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Vinyl Graphic Printing, Advice on Printer to buy Please
Hi, I’m looking in to printing my own graphics and am sick of giving others the work the only problem i have is my budget of up to £1000. i want something cheap and cheerful to start me off rather than going head first into a brand new £7500 Roland printer cutter that may take years to pay for itself. the printer i buy needs to be able to print graphics on outdoor use vinyl to be used on vehicles, signs, windows ect.
I’ve searched and searched for hours for printers other than the big names such as Roland and mimaki ect and all i can find are hp designjets. they say they print on to vinyl or coated vinyl or colourfast vinyl but i don’t have a clue if this would print on to normal vinyl or digital print media? i also don’t know if the inks used would be OK outdoors or if it will only print on to hp’s own self adhesive vinyl which seems expensive and i don’t know if it will do the job?
it doesn’t seem right to me to buy a hp to do these type of print jobs so i may be looking in the completely wrong area but as I’m only used to working with my plotter and vinyl, printing is a whole new area for me.
i can find a Roland fj500 for £1600 and an encad novajet 850i for £1400 but i wasn’t looking to spend more than £1000 as i don’t know if this is going to be a profitable move for me until i have one and put it out there?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, even just guidance on the names of machines i should be looking at buying and what spec or ink type they would need to have would be a start. I’m looking at 24 inch being smallest media width and approx 60 inch being largest.
Many thanks, Zoe
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11 Replies
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I’m sorry to say Zoe, you are wasting your time, there is no ‘cost effective’ way into this (thank goodness) otherwise every cowboy would have a printer.
I would recommend that you carry on subing out your work and buy when you have the £10K available.
Good luck
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quote Zoe Run Rite Signs:Hi, I’m looking in to printing my own graphics and am sick of giving others the work the only problem i have is my budget of up to £1000. i want something cheap and cheerful to start me offSorry Zoe – but your opening paragraph has put me right off.
If you’re going into digital print it requires a degree of commitment that doesn’t come across from your opening statement.
It’s no use having a digital printer – you need to know/learn how to use it to get any kind of return on it. There’s a big learning curve required for anyone going into digital print properly. If you think £1000 is too much to spend then you need to think again. That £1000 is what you need to spend on software alone. Never mind buying the actual hardware.
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Did you do the signwork on the breakdown and service vehicles?
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Hi
If your on about Hp printers have a chat to Jill from William Smiths,the hp8000s is really good but she will explain more and can arrange a demo for you.
One thing I will say is only get one if your getting the work in for it otherwise sub the work out and take your cut as it may sound good to buy a printer but what money are you going to get from it
Gary -
Free business tip. If you can’t make money selling subbed out print your not going to make money selling print you can produce yourself.
Once you start selling enough subbed out print you can work out the costs of producing the work yourself and any additional benefit to your business from extra profit derived from producing this work yourself. Only then should you decide on buying a printer and only then you’ll realise its beneficial investing in the proper machinery.
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If you are subbing out print work and spending 5k plus for it per year then take the plunge and get yourself a printer but be prepared to spend 5x or more than your current budget………..if not then keep subbing it out
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quote Neil Davey:Did you do the signwork on the breakdown and service vehicles?
Hi i do do vinyl signwork on any vehicle, i have done a few local breakdown and recovery companies in birmingham and mot stations using reflectives or florescents depending on the budget.
zoe
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quote Phill:quote Zoe Run Rite Signs:If you think £1000 is too much to spend then you need to think again. .
Hi i dont think £1000 is too much to spend i know it barely even touches what i need to spend but it is all i am willing to spend as a trial to see if its worth spending big money.
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Zoe,
If you find a vinyl printer for that sort of money, it will only be suitable for the dustbin.
Like the others have said, if you cant sell enough bought in graphics, to justify buying your own machine, then wait untill you can,Peter
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quote Zoe Run Rite Signs:Hi i dont think £1000 is too much to spend i know it barely even touches what i need to spend but it is all i am willing to spend as a trial to see if its worth spending big money.To use an analogy,
You want to start a serious 4×4 hire business and are not sure if it’ll take off or not.
So you spend £10k on a cheap Fiat Panda 4×4 to test the market but what you REALLY want is a £60k Range Rover as constantly telling people that it’s unsuitable for certain activities is ruining your reputation.
Both entirely different machines, difference capabilities, different clients / end users.
You can spend a grand on a vinyl printer – and it will produce stunning looking garbage – suitable only for the lightest of duty prints and indoor items. Certainly not the stuff that will make you money.
Know what I mean? You don’t get something for nothing.
Like most people I was buying in prints for years before I got my own.
you can’t dabble and sell a quality, outdoor durable product…that’s why they are expensive.
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quote Zoe Dugard:it is all i am willing to spend as a trial to see if its worth spending big money.But if you find out it isn’t worth spending big money, you’ve just wasted a grand!
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