printer/copier for business cards

[sardocs]

Gfx - I'm not looking for waterproof cards, my sp300 can make those. My point was that I'm looking to buy a machine to print regular cards, menus and small posters on, in house. I'm going to look for something that does a little better job than a desktop printer, and hopefully cuts them to size automatically.

 

[Biker Scout]

Yeah, Xanté or the Okidata printer is really good for that kind of stuff. In fact, when I was running a small print shop that's how we broke into the digital market. Tested the waters with a Xanté. Now they are running 3 full sized digital copiers along with the presses. But if it hadn't been for the Xanté they might have missed the digital market all together.

Using a desktop inkjet is not the way to go about it... seriously. Been there done that. You'll never match profiles, and stuff will never look like the stuff you outsource. Plus, ink cost is rediculous... unless you are dedicated to full on CIS. But then you are tied into specialty papers, that aren't really professional to hand out to people. No one want's an inkjet business card. You can get away with it for photographs, or menus that you are going to laminate.

 

[sardocs]

Thanks Biker Scout - I appreciate your time and info here. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong direction. Perhaps what I need is a professional way to cut card stock after I print it on the 300 like Ken suggested. I mentioned earlier that I have customers who don't seem to mind paying me to make them up on banner material even at a cost of a buck a card. Is there a card stock available for the Roland 300? The only way I have to dice 'em up is with an xacto and a steel rule. I've printer them in blocks of 1 or 2 hundred, laid 'em on the bench and played surgeon on them. That method ain't any fun. I hoped there was an easier, less time consuming way to put a few hundred cards in a box. I appreciate everyones time spent to reply. I know about outsourcing and I do that for certain jobs.

 

[Mosh]

What about packaging them up when you are finished. We get lots of stuff from gotprint.com.

 

[jiarby]

uline sells business card boxes

 

[mark in tx]

You might want to look at used offset printing equipment if you think you want to expand your printing capabilities to offer more than just business cards.

 

[Biker Scout]

Again, there are inexpensive Business Card Cutting Machines out there. As well as fancier models.

http://www.machine-solution.com/Tam...ic-Card-Slitter/productinfo/TAM+CARD+SLITTER/
This one is only $245.

Here's a really nice one, 300 cards cut per minute, and does Full Bleed Cards, and has template for popular Adobe programs.
http://www.machine-solution.com/Int...s-Card-Slitter/productinfo/INT+GC208+SLITTER/
$1800

 

[anthony smith]

we lease a xerox 7655 we had printers on all 8 stations in our shop
was paying around 3to4 hundred a month for ink
lease this puppy for around 4hundred if we are extremely busy any thing over
2000 color and 5000 bk and white runs 8cents for color and 2cents for bk
on top of lease but they repair and keep the carts full
and they alll mess up and need repair we do 2 to 5 thousand cards inhouse
a day at prices from 49 to 89 dollars a thousand with set ups on top
of that we still send out for the raised printed cards but not many want around
here
we gave 1400.oo for our slitter can cut up a thousand in about 5 to 10 mins
have had many different brands and the xerox has worked better
than any we have used

 

[Sticky Signs]

- Sticky, grab your guitar, hop the Horseshoe Bay ferry to the Sunshine Coast and come jam in my shop! The amps are on standby....

I'll be sure to pop by if and when I make it out that way. Make sure the beer is cold!!!