What Printer to buy

[Bill Dewison]

You might get away with something like the PC60 (costs about £1k – £1.5k second hand). Its older brother is the PC600, again it would do the size you require.

The only solvent printer I know of that doesn’t require laminating is the Cadet, but I don’t have much knowledge of the field.

Welcome to uksignboards as well, just noticed its your first post 😀

Cheers, Dewi

[Kingfob]

Thanks for the information, but could you please expand what make is a PC60 or 600

Regards
King Fob 😎

[storeinet]

http://www.promarktech.com/prepress/pri … d/pc60.htm

[Mike Antrum]

I’d forget the PC60. Way too expensive to run, and not really suitable for A3 at any real quality. Also slow.

You’d also really have to be doing some printing to get a return from a solvent printer as they start at not far off 10k, but the numbers may stack up for you. The cost of output depends on what you are printing, of course, but an average cost is around £ 3.75 per sq/m plus the material cost.

I’m guessing, but it sounds as if you are laminating using one of those inexpensive pouch laminators. The pouches for these are really expensive. If you invested in a roll fed encapsulator (around £ 1.5k for a decent one) your cost of laminating would drop dramatically. You can also get laminate film which is self adhesive on the other side. I think that this might be the way to go. If you are already running a roll fed encapsulator then ignore me ! 😀

Regards,

Mike Antrum.

[Rodney Gold]

Have a look at this post of mine.
https://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=7690
Its IDEAL for promotional items etc

[Kingfob]

Thanks for all your input.
Yes we are using a film roller laminator and the Busjet sounds a fantastic machine, but it is not listed in England. Just a couple of sites in America, Holland & Korea. E-mailed but no reply!
Can you advise would you have to keep feeding it manually or does it have any auto feed.
Our typical run is 50 A3 sheets 4-5 times a week.
Thanks again
King Fob 😀

[Rodney Gold]

It has a system whereby it has a timer and you can set the no of prints , We make shuttles and templates and sort of palletize feed it , very simple to get registration etc.
The Dutch (I think he’s belgian) guy is very helpful.
It not a fantastic paper printer tho , and if you were doing paper and didnt want to print onto anything else like the object itself , I would buy a bulk ink epson 1290 or the like at a MUCH cheaper price.
Durability , even with a full solvent printer , on anything that is going to be handled is very suspect unless its a very short duration item. For example I wouldnt print an image on vinyl that would be applied to a Zippo lighter and expect tit to last any length of time.
the Busjet IS a solvent or a solvent based printer based on a 1290 , and the epson 1290 can be converted to a full solvent printer relatively easily , however you would need a heater to preheat and post heat the vinyl if printing. Laminating is actually the answer for absolute peace of mind etc.
Bear in mind that apart from other issues , most large format printers cannot achive the vibrancy and detail a laser or a desktop printer can , so if your image has teeny text etc – you might not print that as well.
Why not sub out the work to someone with a print and cut machine , they can print , cold pressure lam and then cut at most likely around 30-35 quid a sq m , IE 4 quid a A3 Dunno if thats economical for you , you would have no material cost , printer cost or hassle doing it this way

[Rodney Gold]

Just as an aside , it sounds like you doing keytags (King Fob?)
You could print and dome them with Resin rather than laminating , makes for a much more expensive looking product too.