Rowmark Called

[Tim Bateson]

Got a call from Rowmark today. A survey type of thing. I told the lady how much I liked using their products... however due to the debacle with JDS, I had switched to Gemini.
Now I'm not wanting to start a useless debate on who has the better product - I have found plus and minuses to both. Same with JDS vs Johnson Plastics. In MY case JDS has the better service & prices, so I switched to Gemini only for that reason.

[Keith Downing]

Just ordered a sample pack to give them (Gemini) a try yesterday. We don't use much rowmark to begin with, but we are trying to expand into some new areas and are looking at options.

BTW, I believe a 10 sample pack is free to any business from the Gemini site. Ours was free up to 10 samples (you can pick any of the types/colors) and complimentary shipping was included. Just an fyi if anyone else is looking to try them.

[Scott Shepherd]

I had that same conversation with them 6 months ago. Told them our shop was full of nothing but Rowmark and how loyal we had been to them for so long. I informed them we would deplete all Rowmark and replace it with anyone but Rowmark. when you cut off your product from my preferred supplier, then you lost my business.

They had higher ups call me a few days later asking if we would consider using them again. I told them "Nope" and haven't looked back. I've had no issue with the Gemini products and they are cheaper than Rowmark.

[John Lifer]

Whew, you guys are Cruel! :D

I've not bought much but I've used a couple of sheets of Rowmark as it was in closeout at JDS and they didn't have the Gemini in stock. Yes, you can get samples direct from their website and or thru JDS, and recently with any order you can ask for a sheet of duets for free from JDS. I've not found anything different nof consequence, but I will say setting up account with JDS was easier that Johnson plastics.
It was a really dumb decision to force suppliers to buy only their product. I can't envision it paying off at all in the short term. Especially if there are many more of you guys out there! Oh, an aside, I went to the NBM show in Arlington last month. Stopped by he Johnson booth talked about 2 minutes to two sales folk about ada and their materials and then they spent 30 minutes working on me to buy their new uv printer. It was like who cares about rowmark, look at this $30k machine.....

[Ross Moshinsky]

My only complaint with Duets is it sticks a bit more than IPI or Rowmark. Other than that, it's well priced and does what it's supposed to. If I wasn't a will call customer at JDS, I'm not sure if I would have made the switch, but between the material being cheaper and the huge savings on shipping, it's an easy choice.

I would like to see JDS/Gemini start selling acrylic sheets, even if it's just black, white, and clear. I've spoken to my JDS sales rep about that and selling stainless sheets more than once.

[Kev Williams]

I'm just glad Delvies is down the street. They're my 'Alice's Restaurant' :D

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I'm with Tim and Steve/Scott on this. I used exclusively Rowmark until they dropped JDS. While I used to purchase from Johnson, it became too annoying to constantly have items shipped from 2-3 different warehouses with every order placed while JDS only did that on a rare occasion.

I do like the Duets and found that while they cut with less-sticky edges, I have had to change my cleanup routine on the white base colors. With Rowmark, I could clean the red/white, blue/white, green/white, etc colors with a quick rinse in water to remove the color dust and a light wipe with a magic eraser, then use WD-40 on a paper towel to clean the sticky edges and finish wiping over the whole item with the clean part of the paper towel to remove any fingerprints I may have on there. That is not working with the Duets. I am getting a LOT of top color into the engraved white area when I go to wipe the edges with WD-40 and then finish off the whole top.

[Jeffrey Dewing]

Trotec is selling plastic now! They sent me a package I've tried and it's good stuff! It's priced competitively and they will cut full sheets to fit in my speedy 300! They call it Trolase. Shoot them a call and they will send you all the particulars!

[Tony Lenkic]

I also buy Trolase product exclusively. Good product, minimal clean up, always in stock, cost effective (saving more than $10.00 per sheet the Rowmark distributor charges).
Check out their web page for full line up of products. including cast acrylic sheets.

Duets have a draw back as sheets are 24" wide so no cutting 1" x 3" plates with bevel edge I would loose one piece in each column.

[Chris J Anderson]

Tony, do you have trouble with the trotec red/white sheets not staying flat in storage ?

[Tony Lenkic]

Chris,

I go trough fair number of 24" x 48" sheets and I did not encounter issues with flatness. I buy only full sheets and store them on shelf laying flat for most part.

[Chuck Vezzetti]

I have also changed from Rowmark to Duets. JDS issue was a major reason.

[Kev Williams]

I also buy Trolase product exclusively. Good product, minimal clean up, always in stock, cost effective (saving more than $10.00 per sheet the Rowmark distributor charges).
Check out their web page for full line up of products. including cast acrylic sheets.

Duets have a draw back as sheets are 24" wide so no cutting 1" x 3" plates with bevel edge I would loose one piece in each column.

--All the Duets sheets I've bought have all been exactly the same size as the Rowmark, 24-1/8 x 49...

I DO have one small issue with Duets, at least the white--
My shear, at times, does this to the edge-- This is the 'shear' side, the 'drop' side doesn't do this--
357991357992
--the piece is about 2-1/4" wide, for reference...
and no other laminate has EVER done this- on my safety saw sometimes the edges will chip if I go too fast...
but this is just the white popping off... I'm sure it's an indication my shear needs adjusting...
also this happened with the masking on, seems removing the masking first helps. But not positive, this is just on-the-fly observations ;)

[Chuck Phillips]

A similar story here, we switched most of our production from Rowmark to Duets after BF Plastics lost the Rowmark line. I just tried Trolase though, and it's very good. We may move in that direction. Both products are similar quality and price, and produce very little residue or dust.

The only problem I have with Duets is the black / white core material 'scorching' when vector cut fast at high power (the only way we do it). By scorching I mean the cap is melted away from some vector cuts, particularly around detailed areas like a notch. It makes the cut lines look sloppy. I've never seen any other material or color do this.

[Tim Bateson]

For those who have not tried Duets - the settings are very different than Rowmark. I had complained to Gemini & they sent me several free sheets and the proper settings.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

For those who have not tried Duets - the settings are very different than Rowmark. I had complained to Gemini & they sent me several free sheets and the proper settings.

How so? Less power or more power? I found my same raster & vector settings for LaserMax worked for Duets.

[Tim Bateson]

How so? Less power or more power? I found my same raster & vector settings for LaserMax worked for Duets.


Rastering - a little less Power. Vector - Half the Power.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Rastering - a little less Power. Vector - Half the Power.

Interesting. I re-ran tests on the red/white sample they sent me. I still found my best results were using the same settings as I use for LaserMax. Dropping vector to half the power only gave me a half-way cut. The black/white sample allowed me to use a little less power to raster, while vector was still the same. What I found different on the red/white & black/white samples mailed to me was that all I needed was WD-40 to clean them or Goo Gone. The black still smeared black dust into the white area, but another wipe with the cloth cleaned it out. It wasn't that easy with some other colors I was engraving in the last few weeks.

[Scott Shepherd]

All their products should take a little more power on the vector. Rowmark's 1/16" thick material measures about .050" (almost 1/64" under 1/16") and Gemini's products appear to measure .062".

[Chuck Phillips]

We use the same settings for Duets, Rowmark and Trolase.

[Tony Lenkic]

All their products should take a little more power on the vector. Rowmark's 1/16" thick material measures about .050" (almost 1/64" under 1/16") and Gemini's products appear to measure .062".

Steve,

The Rowmark LaserMark are 0.050 thickness, LaserMax is advertised as 1/16"