Printing Equipment Needed for Small Start Up

[TwentyTwenty]

Hi Guys

What equipment and printer(s) would you need for a small start-up business to create the following.

Small PVC banners
Pull up Banners
Posters
Vehicle Wrapping Vinyls

Any ideas on what would be needed would be much appreciated, I'm new to this and wanted to know what equipment would be a starting point to create the above.

Regards & Thanks for any help.

 

[Paul Murray]

Before you buy equipment, have you considered whether the business is viable/likely to make a profit i the long-run? There are literally hundreds of print shops offering exactly the same as you, especially online, so competition is fierce.

Each day I see maybe 5 or 6 ads for exactly what you've listed above and worry you may be jumping into a saturated market.

 

[TwentyTwenty]

Profit is not a concern at this stage as I want to "have a go" as I have some spare cash and are more interested in playing about really. Can you point me to a link that might give me some more guidance as to what equipment I would need.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[milkymedia]

He's right, my mate sold a lot of his stuff a bit back. Mostly for T-Shirt printing but similar stuff.

You'd want a plotter to cut the vinyl, a press to heat press it onto banners - Vehicles would use a different type of vinyl. So of course you'd need the right rolls, in the different colours.

For posters have you considered screen printing?

 

[hankscorpio]

If you have a of spare cash and that's great.

But I'd think about maybe considering getting some work experience in places that offer these services, either working for free or negotiating time for your services etc.

Anyway, it's not something you can pick up willy nilly and start doing it, especially when it comes to people's cars, that's a fierce reimbursement if things go terribly wrong.


Aside from the equipment required, there's a lot of knowledge required to get things printed correctly, especially when it comes to signage and other things, what do you with complex designs that need to be cut out?


I'm not trying to put you off - but you are better off gaining some background knowledge in setting up for printing, and what type of equipment and hands on experience.


I know a guy who bought embroidery equipment, because he wanted to give it a go, and when I sent him artwork (I know how to setup jobs for any print type) and he couldn't do it simply because of his lack of knowledge. In the end the job was terrible and the customer was less than happy, and that was with a t-shirt.