The low down on gocco's future...(it's not good news)
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Original Post
I spoke to someone from Australia's gocco supplier, Nehoc, the other day & asked lots of questions about what's going on with gocco.
As we know, production of the machines ceased in June - but since so many have been produced, stocks are plentiful, especially from online sellers, ebay, etc.
As for the consumables, Riso is apparently no longer supplying US-based retailers. The supply agreement with the US is totally different to Australia - apparently the machines & consumables supplied to the US were produced specifically for the US market, & Riso doesn't find that profitable anymore.
Luckily for we Australians, our supplies are directly from Japan (the same as those made for the Japanese market) so as long as they're being sold in Japan, they will hopefully be available in Aus too (& Nehoc has stock to last at least the next 5 years).
Unfortunately, even in Japan, the packs of 5 screens are no longer being made (you can only buy packs of 2 screens & 2 bulbs) & many of the ink colours are no longer being made...so you just have to get what you can until the stocks run dry.
As for another manufacturer picking up where Riso left off, apparently the bulbs are the main problem. Only two manufacturers in the entire world make them & they're not cost effective to make unless in massive quantities. There is a (very expensive) machine Riso made to flash the screens, but they no longer make that either! They still make a machine to flash their coarser mesh...nowhere near as fine as the gocco master screens though, so only suitable for cloth, not paper.
So it looks like the American market may run dry of supplies quite soon & US-based people will need to buy online from Japanese sellers. Unfortunately Nehoc doesn't ship to the US.
So very sad...
Posted at 9:46am Aug 10, 2008 EDT
Responses
This is so sad :( I love my Gocco so much and all my work is done on there......save Gocco!
Posted at 4:11pm Nov 24, 2008 EST
what a bummer! i haven't used my gocco in ages but i would hate to never be able to use it again! :-(
Posted at 4:21pm Nov 24, 2008 EST
this is disheartening as I just found out about gocco today as I was looking for information on screen-printing. the prints i've seen from gocco printers are beautiful. hopefully someone will pick this up for the U.S. market soon.
Posted at 9:45pm Dec 19, 2008 EST
Hmmm.. methinks maybe if someone sees money in this, they will start to make it/something very much like it again. It might be a specialist tool though, and a bit more expensive as a result :( Aww!
Posted at 1:38am Dec 21, 2008 EST
what about modifying the sheets of EZscreenprint? Cut to a small size, you could still use the same application method, and the PhotoEZ may have the detail you are looking for. Plus you wouldn't need the bulbs to expose the sheets.
Posted at 2:01am Dec 21, 2008 EST
I also hope someone picks up the Print Gocco if Riso is no longer interested in making it. They owned the patent, true, but it dates from 1978 or something like that, so the patent is now in the public domain. (U.S. Patent number 4,091,727 if anyone is interested.)
Judging from the patent, there is a pretty precise relationship between the screen coating and the flashbulbs used. That said, regarding the flashbulbs, if they are really so difficult to get today since no one makes flashbulbs, maybe they could be replaced with permenent xenon flashtubes similar to the ones found on modern point & shoot cameras? Expensive, yes, but one wouldn't have to constantly be buying more of them.
In fact the original patent actually says that flashtubes are preferred over flashbulbs because it is irksome to replace them all the time! No doubt flashbulbs were chosen for the commercial product to keep the cost down.
Posted at 3:10am Jan 2, 2009 EST
Shame, I was just strying my printing research as this was coming to light so i've opted for screenprinting.
Lou, Original Design UK- Jewellery, Mosaic and Ceramics.
(50% off sale!!!)
Posted at 9:27am Jan 2, 2009 EST