Semi industrial printer for a4/3 prints and gift cards

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15 Jun 2020
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Hi everyone - this is my first post (here’s hoping someone can help).

My wife is about to re-launch her Etsy shop and previously we used Printed.com for a bulk of our orders which provided very nice deliverables.

However, she would now like to move into custom design and offer faster turn-around times and hence we need a major printer upgrade.

Can anyone recommend a good printer for the job? It must be able to:

• Print in full colour on a3/4 (single sided) - Paper and Card
• Print on cards (typically A6 size when folded)
• Provide edge to edge printing where required
• Be good value for money

Thanks in advance for any advice. I’ve scoured various forums and I am struggling to come up with the best plan.

Current budget is up to around £200... (though this may need adjusting...)

Thanks in advance
Paul
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jul 2005
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19,207
Location
Norfolk, South Scotland
When you say ‘full colour’ do you mean photographs? That would usually mean dye sublimation printing or litho printing. Neither of which would be in your £200 budget. There are lots of print shops who will allow you to upload your own artwork and will post out the cards same-day.

Doing it yourself at home to a professional standard will be very expensive and would take years to cover the investment cost.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2002
Posts
7,177
When you say ‘full colour’ do you mean photographs? That would usually mean dye sublimation printing or litho printing. Neither of which would be in your £200 budget. There are lots of print shops who will allow you to upload your own artwork and will post out the cards same-day.

Doing it yourself at home to a professional standard will be very expensive and would take years to cover the investment cost.

Er... You don't use dye-sub (which is inkjet based) to print on paper/card as an end use, the paper is coated and just a carrier medium that you print on mirrored and then heat press it onto a polymer coated substrate or polyester/poly mix fabric. It's also horrifically expensive compared to pigment/dye based inks.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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14,047
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West Midlands
My wife is about to re-launch her Etsy shop

What is it that she is selling that requires printing?

I only ask as other have suggested a close relationship with a local printing firm may end up being the best option for quality, and good turn around time if you do a reasonable amount with them. I used to have a guy that items for me same day (mostly) and sometimes while I waited if it was urgent, I used to look after his PC's in return for a great rate.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jul 2005
Posts
19,207
Location
Norfolk, South Scotland
Er... You don't use dye-sub (which is inkjet based) to print on paper/card as an end use, the paper is coated and just a carrier medium that you print on mirrored and then heat press it onto a polymer coated substrate or polyester/poly mix fabric. It's also horrifically expensive compared to pigment/dye based inks.

Well, we have 3 small (A5 card sized) dye sub photo printers that we use to print onto a variety of substrates. Including paper. It’s about the only thing that gives us a true photo finish.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2002
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7,177
Well, we have 3 small (A5 card sized) dye sub photo printers that we use to print onto a variety of substrates. Including paper. It’s about the only thing that gives us a true photo finish.

The thermal transfer ribbon type? That’s a variation on the process that doesn’t use ‘ink’, but a thermal head and ribbon, it’s normally only used for things like ID cards, though 20+ years ago Gerber? did try and market it as a large format option with the ‘Edge’ and Roland rebranded it as the P60/P600, but it was a commercial flop as soon as solvent became a thing and took over. It wasn’t aware it was still being used beyond photo ID card printing, but then again Oki decided to use wax a few years back, so life is full of surprises. Conventional sublimation is very different, the image printed onto a carrier sheet usually as a mirror image, then heat pressed onto a polyester substrate or a polymer coating on an object, it transfers over and virus it’s way into the polyester layer, think photo mugs or mouse mats/t-shirts or specially treated aluminium/plastics, it’s not a process that goes onto paper and stays on it.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jul 2005
Posts
19,207
Location
Norfolk, South Scotland
They’re Konica-Minolta. It was a printing company that put us onto them. It’s about £3 to print an A5 sized photographic print onto card. We use them for personalised quotes. And obviously we all make our own birthday cards ;)
 
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