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Which Machine to Buy

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Indecisive

New Member
I've been researching, comparing, and reading forums about different experiences with printers. I'm looking at the Roland Truvis VG2, Mimaki CJV300 Series, and then I ran into the Epson SureColor S80600 Print Cut Edition.
Most of my work will be printing stickers and decals ranging from 2 in to 10 in. Eventually I will start printing on apparel but for now just stickers. My production quantity will be around 5000 stickers a day in the beginning.
It seems like Roland Truvis VG2 is having a lot of problems based on what I have read in signs101 alone. I was dead set on getting that machine until reading about so many issues. The Versaworks software seems great though. However, I have read a lot of great things about the Epson S80600. Am I missing any other machine that's better when it comes to print speed, user friendly software, print quality, cost of ink, and reliability? My goal is to get the best machine within the price range of $18,000 to $25,000. Any recommendations on a laminator would be helpful too. I hear some of them are a real pain and can waste a lot of material so it's best to get a good one. Thank you for any advice!
 
FireSprint.com

FireSprint.com

Trade Only Screen & Digital Sign Printing
We have a very new, very nice Mimaki CJV-300 for sale here: https://www.signs101.com/threads/20...plus-for-sale-must-sell-free-shipping.164475/

We'll make you a great deal on it.

That being said, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the options you listed. You'll find an equal number of people that love any of those printers. For us, it comes down to service/support. EVERY machine will go down from time to time. The partner that can get you back up and running the next day will give you the best impression on the hardware.
 
balstestrat

balstestrat

Problem Solver
Consider Epson S40600 (single printhead) or S60600 (faster than 80600) if you don't really need the special colours. They are a little bit of a gimmick in my opinion. Nice extra if needed but for stickers meh.
 
balstestrat

balstestrat

Problem Solver
Summa and Colex are probably the ones on the cheaper side. You definitely want something with a belt.
I've seen those things that you linked or similar anyways but it's not nearly wide enough for you. You want a 64" working size belt.
Basic summa with nothing extra you should be able to get ~$50k I think.

If you go cheaper than that it's probably chinese. Then when it breaks what are you going to do? Whatsapp to china when they sleep and wait 4 months for parts? :big laugh:

Budget solution: Summa/Graphtec roll cutter $10k that can do through cut. Add some tables front and back and use it until you can afford the flatbed.
 
White Haus

White Haus

Not a Newbie
If you're looking for a new printer, laminator, and flatbed cutter, you'll need to bump your budget to closer to $90k to get something good and reliable when you factor in a RIP like Onyx Thrive.

With that being said, we only just recently added a flatbed cutter (Summa F1612) and as much as I love it for through-cutting decals, it isn't absolutely necessary and we did fine without it for 10+ years.

I've always been a fan of Roland and we've had an XC-540 and still have an XR-640, but I wouldn't buy one again. If I was starting over, I'd be looking at a Epson (double cmyk - whichever model that is) and a Summa T plotter.

Versaworks is really nice and easy to operate but I personally don't trust the new Rolands, too many issues and it seems like their quality is going downhill.

The only experience I have with Mimaki is with our UCJV and in terms of performance and reliability it has been a great printer but I would never recommend driving it from Rasterlink (Mimaki's version of Versaworks). We use Onyx Thrive to run all our machines but it comes with a pretty big price tag.

Good luck with your search, lots of great info and helpful advice to be found here! :thumb:
 
I

Indecisive

New Member
Hmmm, maybe I should wait to get "nice to have" 1612 Summa. I really appreciate the input! I'll look into the Summa T plotter.
 
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I

Indecisive

New Member
balstestrat said:
Summa and Colex are probably the ones on the cheaper side. You definitely want something with a belt.
I've seen those things that you linked or similar anyways but it's not nearly wide enough for you. You want a 64" working size belt.
Basic summa with nothing extra you should be able to get ~$50k I think.

If you go cheaper than that it's probably chinese. Then when it breaks what are you going to do? Whatsapp to china when they sleep and wait 4 months for parts? :big laugh:

Budget solution: Summa/Graphtec roll cutter $10k that can do through cut. Add some tables front and back and use it until you can afford the flatbed.
Click to expand...
Yea i plan to steer clear of the ones from china. The Summa Flatbed seems to be top of line. That would be great to have because it would Perf cut the stickers and that would be that. Whereas with the Summa/Graphtec roll cutter would make the Kiss Cuts but then i'd have to transfer to a table a make the Perf cuts by hand right?
 
White Haus

White Haus

Not a Newbie
Indecisive said:
Yea i plan to steer clear of the ones from china. The Summa Flatbed seems to be top of line. That would be great to have because it would Perf cut the stickers and that would be that. Whereas with the Summa/Graphtec roll cutter would make the Kiss Cuts but then i'd have to transfer to a table a make the Perf cuts by hand right?
Click to expand...

A flatbed cutter will through-cut the decals with a knife, so they just fall off the roll. It is possible to perf-cut decals on a roll cutter like Summa/Graphtec but I personally have never gone this route. We ran a few jobs this way on our Roland but it was a pain and results weren't consistent. With that being said, there are members here that perf-cut decals on roll cutters successfully every day so it definitely is possible when you get your settings dialed in.
 
balstestrat

balstestrat

Problem Solver
Indecisive said:
Yea i plan to steer clear of the ones from china. The Summa Flatbed seems to be top of line. That would be great to have because it would Perf cut the stickers and that would be that. Whereas with the Summa/Graphtec roll cutter would make the Kiss Cuts but then i'd have to transfer to a table a make the Perf cuts by hand right?
Click to expand...
No, you can do perf cut with those roll cutters as well. It's just not as versatile and not really built for it.
 
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I

Indecisive

New Member
Now knowing that, i'd feel more comfortable getting a flatbed cutter and just rule out the roll cutters. Mainly because i'll be printing out so many darn small stickers that are 2 in diameter. I couldn't imagine having to hand cut thousands of stickers out from a sheet. I think i'd lose my mind. Once they are printed and laminated i would rather have them fall out once perf cut. It seems like a gamble if i were go the Roll Cut route. I have a feeling it won't work as well as i'd like and i'd be doing rework. I appreciate ya'll educating me, lol.
 
balstestrat

balstestrat

Problem Solver
Well I don't know, 5000 a day isn't "that much". 2-3 hours of work for the cutter.

Roll cutters do work for some people doing Perf cutting.

But yeah I don't personally recommend it but the advantage is the price.

www.signs101.com

Need Help - Die-cutting labels and stickers

Hello everyone! I am thinking of purchasing either a Summa S1 or a S2. All the stuff I will produce is completely die-cut stickers, not kiss-kut etc. In the Summa world, they call it flex cut. But they do not recommend it for complex shapes (die-cutting) only squares etc. Does anyone have any...
www.signs101.com www.signs101.com
 
White Haus

White Haus

Not a Newbie
Kiss-cutting, weeding, then hand-trimming into singles isn't all that bad. I've probably done hundreds of thousands of decals this way over the years and I really don't mind it.

I'll usually trim into strips, staple a few strips together, then cut the stack on a guillotine cutter. So you're not actually cutting each decal individually.
 
I

Indecisive

New Member
White Haus said:
Kiss-cutting, weeding, then hand-trimming into singles isn't all that bad. I've probably done hundreds of thousands of decals this way over the years and I really don't mind it.

I'll usually trim into strips, staple a few strips together, then cut the stack on a guillotine cutter. So you're not actually cutting each decal individually.
Click to expand...
I appreciate the positive insight on that. I guess the only drawback, although minor, would be that the sticker backing would have much more overlap (i mean 1/4 inch or so isn't so bad though) as opposed to being flush with the sticker itself with no overlap. It would also take some more time to cut with a guillotine but i'm sure there's some good ones that would make it a breeze. I'll look into those types of cutters. Just trying plan this whole thing out realistically and prevent the "aw man i should done this instead" type deal. I suppose i could use a guillotine cutter and then scale up later on if i needed to. Otherwise it'll take me a bit more time to accumulate the funding for that expensive Summa flatbed that does perf cutting like a champ.
 
White Haus

White Haus

Not a Newbie
Indecisive said:
I appreciate the positive insight on that. I guess the only drawback, although minor, would be that the sticker backing would have much more overlap (i mean 1/4 inch or so isn't so bad though) as opposed to being flush with the sticker itself with no overlap. It would also take some more time to cut with a guillotine but i'm sure there's some good ones that would make it a breeze. I'll look into those types of cutters. Just trying plan this whole thing out realistically and prevent the "aw man i should done this instead" type deal. I suppose i could use a guillotine cutter and then scale up later on if i needed to. Otherwise it'll take me a bit more time to accumulate the funding for that expensive Summa flatbed that does perf cutting like a champ.
Click to expand...

Yep no problem. I know the best case is a flatbed that through-cuts everything but our customers never complained about the old way for 10+ years. And just remember, gathering the through-cut decals off the flatbed is also a project / part-time job for someone!

We have a couple similar to this, not exact same model but you get the idea:
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics...lade,+10+Sheet+Capacity&qid=1634840527&sr=8-1
 
L

LarryB

New Member
I have a Roland TruVis VG2 and it's been a great printer besides for wraps. If the print has full coverage it needs 3-4 days to dry before laminating and wrapping and this is even with an additional dryer. For all other decals it has been great with no service issues. If you are doing that many decals I would get a dedicated printer and separate cutter.
 
ham1056

ham1056

New Member
Indecisive said:
I've been researching, comparing, and reading forums about different experiences with printers. I'm looking at the Roland Truvis VG2, Mimaki CJV300 Series, and then I ran into the Epson SureColor S80600 Print Cut Edition.
Most of my work will be printing stickers and decals ranging from 2 in to 10 in. Eventually I will start printing on apparel but for now just stickers. My production quantity will be around 5000 stickers a day in the beginning.
It seems like Roland Truvis VG2 is having a lot of problems based on what I have read in signs101 alone. I was dead set on getting that machine until reading about so many issues. The Versaworks software seems great though. However, I have read a lot of great things about the Epson S80600. Am I missing any other machine that's better when it comes to print speed, user friendly software, print quality, cost of ink, and reliability? My goal is to get the best machine within the price range of $18,000 to $25,000. Any recommendations on a laminator would be helpful too. I hear some of them are a real pain and can waste a lot of material so it's best to get a good one. Thank you for any advice!
Click to expand...
About a year ago we evaluated both the Epson S80 & the Mimaki CJV in depth. We purchased the Epson S80...our 2nd we also have an older S40. In my opinion there is no better bang for the buck then this Series of printers. If you dont need white or orange consider the S60 but with decals you probably will, then I would lean towards the S80. However, if all you are running is decals, then I would strongly consider the Mimaki. The S80 is more all purpose for POS & banners & general vinyl which we mostly do for Companies, Trade Shows, Displays, etc...any way my 2 cents. Best of Luck.
 
V

victor bogdanov

Active Member
I have 2 rolands sg2 (had to get sg2 because vg2 was out of stock) going trouble free 8hrs per day for over a year, 10k sqft each printer each month. 100% trouble free and they paid for a canon coloado 1650 that will be phasing the rolands out starting next week.
 
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