Roland VG3 Printer, Contour Cutting problems

[RobertLambie]

Has the Roland technician successfully printed and contour-cut graphics whilst on-site at your business?

[Christopher Hall]

No they haven’t. They have been several times and definitely improved it but still not to an acceptable standard. They took some of my vinyl away to test on their own machines which I’ve not heard back from. My VG3 machine lays mostly idle while I continue to use my VG1

[RobertLambie]

That’s not good, if the technician cannot get your new machine to work and it is sitting idle. I hope you have stopped your payments, or requested a replacement machine and stopped payments until it is in your position and in full working order.

I understand the machine WILL work, or at least should work. but this issue is not your problem, it is theirs. Do not let it become your problem.
I have been on the receiving end of this type of thing multiple times over the past 33 years. So i know how frustrating, costly and time consuming it can be.

[Christopher Hall]

Unfortunately the machine was paid for in full and I have had it since last December. I think this particular VG3 is what I would refer to as a ‘Friday afternoon’ model. I bought it from Signmaster Systems and they say that until Roland confirm it is not possible to fix, I can’t get a replacement or refund.

Great. Isn’t it??

All I can say is buy a VG3 at your peril!!

[Jamie Wood]

People seem to be having quite a lot of issues with Roland machines lately. Maybe their QC has slipped….

[Christopher Hall]

I have been a real loyal Roland user until now. The time it is taking to sort this issue is causing me great concern.

[RobertLambie]

@Jamie-Wood I have noticed the same, Jamie.

[RobertLambie]

Their Terms and Conditions with their supplier are irrelevant to your customer rights. If the product is not fit for purpose, it’s not fit for purpose!
Personally, I would ask them to come and take it away and request a full refund.
I would add the ongoing costs of miss prints, inconvenience and downtime to your company, as a result of what is clearly a faulty machine.

[Colin Crabb]

Commercial law with regards to the machine is a little different to domestic, but you can 100% insist on a replacement, and it will happen if the cannot fix the issue (and this is the part to quote) ‘In a reasonable time period’.

I had this issue in the past, and machine was replaced after engineers failed to fix, so manufacture had to agree on a replacement.

I’d also insist on some ‘free’ ink, to offset wasted media and wasted ink from testing.

One point, not that it effects you, is if on lease / payments, don’t stop the payments. yes it hurts, but if you do stop, you in breach of contract and therefore liable to T&C’s, and manufacture can use this to there advantage to do zero.

[Christopher Hall]

Yes you are right. I intend to ask for another set of ink. I have wasted so much material! The trouble is I print a job, then overlaminate it, then it is only when I go to cut it that the cut line doesn’t line up. So it is vinyl / overlaminate, ink and my time wasted.

[RobertLambie]

I understand there are different T&C’s but this is 8 months down the line and after ongoing visits to attempt to fix the faulty machine without success. You have every right to tell them to take it away.
Create a diary of wasted material, photographs and video, downtime, and staff hours trying to make it work, log everything and invoice them each week/month for your ongoing costs as a result.
Call them and email them every second day for an update and log the response.
If the lump sum was paid via a finance provider, contact them A.S.A.P. and they will advise you how to get this resolved fast.
My point is, to be proactive to get this resolved, ramp up the pressure and make sure they know you are not going just accept this crap.
Supplier or manufacturer fault, 8 months is not on for any business to just accept.

[Christopher Hall]

Good advice. I should have kept a record. Bit late now. Trouble is I am fighting shy of using the printer now all together!

I will keep up the email trail to them. I feel I have been too patient till now.

[David Hammond]

Keep chasing them. Play the game.
They’ll probably try blaming the media, so use another one, to prove the issue still occurs. They’ll blame artwork so use different files, even try and get someone else’s machine to print and cut it and see if it’s isolated to your machine.

Can you tell I’ve had issues with my Roland?

I understand where they are coming from, but you need to prove it is the machine and not one of the above, even a daft setting I’m versaworks could be a cause.

Ultimately I found their support isn’t the greatest.

[Christopher Hall]

Thanks, David.

I have come into work to catch up a bit and thought I would try cutting another job for the sake of it.
Yet again, another 2m of vinyl, overlaminate, ink and my time wasted!!!!

As you can see from the photo,
the blue line around the text is supposed to be the same thickness all the way around.
I don’t think I’m being unreasonable!!

[David Hammond]

Might sound daft, but are you reprinting from the same file on the rip?
Try deleting the original file from the queue and add the file again as a new job again

[Christopher Hall]

Yes, I’m printing from same file.

Nothing seems to make a difference. I can send the job and it will cut completely mis-aligned. I can abort the cutting and resend without altering anything and it will line up perfectly – reasonably anyway! Albeit needing to re-do the mis-aligned section.

[David Hammond]

What format is the file you’re printing from? Is it an EPS by any chance?

[Christopher Hall]

PDF

[David Hammond]

I’m all out of suggestions then I’m afraid. I feel for you. The frustration when the most basic of jobs is so incredibly difficult.

Give Roland a time frame to resolve it, or tell them they can take it back.

[RobertLambie]

Just for the record, I have gone through this exact same problem with an HP Latex and the top-of-the-range Summa with an automated takeup system.
I have also gone through the same scenario with an £85k UV flatbed printer.
Both times I was led “the process” dance by my suppliers and the manufacturers. Which ultimately led to the “enough is enough point”, now take it away and give me my money back!

Waste:

The vinyl, ink and laminate that you have just wasted, do not throw it away.
take photos, videos and bag them and keep them for reference purposes. Also, log the time you just spent going through the process and all future tests.

Testing:

• Create a Test Folder on your desktop, and within the folder, create a new folder for each test.
  Test 1
  Test 2
  Etc.
• In each test folder, open it on your desktop and “Right click” in it and create a New “rich text document” and keep all your notes in this document for reference of what you did. Things like file type, RIP setup, laminate used, media used, blah blah.
• Every time you do a test, create a NEW file from scratch.
• Keep a copy of these files in their “Test Folder”.
• Each time your start a fresh test, Try saving the artwork in different file formats before exporting or ripping. Because the error could be coming from the conversion of one file type to another.

Speed, Reduce Waste

To help speed your tests up and waste less materials. do the following:

• Print the file but do NOT laminate it.
• Take the blade out of the cutter holder and insert the pen.
• Now run your contour cut process.
• It will now pen-plot instead of cutting and you will be able to see where the cut lines will hit without cutting the actual vinyl or needing to weed it.
• Unclamp the media from the machine and then reload it without doing anything else.
  Now get the machine to re-cut the printed vinyl using the pen-plotter “again”. You will be able to see if it has aligned contour cutting, better, worse or the exact same.
  if it is getting better, then worse, then better etc it could be a media loading issue.
  If it’s the same every time then it rules out your manual loading ability. By that, I do not mean you are unable to, it may be that the machine is much more temperamental than your other printer.

  Registration Marks:

• there might be something up with how the machine is scanning the registration marks.
  So trying tests “without” laminate and the same job/file “with” Laminate is worthwhile not only to save material on the tests, but some laminates are glossier than others and can reflect light prohibiting the registration marks from being scanned accurately. This is a common issue with reflective vinyl and mirror vinyl films.

[Christopher Hall]

Thanks Robert. You’ve given some very useful tips. You’re right. I should have kept all the wasted jobs! Will from now on.

[Simon Worrall]

I had a Roland SP540 for ten years, in all that time It NEVER did a decent print/cut. I tried everything, but that blade cut would just get further and further away.

Eventually I bought a graphtec plotter that could read registration marks, and got perfect cuts every time after that.

TBH even the print quality of the roland was never truly acceptable. Nowadays I have a latex printer.

I dont know why anybody would still buy a Roland. The solvent technology is stone age, and if they still cant get the print/cut right, its just not fit for purpose.

[Christopher Hall]

What RIP do you now use?

[David Hammond]

The only other thing you could check, is that both versaworks and the firmware on the machine are current and upto date. Although you’d think tech support would do that.