Printer advice for a newbie

[kyldeere519]

Hi.

I'm in the process of starting up my own invitation and stationery business. This has been a side job for me in the past, but I finally have enough clients that I'd like to make this official. I have a great printer that I've been using locally. They are incredibly fast and very reasonably priced. I have two issues with their work: 1) they don't offer premium papers. I can supply my own paper, but it only reduced my printing cost by $.10, which effectively means that my price/printed piece then doubles. The second issue is that their finishing skills are decent, but not great. I design a lot of invitations that have 1/8" full bleed borders and the cut pieces I'm getting have somewhat uneven borders. To date, this hasn't been a huge issue, but my new batch of clients are high-end and very particular.

In a perfect world, I would love to print, cut and package my own invites.

So, now I'm looking for a printer. I'd love to keep it under $3k, but am willing to spend up to $10k. Ideally, I need a printer that can print the following: invites (a7), envelope addressing (as small as 4 bar) and can handle heavy cardstock (110lb +). I've been using an HP Color LaserJet Enterprise CP4005dn. It's been great, but slow, for envelope addressing and stationery sets. It leaves something to be desired for invitations, not to mention it's on it's last leg.

Does anyone have any printer and/or paper cutter recommendations? I'd love a printer that can meet all of my needs, but quality is very important to me. If need be, I can use my local printshop for invitation suites, but at the very least, I need something that can handle envelopes and Cardstock.

I've tried reaching out to Xerox and other printer dealers, but I'm not having a lot of success with great recommendations. As for cutters- I've heard great things about triumph.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[MailGuru]

Wow! That's a tough one. Not much out there that will give you the quality you're looking for, as well as the card stock/envelope combination for that budget. You might want to take a look at the Oki line, probably the C900 series. It'll probably handle the card stock and the envelopes that your wanting to run. Not sure about the 4-baronial, though. That's a pretty small envelope to go through any printer. That printer should run you somewhere around $5k new. Not advocating the Oki for production class equipment, though. I've never owned or ran one, only what I've heard through the grapevine. As far as the cutter, the Triumph is a great cutter (we have one here), but, new, that baby's going to run you around $20k. For your line of work, you might want to look at a slitter/creaser type piece of gear instead of a guillotine cutter. If you're going to buy a used guillotine cutter like the triumph, stay away from the old Challenge 305 cutters. You can find them very cheap, but, that's because they are hazardous and unsafe. Reputable bindery equipment repair technicians have been barred from repairing those cutters by the companies they work for, and, Challenge has been trying to get them out of circulation for a couple of years now.

I hope this helps

-MailGuru

 

[kyldeere519]

Thanks so much! After speaking with a lot of printer reps, it sounds like I won't be happy with the quality of the invites unless I'm willing to spend a great deal more money (>$20K). I can't justify the cost right now, so I think my best bet is to find a printer that can handle cardstock and envelopes. I'll continue to outsource the actual invitations to my local print shop.

I've come across a used OKI C711WT printer, which would allow me to print in white ink. Does anyone have any familiarity with this printer? It runs about $4K new. I'm happy to pay that if it will work great for all of my envelopes and stationery needs. If it's main selling point is the ability to print in white ink, but it's not great for my other needs, then it seems silly to purchase something for what very well may be a fad.

Regarding the slitter/creaser- do you have any specific product recommendations? I'm happy to purchase a low-end cutter (guillotine or rotary) and save up for a Triumph. I need something that is precise, relatively easy to use, space efficient, and less than $2K. It's ok if it can't handle large stacks of paper. I'd be happy if it could even cut 10-20 invites at a time. Though, obviously, anything more than that would be welcome as well.

 

[AP90]

Thanks so much! After speaking with a lot of printer reps, it sounds like I won't be happy with the quality of the invites unless I'm willing to spend a great deal more money (>$20K). I can't justify the cost right now, so I think my best bet is to find a printer that can handle cardstock and envelopes. I'll continue to outsource the actual invitations to my local print shop.

I've come across a used OKI C711WT printer, which would allow me to print in white ink. Does anyone have any familiarity with this printer? It runs about $4K new. I'm happy to pay that if it will work great for all of my envelopes and stationery needs. If it's main selling point is the ability to print in white ink, but it's not great for my other needs, then it seems silly to purchase something for what very well may be a fad.

Regarding the slitter/creaser- do you have any specific product recommendations? I'm happy to purchase a low-end cutter (guillotine or rotary) and save up for a Triumph. I need something that is precise, relatively easy to use, space efficient, and less than $2K. It's ok if it can't handle large stacks of paper. I'd be happy if it could even cut 10-20 invites at a time. Though, obviously, anything more than that would be welcome as well.

As for the cutter, try checking out your local craigslist. I ended up getting a Multi 2020 (Challenge 20) cutter for $800 off Craigslist. It is in pretty good shape for being a 20 year old machine, and can handle all the cutting needs I have. I regularly check craigslist for printing equipment and often see some of the triumph 17" electric cutters for less than $1000.

 

[MailGuru]

In Re: Slitter/Creaser, no, I don't have one here. I do have a creaser, but, it has no slitting capability. We use the Triumph. But, If you check out the Postpress, Binding, Finishing category of this forum, you might find something there. Other forum members might also be able to assist. Also, if speed is not a factor, there are some inexpensive, manual "hand-crank" models that are out there for business cards. I think the blades are movable, so, that might work.

 

[EZPower]

Usually when a designer brings us 1/8" borders we charge them double. After a few jobs the borders ether go away, or they turn into 1/4" borders. Much better.

 

[kyldeere519]

That's really good to know. Do you find that the wider border also results in more even cutting results?

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

1/8" margins and you charge double? I only get uneasy at 1/16" margins, and run 1/16" bleeds commonly.

 

[Shawnd]

I would take a look at the OKI 931E, I have been surprised by how well it does, 99% of our use is printing #10/#9 envelopes through it but some of the other sizes have ran well.

The smallest envelope I have run through the OKI is an A-2 invite and it printed variable data and a logo on it fine.

Since your in philly you should be able to find a used cutter in your area no problem, even a short run up to NYC area will get you a plethora of used cutters for under $1000 on craigslist. It will be an older cutter but will get the job done till you buildup more of your business.

 

[kyldeere519]

Thanks! I have a call into a rep to ask about the OKI931E. As for cutters- what should I be looking for? Guillotine, rotary? Is there such a thing as a small/space efficient cutter? I live in a tiny house, and space is at a premium.

 

[AP90]

Thanks! I have a call into a rep to ask about the OKI931E. As for cutters- what should I be looking for? Guillotine, rotary? Is there such a thing as a small/space efficient cutter? I live in a tiny house, and space is at a premium.

I think it really depends on your definition of small space? My 20" cutter is about 35-40" deep, 30ish" wide, and approx 4.5' tall. If space is at such a premium for you, you might want to look at a table top stack cutter. Im not sure how accurate they are but you could cut a decent stack of paper at a time and it would fit on a table in the room. Put it on rollers and move it around.

 

[Craig]

Make sure your cutter isn't wired for 3 Phase electric, if it is you will need to get it converted to single phase for home electricity.

We run a crap ton of invitations. If I were you starting out, I would partner with a reputable local shop who won't go after your business (most want commercial work). Use their resources and capabilities to your advantage. It's a lot easier to sell invitations than to print them, especially when you need to start buying equipment.

Good Luck!!

 

[Shawnd]

There is a tabletop Triumph 3915 over in Mahwah NJ for $1300, you could probably talk him down to below $1000. It would be a decent starter cutter. That was our first go at a cutter, it just wont do large stacks and larger formats.

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/bfs/5535631915.html

 

[bruceepolk]

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[HP Printer Support]

[No message]

 

[Keith]

I started my shop ten years ago with a Triumph 4700 manual cutter. I still have it and use it on occasion, backs a great backup cutter when my Challenge Model 20 is busy. It also makes a great channel score if you have less than 50 pieces to score. The trick is to use a cutting stick that has a really deep groove worn into it. More than 50 and we use our Martin Yale score/perf machine. If I remember correctly, I think I paid less than $3,000 for it new.