Printer Advice On Roland Print And Cut

[Cat Wood]

Hi Steff,

The Roland print and cut machines are very good, so pleased to hear you’ve been drawn into that direction. You’re also looking at a great time as there are some fantastic offers out there at the moment.

Both the VS and XR are great machines…

The main difference between the VS-640i and XR-640 is mainly speed. Ultimately the SolJet Pro 4 XR is a production machine and will have a higher out put than the VSi.

Personally I’d say the 64" definitely offers more opportunities, many of our customers often regret going for the smaller model, if you have the space and the budget it’s worth going for the 64. The 64” is wider, taking 1600mm media. Overall it’s better if the application involves tiling, as there will be less joins but altogether means you can offer wider print jobs and avoid turning away jobs due to size.

Is this to be your first machine? Only reason I ask being, as an introductory printer, the VS-640i would more than meet your requirements unless you have a lot of work you currently need to outsource and see speed as a crucial aspect.

I hope that helps 😀

Feel free to give us a bell if you’d rather talk it through in person, more than happy to offer advice.

Cat.

[Dilwyn Evans]

Hi Steff

We bought the VS64i 18 months ago.

We got the 64 as we wanted to be able to apply to 10ft x 5ft sheets in one piece.

[Colin Crow]

If you have the space then there is no reason not to have the 64 " as you can always use smaller media but in my experience 54" is the maximum that a single person can handle with safety. Not just the heavy 50M rolls of vinyl and banner but also cutting across the width without special tools or help.

If you need to work single handed I suggest checking out the media rolls at 64" to see if you will be comfortable handling these as you do not tend to stock all medias in all sizes for obvious reasons and you may not need the extra width.

[David Hammond]

On our 64" we can get two panel graphics side by side for vans such as the Vivaro, Transit etc. Not 100% sure if you can on the 54" as it looks a bit tight on the 64" media.

Plus you can produce 5ft wide PVC banners, and mount to 10x5ft sheets.

We stock various sizes of media, particularly PVC Banner, and stock vinyl in 1600, 1370, and some brands at 760 widths.

You’ll get a feel for what sizes work best for your type of work.

[Steff Davison]

Thanks for the replies.

David, did you keep your Roland as well as purchasing the colour painter?

Another general question about the Sol Max 2 inks, is the new formulation white much more opaque than the previous sol max ink formulation, as claimed by the manufacturer?, I get different advice from different suppliers. I need good coverage of white for printing onto clear media, I dont want to add more productions process to obtain the desired result.

Regards
Steff

[David Hammond]

No we part exchanged our roland against a new Seiko.

No idea about the white ink as we never required it.

[Cat Wood]

Hi Steff,

Regarding the Eco Sol Max 2 inks, in our experience they are indeed more opaque. The other benefit is that they can be printed on standard settings rather than "artistic", allowing for a faster production rate which would be beneficial if you are using it a lot.

Kind Regards,
Cat.

[Steff Davison]

What benefit is a drier unit with these machines? Does it make production faster or reduce the chances of spoiling etc. If I am using a take up reel is a drier a more essential piece of equipment?

Another basic question
If I print and cut, is the media cut virtually instantly, or does the media need to cure a little first, hence the drier unit. Does the printer use registration marks, or does it remember where the print was put down on the media.

Which leads me to my next question,
If the media needs to cure prior to cutting is it better to use a separate cutter, if so, how easy is it to integrate the cutting process with the printing process, ie do I need to be loading vector files into other software to cut the printed media?

I am just trying to make more sense of how the production process works.

Thanks for your help.

[Cat Wood]

Hi Steff,

Answers to your questions below 😀

As the printer is a high production printer the dryer unit helps to dry the print before it reaches the take up unit. For some applications you will be ok running without the dryer unit. On some materials, when printing white it needs additional dryers due to the high speeds of printing.

The print and cut is pretty much instant once it has printed, but again it is all dependent on the application / material you are printing on. Standard vinyl print & cut will print and then cut straight after, it is recommended that the print and cut length is 500mm to benefit from highest accuracy. If printing with heavy ink images / multiple layers of ink, then you can increase the drying time before cutting. This will stop the media curling off the backing paper.

The print and cut is done via memory. Registration marks are used when printing and cutting on separate devices as well as print-laminate-cut.

Print and then cutting separately is good if you have a high volume of print going through your printer, and you haven’t got the time to have the printer cutting. Print & cut in one device is a lot easier to manage from a user’s point of view, a smoother process, precise cutting etc.

I hope that all helps,

Cat.

[Barry Williams]

quote Cat Wood:

Hi Steff,

Answers to your questions below 😀

As the printer is a high production printer the dryer unit helps to dry the print before it reaches the take up unit. For some applications you will be ok running without the dryer unit. On some materials, when printing white it needs additional dryers due to the high speeds of printing.

The print and cut is pretty much instant once it has printed, but again it is all dependent on the application / material you are printing on. Standard vinyl print & cut will print and then cut straight after, it is recommended that the print and cut length is 500mm to benefit from highest accuracy. If printing with heavy ink images / multiple layers of ink, then you can increase the drying time before cutting. This will stop the media curling off the backing paper.

The print and cut is done via memory. Registration marks are used when printing and cutting on separate devices as well as print-laminate-cut.

Print and then cutting separately is good if you have a high volume of print going through your printer, and you haven’t got the time to have the printer cutting. Print & cut in one device is a lot easier to manage from a user’s point of view, a smoother process, precise cutting etc.

I hope that all helps,

Cat.

Hi ,
I posted this query elsewhere before I spotted this Post–
what is the difference between the sp300 and the sp300v.
Both viewed (badged 300) with purchasing in mind- and was told that the 300 has been upgraded to a 300v by changing some Boards.
Comment appreciated.
Regards,
B

[Simon.Johnson]

Hi,

The SP-300 does not work with Roland’s VersaWORKS software where the SP-300V does. Essentially the actual printers are the same, produce the same output, use the same ink etc. A lot of old SP-300 have indeed been upgraded to be an SP-300V so they can use VersaWORKS. If you are not sure, just turn the printer on and watch the LCD display, it will either say SP-300 or SP-300V.

A word of caution if it is an SP-300, very early versions cannot be upgraded without a new mainboard which would be a prohibitive cost. The original ColoRIP software for the SP-300 is now so out of date it won’t work on more recent operating systems. Some third party software is still OK such as SignLAB Print & Cut as you can update this.

If you do have an old SP-300 and want to know if yours can be upgraded, please let me have the serial number and I can confirm this for you.

[Barry Williams]

quote Simon.Johnson:

Hi,

The SP-300 does not work with Roland’s VersaWORKS software where the SP-300V does. Essentially the actual printers are the same, produce the same output, use the same ink etc. A lot of old SP-300 have indeed been upgraded to be an SP-300V so they can use VersaWORKS. If you are not sure, just turn the printer on and watch the LCD display, it will either say SP-300 or SP-300V.

A word of caution if it is an SP-300, very early versions cannot be upgraded without a new mainboard which would be a prohibitive cost. The original ColoRIP software for the SP-300 is now so out of date it won’t work on more recent operating systems. Some third party software is still OK such as SignLAB Print & Cut as you can update this.

If you do have an old SP-300 and want to know if yours can be upgraded, please let me have the serial number and I can confirm this for you.

Many thanks Simon for your comments.
Both printers viewed were running Versaworks so I reckon that the vendors were telling me truthfully that the machines had been upgraded.
Any idea of the typical age of a sp300?
I am leaning towards the 24" Mutoh or else the 22" Roland,( which is a print & cut.)
Regards,
Barry

[Simon.Johnson]

Hi Barry,

From memory an SP-300 could not be less than 8 years old. Normally I would say don’t worry about the age, all Roland printers can be repaired and maintained to produce exactly the same print quality as the day they were first installed but I suppose you must question how many times you can turn the machine on and off before the power board or main board finally say enough. Whilst both are replaceable they are expensive items.

I will say that both the 24inch Mutoh and the 20" Roland are good machines but are limited in the media available compared with the SP-300(V) and this might restrict what you can do so I would advise you to think of your expected application for the machine and then check that a choice of media is readily available.

The fact that a Roland SP-300 or SP-300V is still working after such a long time and is still worth about 40% of it’s original capital cost says a lot more about the quality of Roland products than any marketing puff could hope to say. Buy the SP-300V or spend a little more and find a second user SP-300i and you won’t be sorry.

[Barry Williams]

quote Simon.Johnson:

Hi Barry,

From memory an SP-300 could not be less than 8 years old. Normally I would say don’t worry about the age, all Roland printers can be repaired and maintained to produce exactly the same print quality as the day they were first installed but I suppose you must question how many times you can turn the machine on and off before the power board or main board finally say enough. Whilst both are replaceable they are expensive items.

I will say that both the 24inch Mutoh and the 20″ Roland are good machines but are limited in the media available compared with the SP-300(V) and this might restrict what you can do so I would advise you to think of your expected application for the machine and then check that a choice of media is readily available.

The fact that a Roland SP-300 or SP-300V is still working after such a long time and is still worth about 40% of it’s original capital cost says a lot more about the quality of Roland products than any marketing puff could hope to say. Buy the SP-300V or spend a little more and find a second user SP-300i and you won’t be sorry.

Thank you again Simon for your advice.
I may have a chance to view a 300i in Dublin later
in the week– no idea of the price yet but it will be a refurbished machine with fewer years under its belt.
I am not looking forward to wheeling out my dead Mutoh 38. I feel that there is little amiss with it, heater beds do not heat so I figure that the solid-state relays may not be kicking "on". All voltages on powerboard correct but some flashing leds on the control board.
I guess I should be preparing for a wake–Irish style 🙂
Regards,
Barry

Well-
MUTOH dead and laid to rest. 🙁
I have dismantled it and parts are available.
Regards,
Barry