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Whats a good starter vinyl media printer?

D

doktorek

New Member
Im pretty new to the biz, I have been doing vinyl cutting for last 2 years, I was thinking about getting into some color. What would you recommend to a beginner that doesnt have that much work yet and resells products.
I do not make large prints so 30" max would work but I know these dont exist. I was thinking about 20" Roland or VJ628 but I know is hard to get media and they cost around $6500. I figure if I have to spend that money I may as well get a VJ1324 which is around $10K with a VJ1341 coming out soon.
Since Im working with 24" plotter for now, I was thinking about 24" printer but I feel its a waste of money. I may as well get a 54" printer and get el chipo cutter only for those few large cuts.
I even looked at epson but they also start at $10K for vinyl printing

Ideal would be to get something around $4-5K around 30" wide. I know used is the way to go but dont forget, Im just starting up and and I dont have many projects yet. Im small time!! LOL

Space is also an issue so I can not have anything like Mutah 1641SR which costs the same as VJ1324 and VJ1324 seems a lot more compact.

I know there is always a debate between ecosolvent and latex. I know the differences.

Im torn on what I should do. I dont want to overspend if Im not going to do much printing. I dont know. Focus is on color decals for vehicles.
 
rjssigns

rjssigns

Active Member
Sub out color printing until you are doing enough business to justify bringing production in house.
Bringing production in house comes with a steep learning curve among other issues.
Buying a used printer is more often than not buying a s#itload of trouble.

As far as trade printers I'm not going to recommend any. Do your due diligence and find a trustworthy print supplier.
 
S

stxrmxn

New Member
We took the plunge 15 years ago.
Once you get the printer you will find it opens up all avenues of work.
We started with a Roland.
We now have a latex HP and a Mimaki.
Roland have by far the shortest learning curve.
Stay away from Mimaki, more expensive than Roland and literally needs it's hand holding, we will not have another.
Ape in on a Roland and like previous poster said stay away from used if you have no experience.
You only live once, not financial advice.
 
FCD

FCD

New Member
I definitely agree with rjssigns on this one. I only did cut vinyl in house on a 30" for 5 years before I purchased a printer. I built up my clientele and only purchased a printer when it made sense to. It took me 6-months to a year to really get a hold on printing and laminating efficiently. I made alot of mistakes learning in the process. I went with the latex print/cut combo and it was a breeze when I made the transition honestly.
 
Saturn

Saturn

Aging Member
I ran the VJ628 5-7 days a week for 2+ years (just recently sold it) without any major issues. It's a great little printer, and if you're limited by square footage or location it cannot be beat. It's 80 lbs and just teensie tiny all around. You can move it in the back seat of a sedan, and two people can easily carry it up 3-4 flights of stairs in one go.

Getting 24" material can sometimes be stressful if your favorite vendor is out or doesn't offer reliable slitting.

That said, if business is successful you WILL at some point want 30" at the very least. If for no other reason than sourcing materials easily and quickly. But... starting with a VJ628, knowing that you aren't going to be doing anything larger than 25-30 square inch stickers for a year or two, you could put those extra dollars right into a larger Summa or Graphtec, etc.

Even after having the Epson going for 6 months or so, that little baby Mutoh still was a real gem, only limited by being 24".
 
Notarealsignguy

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
stxrmxn said:
Stay away from Mimaki, more expensive than Roland and literally needs it's hand holding, we will not have another.
Click to expand...
What? Maybe if you're as dumb as a rock. It was nothing to go from a Roland to Mimaki,
it was just as easy. It was also cheaper than the roland. All these things are damn near the same, just pick your poison. With all of the issues people have had with the current Roland's, I'm glad that we didn't get one.
 
Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
If you don't want to sub out, go find a Roland SP-300v or SP-300i. It's right around your budget, 30 inches wide, and they are easy to fix. If you want to go brand new, Mimaki has a 30" CJV150 but they are phasing them out in favor of the JV100 which doesn't have a 30" option at the moment.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Sub it out and do your homework. No one can tell you what to buy. Most of the people here are speaking from an emotional standpoint or what they got used to using. Sales people generally tell ya the ones they make the best commissions on. As you sub the stuff out, ask your vendor what machine they're using , if you like the quality. You need to see things operate in person, not over an internet or utube.
 
S

signheremd

New Member
Roland is a great choice - prints and cuts. Your budget might be a touch low though. The Roland has been bullet proof for us for years and is our second such. Just run a basic clean cycle every morning. We have the XR-640 and while it is not as good a plotter as a Graphtec or Summa, you can print on rolls up to 60" wide and cut the print. We have also used the Roland to cut wide format vinyl - like 4' rolls of translucent to coat acrylic faces (reverse weed). You will need a cold lamination table or a hot laminator to apply UV overlaminate to protect your prints regardless of printer choice. Better add that in to your budget as well. Subbing out till you build your business is a good idea - financing the equipment is not so bad as well. The way this industry has been going for the last twenty years, soon it may be difficult to get enough work without a printer of some kind.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Oh yeah, and don't forget....... you'll need a laminator and the real estate to house that, too.
 
J

Joejo

New Member
doktorek said:
Im pretty new to the biz, I have been doing vinyl cutting for last 2 years, I was thinking about getting into some color. What would you recommend to a beginner that doesnt have that much work yet and resells products.
I do not make large prints so 30" max would work but I know these dont exist. I was thinking about 20" Roland or VJ628 but I know is hard to get media and they cost around $6500. I figure if I have to spend that money I may as well get a VJ1324 which is around $10K with a VJ1341 coming out soon.
Since Im working with 24" plotter for now, I was thinking about 24" printer but I feel its a waste of money. I may as well get a 54" printer and get el chipo cutter only for those few large cuts.
I even looked at epson but they also start at $10K for vinyl printing

Ideal would be to get something around $4-5K around 30" wide. I know used is the way to go but dont forget, Im just starting up and and I dont have many projects yet. Im small time!! LOL

Space is also an issue so I can not have anything like Mutah 1641SR which costs the same as VJ1324 and VJ1324 seems a lot more compact.

I know there is always a debate between ecosolvent and latex. I know the differences.

Im torn on what I should do. I dont want to overspend if Im not going to do much printing. I dont know. Focus is on color decals for vehicles.
Click to expand...
Mutoh is a 3 year printer tops for 2,000 more the XR 640 PRO4 Roland is the way to go and last a very long time.
 
binki

binki

New Member
We are fortunate that we have a trade only printer with decent pricing very close to us. We have had a VersaCamm VS-300 for many years and it has given us great service and never broken down. We had it installed with the white ink option because we had a lot of demand for clear decals but that has gone away and now we only put cleaning solution in the white slots. After speaking with tech support about removing that option we found out it is a one way street and we would be risking bricking the machine to try to change it so we live with it. The machine does double duty with a lot of cut only jobs since our Graphtec cutter broke down. I think it was a main board in that one and the cost of parts and labor were nearly the price of a new one. We opted to just use the VersaCamm for cut only even though it wastes a lot of material on both ends compared to the cutter.

One thing to consider is how much your roles of media are going to weigh and how you are going to store and load them. The 30" is fine for use but it would be nice to have a larger machine however picking up a 54" full roll isn't something I want to do daily.

The only thing I don't like about the VersaCamm is it is obsolete and there are no more software updates for it and the media profiles for the white ink option just don't exist. We used to have a lot of them but when our PC crashed we couldn't recover all the profiles we had so we are stuck with just a handful of them. I otherwise like the machine and it has more than paid for itself over the years.
 
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