transporting printer?

[camille kindle]

We are going to be transporting a xc 540 about 500 miles from nothern CA to southern CA. Any tips on transporting it? We dont know anything about these things. We are going to rent a truck from Penske. Should we disassemble it? wrap it to absorb any shock? Can the impact of bumps in the road affect the printer?

 

[d fleming]

Make sure you lock the head. Protect it as much as possible.

 

[Robert M]

Rolands

You will need to lock the heads in place, look fo a small blue bracket that should be on the back of the machine. Leave the inks carts in place, I put masking tape on them to hold them in place. The wheels are a problem, they may not make the trip, you need to get some blocking so you take some of the weight off the wheels. Lots of straps high and low so it won't tip.

 

[cgsigns_jamie]

There was a thread on this very subject a few weeks ago...

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58821

 

[Mosh]

Lock the head, take it off the stand, and don't hit alot of bumps! Do you have the original packing? If so put it back in there, we were told by our dealer to save all the packing if we could so we have all the crating our printers came in.

 

[The Equipment Guy]

Whatever truck you rent, check with them in advance that you will have a wooden floor and rails down the side...some don't and you have nowhere to tie off or nail down to.

Craig

 

[Ken]

Check the user manual..I'm sure the heads need to be locked down.
Try to avoid temperature extremes.
Get the machine back up and running right away.
Good luck!
Ken

 

[CustomRide]

Go get a 4x8 pallet.

Package of ratchet straps 8 or more...not soft short pull motorcycle straps.

4pcs of 4in to 12in long section of 2x4 (may not need them though depending on pallet). Sometimes the pallet will let the wheels drop right down on it with no 2x4 blocks.

Strap to pallet and sometimes flipping pallet upside down works best just depends on pallet. This spreads the foot print out and gets the wheels off the ground which will be crushed if not lifted during transport.

Then run straps through the center of the printer making 1 full circle around the center back out to the other side of the wall...run at least 2 of these straps.

NEVER NEVER NEVER run a strap over top of the printer you will buckle the metal especially the XC540. The only place on a XC540 to strap is the middle right where the media feeds into...DO NOT put anything over the grit rollers straps must be over smooth sections or you can do some serious damage.

If you want to take it another step further. Go get some metal strips with holes in them...go to each leg of the printer right near the wheel. Screw down one end of flexible metal strip to the pallet base...then bring the other end over the leg you are securing and screw it down...This would be alot easier with photos but we have moved over 12 Rolands before as far away as 1200 miles and 3 were XC's

Secure head with factory bracket. If owners don't have factory bracket tell them to have one when you arrive your paying that much money its the least they can do.

Keep inks in and be careful walking around them if there are 440s in there.

If you get the smallest truck penske has the 10ft I believe you will not get a laminator in the back with the XC540....reason is they did not remove the wheel humps in the back storage area of those trucks thus making you keep the printer in the dead center of the cargo area...

The larger penske's will be different. You don't need a wood floor but they are nice if securing with a pallet...we usually just screw the pallet to the floor if thats the case and that thing isn't going anywhere at that point.

Also negotiate with penske....call their national call center not a local guy. Tell them you are about to rent a uhaul 12ft trailer and you just wanted to see how much their small truck rental would be. They can give you unlimited miles for their 1 way program even though you are going round trip you just need to have them set pick-up at one location and drop off at another they can be as close as 15 minutes from each other...uhaul is different than this.

They gave us a quote of $750 on a truck one time I offered them $400 and they took it....if they play hardball with you wait a day and call back or call back later that day....each rep can be different but after Christmas they are going to be starving regardless of how booked they say they are.