dyesuber

Newb Urgent Question about printing stickers

Recommended Posts

Hi all,

Thanks for all your great info.

I have a product line that is blowing up and I urgently need guidance.

I need to find out about printing stickers inhouse.   What are my options for printing small, ie. 1 inch to 14 inch square, black ink on white background, outdoor stickers?  It wont be big quantities of each sticker, but it will be volume of different stickers, so quick setup is important.  I am not happy with the dyesub options for stickers.

What printers would you recommend?  What companies?  Is it possible to lease?  If I can have an entry level printer that does lower volume and then upgrade, that would be better.

Thanks!

DyeSuber

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You can lease but the cost effective way is to contact member jfought or james605 and heave them do them.  they are so cheap it wouldn't make sense to do it yourself for the 16000+ investiment

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I do vinyl my short run printing using my WF1100 CISS equipped wide format printer and 3M pigment printable vinyl, overlam. Depending upon a 3rd party for occasional decal needs proved to be too inconvenient.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You guys are great!

I have the graphtec craftpro and have been cutting and weeding my stickers, but as my orders increase, I think that printing the stickers will be more cost effective for me in the long run.

A HUGE part of my value proposition to my clients, is that it is a 1 day or less turnaround.  So being able to quickly upload a file, print out a sheet of 2 inch, 4 inch and 6 inch stickers and deliver will make me shine over the competition.

$16k in the long run will not be an issue, leasing will def help if possible.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just bought a Mutoh and it's possibly the best on the market and almost photo quality for solvent based printing..You have to remember that the ink has to outgas for 24hrs if you use solvent...That kinda blows your less than a day turn around..I usually tell my customers to lay it out over night if they just have to have it that fast..Not been a problem yet..I too turn my stuff around quickly...

Ask what ever place you go to buy the printer from for a package deal and throw something else you need in with it..You get bigger discounts and better pricing..I got mine from Sign Warehouse..

Pm m me if you want to deal with my sales gal..She is Very helpful...I would be glad to give you her number and extention if you like...

stetson5331

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You can lease but the cost effective way is to contact member jfought or james605 and heave them do them.  they are so cheap it wouldn't make sense to do it yourself for the 16000+ investiment

or member ff-extreme  ;)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe Neron15210 can print it for you, ;)

no he cannot lol i have seen his work LOL!

no really he does great work and is a good friend of mine!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I do vinyl my short run printing using my WF1100 CISS equipped wide format printer and 3M pigment printable vinyl, overlam. Depending upon a 3rd party for occasional decal needs proved to be too inconvenient.

I do mine the same exact way, but I use Sihl 3988. Excellent results.

What's the pigment printable 3M?

You guys are great!

I have the graphtec craftpro and have been cutting and weeding my stickers, but as my orders increase, I think that printing the stickers will be more cost effective for me in the long run.

A HUGE part of my value proposition to my clients, is that it is a 1 day or less turnaround.  So being able to quickly upload a file, print out a sheet of 2 inch, 4 inch and 6 inch stickers and deliver will make me shine over the competition.

$16k in the long run will not be an issue, leasing will def help if possible.

I have a Graphtec CE5000-40 and it works great for quick, reliable contour cutting. It's fairly expensive at $995 before forum discounts, but worth every penny. The CE5000-60 is the same machine, but only 24" instead of 15" and comes with a nice stand. It's $600 more though, but again, worth every penny. I'm sticking with Graphtec machines from here on out.

So really, you could get one of those for a lot less than a print/cut machine, and your productivity will increase. And if you're using the pigment inks like lockandload1 and myself, you can easily maintain your 1 day turnaround. I pride myself for the same thing and haven't had any customer complaints about the quality of my printed decals.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I do vinyl my short run printing using my WF1100 CISS equipped wide format printer and 3M pigment printable vinyl, overlam. Depending upon a 3rd party for occasional decal needs proved to be too inconvenient.

I do mine the same exact way, but I use Sihl 3988. Excellent results.

What's the pigment printable 3M?

You guys are great!

I have the graphtec craftpro and have been cutting and weeding my stickers, but as my orders increase, I think that printing the stickers will be more cost effective for me in the long run.

A HUGE part of my value proposition to my clients, is that it is a 1 day or less turnaround.   So being able to quickly upload a file, print out a sheet of 2 inch, 4 inch and 6 inch stickers and deliver will make me shine over the competition.

$16k in the long run will not be an issue, leasing will def help if possible.

I have a Graphtec CE5000-40 and it works great for quick, reliable contour cutting. It's fairly expensive at $995 before forum discounts, but worth every penny. The CE5000-60 is the same machine, but only 24" instead of 15" and comes with a nice stand. It's $600 more though, but again, worth every penny. I'm sticking with Graphtec machines from here on out.

So really, you could get one of those for a lot less than a print/cut machine, and your productivity will increase. And if you're using the pigment inks like lockandload1 and myself, you can easily maintain your 1 day turnaround. I pride myself for the same thing and haven't had any customer complaints about the quality of my printed decals.

3M 8522 and lam with 8520... or was that the other way around.  ;)

I can't remenber but I'll check the rolls out tonight and edit the post.

I know MacTac'c 1958/1858 which I found out about on this forum http://forum.uscutter.com/index.php?topic=30359.0 is said to work but I've yet to see for myself. Here's the link to MacTac that was included in the post...

http://mactac.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Graphic/Sales_Literature/MAC2693_GraphicProd_DigitalPrint.pdf

BTW: Thanks to orbitgrfx for the original post.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've used Mactac JT1958P; it's really great stuff. I can't find many sources for it and the Sihl 3988 I used is easily available at two sources (signwarehouse and allsquareonline on ebay) so that's what I use. I have some oraguard 210 on the way but up until now I've been using papilio polyfocus glossy and waterproof satin laminates; and they're great, especially the satin, but they're not very cost effective. I've also been going through the huge 3M sample rolls they sent me (8518 glossy and 8519 luster). I much prefer the glossy with the 3M. Hopefully the oraguard is right where I want it to be, because I bought a decent sized roll in semi-gloss. I'll have to grab one in glossy if I like it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe Neron15210 can print it for you, ;D

no he cannot lol i have seen his work LOL!

no really he does great work and is a good friend of mine!

Ok J you say Neron can't but you didn't say I can't...LOL..I see how this is going to be ...LOL  ;D

Jfought can't do it either!!

ASK stetson5331 to do it he can!!

;)  ;D    :)  ;D  ;D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Jfought can't do it either!!

ASK stetson5331 to do it he can!!

:huh:   ;)    ;)   :D   :D

forget all those. 

ask Freezermink to help you out.  TOP notch work.

by the way, hey stetson i've got some stickers i might need to outsource... can you print them for me?  ;D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Jfought can't do it either!!

ASK stetson5331 to do it he can!!

;)   ;)    :D   :D   ;D

forget all those. 

ask Freezermink to help you out.  TOP notch work.

by the way, hey stetson i've got some stickers i might need to outsource... can you print them for me?   ;D

Should be no problem... :huh:  ;D 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I do vinyl my short run printing using my WF1100 CISS equipped wide format printer and 3M pigment printable vinyl, overlam. Depending upon a 3rd party for occasional decal needs proved to be too inconvenient.

I do mine the same exact way, but I use Sihl 3988. Excellent results.

What's the pigment printable 3M?

You guys are great!

I have the graphtec craftpro and have been cutting and weeding my stickers, but as my orders increase, I think that printing the stickers will be more cost effective for me in the long run.

A HUGE part of my value proposition to my clients, is that it is a 1 day or less turnaround.   So being able to quickly upload a file, print out a sheet of 2 inch, 4 inch and 6 inch stickers and deliver will make me shine over the competition.

$16k in the long run will not be an issue, leasing will def help if possible.

I have a Graphtec CE5000-40 and it works great for quick, reliable contour cutting. It's fairly expensive at $995 before forum discounts, but worth every penny. The CE5000-60 is the same machine, but only 24" instead of 15" and comes with a nice stand. It's $600 more though, but again, worth every penny. I'm sticking with Graphtec machines from here on out.

So really, you could get one of those for a lot less than a print/cut machine, and your productivity will increase. And if you're using the pigment inks like lockandload1 and myself, you can easily maintain your 1 day turnaround. I pride myself for the same thing and haven't had any customer complaints about the quality of my printed decals.

What made yo not want to go with the CE5000-60 for such a smaller investment?  Cost could be the factor, but it seems like you and your business would have the funds for that.

Do you not cut many things above the size that the 40 can handle?  Just wondering.  Not trying to offend you, or be out of line.

Caleb

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now