Print/Signage Business Startup

[komanta1]

Calling all Printing Fundi's,

I have been in the graphics industry for over 5 years and I am looking to start up my own print business. I constantly outsource my printing to other printers who are always slow and take long to get back etc. I feel I can offer a better service for my clients and maybe other ideas. I am looking at getting a Large format printer and cutter maybe the 1.3m or 1.6m. I would like to ask would a 1.3m work to start up for shop signage, vehicle branding etc?

Or would I find that I would need to upgrade sooner than later? Another thing is would it be better to get a separate printer and a cutter than an all in one.

Can a solvent printer be used to do other media as well like business cards and posters/flyers?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Drew123]

I personally operated a Roland printer until recently for the signage company I work for and we used a 1.3m for about 5 years with no issues (bear in mind that we are one of the biggest signage companies in SA). We recently upgraded to a 1.6m wide printer and it is awesome to have those extra 300mm every so often but not essential.

Also our previous machine was a print and cut machine and it was never very accurate with the print and cut lines never matching up properly which was fine for bigger prints but on smaller things (anything under 100x100mm) it would be very noticeable. The new printer has a separate machine for cutting and it is a lot more accurate but our cutter has given us issues with picking up the registration marks that the printer prints in order for the cutter to know where to cut. Our supplier is swapping it out for us though so it was probably just this particular machine.

We use what they call a half solvent ink in our machines and business cards, flyers, posters and all that is no problem and it shouldn't be any different with a full solvent ink but obviously you will have to print onto printable media (even the paper has a special coating on it to stop the ink from blotting all over.)

If you have any other questions I'd be happy to answer them via PM.

 

[komanta1]

Thanks for the feedback I appreciate it.

I am going to ask a few of the suppliers on what the best solution for us will be, but it's always great to hear
feed back from users, rather than another sales person.

 

[Shoaybd]

I worked for a supplier to the digital printing business and I always get happy to see new businesses in this sector. I think the big guys make a lot of money in this country in this game. Do you know that in India and China its like $1/sqm and here guys charge sometimes R300/sqm.

Roland in the most established machine in the market and they are the only ones worldwide that are allowed to make a print and cut in one. There are other guys in the market but beware of the new chinese machines in the market, there is not much support for them. I cant tell you if print and cut in one is better but if you do go that route rather look for a 2nd hand Roland 760 print and cut and buy a wider print only machine. They are other 1.6m and 1.8m suppliers in the market that are cheaper and faster than Rolands, also ink is cheaper so your cost per meter will come down but I suggest talking to customers of the machine you interested in to get an idea of reliability and costs and weigh them up.

For printing on other media, you will have to buy the media that is compatible with solvent ink obviously but I don't think it is the ideal solution. But for a start it should be fine.

If you have any other questions I'd be happy to answer them via PM.

 

[Kalle]

Do you know that in India and China its like $1/sqm and here guys charge sometimes R300/sqm.

you can't buy decent material ( paper, vinyl eyc ) and the ink at $1/sqm and also a "cheap **** from China" printer costs money and needs maintenance!
R 100 - 150 / sqm seems to me the going rate now.

Roland in the most established machine in the market and they are the only ones worldwide that are allowed to make a print and cut in one.

So you say that my nice Mimaki cjv30-130 print and cut is an illegal printer? Utter nonsense. The Mimaki CJV's are even able to read registration marks like a good separate cutter and that'll save you a LOT of headaches and wasted prints.
I used to have a Roland and I know what I'm talking about.

If you have questions PM me.

Kalle

 

[Shoaybd]

Yes I know the costs. We imported and supplied all of this stuff and did support. And I also know the margins being made on all these items be it Avery vinyl, roll ups, pvc, etc.

I was just saying that in SA the costs of this stuff is much higher than in other countries. If you go to those countries then you will see that good quality signage is everywhere, that's because its so cheap. Price per sqm is variable in this country and it depends on your customer base. There are guys that do R100sqm and there are others that will never do lower than R300.

You are right, it seems Mimaki also. We had tried to get our printers to have print and cut in one machine, but we were told that these guys have the patent and we cannot although we had the technology and software.

As I said I dont know which is better all-in-one or separate cutter but I do know this country needs more guys with wider printers as there are to few guys doing wide prints and charging too much for it. In India I saw so many 3.2m in shacks.

you can't buy decent material ( paper, vinyl eyc ) and the ink at $1/sqm and also a "cheap **** from China" printer costs money and needs maintenance!
R 100 - 150 / sqm seems to me the going rate now.




So you say that my nice Mimaki cjv30-130 print and cut is an illegal printer? Utter nonsense. The Mimaki CJV's are even able to read registration marks like a good separate cutter and that'll save you a LOT of headaches and wasted prints.
I used to have a Roland and I know what I'm talking about.

If you have questions PM me.

Kalle

 

[Kalle]

I wouldn't even say its sooo expensive here in SA. If you look to European countries, they pay a lot more than we here.

The margins on the material are actually not that great, all these companies make the most money on ink, blades, spares and service.
With blades and service fees being the most ridiculous ones.
I wouldn't buy a machine without the service manuals...... because you can pay easy a grand to have a wiper changed on your machine.