looking for a vinyl printer/cutter

[restless-rooster 11]

Hey everyone

I am looking for a vinyl printer/cutter. I currently have a cutter, but now I am looking to do printing and cutting.

Do you guys have a machine that you recommend? I know they are expensive, but what is the best budget machine out? I just need to to make its money back.

I found a Roland Pnc 5000, but k read alot of bad things about them.

Thank you

[Wildgoose 4,200]

I have read the BN20 is a much better option but not a very wide format. I have went back and forth over the printer thing many times and keep coming back to the same conclusion that I'm better off outsourcing it so I can keep my own regular cutter busy doing what I am set up to do. Sort of duplicating my operation so to speak without the investment in the equipment (and the maintenance) 

[restless-rooster 11]

That is the machine I was looking at. I am doing this as a side business and would do a lease to own on this machine. My monthly payments would be around 200 per month on this one. My main worry is that I won't be able to pay it off. I work in the oil field, and that has kept my decal side business going strong, but now I am looking to break out and do hard hat stickers. They are a huge thing out here.

Do you know what image formats this machine accepts? If it said, I must have missed it.

[Wildgoose 4,200]

I don't know much about it but HH stickers would be a nice niche. Good luck! 

[dcbevins 340]

The expense of good print cut machines means either you got deep pockets, or you have enough volume to keep the thing humming.  You would have to have sky high volume just doing decals  to pay for it.  Sometimes that happens.

 

One way to get that volume, is to utilize the full range of the print/cut machine.  Have you considered other things you can do with it?

 

http://www.rolanddga.com/products/printcut/bn/applications.asp

 

It would be hard to crank out enough decals to pay the lease.  But if you could also capture some of the other markets, you could get there. 

 

I am kind of in the same boat, but I want one of the VersaCAMMs, $346-$504 a month.  Right now I don't have high enough volume to justify.  But gosh what a nice fat thing it would be to have.

 

I've done tons of hard hat stickers at an old job for miners.  Miners loved them.  But it was irregular.  Sometimes a whole mine would want the same decal.  But often it was just one person wanting something different.  The onsy twosy thing is hard as its a whole graphics project per person.  Maybe you are in a spot idea for capturing those.

[gcextreme 475]

you may want to check into the safety issues with hard hats, i know i was told by my safety guy at work, that you can't put stickers on the hard hats because they would mess with their ability to do their jobs and conceal cracks and defects in the hat....yada yada yada...so he took my hard hat away and gave me a nice new blank one, lol

 

http://www.advancedsafetyhealth.com/newsletter-blog/2012/07/02/does-osha-allow-stickers-on-hard-hats/

 

 

 

In a letter of interpretation from Federal OSHA to Ms. Johanna Cohan in October 27, 2009, OSHA makes the following statements:

“Both 29 CFR 1910.132 and 1910.135 do not contain provisions that explicitly prohibit painting or the placement of adhesive stickers on helmet shells.  However, the employer’s ability to comply with the existing requirements of these standards may be adversely affected by the painting or placement of adhesive stickers on the helmet’s shell.”

 

The letter goes on to reference 29 CFR 1910.132(a) which requires that PPE be “maintained in a sanitary and reliable condition”.   The OSHA respondent states to ensure a helmet is, and remains, in a “reliable” condition, the helmet must be inspected prior to use for signs of dents, cracks, penetration, and any damage due to impact, rough treatment, or wear that might reduce the degree of protection originally provided, and used and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Paints and stickers may eliminate electrical resistance and – depending on the location and quantity – conceal defects, cracks, penetration, and any damage that would be otherwise readily identifiable during the employee’s inspection to ensure reliability.

OSHA then goes on to state “For these reasons, painting or applying stickers must be performed in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions, unless the employer can demonstrate that the altered protective helmet is equally as effective and protective as those meeting the requirements of Z89.1”.

As you see, OSHA falls just short of saying “no” and basically puts it back on the manufacturer as to whether paint and/or stickers are acceptable.  So, what does the manufacturer say?  We were able to find an article on the National Safety Council website from Jeanette Gaunce, the head and face protection product manager with E. D. Bullard in Cynthiana, KY.  Ms. Gaunce states that they really don’t encourage the use of stickers, but should stickers be placed on the helmet, they should be at least three quarters of an inch away from the edge of the helmet, and the area covered should be kept to a practical minimum to permit regular inspection.

We took a look at the instructions that came with our hard hats here at the office and they read as follows “Do not use paints (unless approved in writing bymanufacture’s name), solvents chemicals, adhesives, gasoline, or other like substances on this hat.”

Based on this information, it is strongly recommended that stickers not be used. If they are used they must stay away from the edge, and should be kept to a minimum.

[Wildgoose 4,200]

GC-  Nice quote on the OSHA thing. Just goes to show those guys get you coming and going. Most if not all the jobs we work on in my day job actually require us to have a sticker on our hard hats to show at a glance that we have been though the job-site safety orientation or are certified bellman crane riggers etc....Mine is literally covered with safety stickers from various jobs. I wish I could justify having a good quality printer because I can see a decent market for stickers in the construction field. The problem I have is it's always a last minute need and no time to get them if I am going to have to order them. Oddly enough those guys never seem to plan ahead very good. 

 

My little operation is small enough and part time enough that I really can't even give the time to it to hope to gain a quick ROI with a printer. I just don't want to get pigeon-holed into NEEDING to print to justify the ownership. On a good note I sat around last weekend and looked at my equipment that was all paid off and realized I really didn't NEED to have it rolling because it IS paid for so whoop-dee-doo I relaxed and enjoyed some family time and sure enough come Tuesday it's cranked right back up and I'm back to being as busy as I want to be.