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Maintenance contracts, worth it or not?
Hi everyone..
I have had a nightmare with my versacamm today trying to source a part.. here is my experience.
Firstly I would like to say I love my versacamm SP-300v..
My trouble started last week whilst printing and cutting some t-shirt vinyl.. whilst weeding I noticed that it was missing parts of the contour cut.. to cut a long story short.. I have concluded the solenoid in the carriage assembly has failed.
I phoned the very knowledgeable and highly respected engineer Colin Tupman who advised me to try replacing the cut carriage cable, which is the cheaper of the 2 options first, as this causes most of the problems with the cut head. I did this and the problem is still there.
I sent out around 10 emails last night to various companies who supply Roland spares.. several of whom replied back to me this morning. One of which was RolandDG U.K. I decided to call them first, as they are the manufacturer and should be able to source the part in the most efficient way and give me a base point on price. This call seriously made me doubt if I would ever buy another Roland machine. Firstly I was told the versacamm SP-300v is now classed as a legacy machine and not all parts were held for this. I was also told the part will take around 3 weeks to arrive, which took me aback a little. I asked the question "would this be the same situation for somebody with a full maintenance contract". The answer was yes..
I then re-phoned RolandDG and spoke to somebody in tech support, who was extremely rude.. I asked the question "does another cut carriage for another Roland machine use the same solenoid, which I could strip down, use the part and fix my own cut carriage.So what I am saying is if you have an older versacamm (which in my opinion is a much more solidly built machine than the newer versions) beware.. Most small businesses with a single machine could not swallow 3 weeks downtime. As these machines get older, availability of parts will get less and less. So is a maintenance contract really worth it
I meticulously maintain my machine myself and unfortunately the part that has failed is not a maintainable part. I have had my machine for 10 years and this is the first major part to fail.. my machine is hammered every day. I do all of my maintenance in the evening, so as not to effect workload.
Update… since starting this post I have spoken to a very helpful lady at Printmax, who has been able to source the replacement part with one of her technicians.
I have a copy of the sp-300v service manual if anybody would like a copy.. save yourself a fortune and do it yourself. In the last 10 years I have spent around £1500 in major parts and consumables. My friend who purchased his machine within a month of me and has always had a full maintenance contract has spent over £10k. If he had done his own maintenance and banked the maintenance contract money he would be able to buy a new machine outright and still be able to sell his existing machine for 3-4K
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7 Replies
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Hi
In your case, with your own business circumstances, then the answer appears to be don’t get one. We do have extended cover on our printers, always have had, I’m 100% sure we have the technical abilities within the team to fix the printers but I know that we can earn more than we would save by using all our time and efforts on selling, making and installing signs – plus sometimes the printers are all working round the clock and any additional downtime is a real pain. When I started I used to do everything as a good all rounder (and out of necessity) and over the last years it’s been a struggle to get out of this mindset and pass things onto other people – whether our own staff or as in this case machine support. However, the more time we free up the sell, make and install signs the better.
I agree that 3-weeks is a long time but I guess manufacturers have to draw the line at some point. I’m glad you managed to source the part elsewhere.
Cheers
Macky -
Hiya. Sorry to hear of your woes.
A maintenance contract is always a gamble from both sides of the fence unfortunately. I have customers that have been on contract for year and never had a callout but on the other hand, I have customers that have those machines that require a visit almost monthly and the parts cost alone more than doubles the contract cost. Really only you can decide if the down time is something you can afford.
With regards to your SP300 (which I absolutely love, too), I agree with Colin’s diagnosis. The cut cable and guides should be done first as they are a common failure. Solenoid? Maybe, I think I’ve replaced one on any Roland ever (over 20 years now). Pinch roller assembly would probably be my next guess (and it is a guess at this stage). Try pulling on the media and see if it hold evenly left to right. If not, you could have a hair line fracture in the pinch roller housing. I’m doing these more and more as the machines get older and only last week had to do one on an SPi which is much newer. Oh, and by the way, it’s not a pretty job to do.
Post up again if you need any more help at all.
Stafford
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Additionally, I have an SP300 in bits here. It’s about to go back together and hopefully be sold on but if you need any advice or to compare anything (procedures etc), let me know and I’ll put you in touch with one of my engineers who is in the office this week.
Stafford
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I replaced the cut cable and guides yesterday.. i am 99% sure it is the solenoid.. when the knife goes down the solenoid does not have enough power to hold the knife down then on other parts of the cut is will not go down at all.. when you give it a push with your finger it will work for a couple of up and down cycles and then stop moving again.. I then wound the cut force up to 250g and the same happens.. tried setting the cut force in service menu using a dial gauge and get different pressure results each time. When I spoke to Colin Tupman he also said he has only known of one to go since 2004.
We frequently produce small stickers for schools to go in to planners as reward points for the kids at around 75,000 stickers per run.. I just think the solenoid is absolutely worn out.. thanks for all of your advice.. I’ll keep you posted on progress..
If anyone is interested.. the old Roland part number is 22805571 – cheapest price I found £ 363.06 + vat..
Roland have replaced the part and the new number is 1000013547
£ 271.33 + vat -
Fingers crossed that sorts it for you. Hopefully it does as next in line is the servo board I guess and that’s about a grand from memory.
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Me too..
But if I have to buy a servo board I am still quids in having saved thousands of pounds over the years on not having maintenance contracts..For everyone else reading this.. I can hand on heart say the versacamm is the best purchase I have ever made.. the only thing I regret is that I had bought the 540, just for the extra width you can print..
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Quick update….
Carriage assembly arrived at 9 o clock this morning.. Thanks very much to Katie at Printmax.co.uk for your help and excellent service.. Back up and running by 9:30 after install and calibration.
I also received a call from Roland DG technical manager this morning apologising for poor service I received by Roland technical. I really appreciated this call and my faith has been restored in Roland.
Signing off.. A Very happy Versacamm owner!!!
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