-
looking to go into printing is a Roland PC-60 good choice?
I, like some people are thinking about moving into printing side of vinyl. The only trouble is that inkjet (i.e. Uniform cadet) etc is a bit pricey and I don’t think I would use it enough, on the other hand a thermal printer like the Roland PC-60 etc would probably do for what I require. I keep reading post about the expensive running costs, print heads and discontinued Roland support for these things but some of my workload keeps me going back to these machines, (small colour stickers, labels up to 200mm each I say). The thing I need to know from the people that have and use one of these is the following-
For printing single colour, how long would you say a cartridge last for (metres) if you would print solid on the full 580mm width?
What kind of print quality are we looking at and if anyone can upload some examples that have been printed on this machine to this thread then that would be most helpful.
Will it die cut around the print or contour cut or is this the same thing?
Speed of printing, not the actual sales pitch.
Is there another machine that rivals this type for print and price?
I hope this makes sense as I don’t want to buy a second hand one only to find it won’t meet my expectations or requirements
Thanks
Alex. -
4 Replies
-
I had a PC600 until last year when I bought a Cadet.
I was very happy with mine – the print quality is good (though not as good as an inkjet). Running costs are too high though which makes them too expensive for producing full colour print (It’s cheaper to buy it in from a third party). They’re OK for spot colour labels though, and perhaps the occasional full colour graphic. You can calculate how much print you would get from a single ribbon by multiplying the length (30m or 50m) by 8mm (the print width on a single pass) therefore assume a 30m ribbon would print 0.24m sq. and a 50m ribbon would print 0.4m sq.
Speed wise – they’re very slow especially when printing CMY or CMYK.
Overall – not a bad machine to learn about digital print but don’t expect too much from it compared to an inkjet.
Another machine to consider if your thinking of going down this route is the Gerber edge.
Would I buy a PC60 now – yes if my budget was limited and I just wanted to print small labels
-
They are good machines, I have a Roland Versacamm but have held onto the PC60 as it can print onto coloured vinyl unlike the other printers that are made to print onto white.
Buy ribbon refils rather than new cartridges as they work out much cheaper. -
Thanks for the replies, just another question. How does the gerber compare in running costs with the pc-60. I take it that i can contour cut on another cutter with opos sensor (ce3000-mk2) if i print reg marks with the gerber. How much would i expect to pay for a secondhand gerber 2 or FX?
I mainly get asked for small runs of printed stickers which i dont mind subbing out but i would save a bit of hassle if i could do them myself.Thanks in advance
Alex.
-
I suggest you stay well clear of this machine , regardless of cost etc. In the long run compared to a small inkjet print and cut , it dies an economic death. parts are getting scarce too. Running costs of a PC60 are roughly 10x+ the costs of my Roland inkjet, even more if you factor in head replacements , wasted prints etc. You dont have to do a lot of work to recoup the higher capital investment in an inkjet,
In terms of digital printing experience , the roland will not aid you that much in that it is not the same as normal inkjet printing.
I have reduced my pc60 to being used as the 2nd doorstop , my old pc50 is no 1 doorstop!! I dont think you will make money or grow your business with this machine in todays climate of inexpensive digital print and cut inkjets. 5-10 yrs ago , it was a different story cos inkjets capable of doing what the pc could did not really exist or were horrendously expensive.
At the end of it all , thermal resin printing has been far exceeded by inkjets. We started with the pc series and went on to full colour inkjet and soon realised what we had been missing , my application is mainly very highly detialed contour cut decals (most of which are domed) which in theory is an ideal application for the pc60.
Here in South Africa , a pristine working pc600 goes for under 1000 quid 2nd hand and even at that price , they struggle to get sold.
Log in to reply.
