New Guy Suggested Equipment for Specific Job

[Randy53215]

Good Morning,

I'm new to this community but certainly not new to message boards/forums.

My dilemma is this....

I have a graphics guy locally I am using but lately has been a little flaky as far as meeting deadlines and such, as well as the cost of getting graphics made (obviously I'm aware there's a cost in such, I just feel it's a little steep)

I'm looking for a Vinyl Printer/Cutter that would suit our needs. We use these vinyls in our Scrap Metal Recycling business to label our Luggers, Roll-Off's, Totes, Equipment, Trucks, etc. We also use a container Numbering system that is incremental to manage our equipment.

The biggest sticker we make is 36" x 24", not to say we would never consider making anything bigger.

I'm basically looking at what equipment would be best suited for us moving forward so we can print and handle this in-house?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Randy Jr.

 

[White Haus]

Welcome to Signs 101. Good luck with your search, I think you'll find that you're better off finding a better print partner to work with rather than trying to become a printer yourself.

Not to sound condescending, but I'm sure your time and efforts are better spent running the scrap metal business rather than trying to cut out a supplier that likely provides a very small portion of your supplies.

 

[Randy53215]

Welcome to Signs 101. Good luck with your search, I think you'll find that you're better off finding a better print partner to work with rather than trying to become a printer yourself.

Not to sound condescending, but I'm sure your time and efforts are better spent running the scrap metal business rather than trying to cut out a supplier that likely provides a very small portion of your supplies.

I appreciate your suggestion, I suppose I should've mentioned that my background is Computer Programming/IT. It's my fathers company, I think it's intuitive as we grow to do more in-house/as needed. [HASHTAG]#Salute[/HASHTAG]

 

[White Haus]

I appreciate your suggestion, I suppose I should've mentioned that my background is Computer Programming/IT. It's my fathers company, I think it's intuitive as we grow to do more in-house/as needed. [HASHTAG]#Salute[/HASHTAG]

Not sure that your background will apply much, will all due respect. I can't say I know much about the scrap metal business, and perhaps my view is biased from the grubby trucks and yards in our city, but I just can't see justifying opening a print department for something like that.

Anyways, not trying to rain on your parade. Best of luck with your research.

 

[Gino]

I hafta agree with White Haus. It's far better to use a vendor where needed and do the things in which you are well versed. Computer Programming/IT has no meaning to me as far as being in the sign community.

If I took off on a wild goose chase, every time someone got a little flaky, I'd be doing just about everything and no time to do what I do best.

There must be more people in your area to supply you with simple decals from time to time, regardless of how big your father's company grows. Remember, gut feelings aren't always the best ones, especially when you're shooting from the hip. ​

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

You might as well open a whole new business...

Even people in the sign industry that do this work full-time dont do it in house. I myself sub it all out except for cut vinyl.

I duno, it seems like there would be too much time invested in learning the printer, learning the software and running it...PLUS the cost of the equipment and matieral, you would think you'd me more valuable doing what you know how to do in the scrap business. It's more then buying "a bigger inkjet" printer and hitting the print button.

 

[2B]

if you are focused on bringing it in house, contact BigfishDM he sells both the equipment and media.
should be able to go over the criteria and make suggestions on what will work.

 

[gplough]

Depends on what kind of IT you did... If you're familiar with vector graphics and won't sit there and scratch your head too much about all the buttons and options in illustrator I'd say get a graphtec and get to gettin...

If not, I'd say find a couple people who you can lean on (instead of just one) who aren't so flaky.

 

[Jburns]

If you want a PRINTER / Cutter you are in the 15K range. Just a Cutter - in the 1-2K range for a professional small machine.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

If you have hundreds of trucks and thousands of bins I am sure you will be able to find the space in one of your buildings to house a small sign shop and pay someone to run it. I've seen shops like this embedded in Caterpillar production facilities (but they are also producing graphics for product).

 

[Megagrafix]

Be careful....you know what happened to your “graphics” guy