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- Thread starter jbona75
- Start date
S. Sexton
New Member
no you need to do more home work.
I thought I did my home work. I bought a mutoh toucan 20 grand oh yea I am ready to print. Wrong I then bought software and more software then a cutter then a laminator used now a new laminator. I have not even mentioned all the small tools and the computers for design and ripping.
This is all happen in the last year.
Good luck do your home work and then check it again.
Steve
I thought I did my home work. I bought a mutoh toucan 20 grand oh yea I am ready to print. Wrong I then bought software and more software then a cutter then a laminator used now a new laminator. I have not even mentioned all the small tools and the computers for design and ripping.
This is all happen in the last year.
Good luck do your home work and then check it again.
Steve
Capital Signs
New Member
binki
New Member
I guess the first mistake is working on a small scale. You will need to have a target market and have sales to that market. One thing you can do is to first work out a deal with a local printer on a wholesale basis. Once you have enough customers then purchase your equipment.
We do that now. We don't do enough banner/vinyl work to justify a printer/cutter so all of our work is outsourced. We make a smaller profit on the items, but at least we don't have to take the time to produce the products nor do we have to lay out capital for equipment.
We do that now. We don't do enough banner/vinyl work to justify a printer/cutter so all of our work is outsourced. We make a smaller profit on the items, but at least we don't have to take the time to produce the products nor do we have to lay out capital for equipment.
iSign
New Member
another
...take those 2
's together, and what you see is that there is a lot of equipment and accessories required in this industry & a large format printer is one of the last ones, not the first one. Sure, everyone likes the idea of a big brand new machine to outsize the little guys & feel that you have arrived... but the real work is building the business, building proficiency in this sector of design work, and building a reputation for that design skill & building a client base. Many many successful sign shops build all that, and more... and still don't rush out a buy a printer right away. It is wise to sub out printing whil you build that market. You can produce quite an array of signtypes without large format printing, and those skills will always come into play even after getting a printer. Even if you can afford the printer, and have your heart set on it... make sure you invest in all the other essentials as well.
DOGraphics
New Member
Border
New Member
Another point to consider is that large format printers like to be run everyday. If you do not yet have the client base to keep that new machine busy, you can quickly end up with a big maintenance headache and clogged printheads which can get very expensive in a big hurry. Like the others said, sub it out until you are sure you have enough business to justify buying one yourself. This will also give you time to get a better idea of what size printer you will want to buy when that time does comes.
PS....Welcome!
PS....Welcome!
Ken
New Member
All the above advice is good..I just want to mention that the (my) sp 300 has a great feature that prevents the heads from clogging. It fires up once a day, gives a couple of quick shots of ink thru the heads, then shuts down. You dont even have to be there.
IMHO, you could start with just a cutter. There is sooo much that can be done with that , at 10 percent of the cost of a print/cut system.
Cheers and Good luck...Ken
IMHO, you could start with just a cutter. There is sooo much that can be done with that , at 10 percent of the cost of a print/cut system.
Cheers and Good luck...Ken
