SUMMA THERMAL PRINTERS: PRO's and CON's
Summa thermal ribbon printers are an affordable and extremely reliable alternative for the small sign shop and/or graphics studio. And a welcome add-on to the larger print shop. Summa printers are not speed demons. They work and work well. These printers do exactly what they are designed to do and do it better than any other printer in the field.
PROS:
1. No odor, no fumes, no outgassing, no mess!
2. No ink-jets to clog
___Printer can stand idle for hours on end.
___Can leave unit powered-down and in the garage for weeks at a time!
3. Wide temp production window
___Prints great from 55F to 80F! --I've done it.
___...Just run 'LINE FEED CALIBRATION' first, then run 'Print-n-Cut', and you're good to go!
4. No dry time.
___Print is completely dry-to-touch immediately after completion.
___Prints can be overlaminated or set immediately.
5. Ribbons colorfast for 3-5 years without lamination, no problem.
___Summa Scratchguard is excellent for added UV-protection on-the-fly.
___Also, Daige Rollaguard liquid laminate is excellent! Comes in Gloss and Satin.
___Rollaguard can be applied AFTER contour cutting & punching! A real plus!
___(Avail. at Hyatt's Supply 800-234-9288 Buffalo NY)
6. FLEXI-CUT feature punches out individual stickers after contour cutting!
___(Summa exclusive...Nobody does that.)
7. DC3 Plus and later models feature Summa's OptiPrint (a/k/a Opti-Clean) System.
___According to Summa: Delivers optimal print quality. Removes dust and debris in a unique process the cleans the media immediately before the color pass is printed. Dust is a thing of the past.
8. DC3/4 prints on almost any glossy vinyl from Avery to Oracal.
___Prints on variety of Color Vinyls including reflective
___(See compatibility listing in this forum.)
8a. PRINTS SPOT WHITE!
___Great for Static Cling Vinyl window decals.
8b. PRINTS MIRROR-GOLD and MIRROR-SILVER (Chrome)!
___Great for security/parking lot permit stickers for vehicles.
9. DC3 is a great 36 inch machine. You rarely need more.
___36" is way wider than necessary for vehicle wraps.
___For control purposes and material handling, 24"-30" prints are probably ideal.
___The DC4-SX prints up to 30" and is a good buy for the money.
___DC4 is the Rolls-Royce of the biz--prints on 24", 30", 40" and 54" rolls.
10. Summa Color Control is a great CMY RIP.
___No need for CMYK. Really. Save a ribbon, use Scratchguard instead of black.
11. FREE TECH SUPPORT FROM SUMMA! (this is really worth it)
___SUMMA TECH: 800-323-9766
12. This forum.
___DIGITAL GRAPHICA is better than any other forum out there.
13. Great specialty ribbons
___Mirror Gold, Mirror Silver, M-Red, M-Blue, Hot colors and WHITE!
14. Summa technology used by U-HAUL and US GOV'T.
___You'll never look at U-Haul graphics the same way again!
15. Summa's Ribbon Color Guide is a MUST!
___Need one? Call Summa Sales: 800-527-7778
16. Color Control comes close to Pantone Color Match numbers in CMY mode.
17. Color Control has Hi-Res option
___For excellent gradients, choose hi-res and double dot in Color Control!
18. Summa Color Control is the best, cheapest RIP and WORKS GREAT!
19. Print Perforated Window Graphics for vehicles!
___Color Control's VisionPrint imitates perforation on clear films.
___VisionPrint can print to calendared vinyl -- save money!
___VisionPrint works even better on high performance & opti-clear films.
20. ECONOMICAL & VERSATILE Printer
___DC4 SX is a bargain. DC3 Plus on eBay is rediculously cheap.
___AND-- Any cheap Windows laptop can drive the printers!
___These printers print on a huge-variety of vinyl films.
21. Free firmware updates (call SUMMA tech)
22. VERY LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT.
___Ribbons are highly efficient. Low energy consumption vs. UV & other systems.
___Run 3" x 24" color tests before printing. Catch errors--Save Vinyl! Save money!
___No need to worry about being obsolete. The DC3 & 4's are state of the art.
___Thermal ribbon technology has been perfected (unlike inkjets).
___Your printer will last for years and years. A good investment.
23. Summa DC Series better for short run jobs than inkjets
___No need to clean jets, calibrate color each time. Very little waste.
24. Summa DC Series is like a Gerber Edge on steroids.
___Ha-ha-ha...
25. One last thingy: It's made in BELGIUM, EU! (not Communist China)
Did I miss anything, Muts??
CONS:
1. Machine weighs 650 lbs.
___...Might be an issue depending on your location.
2. No built-in surge protection -- go get a battery backup unit.
3. Hard drive sometimes quirky. (delete your old saved files for max-headroom)
4. No native Macintosh OSX Color Control RIP.
___Important to some considering the popularity of Macs in the art & design field.
5. Ribbons work best up to 75% usage.
___Remove 25% of ribbon to finish roll or ribbon might wrinkle.
6. No metallic matte-gold or metallic matte-silver (yet)
7. No Pantone Color Match numbers for spot ribbons.
8. Ribbon cost is too high for spot colors.
___CMYK should be $100 each and spots, $150 each.
9. Ribbon carts way too high at $89 each!
___Summa should give 1 cart free with every '3-pack.'
10. CMY Output averages almost $3/sqft including media.
___... too high for banners but OK for wraps and other stuff like magnets.
___AND at 2-3 times the cost for output of cheap inkjets, it's not best for everything.
___but keep in mind that for what it does, it does better than most!
11. Ribbon cassettes clumsy
___It's a pain in the butt to change ribbons all the time.
___Have at least 10 cassettes on hand.
12. Summa brand media too expensive for high performance vinyls
13. Head guarantee too short.
___Should be based on usage, not on time (it's only 90 days).
14. Fatal errors on DC3 should have built-in work-around.
___Machine should pause, let you fix problem and resume but NO!
___Very Windows-like. The obviously learned from Microsoft, not Apple. Ugh!
15. Summa DC Series not economical choice for long runs because of material cost.
___If Summa discounted ribbons 25%, it would be a no-brainer!
16. DC3 limited to 40" rolls.
___DC3 Cannot use 24" or 30" vinyl as does the DC4 series.
___The new DC4 series more than adequately address this minor shortcoming...
Did I miss anything guys?
Feel free to add-on.
later,
Tony
