Dear Letterheads, If I buy a leading 24" Digital Printer, what would my cost on printing a FULL COLOR 22" by 24" area be?
Bernard
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
With or without the learning curve?
Posted by Bernard Molek (Member # 1403) on :
Without the learning curve! Let's say I'm up and running already. In fact I don't want to know what I should charge I'll factor that into my overhead I'm strictly concerned with what the digital printing cost per square foot of total color is?
I was surprised I couldn't get this figure from the manufacturers websites.
Posted by Richard Girard (Member # 371) on :
Bernard, Here's the deal. 1. What brand of printer 2. what type of ink (in-door outdoor) 3. what type of material to print to. The list really could keep on going. I think for you to get a better idea of what it will cost you have to find the type of printer that you like and then look at the specs they are pretty close just add about 5% over what they say and you will have an idea. Even were you are will make a difference on cost to some degree. One other factor needed as well is will you laminate it or not. Back to your question 50 cents to $10.00
Posted by Fred Weiss (Member # 3662) on :
Using advanced search requiring all keywords "inkjet" "cost" "per" "foot" provides lots of results.
Bernard....Richard is right. Your question is kinda like "HOW MUCH IS A SIGN?". Lots of details to consider, ibcluding the type of output you're considering doing (posters, banners, signs, indoor, outdoor, etc).
Posted by Bernard Molek (Member # 1403) on :
Okay, guys your right and as a sign painter of 22 years I should know better than to ask a blank question like that.
So, let's say it's a Roland 600 the cheapest ink (indoor) and on vinyl. No laminate.
Hurry guys, if I get this bid I can buy one soon!
Bernard
P.S. I looked and looked at the roland and summa sites but could not find a cost per inch/foot. Will try the search given above though.
Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :
Hiya Bernard, Here's my numbers for my Encads... The least expensive media I can buy costs about 59¢ a square foot. Ink varies depending on the material being printed and saturation levels, but a good estimate would be about $1.25 a square foot for indoor cmyk inks. These are the raw material costs only. They don't include shipping the product to my location, overhead or waste factors. There may be cheaper products out there, but even cheap has a price.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
Posted by Fred Weiss (Member # 3662) on :
Maybe I'm getting confused here but if you're looking at Roland "600" and Summa then you're not looking at inkjets. You're looking at thermal resin printers.
Last time I looked at Summa supply prices they were a little under $3 a square foot for 4 color on HP vinyl. Roland, going from memory, was up in the $5 to $6 range but had the lowest initial investment cost.
4 color on an Edge, if you're crazy enough to pay list prices, comes in around $3.75 a foot. Using non GSP supplies we have got CMYK on HP cast vinyl down to about $1.95 and the quality equals or exceeds that made with GSP materials.
Posted by Jon Aston (Member # 1725) on :
Posted by Bruce Evans (Member # 44) on :
basically 2 foot by 2 foot. I don't think the real cost factor is the material if your considering a PC60 ot 600. Your real hit is gonna be in time it takes to print. Once you hit print, you'll come back sometime next week and hopefully that 2 foot print didn't have bands in it. When our PC60 was actually in service, we used to print (fairly often) a print that was 22"x84" long. So basically it was a 2ft x 7ft print. It was only spot black and the print time was about 45 minutes for one color. Now if it were 4-color process, your looking at roughly 3 hours of print time on that image. Now if my calculations are correct, that 2x2 ft. image of your is gonna take just under an hour to print. Keep in mind, this was the pc60 and i believe the 600 is slightly faster. If your doin alot of these, an hour of machine time is a pretty hefty cost to consider. We used to factor about $10 a square foot in ribbon costs at that time. So another $40 in ribbon. If your printing onto a good brand cast vinyl ad $3 for the vinyl. So I'm thinking $43 in material and just under an hour in machine time. That print is probably costing you upwards of $100 when push comes to shove.
I'd probably consider the Summa machine on something like that, assuming your gonna be doin alot of them. Your looking at 3 times the price but you'll save in the long run.
We use the Edge2 and would suggest that over any of the others if you could get by with paneling it. On the Edge2 we'd be in about $10 in foils and A8 avery vinyl. Print time would be roughly 2 minutes. I factor about $1 a minute in machine time when printing. So your looking at $2 machine time and $10 materials. Total cost of about $12 bucks......but will have to be installed in 2 pieces.
Posted by Bernard Molek (Member # 1403) on :
Okay everyone! Just as I thought, I got more than enough info to at least make a respectable bid. Though it will certainly take more time to review which machine to buy.
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)