Looking for some advice from the pros

[Tonya.Nehren]

Hey Y'All!

I operate a small in-house print shop for our school district and I'm looking for some recommendations and/or advice:

1) Proof Approval - Does anyone use a affordable program that they love?

2) Substrate - We don't have a flatbed and currently outsource all our signage orders. I've been experimenting with printing on substrate and adhering to corrugated material, but I haven't found a affordable water proof, high adhesive material. Looking for rolls of 36" or 42" width.

3) Press Supplies - I have a Ryobi 3302 and I'm finding difficult to get supplies/chemicals for it lately. Who do y'all use?

4) Preflight for dummies - My current print production staff has 30+ year of experience in the industry. I'm wanting to cross train myself and some of our other staff on preflight. Does anyone have recommendations for trainings available? We don't need to be masters, we just need enough knowledge to be dangerous.

Thanks Friends!

 

[Stacey K]

1. There are many programs out there people use, Shopvox comes to mind, others will chime in. Most are subscription based.

2. Isn't that a paper printing press? You would need to print on vinyl and I'm not sure if the ink would work with the vinyl and if it needs to be cured, etc. You would have to invest in a vinyl printer like an HP 115 (or something entry level) and also the prints would need to be laminated so you need a laminator. Paper printing and vinyl printing processes are quite different.

 

[Pauly]

4. A lot of larger and/or popular RIP softwares have tutorials on youtube like onyx or caldera, and offer additional training. start with youtube as it's free.

 

[Aardvark Printing]

Hey Y'All!

I operate a small in-house print shop for our school district and I'm looking for some recommendations and/or advice:

1) Proof Approval - Does anyone use a affordable program that they love?

2) Substrate - We don't have a flatbed and currently outsource all our signage orders. I've been experimenting with printing on substrate and adhering to corrugated material, but I haven't found a affordable water proof, high adhesive material. Looking for rolls of 36" or 42" width.

3) Press Supplies - I have a Ryobi 3302 and I'm finding difficult to get supplies/chemicals for it lately. Who do y'all use?

4) Preflight for dummies - My current print production staff has 30+ year of experience in the industry. I'm wanting to cross train myself and some of our other staff on preflight. Does anyone have recommendations for trainings available? We don't need to be masters, we just need enough knowledge to be dangerous.

Thanks Friends!

For your 3302 Printers Parts LA has been very helpful. (626) 447-1171. I'd avoid the Florida location. I proof everything in PDF. For preflight for PDF I use the Acrobat preflight option under print production. It'll catch most issues.

 

[RMarshall]

1. We do a ton of work for several local universities and all of our proofing is done via email with secured PDFs (not ideal but its worked for years, eventually we'll move to something automated).

2. Depending on the quantities you're doing you can likely get away with using a smaller aqueous inkjet printer like a Canon IPF.
While those can be considerably more expensive to run than a production printer like an HP latex they have a much lower initial purchase cost, don't require the same level of specialty software, are much simpler/easier to operate, and current pigment inks are probably plenty durable enough for what you'd be doing.
I would check out LexJet.com to get an idea on pricing and media options.
If you dont have a roll laminator I would DEFINITELY say to get one if you plan on printing/mounting. Even if you never use it for laminating it makes mounting a breeze.

3. We get all of our offset supplies from Lindenmeyr, GE Richards, and Gans.

4. You might want to check out EFI's online learning/training site (learning.efi.com).
Even if you dont have any EFI products there might be some material in there you find informative (plus its free...I think...its been a while since I've visited).
Otherwise I would do some internet searching for "Acrobat Pro Preflight Tutorials".
PitStop Pro is a little more user friendly but its more expensive and Acrobats preflight is plenty capable - you can probably do everything you need with just a few of the canned profiles.