Took the plunge...Wish me luck!!!

[signguy95]

Talked to Grimco, Inc. today about ordering my digital package!
Will be sending half of the money in the morning, so maybe by middle of next week I should have my new equipment!

Mimaki JV3-130 spII - 6 color (wasn't sure if I should get 4 or 6) 54" printer
Graphtec FC7000-130 MK2 54" cutter
Royal Sovereign RSC -1400C 55" cold laminator

Does anyone have a laminator w/ heat assist? If so, how much do you really use it?

What about 4 color vs 6 color? I hope I made the right decision!

Very excited about this, I hope it opens up a whole new opportunity for us! It better! :Big Laugh

I already do some prints, but I have a hard time getting my files to match up with my supplier, so alot of the time I have opted not to print! Actually having the printer in house, I should know what the colors should look like before they even go to the printer!


Jay

 

[SignProOhio]

Congrats Jay on your new venture. Hope it works out well for you....We're getting in more and more digital jobs every day and someday soon we'll be making that step.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

Honestly, probably should have gone with the 4-color. If you're doing typical sign work, you won't need the 6 colors. FYI, 6-color does not equal a wider color gamut, it just means slightly smoother transitions in gradients, something only necessay for fine art or photogaphic work. The tradeoff is the printer prints at about half the speed as it would if you went with 4-colors. Definately not worth it in my oppinion. I looked at both the 4 and 6 color JV3 when we were buying and my trained eye could only barely (and I do mean BARELY) see the difference in print quality. It's not worth the print speed tradeoff in my oppinion. Otherwise, fantastic printer, you will not be disappointed.

As far as heat assist on a laminator, technically it can help reduce silvering (small air bubbles), but more often than not, it tends to cause some laminated to stretch more than they should. Once you get good at running the laminator you really won't need the assist, and even if you did, silvering usually goes away within 24 hours on its own. We have the same laminator, RSC 1400, and love it. It takes a few hours to get the tension and roller pressure dialed in properly (it does not come from the factory dialed in and ready to go), once you do it is extremely easy to use and does a killer job. Feel free to PM me when you get it if you want some tips to get it set up. Also, take off all of the safety guards on the front and back and rig something up so the machine thinks they're still there (won't run unless the sensors sense the guards in place). It is nearly impossible to web the laminator with the guards in place, at least with less than 2 people, with them removed, it's a snap to load and run by yourself.

Also, Grimco is a wonderful company. you won't be disappointed. I didn't buy from them but regret not, we buy as much from them as we can, they're a good company.

 

[asignstop]

I think you can change between four color and six color with any mimaki printer, also this is done when you setup the printer, so you make the choice right after you pump cleaning solution thru the lines on the first boot. Any "versions" would probably be just shipped with different inks in that case I would order the 4 color version (you would get two extra inks!)

Plus, you can always change from four back to six or vise versa, you just need to pump cleaning solution thru and do a small setup change.

Personally I like the 6 color, but insignia's right it's slower, (although not 50%)
plus you have to stock more ink.

 

[Ken]

Good luck!
Ken

 

[itzdeb]

Now, that's my dream package, still working on a gerber 4b!
Just wanted to say that Grimco is a wonderful company; the most excellent customer service! I've used them heavily for 9 years in Columbus, Ohio. Sheesh they would even come to my house and offer to help me install vinyl a couple times; really nice folks, standing behind all their products plus machinery. The products were excellent and reasonably priced; and they run a lot of sales too.
Have fun and let us know if you sell to the trade!

 

[signguy95]

Yeah I spoke with Mimaki and Grimco when deciding on the 6 color. Both said that it is slower than dual CMYK but without timing it you most likely wouldn't know it.

Also, I guy less than a mile down the road has a versacamm and I hope that the 6 color will give better looking gradient and color matches as he doesn't hit those very well.

Mimaki also said that I would have to stock extra dual CMYK vs. just 6 cartridges.

We'll find out in about a week if I make a good choice! LOL


Jay

 

[Gino]

 

[Sign_Boy]

Congratulations best of luck with it all

 

[wsteely7]

Get that equipment and start making money!
Congratulations.

 

[thewood]

We've had our 160S for three or four years now. It's a workhorse!! We run 6 color with a bulk in system. The JV3 is a fine printer!! Great choice.

 

[ColesCreations]

Good luck!
We will probably order a JV3-160SP next week.
Tried to find a used one, but could only find the S, the SP's for sale were close to just as expensive as a new one!

Which ink did you get? SS2? Are you going to try the white ink?

We will definitely get 6-color, the extra speed is no big deal, as a lot of what we do are posters and photos on store windows etc.

We have a Sallmetall laminator, but hardly ever use the heat, easy for the laminate to stretch.

 

[signguy95]

do they offer the white for the 130 spII ? If they do I would sure like to add it! Not sure on the inks, I assume they will be the mild solvent.

Jay

 

[Replicator]

Good Luck !

 

[thewood]

Good luck!
We will probably order a JV3-160SP next week.
Tried to find a used one, but could only find the S, the SP's for sale were close to just as expensive as a new one!

Which ink did you get? SS2? Are you going to try the white ink?

We will definitely get 6-color, the extra speed is no big deal, as a lot of what we do are posters and photos on store windows etc.

We have a Sallmetall laminator, but hardly ever use the heat, easy for the laminate to stretch.

If you're gonna go 6 color, then why not get the S (rather than the SP)?

 

[Pro Image]

Your going to have some fun....................

 

[Sign-Man Signs]

If I had to do it over again, I'd order a print and cut. Good Luck and welcome to cleaning 101.

 

[ColesCreations]

The 160S? I dunno... Guess we could, is there any other differences between 160S and 160SP than the extra print head? Used 160S's are a lot less!

We are hoping to use the Mimaki for a long time, and don't know if we need the extra print head in the future, at least it will be good as a spare? Or put in white if the need comes.

I think the 130SPII is exactly the same as 160SP, except the width, should be able to use the same inks. I may be wrong (again)...

 

[signguytom]

I think you can change between four color and six color with any mimaki printer, also this is done when you setup the printer, so you make the choice right after you pump cleaning solution thru the lines on the first boot. Any "versions" would probably be just shipped with different inks in that case I would order the 4 color version (you would get two extra inks!)

Plus, you can always change from four back to six or vise versa, you just need to pump cleaning solution thru and do a small setup change.

Personally I like the 6 color, but insignia's right it's slower, (although not 50%)
plus you have to stock more ink.

You would need to be sure you have a 4th working head to be able to switch from 6-color to 2x4-color config. If your machine came with 4 heads, you need to make sure the 4th one hasn't dried up before you try to make the switch.

We have used ours strictly as a 6-color setup. We print everything at 720x720 8 pass bi-directional (we charge more than the competition, so we produce higher quality stuff) and everything comes out very nice. We also use twice as much of the light inks (lc, lm) as the others. The light inks do more than help with transistions. They also help keep different shades of gray as neutral as possible.

 

[asignstop]

Sign guy is right, also be sure and always keep 220ml "cleaning carts" in the fourth head slots, that way if you want to sell the printer, or switch to cmykx2 your head won't be dried out.

Signguy I go through Lc and Lm less often than the other carts (im on 6 color bulk inks) would this be a profile issue?