I am not sure if this is information you are requesting, but you struck a nerve, so I responded.
The printer salesman is not going to tell you about additional operating costs for a wide format printer. For example, you should have a maintenance policy. Because in the middle of a big important job, your printer is going to break down. (And it is a rule -- this only occurs during a big and important job that you need to get out yesterday.)
You should also have some type of insurance, to protect your machine in case of a burglary (theft) or some other calamity. I know, because I suffered through a direct lightning strike on my shop and, had it none been for an expensive insurance policy, I would have been out of business.
And inventory, you will need to stock inks, the full sets, in case one print head is bad, which happens frequently, so you need two of each -- rolls of vinyls, banners materials, various widths, types. etc. The inventory stock alone is $5K, easy -- for a small production shop. You will need extra trash collection, because large format printers produce a lot of trash. That is an added expense. You are going to need an alarm system, if you don't have one already. You will be drawing more electric, so your electric bill will increase. You may need some type of exhaust system. That costs.
Then once you have the vinyl printer figured out, now we need to talk about a laminator. What does that run these days, about $500.00 a roll. Figure you will need about 6-10 of those on hand.
So the expenses just go on and on. The inks and the machine are probably
about a third of the costs to produce. So multiply x 3, and there's your cost.
I hope this was helpful -- maybe you thought of this stuff, or maybe you hadn't.
I was just trying to give you a realistic answer.
