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rodbuilder

Has anyone ever tried MAKING a printer?

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So what does a vinyl printer do? Heck yeah - it squirts ink onto a piece of vinyl!!

So say we take a $100 Epson printer and clean out the cartridges squeaky-clean, then fill em' up with Eco-Solvent ink.

Would it print and has anyone ever tried this and if it won't work, WHY won't it?

I can't wait to see the responses to this question!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you've actually tried this and had ANY kind of success please email me at:  pbbm@comcast.net

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A true vinyl printer has 2 heaters And i don't think it would work to well. The solvent ink may eat through on some of the parts on the printer.

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Yes, solvent and eco-solvent inks will dissolve plastic parts, which most desktop printers are comprised of.  I have seen where people have made DTG printers out of old Epsons, though.

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do a little research on how inkjet printers work. Don't waste your time trying to turn a lawn mower into a backhoe.

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do a little research on how inkjet printers work. Don't waste your time trying to turn a lawn mower into a backhoe.

Why not? I've made a couple of KILLER hotrods out of old Model A's. Plus, I love playing with stuff that nobody thinks can be done.  That's how they invented toilet paper!!! Aren't ya glad they did?

I just think that the sign world is getting HUGELY ripped-off by the companies who are selling these over-sized printers for THOUSANDS of dollars.  OK - so a 36 inch printer is - what - THREE times the width of a normal printer?  Do ya' REALLY think it's worth 100-120 times as much as it's 12 inch paper counterpart?:thumbsup:?  I'm just not buying it.  Not yet, anyhow!

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Honestly, 12-15K for a 54" VersaCAMM that can cut and print is not that bad.  Understandably, it's tough to afford as a small time/startup shop, but the technology in these printers is much more advanced than your basic desktop.  On top of having all metal/composite components/printheads, they need to maintain the rigidity in a large frame to hold the same resolution as a small desktop.

I used to think I wanted one, but the market is getting so competitive that it doesnt make sense for me to purchase/lease a large format.  High quality banners and vinyl printing can be had for around $4 a sq/ft, and I can make a profit off that.  Plus, there is always the option of printing on vinyl with a desktop and then overlaminating for weather resistance.  An Epson 1400, which will print 13x19, can be had for $200.

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I do...considering what its designed to do, and what the parts are made of.  Your normal home inkjet is not exactly designed for much use either.  You also have to think economies of scale....of course small printers are cheap they sell millions of them, not the case with large format printers.  Plus you figure a solvent ink you have to build everything out of metal and not plastic...... plus you are talking thousands of an inch of accuracy.

Good luck, but I seriously doubt you stand a chance at building a large format printer, not only do you have to build it, but you also have to have the skill to write the drivers for it and make them work with software, no small feat.  I will tell you this, I make $17 an hour at my day job, and much more than that cutting vinyl....buying a $14,000 dollar printer compared to the time it would take me to build one and get the software working and such to the point that I could use it to actually make something, I would be money I would be money ahead just to buy the thing and start in paying itself off.

Just my .02, don't want to kill your spirit, cuz its great, you are right people have an inventive spirit.....but I'm sorry toilet paper and Large format solvent printers are kinda in a different league.  Color me a skeptic.

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Guest stunad, jr.

i made a garage door opener out of a us cutter plotter.  I am very dissatisfied with it's performance.   

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i made a garage door opener out of a us cutter plotter.  I am very dissatisfied with it's performance.   

You have to use the right drivers. duhh

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Guest stunad, jr.

i made a garage door opener out of a us cutter plotter.  I am very dissatisfied with it's performance.   

You have to use the right drivers. duhh

I know.  my wife is a bad driver and runs into the door quite often. 

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i made a garage door opener out of a us cutter plotter.  I am very dissatisfied with it's performance.   

You have to use the right drivers. duhh

I know.  my wife is a bad driver and runs into the door quite often. 

I can help what os is she running? xp, vista, linux?

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Guest stunad, jr.

i made a garage door opener out of a us cutter plotter.  I am very dissatisfied with it's performance.   

You have to use the right drivers. duhh

I know.  my wife is a bad driver and runs into the door quite often. 

I can help what os is she running? xp, vista, linux?

its a MAC (truck)

lol  :thumbsup:

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do a little research on how inkjet printers work. Don't waste your time trying to turn a lawn mower into a backhoe.

Why not? I've made a couple of KILLER hotrods out of old Model A's. Plus, I love playing with stuff that nobody thinks can be done.  That's how they invented toilet paper!!! Aren't ya glad they did?

I just think that the sign world is getting HUGELY ripped-off by the companies who are selling these over-sized printers for THOUSANDS of dollars.  OK - so a 36 inch printer is - what - THREE times the width of a normal printer?  Do ya' REALLY think it's worth 100-120 times as much as it's 12 inch paper counterpart?:thumbsup:?  I'm just not buying it.  Not yet, anyhow!

like I said, do a little research on how inkjet printers work and you will see why you can't just put any ink into one. some printers you can't even use refill ink.

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Ok dig this ----------------  I have a 24 inch Graphtec and there's a guy 15 miles from  me that just bought a $45,000 (?) flatbed printer that will print DIRECTLY onto Coroplast. 

DIRECTLY!!  That means NO transfer paper, NO transferring, and ONE process to do the job  Try competing with his $20 18x24 inch Remax sign pricing and see what you're up against, because it's NOT gonna' happen.

So what's this jerk making an hour?  $15.00?  He's NUTS and is only doing it to kill the other guys in the area.

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i made a garage door opener out of a us cutter plotter.  I am very dissatisfied with it's performance.   

You have to use the right drivers. duhh

If the image is converted to a jpeg WHY does it need different drivers?  Big duhhhhhhh?:thumbsup:

Why are you so negative? maybe that's the reason this has never been done - the industry has programmed you to be that way, so you'll bend over and fork over $25,000 for theirs.

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Guest sciondrgn

What people are trying to tell you is by time you spend the time/money and man power accomplishing this feat you could have already bought a pre-made large format and made your money back.

There was a guy on T-Shirt forums that took his printer, ripped it apart and built a new head system for it and he can print directly to shirts using it.. does it look pretty? No but hey it works.

So experiment and share your results.

Once i get moved in to my new house im planning on tearing apart my Epson C180 I bought and doing just that just for the heck of it

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Ok dig this ----------------  I have a 24 inch Graphtec and there's a guy 15 miles from  me that just bought a $45,000 (?) flatbed printer that will print DIRECTLY onto Coroplast. 

DIRECTLY!!  That means NO transfer paper, NO transferring, and ONE process to do the job  Try competing with his $20 18x24 inch Remax sign pricing and see what you're up against, because it's NOT gonna' happen.

So what's this jerk making an hour?  $15.00?  He's NUTS and is only doing it to kill the other guys in the area.

yeah, my local sign supply has one of those.  But they are not printing with printer ink.

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i made a garage door opener out of a us cutter plotter.  I am very dissatisfied with it's performance.   

I'm gonna convert my plotter into a plasma cutter just as soon as I can figure out how to feed .25 sheet steel through it.

Then to produce income during my retirement years I'm gonna buy (by then it will be) an old bottle beverage machine with the glass front and stepper motor to dispense product and convert it to custom cut vinyl down on the street corner for coin.

But I never would have thought of the garage door opener; thanks for the idea.  :)

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Guest stunad, jr.

i riveted a laserpointer on thr hood of my 74 matador.

when the led light goes back and forth it resembles the knightrider car somewhat. 

Kinda bulky and I dont have an extension cord long enough.

I should have thought this through.   

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Ok dig this ----------------  I have a 24 inch Graphtec and there's a guy 15 miles from  me that just bought a $45,000 (?) flatbed printer that will print DIRECTLY onto Coroplast. 

DIRECTLY!!  That means NO transfer paper, NO transferring, and ONE process to do the job  Try competing with his $20 18x24 inch Remax sign pricing and see what you're up against, because it's NOT gonna' happen.

So what's this jerk making an hour?  $15.00?  He's NUTS and is only doing it to kill the other guys in the area.

He can probably print 4 or 5 of them across at a time so figure about 1.25 for the coro and maybe .60 of ink each one. Plus it's all automated so you set it up and press go and watch it print. I would say he is doing pretty good for himself if he is charging $20 each! That's an $18 profit per sign and he is probably able to be printing 20+ per hour.

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Ok dig this ----------------  I have a 24 inch Graphtec and there's a guy 15 miles from  me that just bought a $45,000 (?) flatbed printer that will print DIRECTLY onto Coroplast. 

DIRECTLY!!  That means NO transfer paper, NO transferring, and ONE process to do the job  Try competing with his $20 18x24 inch Remax sign pricing and see what you're up against, because it's NOT gonna' happen.

So what's this jerk making an hour?  $15.00?  He's NUTS and is only doing it to kill the other guys in the area.

He can probably print 4 or 5 of them across at a time so figure about 1.25 for the coro and maybe .60 of ink each one. Plus it's all automated so you set it up and press go and watch it print. I would say he is doing pretty good for himself if he is charging $20 each! That's an $18 profit per sign and he is probably able to be printing 20+ per hour.

I was thinking the same thing. I do full color yard signs and dont get $20 out of them. I wish i could, but it just dont fly around here...

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Stunad, Just get an AC/DC Inverter, and it'll keep that LED running on the road.

WARNING!!! Don;t put it on top of the car, they frown on that around here. I had people pulling over in front of me all day, Local PD wasn't Laughing.   :)

Kevin

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i riveted a laserpointer on thr hood of my 74 matador.

when the led light goes back and forth it resembles the knightrider car somewhat. 

Kinda bulky and I dont have an extension cord long enough.

I should have thought this through.

I'll say you should have...Whatever compelled you to own a 74 matador?

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