SirSpeedyCVA
Active member
I was on my way to being a posterchild for Mimaki flatbed and rollfed printers -- even got the matching plotter and laminator -- until I moved away from PDS Equipment in Nashville for servicing and went to more local Atlantic Graphics out of MD
Im in VA, and flying in techs from TN -- even when they double up on another service call and split the travel time/costs -- got very expensive. Usually $1k before they touched the machine.
But you get what you pay for.
Atlantic Graphics made 6 visits to fix my rollfed and never once did they leave at the end of the day with the machine printing a proper test pattern. It was always "just keep running cleanings and it will come around". It never did. They didnt notice a fouled subtank from overflows, ended up cutting a wire to another subtank and just blamed us for not changing the caps every year. They even replaced a print head for a second time, unnecessarily. Had to get Mimaki involved -- they sent a tech from corporate who discovered the subtank fouling, but did see the cut wire, and it fouled again the next day. He left without a 100% working machine, he ordered a air solenoid to fix that part that had been fouled and the caps and filters.
PDS came to the rescue -- he diagnosed the issue, the wire wasnt loose or frayed, it was cut during servicing of the airlines, which werent actually a problem, it was the subtanks which they totally overlooked "we were asked to change a print head, not the subtanks"
In the end, PDS got us back up and running in a single service call.
Mimaki stands by Atlantic Graphics incompetence --"they are a certified dealer and followed all the right steps" yet I still didnt have a working machine.
Similar issue with the flatbed AG just going trial and error wanting to replace part after part until the problem of subtanks not filling would go away.
Im in VA, and flying in techs from TN -- even when they double up on another service call and split the travel time/costs -- got very expensive. Usually $1k before they touched the machine.
But you get what you pay for.
Atlantic Graphics made 6 visits to fix my rollfed and never once did they leave at the end of the day with the machine printing a proper test pattern. It was always "just keep running cleanings and it will come around". It never did. They didnt notice a fouled subtank from overflows, ended up cutting a wire to another subtank and just blamed us for not changing the caps every year. They even replaced a print head for a second time, unnecessarily. Had to get Mimaki involved -- they sent a tech from corporate who discovered the subtank fouling, but did see the cut wire, and it fouled again the next day. He left without a 100% working machine, he ordered a air solenoid to fix that part that had been fouled and the caps and filters.
PDS came to the rescue -- he diagnosed the issue, the wire wasnt loose or frayed, it was cut during servicing of the airlines, which werent actually a problem, it was the subtanks which they totally overlooked "we were asked to change a print head, not the subtanks"
In the end, PDS got us back up and running in a single service call.
Mimaki stands by Atlantic Graphics incompetence --"they are a certified dealer and followed all the right steps" yet I still didnt have a working machine.
Similar issue with the flatbed AG just going trial and error wanting to replace part after part until the problem of subtanks not filling would go away.
