summa dc4xs thermal printer

[floater302]

Ok, so I'm thinking about investing in one of these but have a couple questions I hope some of you can help answer for me before I buy one.

1. How bad is the banding on these?

2. can you purchase aftermarket resin ribbons for them?

I would be buying it for smaller decals from 1 inches to 9 inches.

 

[Chuck Peterson]

Gerber Edge

The Gerber Edge thermal transfer printer prints 11.8 x any length with no banding at all.

 

[Hotspur]

Ok, so I'm thinking about investing in one of these but have a couple questions I hope some of you can help answer for me before I buy one.

1. How bad is the banding on these?

2. can you purchase aftermarket resin ribbons for them?

I would be buying it for smaller decals from 1 inches to 9 inches.

Just like the Gerber Edge these Summas print without banding at all assuming they have been calibrated properly on install - its not like inkjet where banding occurs as you increase speed - they work at a set speed and the media movement is calibrated to prevent this.

The DC4 & DC5 can utilize many ribbons automatically during the job - Gerbers are one color at a time with a manual color swap.

The DC series is much bigger and so can tackle a wider variety of jobs and is quicker.

Also it does not require special sprocketed media - standard rolls of SA Vinyl will be fine.

You can purchase after market ribbons but from my experience these tend to ruin the heads very quickly - Summa will not replace these under warranty so beware!

We have users who range from F1 teams and national airlines down to companies who print & cut fingernail transfers and everything in between - your decals are easily handled by the Summa DC system.

 

[XtremeXccessories]

Just like the Gerber Edge these Summas print without banding at all assuming they have been calibrated properly on install - its not like inkjet where banding occurs as you increase speed - they work at a set speed and the media movement is calibrated to prevent this.

I'm going to have to somewhat disagree with this. With spot colors it's really only noticeable if you know it's there or what to look for. Some extremely picky customer might see it, but it's not very noticeable. CMYK on the other hand is, in my opinion, unacceptable. They have low resolution and almost every CMYK print I've produced or seen has visible banding. Even Summa will tell you it won't be perfect the prints are meant to be seen from 5+ feet away.

If you're planning on doing mainly spot color decals and speed isn't a major factor, this is probably a great machine for you. But if you plan on doing a fair amount of CMYK prints or wraps then I would definitely advice against it.

P.S. We have a used DC4 for sale in the classifieds section if you're interested, we don't do enough decals to justify keeping it.

 

[woolly]

I was ready to buy dx4 sx cash in hand but worries about banding asked for test prints they looked superb but all only 80 mm deep wonder why.. except a a4 print cmyk that had poor banding.
I asked for a4 prints of a couple of spot colours never got them so never bought
Had a second roland instead shame really as I do like thermal and a edge is just a few inches too narrow for what we do

 

[XtremeXccessories]

I was ready to buy dx4 sx cash in hand but worries about banding asked for test prints they looked superb but all only 80 mm deep wonder why.. except a a4 print cmyk that had poor banding.
I asked for a4 prints of a couple of spot colours never got them so never bought
Had a second roland instead shame really as I do like thermal and a edge is just a few inches too narrow for what we do

Yup, each pass is 3.84 inches/97mm so the majority of the samples they send out are under 4 inches. Of course all the samples they send are designed to look their best.

 

[signgirl]

We had one for about 2 months then sold it. We couldn't get rid of the banding.

 

[Hotspur]

We had one for about 2 months then sold it. We couldn't get rid of the banding.

Calibration guys (and correct media choice)

use one of Summa's listed media and calibrate carefully and it isn't an issue.

ive been to many sites where some random media was used and / or calibration wasn't done carefully - on leaving the customers now happy.

Believe me they can print without an obvious band - just needs some attention.