# Can you give my a review on Cams 1V-2P?



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

I am considering purchasing the Cams 1v-2p rhinestone setting machine. For those of you who own one, can you please give my your feedback on the machine, how well does it work, are you glad you purchased it, etc?

Any pros and cons you can think of?

Also, can I still use DAS' software to create my designs then take them over into Gem Master to produce?

Thanks,
Di


----------



## Leg cramps (Feb 9, 2009)

I dont have one but arent they like 50 grand? Whats funny is im sitting down as we speak trying to figure out how many shirts/decal i have to sell to make back my 4 grand investment do ing it with cutter and manually setting stones.it does what 117 stones a minute? I did a design that was 2157 stones today in 5 minutes.pual henry would be proud!:d


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

Leg cramps said:


> I dont have one but arent they like 50 grand? Whats funny is im sitting down as we speak trying to figure out how many shirts/decal i have to sell to make back my 4 grand investment do ing it with cutter and manually setting stones.it does what 117 stones a minute? I did a design that was 2157 stones today in 5 minutes.pual henry would be proud!:d


Lol, there is no way I'd spend 50K on a machine. This model is a lot cheaper. I think there are three different models and this one is the smallest.


----------



## SandyMcC (Jul 23, 2009)

Leg cramps said:


> I dont have one but arent they like 50 grand? Whats funny is im sitting down as we speak trying to figure out how many shirts/decal i have to sell to make back my 4 grand investment do ing it with cutter and manually setting stones.it does what 117 stones a minute? I did a design that was 2157 stones today in 5 minutes.pual henry would be proud!:d


Sandy McCauley is proud!  Good for you, Eric!!!!


----------



## JAF (Oct 12, 2008)

Plus side- you don't have to store the templates

Minus side - It looks like you are limited to 2 color or sizes, The Gem Master only does one thing. Depending on the brand of roll cutter it will do stencils for rhinestones, vinyl cutting, twill for applique. 

I don't know a lot about the Gem Master but if the machine needed repair you can't do anything. If the roll cutter was down, there are many people available to cut stencil material if you needed the help with a new job. If it's a repeat job you already have the template.


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

Here's the thing, I have DAS' rhinestone system so I'm doing it manually now. I am overwhelmed and cannot get all my orders fulfilled in a timely manner, create custom designs, do the invoicing, quoting, etc without figuring out how to relief some of the stress and get some sleep. I am in nose deep with orders and I've been only getting about 3-4 hrs sleep a night for the past two months. So I'm looking at getting the smaller Cams machine to help relieve some of the pressure because I'm a one woman shop. 

You can buy more hoppers for the machine and run the design several times to get as many color/size combinations as you'd like. So I'm just trying to get some reviews from people who have the machine and let me know if they are happy with it, are there any maintenance issues, production issues, etc that I need to be aware of. Also, if they are glad they purchased it and if they feel justified in their purchase.


----------



## Leg cramps (Feb 9, 2009)

here is my first employee just hired her.But seriously do you know any neighborhood kids that could help after school?I know kids are smart,My son is 16 and he knows how to load and unload my cutter,hit the cut key,weed the decal,he sets stones and lifts them off the transfer tape,this is only after one day of instruction.he even takes his time and makes sure each stone is perfect before calling it done.mabey a relative that needs some extra money?a friend that is laid off?It sounds like you are at that fine line of needing to get an employee.I was thinking that when I need extra hands there is a neighbor whos kid can help,she is only 14 but would like to make some money.I can set her up doing something to help deal with my workload such as setting stones,or cutting transfer tape to size I need ect...Think about it...if you tell them they a dollar for every decal they do they can come over after school and work for a couple hrs and make 20-40 bucks.thats good money especially if its 
Und*r T*e T*ble.


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

I have tried a few times to get my 14 and 15 yr old nieces to help but they are so involved in school activities and being a teenager, so that hasn't worked out too well. Plus I live on 15 acres so I really don't have any neighborhood kids and my kids are still little so I really don't know any other teenagers. 

Right now the price is greatly reduced on the cams 1v-2p so I'd really like to take advantage of that while it lasts. Plus, I need to double check, but if it's portable, I think it would be great to take to shows and sporting events to do custom designs on the spot.

For the price, it's worth it to me to get to spend more time with my family and get some sleep. I've been missing out on so much in my family life that I feel I either need to quit my business or invest in machinery to help me out.


----------



## lizziemaxine (Nov 14, 2007)

diana13t;763004
Right now the price is greatly reduced on the cams 1v-2p so I'd really like to take advantage of that while it lasts. Plus said:


> Isn't this the machine you have to use with an air compressor? That might be fine at home but might be a problem at shows are events because of the noise.


----------



## BML Builder (Jul 8, 2008)

I think if you want to get a Cams machine and you can afford it and it will give you more time to do other things, especially spend time with your family and sleep, by all means go for it. I agree with you that if you can find someone that actually has this machine that would give you some information as to whether this is the machine that you want or need for what you want to do. It would greatly help you to find out if this machine will do what you want and doesn't have any major problems that you would like to be aware of before you spend that kind of money for. If someone that has this machine please jump in and help her by all means.


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

Okay, I spoke with my sales rep again and he did not recommend taking it to events. Once you have it set up with the proper air pressure (yes is uses an air compressor), then you really don't want to move it much.

I spoke with one lady who has 4 of the bigger 6 hopper machines (very jealous ) and 1 of the mini cams (2 hopper) and she had great things to say about it. But she is in a whole different league than I'm in and can't really give me an idea on how it benefited her because she started out with the bigger machines. So I was really hoping to get feedback from someone with a lot smaller business scale like myself. 

Thank you BML Builder for understanding what I'm wanting and needing from this question. Hopefully someone who owns it will chime in soon.


----------



## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Diana,, 
I also totally understand,,, And for alot of us that are really busy, that is our next step, the cams machines, 
We could be filling orders with templates,, and the cams machine could be working on another one,, 

I look forward to hearing what you decide.. 
I know nothing about this machine, but I do know alot of us are not getting much sleep,,,,lol

I am all for anything that gives us more time with our family's

Sandy jo
MMM


----------



## dknows003 (Jan 6, 2009)

Wanted to let you know that you can take it to shows with you. You will just need to adjust a few this with the compressor.  The machine runs great and it helps you out with your time situation. I hope you go for it because you will be very happy.


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

Well I did it...I put a deposit down on the machine!!!! Now I have to wait until Sept 29th to go check it out and get training. But then I won't be able to use it the rest of the week because I'm going to the ISS Show in Ft. Worth for training too 

OMG, I cannot wait!!!. Last night I had 5 transfers to make and it took forever. I used clear ss10 stones for the outline and siam ss6 stones for the fill. It was a full front design and it took me between 10 and 15 min to make sure all the stones laid correctly, had to pick out the ss10 stones that get stuck upside down in the ss6 holes, had to make sure there weren't any extras, had to dig all the ss10 stones out that got swept off while brushing the ss6 stones...blah blah blah.

I am so excited and once I get my machine rolling, I'll let everyone know my opinion of the machine.


----------



## BML Builder (Jul 8, 2008)

Congrats Diana!! I am happy you made the decision and are going through with it!! There are a lot of people here that are really jealous and would love to be in your shoes. I'm sure you will be very happy when you get it and get it running!!! Let us know how things go.


----------



## stitchanddazzle (Sep 7, 2010)

I have the cams machine....2 color but you can do designs with more than that you just have to change out stones...not very portable since you need to use air compressor...u have to do your designs in the gemmaster software you can't import others unless you want to copy them stone for stone on the gemmaster....if you have any other questions i would be happy to answer them.......I like my cams


----------



## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

diana13t said:


> Well I did it...I put a deposit down on the machine!!!! Now I have to wait until Sept 29th to go check it out and get training. But then I won't be able to use it the rest of the week because I'm going to the ISS Show in Ft. Worth for training too
> 
> OMG, I cannot wait!!!. Last night I had 5 transfers to make and it took forever. I used clear ss10 stones for the outline and siam ss6 stones for the fill. It was a full front design and it took me between 10 and 15 min to make sure all the stones laid correctly, had to pick out the ss10 stones that get stuck upside down in the ss6 holes, had to make sure there weren't any extras, had to dig all the ss10 stones out that got swept off while brushing the ss6 stones...blah blah blah.
> 
> I am so excited and once I get my machine rolling, I'll let everyone know my opinion of the machine.


 
I am so excited for you,, and your family,, 
Keep us posted along the way,,,, 
woohooooo
MMM


----------



## iolinexpro (Oct 7, 2010)

The IOLINE is the better choice to go with. I have a couple of IOLINES and used to have the CAMS 1V-2P until I got rid of it. The IOLINE is much cheaper than the CAMS and is basically maintenance free. You can buy multiple IOLINES for the cost of 1 CAMS machine. You just plug it in like a printer and print on a large surface as opposed to the CAMS 1V-2P which has a tiny working field for the $20,000+ that it will cost you including the air compressor. The cost for this type of machine is not worth the money IMO. The air compressor is much too loud and is very annoying and it also accrues a higher electricity bill. There is also electrical work that needs to be done for the compressor to be compatible and may cost up to another $1,000 to higher an electrician to hook up the power to the dedicated breaker. As someone mentioned earlier, there are solenoids that can easily get damaged inside the CAMS that will have to be replaced at the cost of $1,500! The IOLINE is portable and can be used inside your business as well for customers that want to have a certain design or word created instantly on the spot. You can not do that with the CAMS. The CAMS also does only 2 colors and for $20,000, that is not a sound investment! The IOLINE is pretty much maintenance free and the CAMS has a ton of maintenance needed to be done in order for it to run properly. The CAMS will need to have its hoses replaced periodically, broken apart for cleaning, and draining of the air compressor daily which becomes a hassle. There were many times when my CAMS didn't work properly that made my business come to a halt for several days to even a couple of weeks. I lost a lot of clientele this way and it took forever for a local technician to come out to service what the problem was. The software that comes with the IOLINE crystal press is far superior to the software of the Gemmaster software that comes with the CAMS. The IOLINE crystal press software can use corel and illustrator files with the ability to automatically trace over lines using vectors as opposed to setting stones primarily manually with the gemmaster. Everyone in the rhinestone industry is moving towards the IOLINE CRYSTAL PRESS and moving away from the CAMS for obvious reasons. At a recent trade show, the IOLINE was the machine that everyone sought after and not the CAMS


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

Hi Iolinexpro, I would have agreed with you had I paid 20K for the machine, but for just a few grand more than the Ioline, I was able to purchase the Cams machine (just over $11K including air compressor). I've been running my machine for three days now and it is awesome!!! The cams can set on average 130 stones per minute vs. the ioline's 25-30 stones per minute. So if a design has 1,000 stones, it would take the ioline approx 33 min to complete the job and only 8 min for the cams. 

Both machines only have 2 hoppers but on both you can change them out. The design area on the cams is a little smaller than I'd like, but so far all but one of my designs have fit on it. I do a lot of school, sports, dance, and cheer designs so it's mostly a organization name with a design under it and I haven't had a problem. One design I had to place diagonally in the area, but it worked. 

When I thought about getting the ioline because you could travel with it, I did the math on how long it would take to create custom designs, and it's faster to make most transfers using a template vs. the ioline. Unless of course you are just customizing with small things like names. 

The air compressor is loud when running, but we're going to build a special closet for it to muffle the noise. The GemMaster software has it's pros and cons. I also have DAS' Smart Cut Pro which is great, but I usually end up spending a lot of time fixing the fills in SCP anyway. In GM I have a lot more flexability when working with Fonts. I actually had a SCP design that I had to use ss6 stones but when I took the design into GM, I was able to convert it to ss10 which looked a lot better without changing the size of the design.

You can run the cams machine by usb cord plugged into your computer and machine or removable usb flash drive (or whatever they are called). So I sit in my recliner now with my laptop working on designs, save to flash drive and walk it over to the machine to load designs. Much nicer than having to stay plugged into a machine stuck at a desk all day . 

But GM is limited when trying to email a design to a customer. In SCP I could pull it over into Corel (DAS' Smart Designer X4) and put it on a sample shirt, bag, etc. GM doesn't allow me to export the design in any format that Corel can read. So at this point, the only thing I can figure out to do is do a Print Screen, copy it in Corel Photo Paint, crop the design and save the image. But I cannot put it on a sample shirt image, so that stinks. I could try to vectorize the image, but that would take way too long bacuse you'd have to do each stone. 

GM doesn't have a Fill option, but the way I get around that by using the rectangle feature which creates an evenly spaced fill (I enter what spacing I want) as you draw a box or rectangle. Then I delete the stones that are outside of the design. And of course there is some tweeking there too.

I could see where the ioline would have it's advantages too. I almost bought that until I found out the cams machine was so much cheaper now. 

There is some maintenance with the machine and air compressor (I bought theirs), but for those of you who have an embroidery machine, the cams is a walk in the park. Keep the lines dry, oil two areas once a week and keep clean. I'm sure I'll have to eventually change out some hoses and such, but you have to do the same thing with embroidery machines all the time. 

I think both machines are great, I think it's all about what you are personally needing for your business. I'm figuring out that if a design is harder to creat in GM, I create it in SCP, copy into Corel and save as an .ai file. Then when I bring it into GM, I click "Trace" and it's done with maybe a little tweeking. 

It's very hard trying to figure out what's best for your company, but I think I made a great choice for myself. As I own the machine longer, I can give more feedback on my experience. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask and I'll do the best I can to answer.

By the way, it has been awesome the past couple of days letting my machine do the work for me while I create new designs, answer emails from customers, order supplies, etc. 

Well sorry for writing a book, but I thought I'd share my experience and opinion.

Thanks,
di


----------



## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

di,
I love your book,, keep on writing,,,
sounds like you are doing great,,,, 
for your proofs, 
Try this

in gemmaster, can you create a background box under your design? the color of the shirt you want to mock up?

If you can,, then use your snipping tool on your computer,, snip the image with the same color of background as the shirt, or tote or whater, 
it will be saved as a jpg, 
then go into your pictures find it and in corel, lay it on your tee or garment of that color!
Now you have your proof.

Does gemmaster have a export option of eps of ai file?

and does gem master five you a gem simulated proof?

Thanks for all the info
Sandy jo
MMM


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

Hi Sandy Jo,

1. GM only exports as an .srt file (machine language file ((sort file)). 

2. As far as I can tell, GM does not have a gem simulaion.

3. I cannot draw a background box, but you gave me a good idea. I can draw one in Corel with no outline, save as .ai file and bring into GM, create the design on top of that then do the rest of the steps you suggested....THANK YOU!!! Although I got lost at the "use the snipping too" because I have no idea how to do that, but I'm sure I can eventually figure it out. 

What stinks when GM creates a stone circle, it has an outline around it in a different color. So when I do the Print Screen thing, it doesn't have the nice pretty round circles like DAS' software did. So if the stone should be topaz, there is a blue ring around each circle. Also it almost looks diamond shape from the pixels. 

What's nice about the software, is that it won't let you put a stone somewhere that shouldn't be there (like overlapping stones). Plus I can get the stones a lot closer since I don't have to cut a template and account for the blade thickness and stone stencil material. So creating more detailed and uniform fills is easier and prettier.

If you can give more detailed instructions about your idea to use the snipping tool, I'll try it out and let you know how it goes.

Thanks,
Di


----------



## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Di,, where there is a will there is a way trust me, lol

Are you using windows or mac?


----------



## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

The snipping tool is basically a screen shot


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

i'm using windows 7

and i have the will, just don't know the way


----------



## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

I will show you the way


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

sjidohair said:


> I will show you the way


Awesome, thanks Sandy Jo


----------



## iolinexpro (Oct 7, 2010)

Hi Diana, I'm glad you are enjoying the machine. I was feeling pretty much the same way you were when I first received my machine. It's been a bit over a year now and I do not own the CAMS machine anymore due to maintenance problems. You also probably got the CAMS for a lot cheaper due to the fact that people are recognizing the problems associated with the machine breaking down, hence the drop in price. In the beginning it was great and dandy, until problems with the machine arose. Maintenance isn't as easy as you think it is once you've run it for awhile. Parts go out, electrical, mechanical, etc... You will have to pay for a tech to repair your machine which will cost you a lot of traveling expenses. You will need to know how to service the machine yourself and may even need to solder electrical components to get them working again because the parts in the machine can't be bought in the US since it is made in korea and you will be charged a premium, especially for the solenoids which will cost you $1500. Once your machine goes down, there goes the halt to your business and sometimes even a week or two before a technician in your area is able to come out. They almost charged me $750 for a tech to come out to repair my machine one time because there wasn't a technician around locally. Travel costs plus hotel stay will need to be paid by you unless you are good at repairing the machine and have extensive training on it. Oiling just two spots isn't going to keep the machine good and running, there is a lot more maintenance that is required for the machine for it to last long without a problem. Good luck with your machine


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

Well I appreciate the heads up and hopefully I'll have a better experience. But I will definitely drill the Company more about maintenance to prevent as many problems as possible. 

Thanks for the info and for telling me your situation.

Di


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

Sandy Jo,

You are amazing. Thank you for sending me the info on the snipping tool.

Ok, with Sandy Jo's help I figured it out. I cannot import a colored image into GM so here is what I did.

1. Used the snipping tool and saved image as .png file.

2. Opened in Corel and selected Trace Bitmap, Outline Trace, Clipart. This gave me a pretty good image.

3. Copied the vector image into Smart Cut Pro, Clicked Break Apart and used the Object Replacer tool which made perfectly round beautiful one colored circles.

4. Took it back into Corel and was able to place it on a virtual sample.

I know it sounds like a lot of steps, but I did this super fast.

Whoo Hoo!!!! Thank you so much for helping me!!!!!

Di


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

I'm glad Ioninexpro told us about their experience. I hope others who own or have owned this machine will chime in and let us know how things are working our for them. 

I did get to talk to someone who owns 4 of the 6 hopper machines and one of the 1v-2p and they were very happy. They said there is a lot more maintenance on the bigger machine, but they were very happy with their purchases. I'm not sure how long they've had the smaller machine, but they've owned the bigger machines for 7 yrs now.

Have a great day!
Di


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

OMG, I just realized I can use that method to create the rhinestone car decals too. I was knocking my brain trying to figure out how I was going to create the cutline for the car decal material because GM is not a cutting program, strictly rhinestone creation only.

Man, things are just looking better and better....knock on wood!!!


----------



## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

diana13t said:


> Sandy Jo,
> 
> You are amazing. Thank you for sending me the info on the snipping tool.
> 
> ...


Di,
Glad you got it, 
If you need any more help just ask,,, and yes you can use this same process that you just mentioned to create a outline.
Woohoo
Sandy jo
MMM


----------



## MrRudeDog (Aug 24, 2010)

IMO opinion, the post quoted below is rubbish. (IONLINE employee?) We paid about 13k for our Camms 1V-2P which included a quality air compressor. We have owned it for a couple of months now and we find it to be an easy, trouble free way to do custom designs quickly. 

We do mostly names and have found the 10" by 12" working field to be quite adequate. As far as paying $1000 for an electrician, puh-leazzzze. I just plugged the compressor in to a different circuit than my heat press. 

The solenoids are about $70 each (a spare was included with mine) IF and when you need to replace them. Clean, dry air should keep them trouble free for a long long time. 

The GemMaster software is primitive, but capable. It comes with the machine and can be used on multiple PCs. It _*will *_import vectors and trace them. Changing the stones in a hopper is easily done in under a minute. You can purchase different size "wheels" to accommodate different size stones, and they can be easily changed in under a minute. We occasionally run 3 and 4 color designs without any problems. 

I don't mean to imply that my machine is bettor than an Ionline machine, or that any machine is better that the stencil/sift method. I just wanted folks to know that in MY opinion, the quoted post is full of _*severe *_inaccuracies. Attached are a couple designs we've done for customers on our machine.

I haven't gone yet for my included training due to scheduling issues, but I had my machine up and running within hours of it arriving at our business.




iolinexpro said:


> The IOLINE is the better choice to go with. I have a couple of IOLINES and used to have the CAMS 1V-2P until I got rid of it. The IOLINE is much cheaper than the CAMS and is basically maintenance free. You can buy multiple IOLINES for the cost of 1 CAMS machine. You just plug it in like a printer and print on a large surface as opposed to the CAMS 1V-2P which has a tiny working field for the $20,000+ that it will cost you including the air compressor. The cost for this type of machine is not worth the money IMO. The air compressor is much too loud and is very annoying and it also accrues a higher electricity bill. There is also electrical work that needs to be done for the compressor to be compatible and may cost up to another $1,000 to higher an electrician to hook up the power to the dedicated breaker. As someone mentioned earlier, there are solenoids that can easily get damaged inside the CAMS that will have to be replaced at the cost of $1,500! The IOLINE is portable and can be used inside your business as well for customers that want to have a certain design or word created instantly on the spot. You can not do that with the CAMS. The CAMS also does only 2 colors and for $20,000, that is not a sound investment! The IOLINE is pretty much maintenance free and the CAMS has a ton of maintenance needed to be done in order for it to run properly. The CAMS will need to have its hoses replaced periodically, broken apart for cleaning, and draining of the air compressor daily which becomes a hassle. There were many times when my CAMS didn't work properly that made my business come to a halt for several days to even a couple of weeks. I lost a lot of clientele this way and it took forever for a local technician to come out to service what the problem was. The software that comes with the IOLINE crystal press is far superior to the software of the Gemmaster software that comes with the CAMS. The IOLINE crystal press software can use corel and illustrator files with the ability to automatically trace over lines using vectors as opposed to setting stones primarily manually with the gemmaster. Everyone in the rhinestone industry is moving towards the IOLINE CRYSTAL PRESS and moving away from the CAMS for obvious reasons. At a recent trade show, the IOLINE was the machine that everyone sought after and not the CAMS


----------



## supramom (Apr 9, 2010)

I haven't been on here in a long time. So busy. Love the 1v-2p. It is working great for us. Air compressor is so loud. Having our "crew" build a shelter for it so we can keep it outside.


----------



## Big R (Apr 25, 2011)

@ diana13t I looking to pick up a machine can you give me some information on what you went through? if anyone has any input please respond.


Big326@sbcglobal.net


----------



## wrkmn5 (May 22, 2011)

Also, thinking of getting one of these machines. Diana13t what are your thoughts of it after having the machine for a while? Thanks Scott


----------



## diana13t (Mar 11, 2009)

wrkmn5 said:


> Also, thinking of getting one of these machines. Diana13t what are your thoughts of it after having the machine for a while? Thanks Scott


The Cams 1v-2p is a great starter machine. I've had it for just over a year and I'm in the process of upgrading to a 6 hopper Cams. 

I work by myself and started with the stencil method. After about 6 months using that method I was either going to have to give it up because I was so busy and it took me so long to do the transfers or I had to make the choice to bite the bullet and buy the 1v-2p....Best decision I ever made!!! Now I'm working with Col Desi on getting the 6 hopper....can't wait!!!

Good luck and feel free to contact me with any other questions.


----------

