Top products from r/CommercialPrinting

There's a lot of hatred here. Really unnecessary. Everyone's gotta start somewhere. I don't think you need a Kickstarter, but you can get very very basic capabilities for very cheap.

My suggestion is to get a diazo emulsion starter kit so you can learn the basic processes. Here's a fine one. It's 60 bucks. Add some white for like another 10, since that's what your design is.

Super Value Fabric Screen Printing Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00251JO8G/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_Zb2LybK8CPPER

You will also need transparencies (either laser or ink jet, depending on what printer you have access to).

Lastly, you can get a couple test shirts at a craft store for a couple bucks each. Michaels sells them for maybe 3 or 4 bucks.

This will let you make a few shirts, see if this whole thing is for you, give you a few items to demo and sell, and let you know what parts of the process you want to invest in commercial equipment for.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions!

You can buy glow in the dark paper

https://www.amazon.com/Silhouette-America-Glow-Printable-Sticker/dp/B00YU7R3H2

and a material cutter

https://www.amazon.com/Silhouette-America-Portrait-Cutting-Machine/dp/B077MP2578

For under $200 on Amazon.

I'm not endorsing either of these products, but just showing examples.

It seems like you could make custom glow in the dark sticker shapes and print on top of them with those two products or something similar.

It might be very hard to find a supplier willing to custom print things for you because you're asking for exotic or very rare materials that just aren't worth anybody's time effort or money for "less than 10 A4 prints".

Send me the design and if I think I can do it, I'll do it for $500 up front. That probably isn't a reasonable cost for someone asking for what you're asking for, but for someone providing it, my effort in coming up with the solution, testing, failures, and equipment and supply purchases, that's the best that can be done.

Thanks for this -- that's all really good context. Now I can see why the books are expensive to produce. I think I'll eventually just get this collection.

I wonder why these books don't show up on eBay? You'd think a lot of people would be selling their old ones when they get fresh ones...

> Xerox Phaser 7100dn

Looks like other variants in this family of printers (DN vs. N is just a matter of duplex) can be toner hogs... http://smile.amazon.com/Xerox-Phaser-7100-Tabloid-Printer/dp/B0096S95V2 - Just make sure you have some returnability (warranties, etc) should it turn out to be more of a headache than a godsend.

So I just found this Oki 62446701 C610n Color LED Printer

It's an "LED printer" (I have no idea what that is)
but its toner drum claims a 20,000 yield!

This has got to be a typo or something right? It seems WAY to good to be true.

Did you already see this? https://www.amazon.com/Magicard-Complete-Supplies-Bodno-Software/dp/B076H8WJS3

One reviewer mentions MS Access so probably between a database and a Word template you could do a whole bunch in batch if needed or if it’s just one off it seems like the average person could edit the necessary info on a Word template.

Thanks, I was hoping to keep it under 50¢ for the full letter, so that would be 6 pages. You can see them here:

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Going by the toner usage of my brother 8360CDW, I'd be looking at $0.33 per letter (so 6 pages total). That's using compatible toners and assuming 10% additional cost to drum replacement down the line. Also includes paper, just bought off of amazon n quantities of 10 reams (https://www.amazon.com/Hammermill-Colored-Printer-Colorful-102863R/dp/B001E67U84/ref=sr_1_1?)keywords=hammermill%2Bcolord%2Btan%2Bpaper&qid=1572040443&sr=8-1-spell&th=1

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I must be missing something. The printer itself is going to die at one point but that's why I was hoping to keep those "costs per letter" and then add +50% for a print shop, making it a total of $0.50 per letter (with paper).

This would be in order to avoid unforeseen problems and make sure we are always stocked etc

Well the first thing to color management is understanding color management isn't cheap. With that being said it sounds like some of your issues and the amount of waste in your process can be eliminated.

Profiling your monitor wont be very helpful if your printer isn't printing accurately. So you really need to profile both the printer and your monitor. To do that you need a spectrophotometer and profiling software. I suggest this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007TCISXI/ref=s9_al_bw_g421_i1

Next question is do you have a RIP/DFE or color server in front of the HP?

Pocket Pal is a decent high-level overview of various types of printing and related technologies. The Handbook of Print Media is much more in-depth, but also a little out of date on the digital printing front.

Real World Color Management:

https://www.amazon.com/Real-World-Color-Management-2nd/dp/0321267222

https://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Performance-Flatback-Tape-Orange/dp/B00HD2938S

This is what we used. I linked to the 1/2" version - we used the 2" for roll splicing. I have not used a better paper tape...ever. Adhesion is superb, it's thicker kraft paper, and it's a 3M product. Not cheap...worth the money. We tried switching to a cheaper splicing tape...absolute shit compared to the orange 3M.

Google: 3M Orange Flatback tape

You ever look into those diecut desktop sticker makers? I was looking at them a while back for a side project. Few hundred bucks and seem to be a big hit.. https://www.amazon.com/Cricut-Explore-Air-2-Mint/dp/B01GSOMVRG/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=diecut+sticker+vynal&qid=1572036197&sr=8-5 I have a Ricoh Versafire that we can run sticker stock on but that's not what you want.