Printer For Stickers?

[Prosperi-Tees]

Wondering what if anything I can look for in a printer for printing stickers. Not really interested in large format. Banners I get cheap enough to absolutely not want to print them in house. Not interested in car wraps either. Just looking for a basic printer that I can print small to large runs of full color stickers. I have a colleague that is going out of business and selling a 54" Mimaki for pretty cheap I think but again I dont need 54". Any suggestions?

[Denis Kolar]

Roland BN20 is the small one, I believe 20" only.
Mimaki has 24" too, I believe CJV30-60. Both of them are print/cut.
Roland is pretty slow, I do not know about Mimaki.

If you already have a cutter, I would go with with Motoh VJ48". It is about $10K MSRP, you could probably get it for 9, which is a few hundreds more than BN20.

Extra inches will not hurt, if you ever need it, you got it.
I bought used Mutoh Falcon 48". Next year, I hope, I will go for 54".

[Ryan]

I'll take the name of the guy selling the printer You are most likely looking at a Roland versacamm 30". Mimaki makes a 30" too as well I think. You are going to need a print/cut and I'm guessing these 2 brands are where you are going to want to be as most shops tend to run these or atleast there are more that run these printers.
Most material is going to be 24" or larger. I'm sure you can get smaller rolls or have them cut down, but why bother. That BN20 is probably good for this but for the extra $1K or $1500, go bigger.

[Shanarchy]

Extra inches will not hurt, if you ever need it, you got it.
I bought used Mutoh Falcon 48". Next year, I hope, I will go for 54".

Dennis,

What software are you using for your Falcon? I got a used Falcon and need to get some software for it.

[Denis Kolar]

Dennis,

What software are you using for your Falcon? I got a used Falcon and need to get some software for it.

I bought used Falcon that came with old Onyx print center 6.5 that worked only with XP.
I had to upgrade to a newer version, but when I called Onyx they told me they have $750 upgrade discount.
Went back to the local rep that quoted me Onyx lover than a MSRP and he had to give me the discount.

I got the new version for around $650

[Prosperi-Tees]

Ok am I going to need some sort of laminator as well? Totally in the dark on the need for one.

[Denis Kolar]

Yes. You can laminate smaller stuff by hand (Big Squeegee)

Big Squeegee Laminate 1

Eventually, you will need a full blown laminator. I thought about Daige 54" but heard a lot of bad reviews.
I think that I will be going with a GFP cold laminator.

I do not know how much room you have (I'm limited with mu basement) but you could also get US Tech, the best pricing and decent quality. I would get one now, but they are just too heavy for me to take it down in the basement.

[royster13]

When you decide to do stuff in house just make sure it is worthwhile.....Sometimes the "sum of the parts" makes it better to outsource.....Many suppliers print decals on an offset press (HP Indigo) so it could cost you less to order in....

[Gilligan]

I just hate having to rely on other people for my jobs.

If someone needs something ASAP, sometimes you just can't accommodate when outsourcing and even if you can UPS don't discount overnight, so you end up losing most of your rush fee to shipping.

[royster13]

I just hate having to rely on other people for my jobs.

For quick, in house is usually the best option.....But for many jobs it is not...As someone who does next to "diddly squat" in-house and out sources 100s of orders each year, I never worry about "having to rely on other people for my jobs" as there are plenty of reliable suppliers out there.....

I see many folks on the forum that spend to much time working "in" their business versus working "on" their business......When you do too much production in house you lose those hours to generate sales....

[ebscreen]

For quick, in house is usually the best option.....But for many jobs it is not...As someone who does next to "diddly squat" in-house and out sources 100s of orders each year, I never worry about "having to rely on other people for my jobs" as there are plenty of reliable suppliers out there.....

I see many folks on the forum that spend to much time working "in" their business versus working "on" their business......When you do too much production in house you lose those hours to generate sales....

While I certainly understand your position and do appreciate the brokers we work with (some of them anyways) if we follow
this logic to the end there is no one left to produce! Sort of like Toyota putting the brakes on automation because if no one is
working who will buy their cars anyways.