• Vinyl

  Very newbie ques about xbike and other outdoors applications

  Posted by Gianni Pellizza on 19 February 2009 at 10:13

  Hi,

  just registered, posting after a good search trough old posts where something I have understand…this is not my business so I’m really in trouble.
  Given that I’m quite fine with gfx software (photo shop) I’d like to know which should be considered the very start low end cheaper system to print and cut motocross style graphics and similar outdoor applications.

  Actually I’ve been proposed to do these sort of items and this should be considered something like second or very side job…so I don’t want to invest too much and at same time I don’t want to do only graphics and depend on outsourcing because I’ll need lot of practice and testing times.

  Vinyl should be "moto wrap laminates" "Convex" or "graphicms" I believe.

  

  Gianni Pellizza replied 16 years, 9 months ago 5 Members · 6 Replies
• 6 Replies

• 

  Ian Muir

  Member

  19 February 2009 at 10:28

  Hi Gianni, welcome.

  As far as I understand you want PRINT and cut, not just cut so I imagine for bike graphics you would be looking for a new Roland 300 (75cm print & cut I think), these are about 7-10.000 euro.

  Ian :lol1:

• 

  Gianni Pellizza

  Member

  19 February 2009 at 13:29

  Yes, right, I’ll take a look at that model.

  edit:
  this? : http://www.rolanddg.com/product/color/c … _300v.html

  Getting a simpler printer and a simpler cutter (plotter) (so 2 machines) could be cheaper? maybe trough used deals I mean.

  tnks in advance

• 

  Hugh Potter

  Member

  19 February 2009 at 13:50

  hi Gianni,

  i’ve looked into this myself (print, not motoX) and there is no cheap way about it, you could buy a 2nd user printer, but even those (if good) will get £3-6000 gpb.

  the other problem with moto X decals is that they need to be heavily laminated (all the decals i’ve seen are anyway) which wold require a laminator too, then there’s the problem that most moto X’ers don’t want to pay much!

  cheers,
  Hugh

• 

  Mike Fear

  Member

  19 February 2009 at 17:03

  Agree with the others – at the least you will need an SP300 and a good laminator, so with a seperate PC to run them and bits and bobs you’re looking at close to £10,000 to set up.

  A second hand printer can be a good deal, but bear in mind the heads are very expensive to fix if they go wrong, and you are unlikely to get a guarantee with a used printer, plus any downtime on a printer while waiting to be repaired will mean delays for the customer.

  The material is also very expensive compared to normal print vinyls and laminates, which means you have to charge the customer a lot more for them.

  To be honest, unless you have a lot of work already lined up, its going to be pretty hard to make back the money and make any decent profit out of it.

• 

  Jason Bagladi

  Member

  19 February 2009 at 17:42

  It’s not just the equipment you need to consider, but also the templates can be difficult to come by. There are a few people selling them but the quality can vary dramatically.
  It also helps if you have an good knowledge of the sport as the amount of people asking for graphics similar to Chad Reeds or Bubbas will mean very little to Mr Joe Public.
  There are already quite a few people doing MX graphics already….some better than others.

• 

  Gianni Pellizza

  Member

  20 February 2009 at 14:29

  Really pleased by all your answers. 🙂

  I put my last two cents in the case someone in the future look at with same interest.

  I found that motowrap is by far the most used vinyl, more than Convex, because cheaper. I hoped to find a material that not need to be laminated (print-cut&go) with no luck, btw, difficult to explain in english, but a guy in italy seems that he prints mirrowed on a transparent vinyl than he places a bihadesive transparent to, cut the shape and go. Not very durable but easy to do.

  Useful (for me..)link about convex and motowrap:
  http://www.hyatts.com/sign/3.39

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