Time for a new printer

[Notarealsignguy]

Thanks for spelling out all the great things you can do with your extra time, I never would have known. That's why this place is so great... but the guy asked a specific question on a printer based on his circumstance. He specifically said he does not want to do volume and does not want a separate plotter.
If we're gonna do analogies, this guy said he is looking to buy a new half ton pickup and you showed up to tell him that he should get a station wagon instead cuz it's better on gas and easier to park.

 

[victor bogdanov]

Since there is a lot of hate for print and cut Ill list some pros of print and cut and how I use it.

Printing/cutting anything on phototex, no dry time or lamination required and full bleed not an issue. Saves me time moving to separate cutter. Click one button and the decals/murals/wall paper is done with no further interaction from me.

Anything else that does not need to be laminated, one button click and it's done with no further interaction from me.

Sure the overall output can be sped up with a separate cutter (which I have, there is no rule that says you can't have a separate cutter with a print/cut printer) but that would require more interaction from me.

 

[Graphic Extremes]

Epson Printer is what I would look at

 

[Pauly]

Thanks for spelling out all the great things you can do with your extra time, I never would have known. That's why this place is so great... but the guy asked a specific question on a printer based on his circumstance. He specifically said he does not want to do volume and does not want a separate plotter.
If we're gonna do analogies, this guy said he is looking to buy a new half ton pickup and you showed up to tell him that he should get a station wagon instead cuz it's better on gas and easier to park.

His original question doesn't say "he doesn't want one"
Some people don't realise the benefit of having different options.

Print & cut solutions are for startups. Once you've few years in and upgrading printers. You should be looking to improve workflow, speed work up so you do have time for other things.

 

[dale911]

To give you a flat reply to your question, Roland and Mimaki are your choices for an all-in-one. Roland is much more expensive without the benefits. The Mimaki will run forever. I know people who still have jv3 printers running every day. If you want quality and don’t care how long it takes, run the cjv-150. Single head so it’s slower to print but still gets the job done and print quality is excellent. The cutters work well also but are extremely slow. I’m not sure how the cut speed compares to the Roland cut speed. The downside is that when it rewinds to cut, if you have a long piece of vinyl, it’s going to be all over the floor behind the machine. If you put the machine near a wall, you can cause the media to kink up and jam when getting pulled back through. I believe Rolands are the same but I’m not 100% sure on that. If you want one a little faster, you could get the cjv-300. Those are the only 2 solvents they make with print and cut. The 300 has 2 heads vs the single in the 150.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[John Miller]

Thanks to all who responded. I will explore the Mimaki 300 series. Digital printing represents a portion of our work but we do more carved signs. Signs365 gives pretty good service and I wouldn't want to make a banner for what they'll make one for or do a few hundred 2 sided 18x24 yard signs, but other types of printing in house is important.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

His original question doesn't say "he doesn't want one"
Some people don't realise the benefit of having different options.

Print & cut solutions are for startups. Once you've few years in and upgrading printers. You should be looking to improve workflow, speed work up so you do have time for other things.

That's a bit presumptuous, it really all depends on what your business model is. Not everybody is balls to the wall in print/cut work or wants to be. I've been in business 12 years and these machines suit me just fine. If you want to make the workflow argument, how productive is it for someone making short run unlaminated labels to have to take it off the printer to put on a separate plotter? A CJV300 and a JV300 will both print the same speed so what exactly is your argument against having an integrated cutter? It doesn't mean that you cant use a stand alone if the need arises.

 

[Pauly]

That's a bit presumptuous, it really all depends on what your business model is. Not everybody is balls to the wall in print/cut work or wants to be. I've been in business 12 years and these machines suit me just fine. If you want to make the workflow argument, how productive is it for someone making short run unlaminated labels to have to take it off the printer to put on a separate plotter? A CJV300 and a JV300 will both print the same speed so what exactly is your argument against having an integrated cutter? It doesn't mean that you cant use a stand alone if the need arises.

Well while the cutter is cutting, the printer can be put onto do something else. maybe he has another batch of stickers to run on another stock. or there's some posters to run off.
besides, what's the point in buying something new that does the exactly the same job as the old one, where's the benefit? just get the old one fixed..

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Well while the cutter is cutting, the printer can be put onto do something else. maybe he has another batch of stickers to run on another stock. or there's some posters to run off.
besides, what's the point in buying something new that does the exactly the same job as the old one, where's the benefit? just get the old one fixed..

Or you can get it on the take up reel and run an entire roll of print and cut while you walk away and do something else. That would be the more efficient thing to do.
You buy new stuff because things wear out. So now you're saying that nobody should ever replace their printer? Why buy a new one when you can just fix the old one everytime it breaks and leaves you hanging. That sounds about stupid.

 

[Stacey K]

For someone like me who is on the fence about buying a printer, this is a good thread. I'm a one person shop so it's not like I sit around all day cutting vinyl, I'm not sure speed would be a huge issue for me. BUT, if I were to buy a printer then it would be double the amount of time so that's something to consider also.

Someone said on here a while ago once you start ordering out about $5,000 a year in printed vinyl, you are at the point in which a printer would pay off...thoughts on this? I do feel like if you had one, you would use it for more jobs vs. cut vinyl.

What type of laminator is required...I see a variety, the Big Squeegee, manual and automatic...again, a one person shop, not a HV factory.

 

[Pauly]

Or you can get it on the take up reel and run an entire roll of print and cut while you walk away and do something else. That would be the more efficient thing to do.
You buy new stuff because things wear out. So now you're saying that nobody should ever replace their printer? Why buy a new one when you can just fix the old one everytime it breaks and leaves you hanging. That sounds about stupid.

If you're going to replace something. You may as well get something better, faster etc.
While printing a whole roll, then if you need to cut all that?
throw it on a cutter, throw some more jobs on the printer.
Each to their own.

 

[Pauly]

For someone like me who is on the fence about buying a printer, this is a good thread. I'm a one person shop so it's not like I sit around all day cutting vinyl, I'm not sure speed would be a huge issue for me. BUT, if I were to buy a printer then it would be double the amount of time so that's something to consider also.

Someone said on here a while ago once you start ordering out about $5,000 a year in printed vinyl, you are at the point in which a printer would pay off...thoughts on this? I do feel like if you had one, you would use it for more jobs vs. cut vinyl.

What type of laminator is required...I see a variety, the Big Squeegee, manual and automatic...again, a one person shop, not a HV factory.

Having to much work is a good thing to complain about.

I juggle between a flatbed & a roll to roll.
Everything is manual cut at the moment, so i'm doing that too. I also have help cutting as we're flat out at the moment.
Once my fotoba comes, it'll be me printing and throwing all the roll stock on the fotoba and let it do it's work while i do something else.

It's all workflow.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

For someone like me who is on the fence about buying a printer, this is a good thread. I'm a one person shop so it's not like I sit around all day cutting vinyl, I'm not sure speed would be a huge issue for me. BUT, if I were to buy a printer then it would be double the amount of time so that's something to consider also.

Someone said on here a while ago once you start ordering out about $5,000 a year in printed vinyl, you are at the point in which a printer would pay off...thoughts on this? I do feel like if you had one, you would use it for more jobs vs. cut vinyl.

What type of laminator is required...I see a variety, the Big Squeegee, manual and automatic...again, a one person shop, not a HV factory.

Jump in and buy one, have you ever heard anyone here say the regret buying a printer? I like the print/cut and honestly it can usually move faster than I can keep up so I have never seen any point in moving to anything that is faster.
I run all of my printing at around 3pm everyday onto the take up reel, this way you you don't have to laminate multiple sheets. Anything that needs to be cut prints first so they are at the front of the laminated roll, then signs go second. The next morning, I laminate the roll and put it back onto the machine to cut it. After the cut stuff is done, the signs are still rolled up and go into the shop to trim down and mount. Sometimes there are 2 rolls, 1 cast 1 cal, it just depends but this seems to be the simplest way to do things for me.

 

[fastafdesigns]

Thanks for spelling out all the great things you can do with your extra time, I never would have known. That's why this place is so great... but the guy asked a specific question on a printer based on his circumstance. He specifically said he does not want to do volume and does not want a separate plotter.
If we're gonna do analogies, this guy said he is looking to buy a new half ton pickup and you showed up to tell him that he should get a station wagon instead cuz it's better on gas and easier to park.

Stay as far away from Roland as you can!!

 

[SignEST]

Worked in a shop with a 36" plotter and a 54 " print/cut Roland. There were tons of times where we would have benefitted from being able to lift something off the printer to cut it and send it out while another job is printing. Not to say that it was necessary for every job but about 3/20 print/cut jobs would have left the shop faster. That and you can always print 1 job and plot another and get 2 jobs done in a day. It's not even about having to hustle that much more, the machines do the work.

The shop had that setup for a long time and they were very successful with it. The Roland plotting accuracy and speed wasn't anything to write home about though. Never seen a Mimaki print/cut do the cutting part. Roland was definitely slow for it.

 

[MikePro]

I print & cut on separate machines, which I think is still the optimal workflow.
buuuut for anyone dead-set on a combo setup, anything and everything from mimaki has always made my pants shrink.

 

[Zach Starr]

Check out the Stratojet Hawk CleanPrint (Print and Cut Solution), I think that could be a good option too...

 

[Eforcer]

Why print and cut?
why not a seperate solution?
yeah they’re more expensive but far more options out there.

I'm partial to Mutoh's I also prefer to print and cut offline.