posted
Mine was about 15 years ago and was a Graphtec thermal machine which was loosely based on the Edge1. It wrinkled ribbons at a shocking rate and almost drove me insane. To be fair to the company I bought from, they swopped it for a totally different printer after 12 months free of charge. Think I can attribute a lot of my grey hairs to that thing
-------------------- Kevin Gaffney Artistik Signs Kinnegad County Westmeath Ireland 044-75187 kevingaffney@eircom.net Posts: 628 | From: Ireland | Registered: Oct 2003
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when I first started to try to cut vinyl I bought a 36" ioline "hot tip" plotter,....then I tried to convert it to a knife,..the whole scenario turned out to be a nightmare,..it didn't track. it was slooooow when cutting. the damn thing took a whole year out of my life all total when it was said and done,....not to mention a hundred long distance phone calls to tech support(God bless some guy in Washington State named Tinney),...the only good thing that came from it was a thorough understanding on my part on the specifics of plotter/pc communications,....when I finally bought a vinyl cutting roland pnc 1000 it only then dawned on me the time and effort wasted on the damn piece of junk.I could have bought a brand new truck for what I paid for the item in question at the time and another one with the lost profits(circa 1990).
[ July 02, 2010, 06:00 PM: Message edited by: Tim Barrow ]
-------------------- fly low...timi/NC is, Tim Barrow Barrow Art Signs Winston-Salem,NC Posts: 2224 | From: Winston-Salem,NC,USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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A friend of mine, Parker McWhorter, got the Ioline hot-tip plotter, which saved me from making that mistake. His observations of my travails with the ColorSCAMM saved him from going down that dark road.
However, we both bought the Gerber GDS (Graphic Design Station) when it first came out, which ran neck and neck with the Ioline and PC50 for the worst ever equipment award. The GDS was digitizing software and hardware based on an Apple IIe. They advertised it as "If you can draw it, you can cut it", which was the biggest lie this side of a used car lot. I sunk about ten grand in that thing and it was absolutely useless. A year or so later, Gerber charged everyone another grand or two for two floppies to update the software from totally atrocious to barely functional. I haven't bought anything with the Gerber label on it since.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5084 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I can't remember the exact model but it was a Fargo thermal sheet printer. $5500 or so and printer 17" by 22" inch sheets of vinyl if memory serves.
I sent it back with a month or so lost over a thousand but well worth that than losing everything from no sales from that junk.
-------------------- Wright Signs Wyandotte, Michigan Posts: 2785 | From: Wyandotte, MI USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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Roland ColorCam PC-600. Worked great until the head needed replacing. Factory replacements came with blown spots in the head. ALL OF THEM!!!! Always expected to get a letter in the mail that there was a class action suit pending over those things.
-------------------- John Byrd Ball Ground, Georgia 770-735-6874 http://johnbyrddesign.com so happy I gotta sit on both my hands to keep from wavin' at everybody! Posts: 741 | From: Ball Ground, Georgia, USA | Registered: May 1999
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At least I bought it cheap enough as factory refurbished that I didn't mind ripping the print head completely off the carriage assembly - by hand - in frustration, thus rendering it into strictly a cutter.
It's a fine cutter though... just sucks as a printer.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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T-Jet T-Shirt Printer. $15,000 Door stop biggest POS I had ever seen. And running a close second. Graphtec 7000 130.. I know Graphtec is suppose to be good but I got the biggest lemon ever from them. I will stick to my Summas
quote:Originally posted by John Byrd: Always expected to get a letter in the mail that there was a class action suit pending over those things.
Should have been. Of course, like most class action suits the lawyers would have gotten all the money and the ColorScam owners would have ended up with something like "$17.85 off your next Roland purchase" coupons.
-------------------- Pat Whatley Montgomery, AL (334) 262-7446 office (334) 324-8465 cell Posts: 1306 | From: Wetumpka, AL USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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-------------------- Frank Magoo, Magoo's-Las Vegas; fmagoo@netzero.com "the only easy day was yesterday" Posts: 2365 | From: Las Vegas, Nv. | Registered: Jun 2003
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I've learned one valuable lesson through the years. I no longer read any sales blurb about new printers, computers, software etc. Have all the equipment I'm ever likely to need. If I do have to upgrade sometime, I'd seek advice here first on what's good or not so good. I also stay away from the sign trade shows. They're a waste of time I feel because a quick internet search will show me the same products on display at these shows. The one consistent thing I've noticed in theses posts, is that we've all been caught by buying products that were not tried or tested and clearly not ready for the market
-------------------- Kevin Gaffney Artistik Signs Kinnegad County Westmeath Ireland 044-75187 kevingaffney@eircom.net Posts: 628 | From: Ireland | Registered: Oct 2003
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Ditto on the Roland PC 600.Always banding issues and ribbons too expensive to make any money with. If you did get the occasional good print,too many times a ribbon would break while printing and you had to start over again.No support on those things, they would just tell you to clean Mac Tac with alcohol and would not admit it had design issues.I bought it thinking it was a cheaper alternative to the Edge.I learned not to buy a product until it has been out long enough to have a good track record.
-------------------- Darcy Baker Darcy's Signs Eureka Springs. AR. Posts: 1169 | From: Eureka Springs, AR | Registered: Nov 2007
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Lasermaster WinPrint 600XL large format laser printer- we bought it at a tradeshow from a screenprinting supplier- they also sold us 11x17 vellum, that when placed thru the printer, turned brittle, jammed up into the printer and tore several large chunks out of the printer drum... then they acted like they never even heard of us, sending us to the manufacturer who wanted about $800 for a new drum- they ended up sending us a new one, since we had only had the printer a week, and there was only 36 prints on it, but it was a huge ordeal and cost us almost 2 weeks of downtime.
We found out real quick that these printers were already obsolete- they worked fine with Win95 (which is what we were running at the time) and worked OK with the first release of Win98- but that was it- they had been phased out and didn't support or even work with anything else (not Win98 second release, NT, 2000...)
Using it was a pain in the butt as well- in order to change paper size, you had to pull out the paper tray, remove these clips and then find the appropriate clip size, then go into the printer software and change all the settings to match the plastic clip (which was very delicate and broke easily- without the clip, it was a giant paper weight) it took about 47 steps just to change from letter to 11x17- miss a step, and it would go into error mode- you had to turn everything off and start the process again...
Once we replaced it, I took great joy using an aluminum baseball bat to "compact it down" for the landfill
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1735 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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Not being dependant on those high teck toys, I bought a big yellow quill and used it a few times. Left paint in it and parked it in the old brush can. Ten years later, broke it back out, soaked it in lac thin for a day or so, oiled it up and then used it for three years as a good 3/4" liner. Then it started to shed some hairs. To think I paid all of that money for a brush and it gave me such short service! You would think they would make them better!
Then I bought a quart can of One Shot Lettering Black and after a couple months and about half used, it skinned over and I never though it would be as good. You would think they would make the containers so that you could keep the air out and prevent skinning?
Seriously, I bought a Rockwell grinder one time. It lasted a week, before the gear inside stripped out. I took it back and Monkey Wards gave me another, which lasted another week. I learned then that good tools are expensive and try to buy the best.
Bottom line is that those expensive sign toys are very expensive and how cost effective are they really, if you have to work like crazy to pay for them and have them crash and burn? I sub that work out and mark it up more than the subs do when they sell me the work.
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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Preston, I tried a tap screw in the bottom of the can. Also punched drainage holes in the top of a gallon can with an 8 penny nail for drainage.No matter, paint always seems to skin and I just accept it.
-------------------- Darcy Baker Darcy's Signs Eureka Springs. AR. Posts: 1169 | From: Eureka Springs, AR | Registered: Nov 2007
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Except my ex-wife, after the divorce, turned into the friend she was before we were married.
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
posted
Mine only cost me around 300k. She was a real looker, but at what price? Her son and I are still close and at least she and I are friendly to one another. Lesson learned: never marry a rich girl!
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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It just plain stopped printing after 6 months. I'd done some research and figured out that it needs a new print head. I called Kodak customer support to inquire about getting one. Abdullah on the other end told me FOUR TIMES that I was wrong, insisted that it was a bad color cartridge and was willing to send me one for free...DESPITE my telling him I'd already replaced it THREE TIMES already. When he went for round FIVE of telling me I was incorrect, I gave him a diagnosis of my own...that he had rectal cranial infarction...and went immediately to the store for an HP printer. Kodak's on my do not buy list for eternity...and Abdullah can keep talking out of his butt.
Rapid
[ July 05, 2010, 05:35 PM: Message edited by: Ray Rheaume ]
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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Haha Ray, hey I like my HP photosmart C7280.I use inks that cost 1/3 of what HP is but the printer/scanner is quality.I'm not cheap... I just don't have much money so I get what I need.
-------------------- Darcy Baker Darcy's Signs Eureka Springs. AR. Posts: 1169 | From: Eureka Springs, AR | Registered: Nov 2007
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Voltage "sniffer," I think made by Gardner-Bender. Way too sensitive. Picked up false positives all the time. You didn't even need it to be too close. I was told it would detect voltage in a hot cup of coffee, and that if you rubbed the end hard, it would beep for that too. I don't know if the guy who told me was joking or not. On the other hand, it wouldn't sense live current if you touched a piece of Romex wire on the neutral side.
An ex-girlfriend told me to touch the side of my head with it to check for a genuine false positive. Not funny.
At any rate, in reading about how these voltage testers work, I've learned some things about phantom electricity, and about the principal of inductance.
Brad in Kansas City
-------------------- Brad Ferguson See More Signs 7931 Wornall Rd Kansas City, MO 64111 signbrad@yahoo.com 816-739-7316 Posts: 1230 | From: Kansas City, MO, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3484 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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40' oak extension ladder...weighed about 300 pounds (or maybe it was 500). Also any Black and Decker power tool.
[ July 09, 2010, 08:52 PM: Message edited by: Kent Smith ]
-------------------- Kent Smith Smith Sign Studio P.O.Box 2385, Estes Park, CO 80517-2385 kent@smithsignstudio.com Posts: 1025 | From: Estes Park, CO | Registered: Nov 1998
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