DarronHicks

Who could forget the always popular 3 random letters in an oval.

Ok so I am an 18 year old new here but not new to graphics (specifically Offset printing and Vinyl signs). In 4 years of high school I took as much of the graphics class as I could and got pretty good at it. My question is basically this; I have between $350 to $750 to put into some equipment for one or the other which one is my best option. My thoughts, questions and concerns. Sublimation- I have never done this however it seems pretty straight forward. The cost is a little higher for initial setup it seems but I would probably be buying the Ricoh SG3110DN which from my understanding is a decent entry level printer. With sublimation it is very versatile but is the versatility going to make money or cost me money working out of my house? I mean if I am doing stuff like puzzles, mugs, ,mouse pads and flip flops am I going to be able to make money not keeping a decent amount of overhead? Also I would buy either a 9x12 or 15x15 swing arm heat press which I believe would be good enough to start me out. Vinyl- I am familiar with working with this stuff. I know that there is demand out there for signs, decals and such however there are so many of the online/local companies to compete with (not that there is not with sublimation, just a thought. I know the cutter I would probably get is the US Cutter MH34 which seems to be decent. I just want something entry level basically as proof of concept to myself. I also think that just being able to do decals and signs limits me and its a tougher sell because I can not do printed sign graphics because the printers are simply too costly for me as of right now. So how well would I do? Honestly- I do not know if I can make money doing either but when I set my mind to something I will try as hard as I can to do it. I would put 110% effort into it and try not to fall flat on my face. When I get my mind stuck on something no matter how stupid; I usually research a lot about it and make an educated attempt at something so that I at least have the chance to succeed. I know this post is long winded and rather dumb, but these are just some the questions I want to ask before I make a financial decision either way. Let me know what you think I should do guys and gals! Thanks, Darron Hicks

OWJones- Do you get good quality prints from the Epson printer? I mean on the final product. Also what printer do you have?

Not really doing it to move out haha. I just like graphic design and making money. Right now I have a job at a kmart stocking stuff so I have some money. In April I will be working at Busch Stadium again and at kmart then doing the vinyl stuff on the side to make some extra money. I plan on buying the vinyl cutter as my last big purchase before I buckle down and actually start saving for a car and to move out. I did graphics 4 years in high school and made a bunch of signs for different schools where we had to get them approved by either teachers, board members, principals or all of the above so I know a decent amount about sign making and such.

I can understand that. I know just in my town we have 2 or 3 coffee/tea cafes. With the increasing popularity of coffee shops among college age students and teens I can see these shops wanting coffee mugs and coffee travel mugs with their brand on them. I can easily go out and make pitches to multiple places and try to get orders if I have the equipment to do the mugs. Then they could sell the travel mugs to customers and have the mugs in the shop instead of throw away coffee cups like the big chain coffee shops have. I don't know maybe im thinking to far ahead ahahah.

Pad printing seems like there is just too much money and too much crap that goes into it. I mean sublimation is pretty expensive too. A basic sublimation set up is about 1000 dollars and that is low end stuff. I guess with you having a heat press already that saves you some money. 250 dollars for ink to refill the sublimation printer is crazy in my opinion but im still interested in doing it at some point.

So let me ask. How simple is this?

I am definitely listening to everything that is being said. I love the help because its obvious most of you know what you are doing. You know what points to make and what to tell me to check. Thanks everyone!

Thanks for everyones help so far. I am on a bunch of different forums for various hobbies ( I have an absurd number of hobbies) and I know that the new guy asking a ton of questions that have been asked 1000 times can be very annoying. However it can at times be a good way to judge the quality of forums too and I must say this forum is awesome.

Conde seems to be the best because they don't have any kind of minimums. I was on there the other day and thinking man that would be cool, man that would be cool, man wouldn't that be cool to do, so I could for sure see it being easy to spend that much in a hurry. hahaha!

I would like to have the ability to do contour cutting and it says that the MH series can not do it. I mean it wouldn't really be necessary until I had a printer and that may never happen or by that point I will have a better cutter. It is a lot to think about lol.

I like the price of the MH series that's on eBay right now. At 300 dollars its pretty good unfortunately I wont be able to jump into this until January sometime. I may look into the SC I have some Christmas stuff to buy and owe a little money so that's my next couple checks. After that however I am able to get into this stuff! haha. Thanks everyone!

Also am I going to have static problems in a carpeted room?

Now that I think about it at school we were mainly limited by the printer we had. We had Gerber Edge thermal transfer printer and on that you can do a lot just not large graphics lol. If I ever get back to the school I will take pictures of the work I did that is still up. I know there are at least 8 things that I did myself or with the help of my buddy. I really want to take pictures of stuff I did but I am not sure if I can get permission to do it. I may just have my brother do it for me!

It seems like getting a 34 inch cutter would limit me to smaller signs. I could always piece together 2 halves but in my opinion that looks unprofessional at times haha.

I have been toying with the idea of buying a vinyl cutter for a year or so and will be making that leap very soon. I am an 18 year old who took graphics 4 years in high school. I had a teacher who taught me a ton about Printing, Design, and Sign Making even hand setting type for printing! I have a pretty curious mind which really helped me learn, by the end of high school I was running the offset printing press by myself and was allowed to break it down and clean it completely myself, which no other student was ever allowed to do (by that time the class had been offered at the school for 15 years)! I also did a lot of sign work for the school while I was there. I made exit signs, trip forms, window signs, stuff for the school plays, big banners, and a lot of other stuff but more on the print side. I know that offset printing doesn't really matter in the world of vinyl but wanted to give a little background information about myself! I look forward to hanging around on this forum and diving into this new venture.

I see what you are saying. Sounds like I should do more research on in my target market, which is mainly local people my age and higher. I know personalized stuff is pretty popular right now especially local team stuff. I think I like the versatility of sublimation a little bit better but I am not a fan of the cost aspect of it. Puzzles, bracelets, and flip flops are popular just from listening to people around me, so then I would just have to take that and convince them that that stuff is cool but personalized versions of that stuff is REALLY cool! Haha

I am having a tough time deciding on if I want to buy a simple sublimation setup to do smaller stuff or if I want to go with the vinyl cutter to do signs/stickers. I have never done sublimation but it can not be that hard from what I've seen, in my honest opinion. A sublimation setup is going to be a little more costly to get started compared to a cutter I like the versatility of sublimation being able to do puzzles, flip flops, mousepads, and stuff but that can also be pretty a niche market and a tough sell. I believe I can sell most stuff eventually but I do like to make money ahaha. What are your opinions?

Nice work! Where at in the St.Louis area are you? Im new here and from that area as well

I really wish I could get on at a print shop. I got good at it. My teacher was impressed that someone my age actually wanted to learn how the print business worked. I was decent with setting up forms and stuff. It usually took me 1 or 2 tries to make something how someone wanted it. Thanks for the responses thus far guys!

I had a hard drive but it got knocked over and that's history too. I am going to buy a new hard drive and desktop computer as soon as I buy my cutter. Im shooting for mid January on having my setup. I hope to have a desktop computer again by that point. I hope. Sorry for hijacking this thread HARTMOORE

I will probably end up asking quite a few questions. I know there is a fine line between what most divulge lol. Especially some of the ones who have been doing this for a long time, it used to be from my understand a pretty tight lipped group of people who ran print shops and sign shops hahaha. I look forward to being part of this forum!

If my computer had not crashed last week I would have had one for you. Sorry!