3 Idiots vs. 1 Printer - Our First Day Learning The Roland VG2-540 

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Just bought my first Roland TrueVis SG2-540. Every issue you had I literally had myself learning the equipment. I wasnt a novice to wraps and signs when I bought the equipment, but theres definately a learning curve to a lot of the process. Once you start to figure things out its incredibly fun and rewarding. Best of luck thanks for the great content cant wait for more!

Here is a good tip for cutting: Versaworks will cut your stickers in the order that you have them in your AL Layers panal. You will want to organize your cuts in order in your CUT layer. You want to cut with as little movement as possible. This will huge help.

Hey Lee, the issue with the big circle print and the machine not finding the crop marks- it's a simple thing that took me years to cop to (forgive me if you realised this already): the furthest right and furthest left pinch rollers can't be where the crop marks are (as in, in line with them), the head won't read them. The crops need to be within those pinch rollers. You had an issue because you printed a ridiculously big print. In theory, you can print almost to the edge, but the machine won't warn you that it can't read the crops after. If it was a print and cut, it would do it as it doesn't rely on the crops, it know where it printed (which has its own issues). I know this to be true because the machine started cutting when the print was not held by the right pinch, which caused the bunch up of material, it started as the pinch wasn't in line with the crop mark.

okay, I am about two years out from using very similar equipment, but here are some thoughts from my memories... The pinch rollers can move. You will defiantly want to get used to adjusting/moving them based on your prints. There is a special kind of pissed off that happens when the the pinch rollers track the last 6 inches of an 8 foot print. Adjusts them to avoid heavy ink coverage (or put them in negative space between labels). You should be able to control the heat on the exit on your Roland. Different substrates out-gas better with different temps. I remember white ink on clear stock being a real bitch until we figured out the right temp. On the laminator, follow the diagram on the left side under the E-stop. The 'backer' paper should roll around the silver bar and will help keep proper tension. Get used to adjusting tension on your rolls. Keep the rolled up baking paper and re-use it on the exit. Our supplier kept trying to sell special take up paper the we didn't need.

Lee, I've been running Wide Format production for the better part of 16 years, I might be able to shorten the learning curve, any questions fire away, happy to help,

If you ever get tired of waiting for the prints to dry, look at a latex printer. I'd also consider getting a separate cutter if you start printing a lot. Not being able to print and cut at the same time can suck.

I have been on a VS-640 for about 5 ish years. Going to Nazdar tomorrow to look at the VG3-540. Wish me luck. Thanks for sharing.

theres nothing like a 30 minute Lee Stuart video

Man I wish I had a quarter of your patience you never quit until you get it figured out it’s what keeps me looking forward too the next video keep up the great work 👍

Line your crop mark up with the black strip and hold your finger over the sensor if the sheet is too small. should find it mint!

Hey man, watch a lot of your videos but rarely comment. I've run a vinyl shop forever and trying to get into tshirts, you're doing the opposite :p Couple of tips I'm sure you already figured out: 1) you need more white space before and after your print, so that the sheet doesnt roll off the rollers 2) you got a roland, its solvent ink, so although you can get good detail, and print on lots of uncoated media, it's missing a tiny bit of quality, I'm sure you will accept that 3) since its solvent, you cannot laminate right away, wait 24-48 hours after printing to allow it to out gas. (Preventing the bubbles) 4) you're gonna figure this out soon: you will need a stand alone cutter. You're gonna find out you are losing time by using the same machine for printing and cutting. Happy you got such a great setup! Mine was nowhere near that quality! Good luck man. If you are looking to move on, I would highly suggest looking into a latex machine (like the hp 370 or 350) no need to wait, faster print, no head clogs, user replaceable heads, faster, better print, but you need a stand alone cutter. Also, if you are looking into stickers, look at the perfcut function! It will "die cut" stickers for you (but eat up your blade and cutting strip) versaworks has the perfcut built in.

If you forget and cut the vinyl short you can also tape an extra 5 or 6 inches to save it

Experience is the greatest teacher.

parcero lee stuart ud tiene el taller mas genial de el mundo le felicito que buen trabajo hace ud yo estoy aqui en colombia su canal es muy bueno !

Hey man, I had a Roland XC-540 and a Mimaki CV130, I suggest you take contour cutting offline, get a Summa Vinyl cutter T160 or something similar and let your printer print and the cutter cut, I ran into so many issues with cutting inline exactly what you had and finally bailed and took it offline, this is especially true when you remove the printed take up roll and laminate, then reload, it was a pain in the ass right from the get go.

Always a learning curve with something new. I used to run a Roland SP 300. Good printer. But when the shop I worked at changed over to a SC 540. I had to learn a whole new style of things to get it to do what I wanted it to do. Stick with. It will come in time of playing around with it.

An investment in some fitted dust covers for your Roland will serve you well!

I'm only a hobbyist but I have a 30" Roland machine. After I load in the vinyl I back feed the roll (Up arrow) until the machine stops it and I set my base point there so I'm not wasting too much vinyl on the front end before I hit print. Afters it's printed but before I do a sheet cut I feed the print forward (down arrow) until the back registration marks are right before the plexiglass door then set the baseline there then do a sheet cut so I can laminate. It gives me enough slack on the back end once i refeed it into the machine for cutting. Once you get different vinyl (or if you know which vinyl they* gave you for free) go to the Roland profile center sign up (it's free) and download the profile thats made for the vinyl and your machine you're using. It'll have the best settings for that type of vinyl instead of just using the generic profile that comes with the versaworks. Hope it helps.

Was a good day haha. Can’t wait to learn all the cool shit we can and will do with this setup.

i honestly enjoy the videos. good job, i cant wait to own one of these one day. keep up the good work.

Love the videos! Your making all the mistakes I first made on our VG-540! Don't worry tho you will have it figured out in no time!! Just wait til you have to service the bastard for the first time!!

Line up the crop marks then pull the handle up and down before pressing cut, always works for me.

Once again should being going to bed but always got time for a lee Stuart video. Keep it up

Truly love your vids Lee. I have been watching your videos for a few weeks, and I just say that I have been learning a ton from you! I was wondering if you could possibly make a video about how did you fund your business at the beginning? Everyone has a different way of figuring everything out. But I’d love to learn about more things in did in the beginning of your journey.

I use a mimaki cjv150-160. Very good machine. Maybe you consider to try one.Prints like a charm and cutt beautiful. I make perfcutt on x1+ultracurve1500 and works perfect even with 30 stock blade. But as you said, while i'm cutting the money don't come so i'm looking for a flatbed cutter. I wait a video from you with a flatbed cutter. Greetings from Romania

Full send with all of rogue lab in the garage 🤙🏼

At 17:05 you mentioned that it would scan the first crop mark and then try to read the logo as a separate crop mark, the reason behind that, sounds like a miss alignment with the vinyl itself. Crop marks are aligned straight with each other. With large pieces of vinyl, it’s very common that it comes off track. In most cases that I’ve seen, it’s moves 1/16th of an inch per foot. 5 foot vinyl, means it moves like a 1/4 or an inch over all. It reads ink on the vinyl, even if you get a head strike on the vinyl, it will read that at times. Also it looks like a miss alignment solely because at 15:51 you can see the pinch rollers are like 1” off the edge. When it was cutting the back right side, more than likely went off the pinch roller; which made the vinyl roll upwards, which caught the cutting head. I’ve ran Roland XR-640, Oki-E64s and M series, and a Mimaki CJVs and those were issues I would have as well with larger pieces of vinyl. Side note, I feel like you should of gotten a printer and a cutter separately over a combo. Printer cutters are slow as shit when it comes to printing and cutting. But main reason.. in a efficiency standpoint. You can be cutting one machine while printing more new stuff. Your current set up means, you will print. Remove vinyl from printer, laminate , put back vinyl on printer and cut. Efficient setups have both printer and cutter separately, means you will print your first job, remove vinyl from printer, print another job, laminate first job, cut first job. You can keep the printer always printing, where as a combo you need to wait for the printer to finish cutting.

Great production values. Thank you.

Roland is a solid wide format, good choice. Fair price and a straight up work horse.

The trial and error method - slow but works.. keep it up man and can't wait to see what you come up with. cheers.

About time they show up in a video lol

You can place those circles close together. The cutting blade may need adjusted. Check if you have the media clamps, if that printer needs them.

You have to “BASE POINT” the media once you line it up so the Roland doesn’t push out the vinyl

I was confused the first time I bought 4 x 8 MDF as they sell it in Canada 49" x 97" oversized - it's apparently is because people crush the corners in transport LOL

A user's manual usually comes with the printer. If you didn't get one, you can download a bunch of support documents, including the user's manual from www.rolanddga.com/support/products/print-printcut/truevis-vg2-540-54-eco-solvent-inkjet-printer-cutter.

I have the exact same equipment. Gawd, I was LMAO..not at you but with you. Been there done that. The tech showed me roughly how to laminate then said some words about laminating as he was leaving I still smile about: "There are as many ways to laminate as there are owners". I've got a brand new Camm GR-2 cutter that's a paper weight. I bought it for perf cutting stickers. Not going good.

if you find yourself with not enough vinyl in the front don't worry. you don't need a lot of material in the front maybe an inch, all you need to do is cheat a little, Tape the front sensor then match base point to your crop mark then you're good to go.

You can put a piece of vinyl on the front censor so it doesn’t shoot out.

I learnt everything the hard way. Making mistakes. I wish i had someone to teach me. All your mistakes i remember doing and then having to figure out on my own.

Thanks for sharing. Great video

We built our own table out of wood. Even put heavy duty casters on it so we can push it the way when we need to

The micro-bubbles is "silvering." The heat assist roller will solve those issues. I have the same GFP 355TH and the max heat is 122º....I have the best results with most all 3M overlams at about 110º

I have been using a Roland for the last two years and have done everything wrong you possibly could. Here are my top tips. BASELINE. Always set the baseline. It can prevent a lot of scraps and wasted vinyl. Leave room on the side of your vinyl for the rollers. Putting vinyl on straight from a roll is easier to get right but when you are reloading for a cut laminate sheet you need to make sure that you have wiggle room. Check rollers between prints if you are doing long runs of the same thing (advisable as the rollers can slip over long prints causing the cutting head to misalign on the print) because it may not be obvious over the meter or so of the printing group but when you are doing ten groups it can be an issue by number 9 or 10. RU-vid. There is a lot of videos out there that will teach you more about what your machine can do. Yes, some are a bit long but if you haven't got an instruction manual then it will be worth it. Offgas. Especially when using the laminate. I have had issues with laminating without proper off-gassing causing bubbles. Often after you have sent the job out. From what I understand that is the biggest problem you can have with lamination. Lint-free cloths/rags. Dust (and cat hair) can quickly ruin something that has taken time to produce which was otherwise perfect. Wiping down before or while it is going through the laminator (as you did) will save a lot of jobs. Hope that helps and keep plugging away at it as there is lots of fun to be had with wide format printing. And one other thing, if you have white ink in there shake it every day and every time before using it.

Laughed my ass off watching you guys trying to be carpenters, keep the videos coming but don't quit your day jobs!

Good Job Bro! Well worth the time! :)

Bro. go to Stahls tv on youtube they have lots of videos on this Machine. Also I have a lamentation machine all I could tell you is the more you do the better you get.

Set the base point on the crop marks

Great Video! I enjoyed! Thanks for sharing! Cheers!

I just got my printer and im starting my little business. Wish me luck guys.

Need to give an extra 5 or 6 inches of the print so it has enough material for the pinch rollers I did the same thing on my very first print.

Lee, I just started watching your videos. Love your energy and vibes! I have subscribed! Where is the laminator from? What brand is it?

Такое ощущение что там у ребят, принтеры просто отправляют на Газели в коробке и они сами их собирают, запускают, и учатся как выставлять базовые точки для считывания меток)))

Also before you have the machine start to read the crop marks make sure you hit Function button and set the base point. Should be the first option

Thanks for all your videos, I felt your pain and frustration with the print cut alignment! It's a relief to see I'm not alone with the trial and error. I've been doing vinyl graphics on my own for about 10 years and I'm waiting for my VG2! What colour setup are you using, any regrets? Impressive with everything you've accomplished so quickly. All the best!

Nice table. You don’t need the cut marks for each row off labels.

cool video guys that printer and laminator is awesome great stuff

The tiny bubbles under the laminate is called silvering, it usually shows up most under black. Hot roller lamination solves this issue.

O man, I recognize so much of the hustle when I started with the Roland SG and the laminator. If you use thicker material, you can higher the print heads. Just an advice if you ever go and print canvas or textiles

do you still use this Roland? or have you replaced it with the Summa S2? or are they completely different? I am looking into getting a dedicated adhesive vinyl sticker/decal machine. start out small, of course, and then work up to a higher-capacity machine at some point?

hahahahahahaha very funny thank you for the video you earned a subscriber from North Africa

So you trying to register that cut was almost exactly my trying to figure it out when I got my equipment. Only I had my wife standing over my shoulder mocking my failures.

You definitely didnt have enough excess vinyl for the pinch rollers. You gotta be careful cause things like head strike are your very expensive enemy. Its going to take a long time to figure everything out. Because different material and vinyls require different settings. Ive been doing vinyl with my rolands for a couple years now, and even now im still learning

thats a lot spacing between the logo. you can save some films by putting them close that way your not wasting the film.

Do you have the design sheets for the table and racks? I'd love to make one myself. Also, what brand is the laminator?

Cheers, was wondering the demensions for the table please going to have someone fabricate for me thanks

What's up man. I just found you on RU-vid yesterday. I like the way you're looking. We have a lot in common and looks like were walking the same path. I'm just about 3 years behind you. I Own Thread Chemistry T shirt & Print Co. & Misplaced Morals Clothing Company. MM is the Brand. TC is custom work for businesses, brands, etc. which is what I'm focusing more on bc as you know. It's hard to start a brand. Anyway, I had a quick question. If you were to buy a large format printer today, what would you go with? Stick with the roland? or maybe a HP or Epson? Any advice would be greatly appreciated my man. Thanks

Once you get it figured out that ROLAND will make you serious money.

Good title.

hey lee thanks for the great video what brand of hat is that thanks steve

Didn't a dealer install and train you on the equipment you purchased?

the brand of you used sised brick on thanks lee

Hello, What Laminator is that. Is it just a cold laminator. Let me know. Thanks

Have you realised that your table is too low by now? 😀. Oh, and yeah, a third party RIP like Caldera is pricy, but fuck, it’s so worth it!

I feel with you. So much venyl that i destroyed before get good results. I had the problem that i have to adjust the complete printer, bought it cheap and it needed some work :D i never had a printer like that before. But now it works good ;) I love your videos and iam at the point to get good results in screen printing. But i get results that the ink doenst get off when i wash the clothes. and no cracks ;) But i have a lot to learn there :D

Bought a new printer and laminator and didn't get training that was really smart.

Do you still like the printer cutter? Does it make good stickers? I have a couple brands that are blowing up and I’m determined to get a sticker printer in my warehouse. Looking at the HP latex and this machine. Thanks in advance man.

Hey, what is the name of the vinyl you are printing on?

Wow Great, nice

Ese titulo esta muy interesante jajaja

Lee if you dont mine what did you pay for the vs540 and laminate michine

just out of curiousity, what kind of camera do you use and how long can you record on it continuesly?

What's the name of your Laminating Machine?

Working in commercial printing for 22 years, title alone was a must click bait Even with experience, you'll still have days when all things go FUBAR. Notes: 1. Like the number of pinch rollers Rolland has. Have issues with wide contour cutters that only come with 4 rollers. 2. Get yourself some Swiffer Dusters to wipe the vinyl while laminating. Just don't get Swiffer stuck in the rollers : P 3. You can tape laminate to small vinyl jobs. With no lam installed in the laminator. Insert taped vinyl n lam (plan some waist material for rollers to grip), flip the lam over the machine, pull and hold the backer to the lam. Start the machine, swift, and keep pulling/sliding the backer back. 4. Personally, I like laminating everything from off a roll. Find end product comes out much cleaner for me in the dirty work environment. 5. If you finish cutting the big logo by hand. Would not recommend putting that graphics down on the floor with out a proper floor laminate. Could end up with some work accidents slipping on the product. Ever have questions about vinyl and for what applications. Be happy to help. PS. past and current employment. Never have I waited for degassing. Not saying it could not be a thing, but just saying after 1000 plus prints...

Function Down Basepoint

What is the laminator that you use?

Just a question can you do die cut with this machine?

Took me ages to find out the Roland printer

User manual should be available to read online in pdf form

u need to use cutting machine summa brand

🔥🔥Cool Man!!! 🔥🔥

Carpenters first rule: measure twice and them measure to make sure the first two are right .

Siiiiiiiiiiick

The "micro bunbbeling" will get out after 24 hours +- it's always like that with laminate. It has to dry

press your base button it will make it stop

May I ask what did you do for a living to afford all this

Nice man. lmfao at this vid.

Best machine so far. I m use Roland machine for more than 8 years. Need to get more training. Your printer supplier is rubbish. I got a proper training from them. Top to bottom. Including cleaning the heads. Don’t let the media hit the printer head .

Bubbles should disappear within 24 hours. A heat gun could also help.

Noooooooo, my heart sank watching you sand and cut wood with a Roland next to it. I sincerely hope no sawdust got into the head, cause if it did, that's going to be a very expensive lesson to learn.