Toy? or worth considering?

[BigSi]

Hi there. Not hugh $$$ at stake. Having said that who can afford to throw away almost 3k in these tough times. I realize back up support will be nonexistent if something breaks.

I get a lot of requests for sort run perfect bound books. Not really economic to farm out for such small volumes. We are talking about 5-50 copy's

Could this be the answer? or should I fork out 5k-10k and get a second hand know brand.

Your thoughts. thanks Simon

 

[kslight]

No experience with the cheap machines you can find these days but doesn’t give me a lot of confidence. I feel like for that much money or less you could probably find a second hand professional model of sorts, or someone in town that will do short runs (my old job did this all the time for churches, small / novelty authors, etc).

 

[BigSi]

No experience with the cheap machines you can find these days but doesn’t give me a lot of confidence. I feel like for that much money or less you could probably find a second hand professional model of sorts, or someone in town that will do short runs (my old job did this all the time for churches, small / novelty authors, etc).

Yep, these are my feeling to. Often turn around times are very tight which is why I'm considering doing inhouse. I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with these cheap (Chinese) machines. Another way to look at it is even if you only got 6000+ books out of it before it went belly up it would have paid for itself, but maybe x6000 is being to optimistic.

 

[tngcas]

I think the question is whether or not you'd have any support figuring out how to operate it or fix it if it doesn't work quite right out of the box.
What are the return options (if any) if it doesn't work out of the box.
What kind of glue does the machine support and where can that be sourced.

 

[BigSi]

I think the question is whether or not you'd have any support figuring out how to operate it or fix it if it doesn't work quite right out of the box.
What are the return options (if any) if it doesn't work out of the box.
What kind of glue does the machine support and where can that be sourced.

All good points, I was sort of hoping a print planet member might have had some experience with this brand (or a similar cheaper brand). I think the days of automatically rubbishing everything Chinese might be going.
ta Simon

 

[Pennypicher]

The Duplo 280 or 290 is a good machine too. Its twice the price but can you get parts or service with some of those cheaper brands??
Had a customer get a cheap cutter then broke a part. 4 week wait coming from China back in the good days.

 

[jwheeler]

Toy....You'll probably get along fine for a while, but when you start having problems and can't get support (or parts) then you'll end up having to buy the known-brand machine anyway. So now instead of spending 5k-10k, you'll be spending 8k-13k...and have had alot of headaches along the way. Go with a brand you can get support on.

 

[gazfocus]

Back when we started, I had the philosophy that I'd buy cheap to get going, then upgrade when I could afford to...what a false economy that was. I learnt fairly quickly that buying cheap just made me resent doing the jobs that required that 'cheap' machine. A good example was greeting cards...I bought a Manual electric creasing machine from Amazon. It was fine when it was new but after a while it would occasionally score so far down that it would cut through the card, or it would pull a sheet through slanted and I'd end up having to print about 20% extra sheets.

In the end, I threw the creaser out and bought a used Duplo DC-445 for about 2k, and I have to say I love using it. It's night and day difference and I've got no reason to 'upgrade' at the moment. The only thing that might need sorting soon is that the buttons on the control panel are a bit temperamental and I'd like to get the folding module for it, but other than that, it's been great.

Anyway, that was just a long winded way of saying don't bother with the Chinese cr*p and see what you can get used....even the older used equipment will likely outlast the chinese machine.

 

[BigSi]

The Duplo 280 or 290 is a good machine too. Its twice the price but can you get parts or service with some of those cheaper brands??
Had a customer get a cheap cutter then broke a part. 4 week wait coming from China back in the good days.

Thanks Dennis
Yep, I've heard good things about the "280". I would almost certainly need to import as I have never seen a second hand one for sale here. ta Simon

 

[BigSi]

Back when we started, I had the philosophy that I'd buy cheap to get going, then upgrade when I could afford to...what a false economy that was. I learnt fairly quickly that buying cheap just made me resent doing the jobs that required that 'cheap' machine. A good example was greeting cards...I bought a Manual electric creasing machine from Amazon. It was fine when it was new but after a while it would occasionally score so far down that it would cut through the card, or it would pull a sheet through slanted and I'd end up having to print about 20% extra sheets.

In the end, I threw the creaser out and bought a used Duplo DC-445 for about 2k, and I have to say I love using it. It's night and day difference and I've got no reason to 'upgrade' at the moment. The only thing that might need sorting soon is that the buttons on the control panel are a bit temperamental and I'd like to get the folding module for it, but other than that, it's been great.

Anyway, that was just a long winded way of saying don't bother with the Chinese cr*p and see what you can get used....even the older used equipment will likely outlast the chinese machine.

Hi Gareth. Thanks for the info. Probably a toss-up between a Duplo and a Morgan. Very little available in this part of the world. Horizons tend to be a bit big. (I know there are some smaller ones out there, just not available second hand). ta Simon