just bought a pc600 – opinions, advice & tips?

[Iain Gordon]

depends on how much you paid for it and what you want it to do

[Paul.Hill]

thought it would be fine for small decals low run type stuff not sure how big it would print & at what cost

[Mike Grant]

Do a search on the forum. Plenty of info/discussion on this machine.

[Phill Fenton]

It’s ideal for small stickers and small runs. You can print up to about 560mm x 1000mm in one go.

As a rough guide, if printing spot colours you can assume a running cost of about £1 per 250mm sq. (or 50p per 250mm sq. if using refills). Assume a similar price for each colour CMYK. To keep full colour costs down try and print CMY or YMC (thus saving the K ribbon (black)).

I used mine mainly for printing spot colour labels and small safety signs. Also full colour prints that weren’t too large.

You need to ensure that the surface you are printing on is absolutely clean and free of dust. Always wipe the vinyl with isopropyl alcohol using a lint free cloth before every print operation. This will ensure a long head life. Remember to change the felt cleaning pad (on the left hand side of the machine) – You can see when this gets dirty and it should be changed regularly. If you get gaps in the print perform a few cleaning cycles.

It’s a useful machine to have – these are available at fairly low cost second hand which make them an atrractive buy. All in all I would say a good machine to learn some of the basics of digital printing and still a machine that can make money for your business.

[cyberdine]

Hi Paul,

The best advice I can give you on this machine is to clean the media before printing anything to it…clean the printhead as soon as you turn the machine on…before each print job…and after finishing the print job…no matter how small it is…
The printhead on the PC600 is very sensitive and will get damaged very easily, and if that happens you’ll get a white line throught the printing.
I just sent my printer to Roland for the second time $495.00 in the US to get the head replaced.
Also keep it covered at all times…keep the area around it clean…and you should be fine.
I only print small decal with mine too.
Use 91% isopropyl alcohol…not regular rubing alcohol…as it won’t evaporate and damage your print.
Good luck

Alex

[Paul.Hill]

thanks for all the advice guys now to do some prints

i’ll maybe post some on the site for you to have a look at

you can let me know what you think

[Rodney Gold]

Heres some tips
1)Use aftermarket refills , I think there are 2 or 3 suppliers

2) The 50m cartridge yield is 50m x 0.08 (it prints an 8mm swathe) Or less than a sq m or 5 sq ft. Using CMYK you use 4 carts for the same area, if you add in a spot metallic , the cost per sq meter can get high. We often work out costs on full coverage CMYK + spot gold to be in the order of 80 quid a sq meter

3)USE the RIP that came with it or should have come with it. Ask a roland dealer for a copy if you haven’t got it , your serial no should enable you to get one.

4) Join the roland thermal printer board at http://www.rolanddga.com

5) Replace the head cleaning strip weekly , some aftermarket cart suppliers dish em out with their refills , take advantage

6) Dust is your enemy , dust sticks between the tracks on your head and solidifies and poof – a blown head

7) Clean the head (the strip of the head is all that’s exposed , its the right hand side of the head looking at the machine) IMMEDIATELY after printing with the cleaning pen. If gunk solidifies , its almost impossible to remove

8) IF you DON’T have a cleaning pen get one or make a swab with something like a lolly pop stick wrapped with a piece of lens tissue or a sealed dust and lint free cloth called a PEC pad , camera shops have em. The maintenance and cleaning on this machine are VITAL for any success

9) Its not the head that lays down the resin , its a little hinged foam roller next to it that does so , these age , get graunched by heat , ribbon breakages and so forth , replace yours ASAP and order another spare.

10) The printing platen is as vital as anything else is , its a sort of rubberised strip that rocks , It must rock freely and be clean , its removable so remove it and clean under it , clean its surface with some soapy water.
11) While you there , order a teflon cutter strip and and replace yours , order a spare.
12) Get a new blade holder , the metal not plastic one , get a new 45 and 60 degree (heavier duty) blade too
13) Clean and pre heat the vinyl , use good quality stuff , cold and poor quality vinyl will give you no end of problems.
14) Check the pinch rollers , if possible replace them , they and the grit roller transport the media , the grit roller can be cleaned of ingrained dirt by palling up some presstick and dabbing it , the rubber rollers with soap and water , a teeny drop of sewing machine oil at the roller bearings doesn’t hurt.
If the machine has been in a locked roller position for some time , then the rollers get a flat spot and they are buggered.
15) Download the manual and any other literature on it in support section at the above mentioned Roland site , it will most likely be under legacy product or under printer cutters.
16) Dropping colours is an indication of poor vinyl , bad transfer roller or dirty vinyl – fingerprints are bad – alcohol and a tack cloth to remove dust as well as a zap with an antistatic gun or a brush with an anti static brush is good.
17) Overlapping lines between 8mm passes or white spaces at that pitch when doing solid blocks of colour can be fixed as the distance between passes can be adjusted (the pitch adjustment
18) White lines appearing in a less than 8mm pass is most likely a blown head Any white lines spaced less then 8mm apart are a blown head. You might recover with a clean , you might have to do a more vigorous clean like a lint free swab moistened with alcohol or acetone (which we have used but don’t recommend) and wiped with a little welly
19) You can see the exact condition of the under of the head by slipping a mirror or a piece of mirror vinyl under it and shining a torch at the mirror.
20) DO NOT blast the head with canned air , that’s bad , wipe with a moistened lint free swab
21) Always use the ribbon saver feature if you can
22) let the machine stabilize heat and environment wise before using
23) ALWAYS use the dust cover over it , if you don’t have one , make one
24) In terms of what to do with it , do what it does best , small to medium sized decals , anything above a3 is kinnda risky , a small problem can ruin an expensive piece of printing
25) Do not make the mistake and think your decals printing is indestructible , metallics do not last long outdoors.
That’s about all I can think of now