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Barry, It's going to be that way with whatever program you use. That darn versacamm wants it her way and you better give it to her that way! I am using Illustrator now for my files but SignLab can do the job as well if not better. We don't have the vinyl computer with SignLab hooked up to the versacamm since we still do a large ammount of vinyl cutting. You probably have a large computer for the versacamm files by now. You gotta have a lot of RAM (1 gig or more) and a big daddy hard drive. We had a computer built just for the versacamm. We network three computers in the shop and back up our files on DVD. Some files are 300 megs!!
Dump your Temp files now and then to save space and delete your rip files off the hard drive and burn a DVD for repeat jobs or back up. Those print jobs turn out great but are memory hogs!
Funny how vectored files take up so little room compared to EPS files for the versacamm. But isn't that progress in the sign business? We learn something new each day around here.
Sign-cerely, Steve
-------------------- Steve Luck Sign Magic Inc. 2718-b Grovelin Godfrey, Illinois 62035 (618)466-9120 signmagic@sbcglobal.net Posts: 870 | From: 2718-b Grovelin Godfrey, Illinois 62035 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Thanks Steve...I am learning the RAM thing really quickly...this computer has a 3.4 ghz processor but only 512mb of ram....shortly going to be upgraded to two gigs! I guess I'm gonna need to spring for a DVD burner too, sooner or later....
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Anything less than 1 gig for printing is suicide. A 512 RAM will choke and gag the life out of your machine while trying to run a large print
Even at 1 gig a good machine will chew for a while with a larger file..
With 1 GIG I printed a 33" x 11 foot TIFF file and had to shut down all excess processes except Corel and the printer driver.
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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Hey Barry, I should have said 1 gig of ram MINIMUM! I have 1.5 gigs right now and thinking I better get another gig since we are getting too creative for our own good! If you can think it, you can print it with enough ram! Nobody wants to wait, right?
Get more ram while it's still affordable. Who knows... the gas prices could affect the price of RAM!!!! AHHHHHH!!! (that's a different thread!) Sign-cerely, Steve
-------------------- Steve Luck Sign Magic Inc. 2718-b Grovelin Godfrey, Illinois 62035 (618)466-9120 signmagic@sbcglobal.net Posts: 870 | From: 2718-b Grovelin Godfrey, Illinois 62035 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Barry .. I print directly from Corel, not exporting to .eps at all. I haven't had color issues once I figured out how to turn off Corel's color management - Red is Red.
Tif and .pdf files you can drag right into versaworks queue, scale, rotate and select qty from there, no need to open the files at all unless you need to add a contour cut.
Two of our workstations have 2gig of ram the rest have 1 gig, no real spped penalty with the 1 gig machines
-------------------- Mike O'Neill
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. - Arthur C. Clarke
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A general question for Versacamm owners,I am thinking of getting a Versacamm in the near future, has the machine been making money and have you been able to offer more to your customers and producing jobs at a faster pace? I have been using the Edge for about seven years now and find it a great little machine,but somewhat limited and expensive to run. Does it make sense to take the extra step to the 54" machine? Pros, cons? Thanks Kevin
-------------------- Kevin Barnard Ocean Graphics 12 Willie Hill Road Wells, Maine 04090 207-646-8701 Posts: 4 | From: wells, maine | Registered: Nov 2006
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We create everything in Photoshop, save it in it's native .psd format then open it in Onyx to rip it. A reasonably sized file (half a gig or less) rips in about a minute or so. I only have 1 gig on this machine.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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Kevin, welcome to Letterville. Hope you enjoy it here and stick around.
This has been discussed different times lately, and you can see those by going up to the top of this page, clicking on "Search" and they type "inkjet thermal" in the first search box.
It will bring up several conversations on this very subject.
Have a good one!
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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You will also stand a better chance of more new replies if you go ahead and start a new thread, rather then starting a tangent on a thread over a year old that's talking about something else.
I bought a 63" Mimaki after 7 years of Edge printing. Both machines run everyday now.
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Kevin, You'll make money with the Versacam if you "sell" it.
We fought getting one for along time because it IS cost effective to buy prints wholesale...right? WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
Every customer in the shop the last two months needed printing done that day or by the next morning, some prints had to be shipped ASAP!
Try to sub those jobs out! You wont have your prints back for several days, and then they could be wrong! And if you are doing a vehicle wrap and a section gets screwed up...the customer would have to wait another week to get his car because you have to order more prints from the wholesaler...what a hassel for everyone!
In house printing is PROFITABLE for those reasons.
And when people know you have the machine in the shop, they tell their friends...word of mouth, the best advertising.
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I am printing pictures right now to go on the rear of a BIG motor coach of antique trains, it was a job that I got because someone told him "you ought to see the stuff Lyman can do with this machine he has up there". He didn't want it painted on in case he trades it in or wants to change it. The job is printing while I do other things its like having another helper, after I set the job up (explain what to do) it starts working on it and doesn't take a break or talk on the phone or COMPLAIN.
Well now time to laminate.
J
-------------------- Jake Lyman Lyman Signs 45 State Road Phillipston, MA 01331 Posts: 635 | From: Phillipston, MA | Registered: Sep 2002
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Thanks Dave and Jake, these are the kind of things I needed to hear. Yeah, the outsourcing thing was never appealing to me, I onced used a shop with a router for my carved work when I decided that chisels and knives = poverty, well, these router guys could never import my Gerber files properly and they didn't have a Gerber router, everything came out rough and I had to go back with my knives and chisels to clean up the jobs, these are times when you could chew glass, I ended up buying a router about six years ago, it was a scary plunge, but now, I don't know what I would do without it. I also like the fact that you don't have to babysit the Versacamm.
Thanks again K
-------------------- Kevin Barnard Ocean Graphics 12 Willie Hill Road Wells, Maine 04090 207-646-8701 Posts: 4 | From: wells, maine | Registered: Nov 2006
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Kevin, I ordered my 54 inch versacamm last monday, it is to be delivered the monday after thanksgiving, so I guess I can answer your questions in about a year or so...
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If you have any other questions call me and I will be happy to answer them, One thing I didn't mention is definately do 54" I upgraded my 30" to that and use it a lot more.
JAKE
-------------------- Jake Lyman Lyman Signs 45 State Road Phillipston, MA 01331 Posts: 635 | From: Phillipston, MA | Registered: Sep 2002
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I use both Signlab 6 and Corel to produce files for the Versacamm, I export all the signlab files out as eps and import them into Corel if I need to add a cut line. The versacamm is definately a worthwhile investment. A lot of the work we were previously computer cutting we are now printing (at the same charge rate) we are making a larger profit and have more time for other work. We have a 30" machine and I wish we had room for the larger one. You won't regret purchasing one for your shop. Good luck.
-------------------- Anne McDonald 17 Karnak Crescent Russley Christchurch 8042 New Zealand
"I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure" Posts: 877 | From: Christchurch | Registered: Sep 2006
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Thanks again Jake and Anne(New Zealand,Wow! Gotta go some day). I take it that there would be no problem importing Omega files to the Versacamm? I was also talking to my supplier last friday, he said there were still a lot of shopowners out there that thought the inkjets were not quite there with the durability issue? As far as I can see, three years unlaminated and maybe five with lamination is as good as the Edge?
K
-------------------- Kevin Barnard Ocean Graphics 12 Willie Hill Road Wells, Maine 04090 207-646-8701 Posts: 4 | From: wells, maine | Registered: Nov 2006
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