Should I buy this Eclipse press?

[alexfugazi]

Bed is like 46" wide, it works. $1500. I don't have an auto press right now. Should I buy this?
Consider this- I've never used an auto press before.
This has a lot of buttons.





I have a Cameo 22x30 that is pretty much mine if I want it this week for 3K that just popped up, and I'm comfortable to use, I just don't know if I'll be kicking myself in the ass in a year by not getting this one...

TD.

[PedalPrinting]

Get the eclipse. Its a great press. Cameo is bottom model. May seem easier to use at first but all those buttons come in handy once you get into the swing printing on an auto.

[alexfugazi]

I was leaning that way- I'll probably get both, sell the Cameo in the future. This Eclipse takes a compressor, though- I'll have to hunt one down. Have you used this model? Any tips?

[NeroInferno]

Can't you try the press with a 2-3 color job? you can understand if the press is in good health.

Fabio

[alexfugazi]

Well, I know the press works- but it's sitting in a shop that is in the process of selling off everything it has- it's going out of business, so I can't roll up and run a job myself. But I'm supposed to get a lesson tomorrow- AND, it's got a manual, so it can't be that hard. We've just been handprinting for so long, the concept of a mechanized press is crazy to me.

[PedalPrinting]

You shouldn't need more than 100psi out of the compressor, go with something with a large sized air tank or it will be turning on/off often and wear out the compressor motor & break belts fairly often. But you should be able to get something decent for $500-1000.

Pretty sure that press has memory settings for your jobs. So if you run the same kind of ink often you will be able to dial in the press settings and save them for every job, even multiple profiles you can call up..... Make sure the machine was running within the last month or so and is still under power, and the battery is good. A lot of the modern presses have factory programming that can be lost if the machine looses power while disconnected or being moved. Or if they have not been run in a long time. If that software is lost you will be paying in the $1500-2500 range just to fly a tech in to reprogram your machine.

Those cameos go up for sale pretty often, I got one years ago for $800. Don't overpay for one, they are pretty bare bones...

[clinttw]

That looks insane and that price sounds great. I'm leaning towards git it! I'd be excited to try that sucker out!

[Andymac]

there's a comparison

M&R 40x56 Eclipse - Low Prints, Like New - DigitSmith

If there is nothing broken, it's worth the money to get it going good. these are big brothers to the Saturn line I think (size wise)

Even though this machine is a bit old, if you compare to a Cameo, it's like......ford fiesta to a cadillac. the size might be a bit overwealming, but if you are moving (?) and have the space.

make sure you get as many squeegee floodbar sets as you can.

[alexfugazi]

Well, I bought it! Getting it picked up on Thursday. Look out, world. It was definitely running in the last month, so there's that. I don't know about the programming, but I think it's an older machine, so I'd be surprised if it's that finicky to being shut off for a week or so. The guy there gave us a pretty sweet run-through and he said he's down to come by and give us a lesson when we're up and running. It still had the manual, so we should be able to figure it out.

It's a 40x30 bed, so a little bit smaller than the one Andy posted about, but I'm paying about 1/10th of that price. I'm gonna get that cameo as well so we can run on 2 presses if need be, or one craps out. I might end up selling that thing in a couple years if this Eclipse does everything we need it to. We'll obviously keep the manual press we got from Andy on hand as well- it's been too good for too long! Should be fun!

I'm really blown away by all the stuff this place was getting rid of at crazy bargain deals. Anyone in the Austin area want a hot tip, shoot me an email and I'll direct you to the place- now that I got what I need and you guys can't snatch it out from underneath me!

As always, thank you so much for the advice!

[clinttw]

Sweeeeet! I want to see this bad boy!