[Heidelberg QuickMaster 46
ne...@tandypress.co.uk
are thinking of buying a new PrintMaster 46. Firstly, we have never
been very impressed with the Quickmaster, needing loads of service
calls for numerous problems. Has anyone else had similar problems and
if so what are your experiences of Heidelbergs efforts to correct them?
Secondly, if you have the new PrintMaster 46 2 colour, whats it like,
is it reliable and would you recommend it?
Any comments regarding the above would be gratefully received.
Thanks
Nsmith
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Imagep
The service rep. came out to diagnose the problem and discovered the board was
bad. He ordered another one, the next day he put it in and it immediately
became bad also. He explained that it was actually one of the other boards
which was bad but it caused the other boards to go bad. After several weeks of
waiting for parts, we finally got it up and running again. Thank god it was
still under warranty (the actuall total service invoice would have exceeded
$5,000).
Since then, we have had little problem with the press (we are over 5 million
impressions) and quite honestly we do not take care of it like we should (pm's,
cleaning etc.). So overall, I am happy with the maintance issue.
There are a few parts on it that are really cheap in manufacturing and/or
design. We have had problems with some of the bearings on the ends of the
dampining system rollers, but they only cost a few bucks each and we have
learned to replace them ourselves.
As far as maintance issues, I would give it a 5 on a 1 to 10 scale.
But when you look at the machine from a purchase price/quality standpoint, I
would have to give it at least an 8. We have done some decent process color
work on it - even though Heidleburg does not recomend it. We run close
registration jobs on it every day. Difficult two color jobs that used to take
us an hour to set up (including color washes, format change, etc.) on our old
360 with T-head, now take maybe 10 minutes. We used to have two press
operators and two presses, we now have one press operator and three presses,
doing the same volume of work and producing better quality work. For
productivity I would give the machine a 9 on that same 1-10 scale and for
quality I would give it an 8 or 9.
It is also a much cleaner machine to operate than our 360 or our Multi 1650.
Our press operator no longer goes home with ink in hair/cloths/shoes/etc.
It also saves us on chemicals and paper waste. Uses less press wash to clean
up, and we rarely have to reprint a job due to quality issues (as a matter of
fact, we have not reprinted one in over six months).
I do not beleve that you can find a better press in that price range. You
certainly can get better presses (true two color and/or larger format), but
not for $60,000 bucks. I honestly believe that the $10,000-$25,000 cost
difference between the QM and other manufacturers common blanket two color
machines is justified by increased productivity, quality, and cost advoidance
of material costs, despite the occasional irriating maintance issue.
Tell me what other presses you have or have had, and also what other presses
you are looking at purchasing.
Scott
Image Printing of SC, Inc.
Ki Ayker
I would have to agree with most of what Scott said with one major caveat - I
do not consider the QM to be reliable. Sure, when everything’s working it's
quick to set up and clean, make readys are blazingly fast, and it's a very
simple machine to learn and operate. But I have worked in a number of small
shops which rely heavily on just one or two press's, and when one goes down,
their screwed!
My experience with the QM has been that it seems to have a lot of problems.
Most of what I have heard from other QM owners seems to parallel my own
experience. Few of the repairs and fixes can be done by the typical operator.
So while the press certainly does have a lot of things going for it, you have
to ask yourself just how much are your customers worth, and is it worth the
risk of losing them over missed deadlines because your equipment has
reliability issues?
Just my opinion.
Scott
So.Cal.
tandy...@my-deja.com
>
> Tell me what other presses you have or have had, and also what other
presses
> you are looking at purchasing.
>
> Scott
> Image Printing of SC, Inc.
Scott
Thanks for you comments re QuickMaster 46. I am pleased that you have
had a fairly trouble free experience - so far - we on the other hand
had dreadfull problems with marking on feed and delivery, roller
bearings and general unreliability. Although we intend to keep the
machine for the time being, we are thinking of buying the new
PrintMaster QM 46 2 colour. This I understand has ironed out many of
the problems experienced on the earlier models. I f you or anyone else
reading this has any experience of this press, then I would be
interested to hear your comments. In the past we have had 2 TOC's which
churned out the work ok, but were always causing quality problems and
requireing services. We also run a number of 2 and 4 colour GTO52's
which are great, reliable and worth every penny.
Neil
Tandy Press
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Before you buy.
Imagep
Carolina) that I would not recomend a shop having only a QM. We also have two
other presses and there has been a time or two that our other presses have
saved us from loosing customers. However, two QM's would be great and it is
our intention to eventually junk our two duplicator presses and buy an
additional QM or PrintMaster.
Scott
puzzle5
not run envolopes with ease.
"Ki Ayker" <kia...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000228153159$72...@mole.netconcepts.com...
>
> I would have to agree with most of what Scott said with one major
caveat - I
> do not consider the QM to be reliable. Sure, when everything’s working
it's
> quick to set up and clean, make readys are blazingly fast, and it's a very
> simple machine to learn and operate. But I have worked in a number of
small
> shops which rely heavily on just one or two press's, and when one goes
down,
> their screwed!
> My experience with the QM has been that it seems to have a lot of
problems.
> Most of what I have heard from other QM owners seems to parallel my own
> experience. Few of the repairs and fixes can be done by the typical
operator.
> So while the press certainly does have a lot of things going for it, you
have
> to ask yourself just how much are your customers worth, and is it worth
the
> risk of losing them over missed deadlines because your equipment has
> reliability issues?
> Just my opinion.
>
> Scott
> So.Cal.
>
>
in
presses
> >you are looking at purchasing.
> >
> >Scott
> >Image Printing of SC, Inc.
> >
> >
>
>
>
>