What finishing equipment do you have?

[gazfocus]

Pretty much starting out in digital printing, have recently got a Xerox C560 with light production finisher and just wondering what finishing equipment you guys all have, and whether you lease the equipment or own it outright.

 

[MailGuru]

@gazfocus: That's kind of a vague question. Are you referring to "inline" finishing equipment or "offline/nearline"?

 

[dabob]

Well . . . that's kinda a general questions . . since we have been in business for gong on 40 years our list probably wouldn't be much use to you . . . the more relevant question would be what is your market focus, books, flyers, direct mail, business cards - most finishing equipment is product specific - so you need to get the equipment to produce what you can and will end up selling.

 

[gazfocus]

Thanks for the replies guys

Well.... you raise some good points

The reason I was asking such an open question is that we're relatively new to printing. We're currently reselling print services (mostly) for orders of business cards and flyers, but we currently print menus, calendars, etc on our digital machine. However, we want to figure out what area we should focus on with our digital machine.

I agree part of deciding on a market focus is market research, but it also depends on the cost of the equipment, etc.

 

[buckeyewta]

We are a small digital shop like you. Here is a brief list of what we have

Xerox Versant 80
Xerox 550
Xerox D95
Xerox 242
MBM Triumph 20" progammable cutter
Rhino table top spiral binding punch
Akiles coil inserter
Table top perfect binder
Padding press
Baum 714 air feed folder
Rosback perf/slit/score machine
54"HP Latex 110 printer
Wide format laminator
Plockmatic collator with MBM Sprint 2000 booklet maker
Just signed a purchase agreement for an MBM K120 bookletmaket with digital sheet feeder and face trimmer.
Electric corner rounder
Padding press
A bunch of small desktop printers in the office.
Various computers etc.
A bunch of smaller finishing equipment not listed.

Figure on spending approx $100,000 in addition to whatever press you have if you are really serious about printing.

 

[Keith]

...We're currently reselling print services (mostly) for orders of business cards and flyers, but we currently print menus, calendars, etc on our digital machine. However, we want to figure out what area we should focus on with our digital machine...

Like everyone said, finishing equipment depends upon what you produce. I think the Light Production Finisher is/has a booklet maker, if I remember correctly, so you don't need that for your calendars. A slitter for business cards would be nice, a cutter for the flyers is a must. Actually, I assume you already have a cutter. That's a must for any print shop no matter what it does. Menus? I'd recommend a laminator. Any laminator will do to get you started. Start off with used equipment from Ebay or Craigslist. After ten years is business I still shop there. Or if you have to have shiny and new, start with office grade equipment. (I can hear other printers grumbling about 'production level' crap.) And as your business picks-up and you destroy the office grade stuff, then you can graduate to more robust (expensive) solutions.

 

[davidspiel]

You should start out with some table top coil and/or wire binding equipment like this: http://spielassociates.com/table-top-equipment.html

You may also wish to get into perfect binding: http://spielassociates.com/perfect-binders.html

And while you may consider stitching in line with your digital engine, here is an affordable off line solution: http://spielassociates.com/bookletmakers.html

With these three processes, you can handle three of the four most popular binding methods: http://spielassociates.com/

Please contact me,

David Spiel
Spiel Associates, Inc.
45-01 Northern Blvd.
Long Island City, NY 11101
718-392-7900
[email protected]
www.spielassociates.com

 

[Craig]

First you need to make sure you have the basics. At least a 20 inch quality cutter. Don't go cheap on this as it will last for years. Second a decent folder like a Baum 714. Those are the bare minimums to start. Everything else can be added as needed. RB Sun has added decent starter gutter cut business card sitter for a few grand. We had one and probably but a few hundred thousand cards through it.

I would stay away from in-line finishing. It is too limited a much slower than off-line or near-line. Most finishing equipment in the production level will outlast several print engines.

 

[Shawnd]

Rosback perf/slit/score machine

Do you have the micro perf and Truescore rollers on yours? Curious how good it is, looking at some older rosbacks for perfing/scoring our digital output.

 

[jricart]

See if you can get used equipment to start with. No need to buy new or lease, specially when you are starting a business.
Here is the list of equipment we have:

Printing Equipment:
Xerox 700i Digital Color Press (with booklet maker)
Xerox 770 Digital Color Press (with booklet maker)
Xerox 1000 Digital Color Press
HP Latex L25500 - 60" wide

Finishing Equipment:
Polar 78ED Paper Cutter
MBM 2000 Booklet maker with facetrimmer
Marting Yale Folder
Graphic Whizard Perfect Binder
Morgana Auto Creaser/Perf
Graphic Whizard Numering/Creaser/Slitter/Perfing
Morgana Hand Score - desktop model
GBC 64" HOT Laminator/Mounting
Two Rhinotuff Wire-O and Coil punchers
GBC Velo Bind machine
Paddy Wagon
Round Corner Machine
Hole puncher - Single Spindle
Salco Rapid 106 single head stapler

 

[RobertABD]

We are a small digital shop like you. Here is a brief list of what we have

Xerox Versant 80
Xerox 550
Xerox D95
Xerox 242
MBM Triumph 20" progammable cutter
Rhino table top spiral binding punch
Akiles coil inserter
Table top perfect binder
Padding press
Baum 714 air feed folder
Rosback perf/slit/score machine
54"HP Latex 110 printer
Wide format laminator
Plockmatic collator with MBM Sprint 2000 booklet maker
Just signed a purchase agreement for an MBM K120 bookletmaket with digital sheet feeder and face trimmer.
Electric corner rounder
Padding press
A bunch of small desktop printers in the office.
Various computers etc.
A bunch of smaller finishing equipment not listed.

Figure on spending approx $100,000 in addition to whatever press you have if you are really serious about printing.

If you need another Xerox refurbished Digital Color presses. REfurbished. Message me. We have great deals ongoing. Robert

 

[MailGuru]

@RobertABD: How many different categories and posts did you infiltrate for your advertising? It is NOT COOL!

 

[THS]

First you need to make sure you have the basics. At least a 20 inch quality cutter. Don't go cheap on this as it will last for years. Second a decent folder like a Baum 714. Those are the bare minimums to start. Everything else can be added as needed. RB Sun has added decent starter gutter cut business card sitter for a few grand. We had one and probably but a few hundred thousand cards through it.

I would stay away from in-line finishing. It is too limited a much slower than off-line or near-line. Most finishing equipment in the production level will outlast several print engines.

Hi Gazfocus, regarding Craig's note about inline finishing, that is true for many basic inline devices such as bookletmakers. However, the Plockmatic option if you have it, will not slow the printer down. Full bookletmaking productivity can be maintained. Plockmatic inline bookletmaking will be faster, more accurate and less costly than offline bookletmaking. Look for the Plockmatic solution on Xerox, Fuji Xerox or Ricoh printers.

 

[Craig]

Hi Gazfocus, regarding Craig's note about inline finishing, that is true for many basic inline devices such as bookletmakers. However, the Plockmatic option if you have it, will not slow the printer down. Full bookletmaking productivity can be maintained. Plockmatic inline bookletmaking will be faster, more accurate and less costly than offline bookletmaking. Look for the Plockmatic solution on Xerox, Fuji Xerox or Ricoh printers.

Umm.... Not so fast speedy. We have the Plocmatic/Morgana BM500 offline and LOVE it. It's WAY more versatile then if it was inline as we feed it from thee different print engines vs one if it was inline. Inline finishing LIMITS your capabilities, it doesn't expand them UNLESS you are doing complete variable data and that is few and far between in the real world.

 

[pixelcanada]

Hi
We are 2 friends based out in Vancouver, Canada and working to start a printing business. One of my friend who is already into printing business has recommended following equipment to begin with :

1. Xerox DocuColor 252/260
2. ColorSpan 5460
3. Paper Cutter - Triumph
4. i7 computer
5. HP Latex Printer
6. HP planner printer
7. Laminator
8. Plotter Cutter by Roland/Suma

At this point we are beginning the business with basic printing like business cards, menu, flyers, Illuminating Signs, Vehicle Signs, Window Signs, Graphics and Printing.

I am a beginner into this business and understand the business more once I get into it and I am sure I used couple of items twice into category.

We have a starting budget of 100K to begin with & 20K working capital. Any suggestion & every suggestion is highly appreciate and it can help to built a strong foundation for our business.

Also whether buying or leasing equipment which is a better idea to begin the business with?

Thanks for reading my post and replying back.

Pixel Canada

 

[fadhil]

I will open a fast print shop of the end of this year. my main product is name card, greeting card, flyer, brochure, sticker and booklet. I need an opinion whether these equipment will be good to start.

1) KM C1085
2) Ideal Electrical Cutter
3) GBC Roll Laminator
4) Morgana Docu Crease
5) RAPID Electrical Stapler
6) SUMMA D60/Graphtec

For folding, maybe i'll do it manually at first until i can find a paper folding machine that within mmy budget.

 

[AP90]

You will definitely need a folder. As in it should be #3 on your list. In my opinion, if you want to even offer items as a print shop, you MUST have a printer, cutter and folder, and in most situations a booklet maker. Forget the laminating and the vinyl cutter. The docuCrease isn't even that necessary unless you will be doing a lot of heavy stock folding, which you won't if you don't have a FOLDER.

 

[jrsc]

Forget the laminator and vinyl cutter. That type of stuff is a whole different business and if you want to be in that part of the business you will need a large format printer too. Wait until you get the print stuff down then add the large format/sign stuff. Or possibly start with the large format/sign stuff and add the regular print stuff later. That would be a lot less expensive to start.

Like AP90 said a folder is a must. You can not fold by hand. It's just not practical. You can buy a used table top folder on ebay. There are a lot of the duplo air feed folders on there at a reasonable cost if you want something easy to use with quick changeover or a baum 714 for a more traditional folder. If that is too much start with a table top high end office folder that is friction fed like a duplo, martin yale, or mbm. These are all readily available used.

I would also recommend a different cutter. There are a lot of refurbished challenge titan 200 cutters available for a few thousand.

 

[AP90]

Forget the laminator and vinyl cutter. That type of stuff is a whole different business and if you want to be in that part of the business you will need a large format printer too. Wait until you get the print stuff down then add the large format/sign stuff. Or possibly start with the large format/sign stuff and add the regular print stuff later. That would be a lot less expensive to start.

Like AP90 said a folder is a must. You can not fold by hand. It's just not practical. You can buy a used table top folder on ebay. There are a lot of the duplo air feed folders on there at a reasonable cost if you want something easy to use with quick changeover or a baum 714 for a more traditional folder. If that is too much start with a table top high end office folder that is friction fed like a duplo, martin yale, or mbm. These are all readily available used.

I would also recommend a different cutter. There are a lot of refurbished challenge titan 200 cutters available for a few thousand.

I second what he said about a cutter. I picked up a Multi 2020 cutter for $800 bucks. I regularly see Challenge 200 cutters around here for under $1500 and probably have a good deal of wiggle room with that price. I also picked up a used Baum 714 folder for $400 and it works great. Also is air fed. Just yesterday I had a 5000 program job that was bifolded. Took more or less an hour on the folder. I couldn't even do it by hand.

 

[Shawnd]

I picked up a Multi 2020 cutter for $800 bucks.

By any chance have you had to replace the green button switches to make a cut on yours? I can't find them online and the dealer wants $75 per switch!