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Newbie looking for experts advise and suggestions on Printers

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SlightlyChilled

New Member
I hope you were joking about Ms Jill taking your little signs. Even to joke like that is a slap in the face. She is one of the nicest helpful "tell you like it is" people around. YOU have NO RIGHT to say that. I hope you by a printer and lose your shirt trying to fix it when it brakes.

Maybe I am in a real bad mood today but that just set me off.
Jill I know you can fight your own battles but that is just uncalled for. I have mad love for you and for your skills.
 

garylisko

New Member
She accused me of taking her sign down at trader horn... I in return, asked if she took my signs down around town, because I was unaware I had an enemy because we are in the same business, so again, on my first post, I GOT ACCUSED. Also, insulted my signs because my name has the word "grafix" in it. & dont worry, I wont loose my shirt with a printer.
 

garylisko

New Member
Still searching for a printer/cutter or seperate package deal! The Closer to Sarver PA the better. Had to pass a great deal up because I couldn't make the drive in time. Any suggestions shoot me a PM. Thank you
 

AUTO-FX

New Member
After talking with you at length, I honestly think, and dont be offended, you should just buy Photoshop and illustrator, or maybe Flexi, get comfortable with it, and in the meantime, send your files out for printing. It makes a whole lotta sense.
 

garylisko

New Member
I strong apologize to anyone I offended, I am not a drama person. There was a mis-understanding on the signs/flyers. I am here for friends, & advise. To Jill- I did not take your flyer down, sorry for the miss-communication. As for the printer, The loan I received was more of a grant from a family member to help get me off the ground. I have a good amount of calls seeking jobs that require prints. Also would like to expand my variety of services i can offer. I plan to do a few different routes with the printer, I am still in the market for a printer, hoping to find something local within the $8000 range. I'm also selling my 24" cutter to upgrade. Any suggestions on a good reliable quick cutter at reasonable cost? (used again)
Chris-I am using Flexi Pro, I apologize for waisting your time on the package, it is still my choice, but the other gentlemen wanted it first, & I just couldnt commute to the trip this week.
 

Jillbeans

New Member
I was trying to give you good advice.
I was kidding about the bizcard theft (I don't advertise with flyers)
Notice I added a :)

In our area, people are extremely cheap.
I have yet to crack $50K a year.
I did $49K one year when I had a huge park sign job (for which I outsourced the prints)
Usually I average $36K before expenses.
Let's divide that by 12.
That's $3K per month in sales.
(actually March-June are the busy months, in December I'm lucky to crack $1K/month)
To quote FatCat:
Do yourself a favor and sub out your prints to one of the Merchant Members here. Once you're consistently selling $5k-$10k worth of printed stuff a month then it's time to look at getting the hardware yourself.
I know an established sign guy locally, saw him at the Pioneer show the year he bought a $60K printer and the stuff to go with it.
He had a nice shop.
Fast forward 4 years.
His shop is up for sale, making him look as if he's gone out of business even though he works out of his house now.
I reiterate that people in our area are cheap.
They are leery of spending their hard earned money on something they perceive to be expensive (like wraps)
The company in this picture (they still have a ton of YP ads) went belly up after 1 year.
Not that they looked to have much design talent or ad smarts using the name discount.
All their gear went up for auction about 6 weeks ago, and could be bought for a song.
That means there will be yet another "sign company" in our neck of the woods in 3...2...1.

My advice was well-intentioned.
Sub out the prints. Save your money.
And by the way, almost all of us make fun of the word "graphix" because it's just so dated and stoopid looking.
:corndog:
 

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garylisko

New Member
Jill-
No hard feelings. I miss-understood the joke. Hope we can move on from this. Seems like your someone I could gain a friendship with more so than an enemy. I agree the customers in the area are cheap and want everything for free.
Where can I learn about local shows? I would like to attend, learn and observe.
 

511graphix

New Member
lol JillBeans her jokes can kill you in a hartbeat. and you wouldn't even no it J/K (or maybe). everyone loves JillBeans!!! :) The only thing I can say is about subbing out work is. when you do that, your now have your hands tied on Price, Quality, Craftsmanship, and the big one TIME!!!! OMG thats the killer for me. and making shore their no shoved to their eye balls in work. ( witch is a good thing for them. and I'm not complaining about the one thats printing for me now lol he takes care of me) I know this doesn't answer your posted question. lol I'll pm you my .2 its not worth much compared to our pro's on here. but it a thought. and man I really want to about card stealer's. I got one that I really want to talk **** about hehe O and I'm a Graphix too. and cater to the Racers LOL
 

garylisko

New Member
Yeah I'd rather do this right the first time and get the printer while I have the chance. Just having a hard time finding one locally. I may have to settle for the sp300v just to get my foot in the door and then upgrade when it becomes to small for me. That way it will give me time to get use to printing and working with smaller media. There is very little to choose from locally and I will not buy from ebay. I want to see the test print in person for my own satisfaction. For those who were helping me choose a model. If anyone is local to PA and has a set up in my range, shoot me a PM.
 

Edserv

New Member
9k is tough, even for a Mutoh vj1204. We purchased the 1204 3 years ago and are getting ready to buy a second. We do mostly banners, vinyl printing/stickers, etc, and are doing more and more wraps. If it's a big job, we often sub to Lowen, but have been really happy with our VJ.
Also, bought a cold lam on Craigslist for only $500 (it's a GBC 38", and has worked really well.)
But again, 9k is tough, when you add-in Flexi, inks, media, etc.
Good luck!
 

Mainframe

New Member
Gary, you came here for advise, not drama, you were advised to buy a 54 not a 30, if you don't get anything from this post, get that, you will be sorry for having a 30 the first month you buy it, you can't print a 3 foot or a 4 foot banner with a 30, if the money is burning a hole in your pocket I would look for an sp540 or put some of your money with it & get a vp540 or similar size Mutoh or Mimaki.
 

garylisko

New Member
I def want a 54" I agree I will get bored with the 30 real quick. The problem is the money and my selection. I'm having a hard time finding anything local or decently local to me. I've been researching and learning all that I can. I need to find the models affordable in my range.
 
nah the problem is you don't listen real well and are only hearing what you want to hear.

- you've been advised you'd do better to sub out while establishing a client base that
can support a printer, but trust me we all know how fun it is to have neat tools...
that doesn't always mean it makes good business sense and that you wouldn't be
better served to hold off making that purchase until you prove that you need it/ can
support it.

- you've been advised that a 30" will not meet your long term goals, that it will severely
limit you (meaning that you will still need to sub out your work to ppl that can meet
your needs of 3' and 4' wide banners (the most common sizes that you will not be
able to make with your equipment).

- oh and you not only insulted one of the most giving people in the trade that will help
anyone at anytime but also has a heart of gold and could be an incredible resource &
ally for you being that she is local to you, could teach you, hook you up with more
people, suppliers, instructors and resources than you coudl imagine...but you pretty
much ruined that and sadly you don't even realize how important that relationship
could be to you...i'd be baking some bread, bringing some beer, begging to clean
her production area..something..seriously repair that situation create an ally and not
an enemy you have a "keeper of the craft" in your area and should do everything in
your power to learn from her.
 
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