Hi everyone. I am 100% new to this field.

[Lloydgard]

Like the title says. I have no background at all in this field. I am going to start doing a professional photography course soon and I have a bunch of ideas floating around in my head.

My main goal is to be able to start my own business and get away from working in the construction field of work where I am a red seal pipe fitter.

The big thing I am going to be looking for help in is finding what printer would be best for what I have in mind of doing. I will need one that can print high res on pretty much any surface (glass, ceramic, metal, wood.......).

I am am probably a year to a year and a half away from being able to start a business but would like to get everything sorted out and a good looking product before that time comes.

I currently live near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Looking forward to anything and everything I can learn here.
Lloyd

 

[dale911]

Welcome to signs 101. You need some serious cash to get into printing directly on those hard goods. You need a flatbed printer. Those are going to start at about $80k for the basics and go up from there. The good ones are well over $250k. You probably need to be looking for a wholesale printer to produce your products otherwise you need that machine to be running 8-16 hours a day to make it profitable. The other option you may look at would be due sublimation where you print onto paper and then heat press it onto a substrate such as glass or metal that has been purchased with a polyester coating applied to bond with the ink that gasses off during the sublimation process you can find those for under $3k but size is limited as well a the products you print onto.

Like the title says. I have no background at all in this field. I am going to start doing a professional photography course soon and I have a bunch of ideas floating around in my head.

My main goal is to be able to start my own business and get away from working in the construction field of work where I am a red seal pipe fitter.

The big thing I am going to be looking for help in is finding what printer would be best for what I have in mind of doing. I will need one that can print high res on pretty much any surface (glass, ceramic, metal, wood.......).

I am am probably a year to a year and a half away from being able to start a business but would like to get everything sorted out and a good looking product before that time comes.

I currently live near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Looking forward to anything and everything I can learn here.
Lloyd

 

[Lloydgard]

Thanks for the info.

Would like to get a flatbed printer but that may have to go on hold for a little bit. As for heat pressing onto these materials how good of image quality can be archived this way. I know it won't be enhanced but will I still be able to produce a quality product to achieve a client base before moving into a flatbed.

Welcome to signs 101. You need some serious cash to get into printing directly on those hard goods. You need a flatbed printer. Those are going to start at about $80k for the basics and go up from there. The good ones are well over $250k. You probably need to be looking for a wholesale printer to produce your products otherwise you need that machine to be running 8-16 hours a day to make it profitable. The other option you may look at would be due sublimation where you print onto paper and then heat press it onto a substrate such as glass or metal that has been purchased with a polyester coating applied to bond with the ink that gasses off during the sublimation process you can find those for under $3k but size is limited as well a the products you print onto.

 

[dale911]

Check out conde systems and search for dye sublimation blanks. They make aluminum blanks that have absolutely outstanding quality. The biggest problem is that the image has to be pressed at one time so you can't do a print that is larger than your heat press. The most common press is about 16x20. I have seen several art displays of the images pressed on aluminum and they are unreal. I have also seen tiles that have been pressed. If you want the best photo quality, this is the way to go but like I said, you are dependent on the blank items available. A commercial flatbed will give great prints as well but aren't geared to traditional art style photo prints. They are more for printing on 4x8 sheets of material often for packaging and pop displays.

Thanks for the info.

Would like to get a flatbed printer but that may have to go on hold for a little bit. As for heat pressing onto these materials how good of image quality can be archived this way. I know it won't be enhanced but will I still be able to produce a quality product to achieve a client base before moving into a flatbed.

 

[Lloydgard]

Thanks again for the response. If it is ok Dale I will private message you over the weekend and tell you some of the things I want to print. I would need both quantity and quality.

Check out conde systems and search for dye sublimation blanks. They make aluminum blanks that have absolutely outstanding quality. The biggest problem is that the image has to be pressed at one time so you can't do a print that is larger than your heat press. The most common press is about 16x20. I have seen several art displays of the images pressed on aluminum and they are unreal. I have also seen tiles that have been pressed. If you want the best photo quality, this is the way to go but like I said, you are dependent on the blank items available. A commercial flatbed will give great prints as well but aren't geared to traditional art style photo prints. They are more for printing on 4x8 sheets of material often for packaging and pop displays.

 

[The Big Squeegee]

Welcome from OK USA

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