New to printing – pc60 few questions

[Kevin.Beck]

i dare say, if you`ve a contract for 500 units, it would be cheaper to get them screen printed. (depending upon image)

[Phill Fenton]

I agree with Kevin – The colorcamm is fine for limited runs but its high running costs make it unsuitable for the work you have described. Better to get these screenprinted or sub contract the work to someone who can print these using a solvent inkjet. (Unless of course the design consists of a spot colour image that only occupies a small area of the sunstrip in which case the colorcamm may be a practical proposition).

[Andrew Boyle]

As far as I’m aware a lot of people prefer the matt digital vinyl…..

recently purchased the Mimaki JV3 SP with Mimaki Plotter, would be happy to produce print & cut sample [if you’re not happy with your own results]…received sample from Metamark of MD5 Matt 1370mm…..

at this moment I’m happy to learn about the machine and keep it operating

Cheers

Andrew…..

[Oz.VinylStore]

thanks for the reply guys – the logo will be only 3 colours and its mostly text and a simple logo so we should be ok – if we struggle this will be the first place we come for help.

[Nicola McIntosh]

i maybe wrong but i would have thought screenprinting the sunstrips would be the cheapest option compared to the digital? 😛 interested to know folks costings on this one……..would you mind pm me digital prices? 😉

cheers Nik

[MrMonkeyMan]

Screen printing is probrably the cheapest solution not the quickest mind you.

I have a Roland pc60 and it is sooooo expensive to run and you always get the problem with print banding but you can print on matt vinyl.

I have a jv3sp a jv4 and a mimarki plotter too. i would use the Jv3 but you do need to be aware that it will need laminating as constant cleaning on a sunstrip will cause scratching.

if budget is an issue try an edge then at least there is no banding problem.

hope this is some help.

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote MrMonkeyMan:

not the quickest mind you.

i would have thought pulling a squeegie once to print onto the material laying on racks to dry…..ready to deliver!! 😛

how fast do the digi’s print? 😀

nik

[Lee Jones]

quote niknaxpc:

quote MrMonkeyMan:

not the quickest mind you.

pulling a squeegie once 😛

how fast do the digi’s print? 😀

nik

I would definitely agree with screen printing being the quickest method of producing these sun-strips, as you say Niknax, pulling a squeegee takes second, but he did say three colours, so about 10 seconds for all 3 colours, per strip………… Just got to be quicker than digi !

[Rodney Gold]

Hiya
The cost of printing this on a pc 60 will be at least 40 quid per sq meter and that’s if you use aftermarket ribbons and none are metallic spots and thats WITHOUT vinyl costs. Assuming the strip is 1.5m x 15cm that translates to about 11 quid without the vinyl.
You might also have to deal with banding and dropouts. The extent of “ink”coverage is not an issue with the pc60 as it has no ribbon saver feature so even if you print a red dot one side of a graphic and another on the other , the ribbon advances as the head travels and NOT only when it prints , thus you waste an incredible amount of unprinted ribbon. We pay about 8-10 quid for either a 60m process (cmyk) or a bit more for 90 meter spot colour ribbon , the ribbon is 8mm wide , thus a 90m ribbon can do about 0.75 sq meter – you will need to use at least 3 ribbons for 3 colours (either cmyk or spots) so essentially 3 spot colour ribbons will do 0.75 sq meters in TOTAL not each!!!. (actually they will do better depending on where the colours are and if you adopt some strategies to save ribbon in the way you lay out your stuff)

Not all vinyl prints well with a pc60 so beware. I would not even consider doing this job with a PC60. In fact I would not consider buying a pc60 unless you have specific applications for it (like printing metallic gold/silver on dark or doing small decals) cos it doesnt take long for the running costs to eat up the savings made on it’s cheaper initial cost vs a small inkjet which is actually a lot more versatile.
Nix
I would price a digital print of this , with a cold cast overlam at about 35 quid per sq meter for the trade – IE assuming 1.5m x 15 cm , about 7.50
Without lams about 25 quid per sq meter in high res mode using a premium polymeric vinyl , about 5.60 – But I’m not in england , so your pricing over there probably differs , we can’t get the prices that seem to be the norm there due to intense competiton here , we have guys printing at less than 10 quid per sq meter to the end user here

[Lee Jones]

Looks like Rodney has answered that question on digi pricing, but Nik also wanted to know how fast can they be digi printed, something I would be interested in knowing ?

[Rodney Gold]

In terms of time to print with a digi printer : to print and cut this on something like a soljet pro II would be about 10-12 sq meters an hour , you would be able to do about 35 an hour in a decent res mode. In theory you can do 35 sq meters and hour – but I doubt you could sell the output , IE 140 an hour (based on a strip 1.5m x 15cm)
I would also imagine screenprinting to be the cheapest / quickest option here , especially if you do multiples , like lay up 6 or 7.

[chorley signs]

Hi all

quote Rodney Gold:

has no ribbon saver feature so even if you print a red dot one side of a graphic and another on the other , the ribbon advances as the head travels and NOT only when it prints , thus you waste an incredible amount of unprinted ribbon.

Actually there is a ribbon saver feature- roland don’t want you to know but its that DIP switch thats marked as being unused- we have always had it set on since we found out and had no difficulties- hope that helps some people 😀

Rob

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote chorley signs:

Actually there is a ribbon saver feature- roland don’t want you to know but its that DIP switch thats marked as being unused- we have always had it set on since we found out and had no difficulties- hope that helps some people 😀

which dip switch is it? 😛

nik

[Richard Urquhart]

all pc60 owners what all this about ??????????
is there a ribbon saver on this roland pc60 ??????????

[chorley signs]

Wow I thought that it was fairly common knowledge- I have a copy of the official Roland service notes for the PC60 and its mentioned in there.

I would check out the details but we sold our PC60 yesterday- there should be a DIP switch which is marked as being unused on the little legend sticker next to it, if you flip that switch it enables the ribbon saver function- ie it only makes a pass as wide as the area it needs to print thereby saving miles of ribbon and in my experience not degrading print quality either- it was the only way we kept the outrageous running costs under control!

Glad to have been of such help on my first post!

😀 Rob

[Carrie Brown]

We have ribbon saver function on our pc600, didnt realise it was on pc60.

😀

[Marekdlux]

quote chorley signs:

Glad to have been of such help on my first post!

😀 Rob

Welcome aboard Rob. I’m still looking to help…500 posts later. (oops, 600)
-Marek

[chorley signs]

I suppose it is one of the mysteries of Roland as to why they have never told users about this function- there isn’t even much mention of it made in the service manual and the switch is actually unmarked on the machine! Considering the money that can be saved using this function I’m surprised more people don’t know about it 😕

Rob

[Carrie Brown]

Oh and welcome Rob …. perhaps you could post a little something in the “Hello forum” so we can all say Hi properly?? No pressure of course … I wont come knocking at you’re door or anything forcing you to do it … well not tonight anyway 😉 :lol1:

[Marekdlux]

quote Carrie:

Oh and welcome Rob …. perhaps you could post a little something in the “Hello forum” so we can all say Hi properly?? No pressure of course … I wont come knocking at you’re door or anything forcing you to do it … well not tonight anyway 😉 :lol1:

Rob, make sure you post a picture soon or Carrie will come knocking on your door, snap a polaroid and then post it for you. 😀
-Marek

[Richard Urquhart]

well hi to the boards and thanks i will give it a go , i do hope there wont be a puff of smoke
thanks again rich

[Nicola McIntosh]

had a look today..9 & 10 are unused, so which one would it be? 😛

Nik

[Richard Urquhart]

Nik hi are you thinking same as me the pc60 could go bang when we start messing with these dip switches ?????

[Nicola McIntosh]

yes ritch my thoughts exactly 😛

nik

[chorley signs]

like I said we have sold our PC60 now and take no responsibility for the death of any PC60s in the morning- I will try to find out the exact one for you in the next week

Rob

[red dragon]

Looking at my dip switches all but 8 + 9 are in the lower position. I know I switched 9 up a long while ago when I first read about the ribbon saver option – machne still runs with no problems and hasn’t blown up :lol1:

So 8 is prefeed option
9 is Rolands mystery ribbon saver option 🙄

Seems to make ribbons last longer.

[Richard Urquhart]

on mine 6 and 9 are in upper position i.e on
i dont think mine saves ribbon though

[Chris Wool]

Rich

before you touch the dip switches the master switch has to be off so that the new settings can take effect on start up dip switch no 9 is the one but it can lead to unexpected results in alignment that’s why its not advertised

Chris

[Richard Urquhart]

Chris im getting lost when i got my pc the dip switch 9 has and still is in the on position do i take it that mine is already on ribbon saver ???
thanks mate

[Chris Wool]

at what verion of firmwear it can in on i dont know – if the no 9 switch is on then it should be ribbon saver.

tyring to think how to write down what happens with and with out give me a ring if you really want to know 01752 840770

chris

[Nicola McIntosh]

did anyone try it out? 😛

nik

[Richard Urquhart]

nik i think mine was on befor i got the pc60 i will give chris a call when i get 5 mins
rich

[Nicola McIntosh]

cheers rich!! 😀

nik