentinel Driver - Hmmmmmm!
Does this driver come with the GA install package or is there an additional software bundle for the Edge that has it?

Can the Edge plug into the dongle if there isn't another LPT port?

The driver is installed along with the GA software but must be opened once to setup the ports appropriately. My recommendation would be to get a printer port PCI card to add the second LPT port. If you plug into the dongle you risk harming the chip and you will not like the cost and the inconvenience of the replacement. The last time I bought a card is was under $30. A dongle replacement will run you $500 or more and you will be out of commission for a week or more.

 

[TLG]

Thanks Fred,
As always, appreciate your insights and help. Sent them a few files for printing samples and will decide based on the image quality and number of foils included in the deal.

ps: I've used your old clipart CD's a dozen times now.

:>0

 

[CBurr]

The sr1500 is the same (except for the white covers and red labels) as what most people call an edge 1 or LE edge. The model prior to the edge 2. I'm not sure if gerber still services it or not. It uses the same foils as the edge 2.

Print minutes came after your machine was built. If the firmware is rev C it is not available. Rev F and they will be there however the print minutes travel with the cpu board that was probably replaced and are over rated.

The standard print quality test was a 70.7 lpi 50% halftone classical dot cobalt blue foil on white 220. This will show every print quality issue with the machine. More than likely it will have problems that show up in this test but may not appear in normal jobs.

4.3 GA was the bare minimum to run it i think.

If it's broken I'd be interested in it.

 

[Steve Prince]

I run an Edge Trunion almost everyday, without any problems.