Purchasing a Roland-BN20. Any advice?

[PiizzLe]

Finally pulling the trigger. Going to buy this unit this week. I have done my research I think. Any advice will go a long way.

 

[Biker Scout]

I always thought the idea was cool. A desktop label maker for prototype packaging design... but for the life of me I could never figure out why they didn't make it 24" wide?

 

[Jester1167]

I'm betting 24" was too close to their SP and VS 300" in size and were afraid they would loose a more profitable sale.

 

[Mike_Koval]

it is a nice little printer for doing some low quantity transfer and decal/label runs. If that's all you will be doing, great machine. The machine is perfect for the screen printer/emboidery shop to bridge the gap between the onsie twosie jobs and the 24 and up piece.

The biggest disadvantage of this unit is there is no room to grow. the size is very limiting...not for the sign maker at all. I mean you can print on banner material etc., but not a demand for it.

Since you are on a sign forum, my guess is you want to produce signs, etc...you will be unhappy due to its size.

 

[Mosh]

My advise GET A BIGGER PRINTER! You are going to wish you had, trust me.

 

[Jester1167]

it is a nice little printer for doing some low quantity transfer and decal/label runs. If that's all you will be doing, great machine. The machine is perfect for the screen printer/emboidery shop to bridge the gap between the onsie twosie jobs and the 24 and up piece.

The biggest disadvantage of this unit is there is no room to grow. the size is very limiting...not for the sign maker at all. I mean you can print on banner material etc., but not a demand for it.

Since you are on a sign forum, my guess is you want to produce signs, etc...you will be unhappy due to its size.

I had the same thoughts. As long as you know the limitations and it fits you business model for the next 3 years go for it.

My experiences:

At the first company I worked at I was part of the printer buying process. The owners wanted to take the safe route and by a 30" printer. I kept pointing out how many banners and site signs we did that were larger than 30" and the impact of having to tile jobs (labor, alignment, waste). Vehicle wraps would have been a nightmare. We bought a 54" printer and in hind sight the owners were glad they did.

They say the BN-20 will print 18.9" wide on 20" media but more realistically it will print 18.5". If you plan on doing print, laminate, cut you will loose another 1" for the registration marks leaving 17.5" max.

You need to laminate the prints if you want them to last. The new inks have more scratch resistance but chemicals and abrasion will still take their toll over time. Extra investment for a laminator or hand laminate.

It's hard to be profitable with small orders of small decals and with this size you've set yourself up for this market. You have the same amount of setup time for a few square feet and it is hard to charge accordingly. Customers seem to balk at the high cost and there seems to be a higher percentage of tire kickers in this market as well. One way around it is to figure out a minimum price to run the printer. If they ask for 5 3x6 decals, let them know your minimum is $65 but you will produce 10 for that minimum.

It will be harder to compete on larger orders because it's slow and you will be paying a premium for your vinyl. Roland's 20" cast vinyl is $.20 more per sqft than their 30" media. Can you source print media in 20" elsewhere? At what cost?

I would talk with people who have Gerber Edge's because they will have more experience with this market segment.

There's a niche for this machine, just make sure it fits yours.

 

[Mosh]

And 20" material you are limited to pretty much Roland films. Try to by orcal or 3M in 20".

 

[Biker Scout]

Here's the huge selling point to this machine though... it's only $8500

Some people could buy that with a tax rebate, if all they were looking to do was get their feet wet in the industry with solvent inks + print and cut solution. But I agree, figure out the true cost in running this machine before pulling the trigger, and stick with your minimum run per price model. And find a material supplier that has a slitter on site so you can buy real vinyl cut down to 20" rolls, instead of having to pay the premium for Roland brand vinyl. (Which I'm sure is just rebranded anyway)

 

[Mosh]

You can find good used 54" machines for $8,500 all day long.

 

[Biker Scout]

That prints white and metallic ink? I don't think so.

You gotta look at it from the OP's perspective. Maybe that's their budget, and all they see are Roland's awesome bullet sales points. Telling them to not even bother unless they have at least $30k isn't exactly helpful. I think it would be best to find out what they think their needs are and what market they are in first. If they are just wanting to do short run t-shirts, there are better options out there. I still think this is great for package design and mock-ups. Like a pre-production proofs to show client before items go into full production on a press or in-line label machine at a factory.

 

[CreatedDesigns]

I looked at the lil BN-20 also, You can find used ones from distributors for around 6k used. Also I was told that they (Midwest sign supply) would cut down the vinyl to 20" and would charge for the entire 24-30" roll. I decided it would no be worth having from the slow output and have since been looking at the 54" units as Mosh has said are. Readily available sub 9k.

as biker says to get a new 30" VS300i would be around 15k to get white / met. Ink.