[Andrew Martin]

There is a few other things you can try Mo
I take it your pc is dedicated to the rip only and running no AV software and no other usb peripherals as this can interfere with the rip sending to the printer.

Also if your using win7 try using xp or even win2k as that is rock solid, some might see this as a backward step but if the pc is dedicated to a rip function only then its no problem providing the rip runs on those operating systems, also try putting a anti surge protector on both the PC and printer.

[Andrew Martin]

A lot of councils now insist on using mesh banners if its to be hung across the road, so it maybe wise to check on whats specs are allowed.

[Andrew Martin]

Yes Stafford knows his stuff, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him publicly for nursing my JV3 1600s to full health a couple of weeks ago, I would recommend him to anyone needs a top rate engineer. 😎

[Andrew Martin]

Make sure you have a scsi terminal at the end of your scsi chain, thats important, also check what type of scsi cable and connector you have.. as there are many types and some look the same.

[Andrew Martin]

This place does flag heading and webbing tapes at all sizes…
http://www.rykneldtean.co.uk/

[Andrew Martin]

If you have a Anti Virus program running.. try turning it off

[Andrew Martin]

quote Mo Gillis-Coates:

quote Martin:

Think that is just the hanging system Mo, I use to use Boldscan & they sold just the mounting poles. Need to be careful how you make the pockets though as these can have a lot of wind loading on them.

Cheers Martin, fortunately, we have someone who works in out stitch dept on an industrial sewing machine, so we can hem them up like sails for a boat, they should be good and strong.

Thats how we do our banner hems too, much faster than taping

Sewing banners is definitely the way to go in my opinion… faster, stronger and cheaper in the long run too.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Roy Roffey:

We are getting Colourific JV3 for £80 per ltr and the chip for £3 per chip..

Do these chips work without any mods to the JV3 and where do you get the chips from? as i have a few Lt cyan and Lt magenta carts that are out of date now and at £3 per chip sounds good 😀

[Andrew Martin]

Martin… I get my canvas work from local photographers and from word of mouth from other private individuals.

Dave… As for laminating i do believe its beneficial, not for fade resistance though but more for protection of greasy fingers as it can be wiped clean, also it does make a difference to the colours making them more vibrant on waterbased pigment inks and dyes, not sure if the same applies to the colours on solvent printed canvas.

[Andrew Martin]

I print my canvas via a water based pigment Epson 10600 printer, and laminate with breathing colour liquid laminate in matte finish applied with a foam roller, but then I only do a few a month like this so its not a problem and my customers pays for quality.

If you find your ink scratches off due to your ink and canvas being not compatible then its good to laminate as its better not to waste a roll of canvas.
I regularly do canvases for a local photographer and he insists them to be laminated as it adds contrast to the colours as well as easier to clean greasy finger marks off, I have two samples of printed canvases to show potential customers, one laminated and one not and the difference can be seen.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Mo Gillis-Coates:

Sounds like you need the sliding banner frames for your client.. flexi track or something like that

Spandex do something

http://www.spandex.com/UK/sign_systems/ … Track.aspx

Still wont help the banner from tearing at the corner eyelets though Mo

[Andrew Martin]

This depends on how you finish your banners, what I do if extra corner strength is needed is to cut a triangular piece of 550gsm pvc and sew it into the corners at the back of the banner when the hems are being done, Also a piece of reinforced tape under the back of the eyelets helps too.

[Andrew Martin]

This online ink usage calculator maybe some use to some, although i dont know how accurate it is..
http://tulipinks.com/site/index.php/sup … calculator

Not sure why ink costs should not be discussed in an open forum Chris ?

[Andrew Martin]

Its all to easy to slag off something because its Chinese.. But I wonder how many people have actually bought one of those Chinese eyelet hand presses, I bought one over 18 months ago, its solidly built from cast iron and have put well over 2500 eyelets through it and its still ok with no problems even the dies still perform like new still.
I got mine from easygraphic.

[Andrew Martin]

I use TSMP9 from allprint… its a 180gsm fast dry paper for indoor use, they also do outdoor versions

[Andrew Martin]

Ordnance survey UK outline maps for free in various formats for download

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsi … tlinemaps/

[Andrew Martin]

I believe that maps (UK one at least) are copyright so finding a download may prove difficult to find, but having said that ordinance survey have free downloadable outline maps which maybe what your after.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Paul Hughes:

Hi Andrew

I dont understand what you mean by B2B? i would guess most signs are supplied to businesses, unless you make a lot of birthday banners or house names! or due you mean trade? to another sign maker /printer?
if so then no the guide is not set up for the latter. The guide is set up for the jobbing sign maker, van today, sign board tomorrow etc, it may not cover quantities that well as it is set up for individual jobs.

paul

Most of my B2B customers are large businesses that are the end users, and sometimes they need a quantity of banners, so obviously i have to price accordingly, but on the odd occasion they may require just one, i used the price guide once for this and it did not go down very well… its a fine balancing act to get digital prices right these days.

I have a few trade customers and they are quoted on completely different.. as you say the guide is not set up for this.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Paul Hughes:

Hi Andrew,

Dont forget the Price it guide prices are for one off jobs not this type of repeat multi order, i say in the beginning that it is a ‘guide’ and can not be all things to all men, i hope most would agree the guide price of £282.65 is far nearer to the mark for a one off.

Andrew Martin said
Also that certain price guide has over inflated prices of what you should charge, if your using that guide for B2B customers you will get no work.

the guide does not over inflate any prices, they are real prices surveyed for sign makers all over the country and compiled to form an average price, at no point do i say you must charge the price in the guide, i just present it as market research resulting in the presentation of the average market price for a given job, sure there are high and low prices all over mainly due to over capacity in the local market but to say they are over inflated is unfair. as for my own sign business i use the guide all the time and have more than enough work, Andrew Martin you must be in a very tough market if you think you would not get any work at the UKs average prices or may be you are marketing to the wrong type of customers? if you are happy with what you get, then good for you, i just dont want or have to work at prices below the guides prices, it is very easy to sell your self short in this industry.

The guide is just that a guide, it will work well for some and less for others.

as for the original question, my take on it would be unless they order largish batches then the price is too cheap, been there done that, you will end up driving 20 miles to fit one sign. give the discount on confirmed orders not on the promise of future jobs, which rarely turn up.

Paul

Ok Paul maybe I was a little too harsh on the price it guide which I bought out of curiosity, But 90% of my work is digital printing and 70% of this is B2B and I make a reasonable profit from this as I do quantities. But your guide is geared towards cut vinyl and I cant see the market would stand those prices in your guide, even if I used your guide for pricing digital print via the full colour layout price for a one off banner my business customers would go to the cut price people that the internet is full of… even the average Joe public knows they can buy print very cheaply.
I don’t try to under cut the cheap Internet prices, neither do I price too high but I still make a living.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Dave Rowland:

when the print head cover is off… u see the two black coin screws, under them is some fragile (easily broken) screws that just hold the carriage onto the back plate.

I take this off…. then the whole thing lifts up… BUT, i do take all the other bits off like the Thick/Thin selector and the metal bit on the front and the capping holders, but when u done it hundreds of times, you get used to it and can turn a 50min job into a 20min job.

BUT… this is engineer level… there is a 50% chance of screwing up the machine

You supposed to clean with the long swabs… u can get a little finger in.

Also doing the edges is only hald the problem to getting a good seal

Thats exactly how i do mine… just be aware when moving the thick/thin lever that you don’t damage the ribbon cables to the heads.

[Andrew Martin]

In this economic climate if your a small business and your work is B2B you will find a lot of people will work for very little profit making it hard to compete, in extreme cases for a short term strategy some will work for no profit as its better to break even than to have no work and go bust.

Also that certain price guide has over inflated prices of what you should charge, if your using that guide for B2B customers you will get no work.

[Andrew Martin]

I use posterprint rip for my epson on canvas, it supports many printers at different widths including my Mimaki but i use Shriaz for that one.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Dave Rowland:

if u got a pdf for printing… then print it!

He may have an older rip that sometimes has trouble with newer pdf files.. I use acrobat pro to either convert to eps or re save as pdf which works for me most of the time.

I find the pdf files made with indesign are the worst ones to deal with

[Andrew Martin]

As your going to laminate your vinyl the Epson will work providing you get suitable vinyl for aqueous (water based) inks.

piezo ink jet printing applies to solvent or water based printers… it referes to the piezo print heads the print machines use.

[Andrew Martin]

Is your black is made from cmyk ?… if your black print is turning green its more like your magenta head is blocked

[Andrew Martin]

quote David Hammond:

Many thanks for the replies.

I ordered my bars from Art-Bloc last time. I know they do canvas, but not sure how they compare on price.

I really think this is the way forward – I can lower my unit price as I will stock the bars, and hopefully sell more units.

I get frustrated when I have stock in for months on end, and rarely use it.

I get my cotton canvas from Artbloc also, but i use an epson pigment ink printer for this… the colours with this combo are way better than using a solvent printer in my opinion.

[Andrew Martin]

As most of my work is in printing banners, i have to say that the wider printer is the most useful in my opinion.
For me 50m rolls is ok in smaller widths, anything wider than 110cm its a 30m roll on my JV3 160… but am talking about pvc media.

[Andrew Martin]

If your machine was switched off at the mains before the the cleaning fluid came in contact with the print head circuit and you dried it thoroughly before switching on then i would guess no electrical damage was caused.

Its more likely the action of air being blown around the head/circuit has evaporated the solvent on the nozzles and left the pigment clogging them.

[Andrew Martin]

Mo.. heres a link to the service manual for the HP 5500 laserjet

http://www.freeprintermanuals.com/PM/HP … Manual.pdf

[Andrew Martin]

Mo.. I think its how the photo is prepared in photoshop and assigning profiles to it etc, that same demo image of the climbing gear was used to demo a printer where i last worked… we could not acheive the same results with any other photo

[Andrew Martin]

Nice work Mo, its encouraging to see smaller companies gain new contracts like this 😀

[Andrew Martin]

Mo.. Have you tried AIT their based in Kent (Sittingbourne) they do mainy mimaki servicing, but i believe they will service other makes.

[Andrew Martin]

PVC banner pole pockets should be ideally sewn with twin seams for max strength.

[Andrew Martin]

All drain pipes from capping station must be fully clear for full suction to occur, i find yellow/cyan drain pipe is the worst to clog up on a JV3

[Andrew Martin]

Thanks people… also i meant to say compatible to print on a solvent ink machine.

[Andrew Martin]

Hugh it can be done, PM me.. i have the tools to do it

[Andrew Martin]

quote John Dorling:

I believe there is a little tab on the bottom of the cart nearest the machine which is pushed out by the ink in the bag inside the cart. It is this which tells the machine how much ink is left. It seems to me like a very low tech method and is probably half the reason why the machine is so bad at knowing how much ink is left. Also they can get stuck so it might be worth giving them a wiggle and putting them back in when the machine says a cart is empty. Also I’m sure you could easily fool the machine into thinking it has ink left but as has been said – at your own risk as it could cause lots of problems!

John

Indeed this is a very crude method of ink detection… i have had my printer register no ink when it was at least half full…a quick phone call to my cart supplier and they sent me a new chip as it was only a few weeks old… of course need to keep a very close eye on ink the level.

Does anyone know where new jv3 chips can be bought ? i have two carts that are nearly date expired ..lc and lm the least used ones 🙁

[Andrew Martin]

On my Mimaki jv3 i only get 10cc left in my carts when told its empty.

i have sucked out all my ink in my "empty" magenta carts to refill one which was nearly empty to do a job with no problems.
Inside those carts is a plastic foil bag be careful not to Peirce the bag with the needle.

[Andrew Martin]

Nowdays I’m not sure if paying for an ad in yell.com or any other online directory has much (if any) value, if you put yourself in your potential customers shoes most will go and search on Google for what their looking for in their area eg: printers in Suffolk and get the relative results.

Having a free ad in some online directories helps showing up in these google results if your prepared for the sales people to ring you to upgrade etc.

[Andrew Martin]

I use pliers too, but there is a tool called a Stretchmate which makes the process easier.. ideal if you have a large batch of canvases to stretch.

[Andrew Martin]

You should be paying around £2.50p first class post… that is what i pay for sending similar sizes in postal tubes, here is the site for the size of what you can send by royal mail…
http://www2.postoffice.co.uk/letters-pa … size-guide

Obviously the heavier your tube and its contents are the more cost it will be.

[Andrew Martin]

Surly if you are going to the trouble of casting thick brass blanks i would have thought it would be better to buy a CNC mill type machine to make a wooden or plastic patten for the sand cast mold as cast name plates look better than engraved ones in my opinion.

[Andrew Martin]

You surprise me there… I worked until recently for one of the few companies left in the UK that still made silk screen printed flags before they shut down, most of the flag mounting hardware they supplied was brought in from JMS flagpoles before Bannerbox bought them up and I never known any of those rotating flag arms to break, even the ones supplied by Bannerbox.

Try here for rotating flag arms..

http://www.flyingcolours.org

[Andrew Martin]

I think the name your after is Rotating Flag Arm type flag pole, Bannerbox used to sell the them at one time, i believe you just buy the rotating part to attach to a std 60mm alloy flag pole.

[Andrew Martin]

I’m not sure about your versacamm setup but on my Mimaki using Shiraz rip theres a option to print B/W only which uses black ink only with no other colours hence removing any colour cast.

[Andrew Martin]

Just a thought… can the power be controlled by the software as well as a control panel on the machine ?, as one maybe overriding the other setting that you think has not changed.

[Andrew Martin]

If your talking about brass sail eyelets then try here…
http://www.Dtpsupplies.com
http://www.Fhtomkins.com

I assume the measurement your needing is the inside dia of the eyelet in which case both have one of 12.70mm.

You also need to be aware that the eyelets needed for some of those hand presses have parallel shanks for self piercing rather than the tapered ones suitable for hand punches and auto feed machines only.

[Andrew Martin]

But it could be that your power supply is pulsing in which case the striking voltage of the tube cannot be sustained causing poor weak and poor quality output of the tube.
Its a bit like a dodgy fluorescent tube flickering/pulsing because the striking voltage is too weak.
But lets hope the beam alignment is out as Rodney has suggested, as this will probably be a lot cheaper to get fixed.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Mo Gillis-Coates:

BUT… they still have my bank card details on file, which worries me. I don’t want to go through the hassle of cancelling the card and having to update all my other accounts, which I’m told is the only way to secure it!

All I can say guys, I have have wasted about £7-900 with this advertising, it returned me the sun total of diddly squat!

If you paid by direct debit then cancel the direct debit at your bank after you cancel the contract with motortrades or if by paid by card call for a charge back on the grounds of unauthorized payments, but again make sure you cancel the agreement with motortrades first, certain cards protect you better against this sort of thing than others.

[Andrew Martin]

Having looked at the Allprint site they do indeed have a lot of vinyl and sell it by the meter too, However not being vinyl savvy i have no idea whats best to use… Can anyone suggest the cheapest printable white vinyl suitable for applying to a vehicle, its not for a wrap just basically a couple of large 600mm x 1000 rectangular stickers for a side of a large van that have to last a year and be taken off without damage etc.

[Andrew Martin]

Thanks for the advice Peter… but i need to find out where i can obtain a small roll/quantity from.

[Andrew Martin]

How many hours use has the laser tube had ? it could be that its degrading or that the power supply is weak… check any transformers for heat damage and check any capacitors for leaks as well as resistors for heat damage.

[Andrew Martin]

Nice one.. Good luck with your new workshop Mo 😀

[Andrew Martin]

You say you had 20 + blocked nozzles and a few deflections, But after
many head cleans later you have 4 blocked and 25 bad deflections..so it sounds like to me that ink is being pulled through and at least your going in the right direction as far as unblocking the nozzles, try soaking the heads in flush solution, is there a nozzle wash facility on your machine to do this ?

[Andrew Martin]

Nobby… you maybe able to download the windows drivers for this machine from the manufactures website (assuming you use windows) then you should be able to print from most applications.

[Andrew Martin]

I used the flush thats compatable with my inks… i injected 10cc very slowly with a damper attached using a syringe and tubing from an old pump.

[Andrew Martin]

I have changed DX4 printheads on my mimaki, there is a few pitfalls to look out for which will be probably simular to a Roland, then you have the problem of head alignment, this took me longer to do than change the head itself.

As mentioned water based heads will need their manifolds and o rings changed for solvent type use.

But you will need to flush heads of water based heads prior to using them for solvent use as they ship with a slight water based fluid in them.

The other thing is on water based DX4 heads there is two head id stickers on top of each other, the top one is for the intended water based use under this is the id you need for solvent use.

[Andrew Martin]

99% of the banners i do will have their hems sewn as its faster and neater than a welder, but if for joining two pieces together then welding maybe considered, but if the joint runs through the print you could end up with a lot of ruined banner.

If your applying vinyl graphics to the banner then this may not be an issue.

[Andrew Martin]

I have lost a customer for a banner because i could not (would not) compete with vistaprint prices.

Does anyone have first hand knowledge of their banner quality ?

[Andrew Martin]

quote Mo Gillis-Coates:

Blimey, do people still buy software?????

For a minute there Mo i thought you was admitting to some thing dodgy …lol

[Andrew Martin]

I have had this problem with PDF files, if you have acrobat pro you can save it as an earlier version of PDF or save it as a EPS, 9 times out of ten this cures the problem especially if you have an older RIP which has problem’s with newer PDF files.

[Andrew Martin]

Well done That should do it, nobody likes embarrassment especially when it comes to owing a debt.

[Andrew Martin]

My customers who send me artwork for their large banners usually send artwork scaled at either 25% or 50% and i never have a problem, unless they have used low res images in their designs.

Don’t get me wrong Alan I was just curious to know why a full size artwork is really necessary.

[Andrew Martin]

excuse my ignorance here… but why do you need to make such a large PDF ?

[Andrew Martin]

I have never had this problem.. I have had late payers but never non-payers… yet.

I would pursue this debt even if it has dragged on, it’s the principle of the matter that counts here, she knows shes in the wrong, So how about asking one of your pub locals for say 20% of the collected debt to walk into her shop when there’s customers there and demand immediate payment, the last thing she would need is the embarrassment of unpaid debt mentioned in front of customers.
As long as there is no threatening behavior it should provide a result.

[Andrew Martin]

Thanks Gavin 😀

[Andrew Martin]

If your using a industrial sewing machine try using a "ring foot" rather than a standard foot as the ring foot does not mark the print.

[Andrew Martin]

quote Tim Painter:

Difference between Un-coated & Coated is NOT one is Matt one is Gloss.

It actually comes from litho print lorraine.

Un-coated paper stock has no pigment applied which mean inks absorb more.

Un-coated stock is bond paper like copy paper an open grain with no seal to put it simply.
Coated is either Matt, Gloss or Silk with a seal in simple terms.

On Un-coated paper stocks litho inks are partially absorbed which causes the ink to not be as vibrant.
On Coated stocks there is very little absorption and inks dry by solvent evaporation.

Vinyl is more like coated paper so go for coated swatches.

The 2 types of Pantone swatch are printed on different paper stock to show how each colour will appear. Un-coated paper stock obviously for the Un-coated version, Coated paper stock for the coated version.

The process of printing pantone swatches may be printed by litho and is used for that particular print process, but visually the difference between uncoated and coated is matt and gloss which is what Lorraine wanted to know.
I have already stated that most people use coated numbers, as vinyl is mostly gloss and that should be obvious, when I printed textiles and other media which were not reflective, uncoated pantone reference numbers was used.

[Andrew Martin]

quote David-Foster-:

Thanks all, yes Andrew I would prefer quality so refilling them may be a better solution. I know you need to get new chipped empty cartridges and I can get the better ink.

It is for photographs, not the batch printing of 1000’s of leaflets.

On mine i dont need new chipped carts… there is a key press sequence via the control panel to reset ink levels but it depends on what pixma model you have.

[Andrew Martin]

Jean … Try this one

---

Attachments:

Veolia environmentalservices.eps

[Andrew Martin]

David… you can get a continuous ink system for your canon pixma here…
http://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/ciss/ci … n-printers

But the quality of ink may not be up to all that unless you just documents etc.

I myself stick to just refilling carts on my canon pixma MP460 😀

[Andrew Martin]

Lorraine… the difference between uncoated and coated pantone swatches is the uncoated is matt and the coated is glossy, i find most people quote coated pantone ref numbers, and the ref number for a colour in both swatches looks very different.

[Andrew Martin]

I guess when you say niche market you mean exclusive t-shirt designs, thats slighty different if your the only source.

[Andrew Martin]

I have a Epson 10600 which uses ultrachrome inks, its eariler than the 9800 but essentially the same machine, very reliable and will do all the things you listed except vinyl work which i use a mimaki jv3 for.

[Andrew Martin]

@Mo

With all the cheap vinyl wall art, canvas prints and banners etc on fleabay auction sites I find it hard to believe that excess of £5k per Month can be had, everything is so cheap there with people just trying to be competitive with others, some even offer free postage !! you would have to be working 24/7 just to make ends meet.

Back to Simons original post.. IF you can get printable vinyl for the Epson 3880 it may be possible to do internal wall decals but I was under the impression that this printer is aimed at printing photo paper only.

[Andrew Martin]

As your printing paper cant you refill your carts if your just using black ?.. its a lot cheaper that way

[Andrew Martin]

If you have a multimeter measure the voltage of your transformer then measure the current in amps with all your leds on.

To find out your total wattage multiply the volts by the amps and that gives you the ideal rating in watts for your transformer.
I would think that using a 30watt instead of a 40watt would be ok for low voltage lighting as LEDs use very little current.

[Andrew Martin]

Mo… what you have to remember is that all monitors only display RGB, so your printed output will not look the same because printers can not print RGB.

[Andrew Martin]

Even at 130mm x 130mm, 5000 off looks like its going to be a very labour intensive job, hope the customers deadline for job completion is not to near.

[Andrew Martin]

Thanks for the input Dave, yes its a metal fronted machine.
I’m going to get a sample mag sheet to try, I was wondering about head strikes but i have had other thick media through this machine before with no probs.

[Andrew Martin]

Leaving it may work providing the software/printer does not time out like my Shiraz/Mimaki combination.

[Andrew Martin]

Sounds like you need to find another print company who can deal with such a simple task..

[Andrew Martin]

Digital Cromalin info here…

http://www2.dupont.com/Products/en_RU/Cromalin_en.html

I dont think it applies to the mimaki or Roland type printers that most people have on here.

[Andrew Martin]

Cromalin is colour proofing, some print rips have a cromalin simulation function

[Andrew Martin]

I know what you mean, Try here…

http://www.bannerbox.co.uk/cafe-windbreaks.php

[Andrew Martin]

My Anti Virus of choice is Avast pro

[Andrew Martin]

Nice work David… lol

[Andrew Martin]

I’m not familiar with Flexi, but on some programs if your design is in the middle of a A4 sheet on the screen then you export to PDF then the whole A4 will be part of your file hence lots of white area.

[Andrew Martin]

I agree Dave… but it is a handy tool if you have nothing else at hand, and as you say the best way is with swatches.

[Andrew Martin]

Are you trying to convert BS colours or RAL colours to CMYK ?

Try this cheap utility

http://www3.economy-x-talk.com/file.php … -converter

[Andrew Martin]

quote Robert T Walker:

Hi Andy

Victory do them,
I’ve used them before so i can vouch for the quality

http://www.victorydesign.co.uk/products … _id/breeze

Robert

Thanks for the link Robert… i will be buying them from here.

[Andrew Martin]

Very nice workshop 😀

[Andrew Martin]

I ended up buying this guide in the end out of curiosity, but found it not much use for me as i print only and its aimed at people who cut and apply graphics etc.

[Andrew Martin]

Yes two pieces of printed pvc mesh will work back to back, the image quality is not to bad if the image is made up of dark colours.

[Andrew Martin]

Ok i will phone them tomorrow…. thanks Colin

[Andrew Martin]

I can only see the A4 ones on yuan yuan.. 😕

[Andrew Martin]

quote Martin:

I know a few people on here use them and think they are great so just thought I would ask a question to see if anyone can help.

Got a black & white jpeg image that I need to vectorise, would be hours of work in inspire which is what I use for signmaking. Thought I would give vector magic a try as you get 2 free conversions if you sign up. Uploaded file, converted and it looks to have done a good job with very little additional editing required but having downloaded it as an eps it now won’t open in the software I use.

Think I followed their steps correctly but wondered if someone might be able to help.

Post the EPS result and i will see if i can open it

[Andrew Martin]

I have used the clear ones when the customer does not want the eyelets to spoil the print at the edge of the banner, but i try to avoid using them as my main concern about them is their not self piercing 🙁

[Andrew Martin]

On my banners i place them every 18 inches or 36 inches depending on the length of banner

[Andrew Martin]

If your only going to be printing a few banners then its not worth the investment in a print machine.

There’s plenty of money to be made if printing is your main business despite the competition in it, but i think there is just as much competition in vinyl sign making.

There is maintenance to consider for a print machine.. but its no big deal, and for me the learning curve for printing was easy compared with cutting and applying vinyl to signs which i sub out to a local vinyl graphics firm.