MakeMyGraphic
New Member
Just trying to follow any protocol here. Hi everyone! I am an entrepreneur who has been working in the sign industry for about two years now, still have a LOT to learn.... started off as a graphic designer at a local sign shop making many customers happy, then the economy soured up and the company downsized clipping me off and replacing me with cheaper more inexperienced labour. The only experience I had at the time was vector designing and working with a huge old graphtec cutter plotter.... with only three hundred bucks to my name and an eeensy weensy car, I found someone parting out with an off-brand 24" plotter (Master Desay XY something) and a few rolls of materials so I made my first investment... after making a few sales with the plotter and getting my $300 back and then some, I re-invested that into a tow-hitch for my tiny car as well as a tiny wheelchair trailer to make my business mobile...
After a few months of mobile business and quite a bit of research I earned enough extra moola to invest in a smaller 15" Graphtec Craftrobo Pro model (sold by the optic eye since I was planning on getting a colored plotter soon) sold my old Master Desay for the original $300 I paid for it and continued working my arse off as well as doing a bit of research... kept encountering people bashing on ColorCamms on all sorts of forums so I tried to steer clear from it and instead made the mistake of purchasing an old arse Kodak Encad Chroma 24 with CIS which I thought was SUUUPER awesome (got it for 100 bucks) then upon doing MORE research I discovered that this was a bad decision due to the inks being so expensive and me not having the volume to go through enough inks fast enough to make up my losses, and also the fact that the printheads weren't being made for them anymore and the only place I could find them were on Ebay and they were each going for $100 a pop (and I would likely never find another afterwards) .... soooo after a few months of thinking I sold it for $80 and decided on the Thermal Printers after all...
I know people here don't seem to like the thermal printers I decided upon and that is fine... I am still learning and I did my own math and these are the reasons why I decided to go with what I have
1. I don't have the big enough volume to get an ink system
2. I don't have the $$$ right now to invest in a laminator
3. I don't have the space right now to have a laminator and a 24" plotter
4. Thermal cartridges will not dry out as quickly as ink
5. Thermal Resin colors are already UV, scratch, and water resistant to a point.
6. Most of my customers will be ordering small labels or decals and IF they are full color will be smaller than 12" in either direction ( since I know these printers have banding issues from time to time I told myself I would not go larger than 12" in either direction.
So far... I am loving these machines even though I sometimes want to pull my hair out but it is not the machine's fault any of those times, it is all because of lack of knowing how to properly use the machine... I am the type of person who wants to learn everything they can and I don't do leisure reading... instead of reading books like "Happy Potter" or "Hunger Games" or "Twilight" my bedtime reading consists of reading a fat manual for the newest device I have acquired.
All that said... I have a lot to learn about color correction and ICC profiles since this year will be my first year doing my own full color short run decals since I used to outsource for my stuff and it just doesn't make any sense to continue to do that when I can do the same stuff here in house faster.
my goal here is to read articles that will pertain to my plotters and learn from other people, I didn't even want to create this intro but I figured it's better to do that and lurk around than just flat out lurk around and then IF I encounter a problem then people might be more inclined to help someone who said something about themselves than just a random account who will register the very day they need help and then vanish upon receiving the help they sought... I am here to learn and the more I learn the better. I like many have been through some hardships but that's all part of living
I look forward to learning with everyone here!
After a few months of mobile business and quite a bit of research I earned enough extra moola to invest in a smaller 15" Graphtec Craftrobo Pro model (sold by the optic eye since I was planning on getting a colored plotter soon) sold my old Master Desay for the original $300 I paid for it and continued working my arse off as well as doing a bit of research... kept encountering people bashing on ColorCamms on all sorts of forums so I tried to steer clear from it and instead made the mistake of purchasing an old arse Kodak Encad Chroma 24 with CIS which I thought was SUUUPER awesome (got it for 100 bucks) then upon doing MORE research I discovered that this was a bad decision due to the inks being so expensive and me not having the volume to go through enough inks fast enough to make up my losses, and also the fact that the printheads weren't being made for them anymore and the only place I could find them were on Ebay and they were each going for $100 a pop (and I would likely never find another afterwards) .... soooo after a few months of thinking I sold it for $80 and decided on the Thermal Printers after all...
I know people here don't seem to like the thermal printers I decided upon and that is fine... I am still learning and I did my own math and these are the reasons why I decided to go with what I have
1. I don't have the big enough volume to get an ink system
2. I don't have the $$$ right now to invest in a laminator
3. I don't have the space right now to have a laminator and a 24" plotter
4. Thermal cartridges will not dry out as quickly as ink
5. Thermal Resin colors are already UV, scratch, and water resistant to a point.
6. Most of my customers will be ordering small labels or decals and IF they are full color will be smaller than 12" in either direction ( since I know these printers have banding issues from time to time I told myself I would not go larger than 12" in either direction.
So far... I am loving these machines even though I sometimes want to pull my hair out but it is not the machine's fault any of those times, it is all because of lack of knowing how to properly use the machine... I am the type of person who wants to learn everything they can and I don't do leisure reading... instead of reading books like "Happy Potter" or "Hunger Games" or "Twilight" my bedtime reading consists of reading a fat manual for the newest device I have acquired.
All that said... I have a lot to learn about color correction and ICC profiles since this year will be my first year doing my own full color short run decals since I used to outsource for my stuff and it just doesn't make any sense to continue to do that when I can do the same stuff here in house faster.
my goal here is to read articles that will pertain to my plotters and learn from other people, I didn't even want to create this intro but I figured it's better to do that and lurk around than just flat out lurk around and then IF I encounter a problem then people might be more inclined to help someone who said something about themselves than just a random account who will register the very day they need help and then vanish upon receiving the help they sought... I am here to learn and the more I learn the better. I like many have been through some hardships but that's all part of living
I look forward to learning with everyone here!
