Need a little expert advice / point me in the right direction

[jthomas]

Hey guys,

Sorry for posting this here, I really don't know where else to place it. I'm not a printer and I really don't have any experience in the field other than what I can find on Google, etc. I'm hoping someone here can shed a little light on the best way for me to approach something.

We are looking to print a variety of simple "candy wrappers." Basically, a simple logo and some text on twistable pvc film. The wrappers will be used over samples of cosmetics, not food or anything like that.

I can find a bunch of the film in rolls, but I have absolutely no clue on how to print to it myself. The MOQ to have these printed professionally is so high that it's not practical since we want to use matching film for each color of our product (and we're a very small start-up). We'd just have a bunch that go to waste... so we need a little more control.

The size of each design is about 11.5cm x 10cm. Each design basically has a single color over whatever film we wanted to use. For example, we have a "golden" themed product so we use a gold film and want to print a simple logo and some words (name of product, ingredients), all in black, to the film.

Another example, we have a "pink" themed product so we use a pink film and print the logo and text in white over it.

I know I can't use an inkjet printer. I've read something about solvent based printers... but again, I don't know if this is what I need. This is all I'm trying to do with the printer, nothing else.

Can I buy a printer that can handle this at a reasonable price or are these machines only made for commercial/industrial printing businesses? I'd be willing to spend up to $1500 for something that can do this if anything out there exists for this type of small scale.


Here's an image of something very similar to what we're after (essentially some film + a single color of text printed to it):

I hope it was OK to post this here, sorry for my ignorance, hopefully this makes some sense to you guys!

 

[onwsk8r]

Spoiler: this post is mainly doom and gloom (and technical jargon), but the last paragraph has a happy ending.

The short answer is that you're going to end up jobbing it out anyways.

The long answer goes something like this:
In order to print regular ink (read: what comes out of your inkjet at home) on the foil you will, in a best-case scenario, require an offset printing press. I'm scared to even think of the worst-case scenario. You could probably find a used press on ebay that runs for a few thousand dollars (new ones run from 6-9 figures). Your artwork will need to be "correct" in order for it to work with the press, you'll need a grumpy press operator and either a platemaker or a company that makes printing plates to get the plates, you'll probably need some sort of ventilation to be good with OSHA/EPA/etc (every state is different), and you'll need ink. I'm guessing not just any ink will do (well), so you'll need to hire a "smart" (read: expensive) press operator who will be able to find suitable ink. That being said, you'll probably also need specialty blankets, fountain solution, almost certainly some sort of dryer on the press (possibly even powder) just to give a hint of what you're going to need to master before you can even begin to think about printing your first piece. On top of that, the material sounds like a real PITA to print on in the first place, so there's that. You'll have lots of waste.
Another option would be to screen print the image, although I'm guessing you'll still run into problems with requiring specialty inks and some sort of dryer - possibly even a coating of some sort to make the ink set (dry). The cost of entry there would be fairly low - 3-4 figures - for a low-volume operation (< 100/day). There are many people that start screen-printing shops with no knowledge whatsoever of printing.
If you ever plan to get into metallic colors or foil stamping, you'll be opening up a whole new can of worms.

Here's the happy ending part. First, let me start with a qualifier. I work at a shop that does printing for a beer distributorship. That means every shelf tag, door sticker, poster, and banner at the liquor store as well as every window mesh, poster, banner, sign, promotional item promoting everything from shots to tastings to bands... We print that. In other words, this beer company has figured out that even though they are doing an extremely high volume of printing, it is more cost-effective to use a printer (and a local printer at that; we are not a huge shop) than to produce these items in-house. What I'm trying to say is that there is a shop out there that either has the answers or knows what questions to ask to allow you to get a high-quality product for a reasonable price. A smaller shop will go much further out of their way to get you a good deal since they as well know the concept of scarcity. And we want your business. There are lots of so-called trade printers that do not work with the public, but provide specialty services (like printing on film) at wholesale prices, exclusively to print shops. This would probably be your best route as you can sleep well knowing you are in good hands.

 

[Jack Flash]

This is entry level into solvent ink printing.
Could possibly do what you are wanting.
Awesome small machine.
T-shirt Printing Equipment | VersaStudio BN-20 Applications