There's a lot of info on the pros and cons on this site - PC-60, PC-600, The Edge...

I am charging $25.00 per square foot for 4 color prints. I'd like to see how everyone else figures their price or at least (with the PC-60) what are your basic charges. I also throw on a design fee when needed.

Small stickers and labels seem to be a good way to go. I have not tried the heat transfer stuff yet but the possibility is there if I need it.

Ok, I'm rambling on so I might as well throw out a couple other observations. I had used an edge, I think the original version for about a year at a place I was doing consultant work for. I liked it. It was much faster than the (MY PC-60) Roland.

With the Edge you did have to change to the next color every time, you don't with the PC-60 unless you run out of that ribbon. I like the way the PC-60 works when you change the ribbon... picks up right where it left off. The edge seemed to leave you a mark on your print.

This is a tool in your shop just the same as your brush, a roller, your computer, or anything else that you use to make your work more efficient and economical. You have to think about it that way. There are many applications where the PC-60 or the edge or any other printing device is great, but sometimes you should use only certain elements of the device to produce the exact same sign without the cost you might experience if you were to print the entire thing.

Here's an example: I had a milk truck last week that had a main line of copy with the city and a few license numbers. All of the copy had to have a drop shadow. This was all to be done in a hurry as the truck was in between getting the tank put on and some other modifications... outside and I had about 1 hour to have it ready to go. Anyway, I printed a gradient blend on the main copy, the rest of the text was one color. Everything was then overlaid on the black drop shadow. Had I printed the entire thing, and I could have,it would have cost ME more to produce. This way, they get a custom job that I can charge more for than if I had done it with a single color. You get the idea.

Think about how eveything goes together and what works best for you.

[ November 25, 2001: Message edited by: Jeffrey Vrstal ]

We use Corel 8, & prefer to print at 600 dpi.

We produce full wraps, presentation labels, and everything inbetween, it prints up to 22.5".

The price was right, it was just under $8000.00 us, and the edge was qouted at $24,000.00 us, and they also said I'd need a spocket feed plotter for just an additional $20,000.

I dont know, you do the math, besides, if the job gets much bigger, we send it out @ $7.00 a sq ft.

One last comment, some friends of mine at another signs shop have had to fill thier shop up with filing cabinets to store the large print ribbons, mine fit into the desk drawer.

With a $10 wire shelf mounted 14" below the ceiling, my cartridges are right above my Edge using space I never needed before. With a 12" coverage instead of 1/4" there is less banding on the print, and about 48 times less cartridges to buy, ship, & throw away.

A lot of people are getting marketable results from their Roland Color Camm's, and making money too. That's great, but it is not a better product, & it is more expensive to produce. (even if the customer pays for it) The only thing better about it is the initial price difference.

I just sold 125 eight foot prints at $125 each. The profit on this one job will pay for half the entire system. I had a Color Camm, and the quality of that image would not have met the clients demands. The price would not have been approved either. Also I wonder how much more time it takes for a little thermal head to go back & forth 48 times more often on a 1000 square foot job?

Different tools, both have their place. IMO the Roland is a good place to start out if you absolutely cannot afford a better machine.

quote:

---

The Edge guys like to tout there lower $/sq ft and forget about the time that they are utilizing another machine to cut. Sure it's not much time but it does cost.

---

Actually, that's not accurate. I've owned both machines - ColorCamm & Edge.

When I had my ColorCamm (and it was running), my entire system - printer, cutter and computer were tied up when running only a single job. If the printer was running, I was unable to be busy cutting another job. If the cutter was running, I was unable to be printing another job at the same time either. And, when either the printer or cutter portion of my ColorCamm was running, I was unable to do work on the computer because it was tying up too many resources.

With my Edge system, I could be printing one job, cutting an entirely different job, and prepping another job all at the same time.

I too had to fight to keep the quality up to par. Banding problems were the worst. I used to stand there looking as it was printing hoping nothing was going to screw up. It would be printing fine one minute, then all of a sudden there was a white line running through it.

In less than a year, I was getting solid white lines running through every color, every print. Roland says it needs a new print head. Come to find out, I wasn't the only one who had to change print heads every year. I soon discovered that most owners of these machines were changing print heads just about every year. I wouldn't have minded so much if I had printed tons of work out of it. But I'm just a one-man shop that was looking to get into some digital printing, so I hadn't printed much work before the head was gone.

Needless to say, the head still isn't fixed. I can't see wasting any more money than I already have for quality that I don't consider great. Maybe I expected too much in digital printing. I'm not sure.

I did see Graphtec has an ink jet printer/plotter out, too. Has anyone ever worked with this? I thought quality would be better with an ink jet printer (seems the banding problem would go away, too).

Any hoo, I've rambled on way too long.

Kevin Landry
KnL Signs and Imaging
Halifax NS

[ November 28, 2001: Message edited by: kevinlandry ]