# Signmaker ivb



## Bttmline (Feb 5, 2008)

Hello all
Over the week-end i came to aquire a SIGNMAKER IVb. i BELEIVE IT WAS MADE BY GERBER. IT DOES WORK AS PLUGGED IT IN AND TYPE IN A NAME AND IT DID IT'S THING. wHAT I AM WONDERING IS WHERE WOULD I FIND A MANUAL FOR THIS MACHINE. I WOULD LIKE TO LEARN A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HOW TO CAHNGE FONTS AND SUCH. ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED.
TIM


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## Bttmline (Feb 5, 2008)

If anyone could help me out in the way of a driver for this unit would also be very helpful.
Tim


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

I just did a quick google...and presto...there it is...you should contact the company
Product Timeline - Gerber Scientific Products - Sign Making Equipment - Sign Making Materials & Accessories

looks like your machine is a 1985 model and since it is over 22 years old...I would doubt you will find a manual...but who knows... as to a driver...this came out in infancy of computers...about the time of windows 1.0...but call the company
they are located at
*Gerber Scientific Products** 
83 Gerber Road 
South Windsor, CT 06074*

*Phone:* 800-222-7446 (SIGN) or
860-643-1515 
*Fax:* 860-648-8595 (Sales & Marketing


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## jberte (Mar 25, 2007)

oh man - i cut my teeth in the sign business on an old 4B  talk about a blast from the past.....the last i heard, gerber wouldn't discuss the 4b with you (with OR without a credit card in hand...  ) and the lastest version of windows that it would run with was 98SE. you might be able to find fonts for it on ebay or from somebody who has one and wants to part it out. good luck!


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## kbrandt (Mar 13, 2008)

I actually have a manual for this because I still own my old machine. I only use it in a pinch anymore but would be happy to copy the manual for you. It has all the basics in it.


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

wow Karen...I am glad to see that I am not the only pack rat....I still have...someplace...the original stuff for Windows 1.0!


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## Vanguard (Feb 17, 2008)

WOW !!

The Gerber IV B !!!
A.K.A. - ''The Blue Beast''

Quite possible, the loudest vinyl plotter on the planet! I started with a shop that had four of them and I was deaf at the end of every day. Fonts were hard to come by back then and were expensive. Each font had to be inserted into the machine. They looked like ''motherboards'' and I seemed to remember that you could only have a few fonts loaded at a time. Good luck and I hope you get that manual that was offered in an earlier post.


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## Lynny (Aug 5, 2009)

Hello Karen, I just found this site as a result of a search for the Manual for the Signmaker IVB. I see that you had a Manual ( at one time anyway ), I saw that you so kindly offered to copy it for someone else. Is there any chance that you still have one and would be willing to copy it for me too? My dad had one and he passed away before he showed anyone how to use it. I would love to know how but cannot locate the manual anywhere. I would be more than willing to compensate you for your time or materials for the copy.
I hope it is ok for me to contact you this way. I do not know if this is how I am supposed to do this here or not, I apologize if this is not the correct way to go about it.
Thank you so much for your time,
Lynn


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## kbrandt (Mar 13, 2008)

Yes I could do that for you. How should we contact each other to get the address and everything? It may take me awhile because I have to remember where I put the book. I do have it though. Karen


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## Lynny (Aug 5, 2009)

Karen, You do not know how much I do appreciate this. If you can email me at [email protected] then I can respond with my contactl information. 

Again, this means lot to me to finally be able to use my Dad's machine.

Lynn


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## minuteman (Sep 29, 2009)

Hi Karen. I have a Gerber, Signmaker IVE that my dad gave me, but I don't have any info on how to use it. I have researched it a little, and am wondering if it is similar enough to the IVB. would you know the differences, and would your manual be compatable with my machine? Also, I would love some PC software/drivers for it if you know where I could get any. I have some Mac software, but would rather use my PC than the old Mac my dad will be sending with it. Any info you can supply would be great. thanks.

Darcy


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## kbrandt (Mar 13, 2008)

I hae never heard of your machine. Also I run everything off of a pc. I use gerber omega software. Maybe you could call Gerber and see if they could answer your question and then get back to me and I could get you a copy of the manual if you need.


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## minuteman (Sep 29, 2009)

Thanks Karen. I will check it out.


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## SignMan1984 (Dec 11, 2009)

Hi. We have one of these units at our sign company. what you can do is if you have a cadlink program, you can hook this machine up to a pc. BUT, judging from what others have said on other sites about these blue monsters is that the latest version of windows that these will work on is Windows98. Now, if you happen to have an old computer that has 98 on it, get you a cadlink program and hook up your plotter via the parallel port (if i remember right). they're very well made machines, and don't let the age fool you, our old ivB is in use practically every day. in fact you can make your design in corel draw, convert that to curves, save it as an eps or thz file, import that file into your cadlink and you can cut whatever you want, from text to multicolor logos (cut separately on different rolls of vinyl).


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## minuteman (Sep 29, 2009)

thank you signman1984, Although most of what you said was greek to me, (I haven't had much experience with corel, or curves, or eps or thz files, or anything to do with the machine) I will do some research to find out more about it. I do have an older computer that I could put 98 on if I need to, As I mentioned in my initial Post, I have an Old Mac that came with it and has the software for it as well, so it may end up being that that is what I use for this. We will see. I sure don't want this machine to go to waste sitting here doing nothing.


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