No bother - that's what forums are about. Our old Komori was 1989 L428 (B2).. I would really recommend Komori B1, fast easy to run and high quality output. L540 would be my choice with auto plate and at least auto-blanketwash.

Try DDJ Graphics (oop North) and mention Eyetech Graphics - he should get you a decent one for reasonable money.

Yes I heard about Graphoprint, they were big but the market is ferocious now and B1 seems the hardest hit which begs the question - where is all the B1 work going. My guess...China for the moment. Give your staff two bowls of rice a week in lieu of pay and bob's your uncle, you can undercut the world. H&S what that? Human rights - get real.

I liked that gag. Yeah i actually know DDJ, its dave isnt it, but i dont buy off dealers. my ideal would actually be 540 plus coater, so tha would allow us to do pretty much any work that we need to do.

what you said about asia is correct they work for nothing and from the below video i have posted, you will know how they can afford the presses,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVkotQ-We88

just hit the link

Holy Cow! That vid brings back memories of my apprenticeship (1971-5). We were running Nebiolo 44s - all guards up (until factory inspector rang to say he was coming!), hickey pickers consisted of your thumbnail held against the rotating plate cylinder! One accident I witnessed, an engineer tried priming an internal oil pump that was driven by the main two foot high helical cut gears - he didn't stop the press. Result - severed thumb - the press didn't even pause.

David and I go back a long way.
He was European Sales manager for Komori during the time I spent in Spain as Sales Manager for the Komori agent there - Neufville SA. As deals go I think we did well. Our old Komori went for 75k and we bought the 626 for 187k. I hear what you say about dealers - but unless you know exactly what you're buying and are prepared to source your own engineers to install it's the best route for most. And then there's the warranty issue. Presumably you bought at auction? How was the experience?

I have yet to buy any major equipment at auction, but usually i do bid, but i usually only bid to sell on. in terms of what yo say about engineers i have 2 good ex heidelberg engineers on the end of my phone when i need them. and they are independant so they are very reaosnable about pricing. i dont actually need a warrranty on a machine. the machine is going to break down, and if you know the machine you are running, you will be able to sort most break downs. but when i buy i like to buy off printers although these days printers are not selling as cheap as they used to

so you were an apprentice on a nebiolo. i saw one of the i swiss it was huge... used for packageing i think

Heidelberg & reasonable are two words that don't belong in one sentence!

To return to the topic, we had a price match situation last week - 36000 A4 170g 4/0 split over 36 kinds. Our price 2244.00 - digital printer online 2550.00.

Result: another litho printer willing to go 1600.00 - ok we drop our pants and go 100 lower by discounting our m/r's and plates. End result: client decides to stay with current printer, all that's happened is I (I blame me!) made the other printer lose 100 or 200 off his profit line and devalued that job for next time. Not very satisfying I'd rather lose the job at 2244.00 knowing that I didn't undersell what we do. After all, the investment in plant and people isn't cheap - and what price do you put on the years of effort in gaining the training & expertise that makes a professional lithographer?

All I know is I wouldn't apply the same price bashing if I were having private medical care - would you go for the cheapest brain surgeon you could find?

So that's my minor rant, now then...what kind of plant do you have?

Hi rrichard, i have a 4 col gto, a 5 col komori 28 (1990), a 4 col roland 600 b1, and a zirkon supra 4 bak 4 (half web)

Bloody hell a Zirkon - not seen one of those for a while. Eastern bloc - Czech I think - when I was in Spain (1988) we took one out and replaced it with a Komori System 32 (16 page). A big beast - it did 54000 copies per hour!

OK...here's my query to you - how much do you charge for a 4 col m/r and a 4 col set of B2 plates? I'll do the same after your reply.

Maybe it's a good idea to have poll on this one?

hi richard,

the thing is i dont actually itemize my invoces so in rality i do not no how much i charge, i could work out how much i pay. Zirkon is german not czech,i would love a system.but the zirkon is a very good press.

We don't itemise either - but surely when you quote for a job you calculate how much the setup and plates are charged out at?

What about the presstime - hourly rate etc?

If you don't know what your costs are how can you possibly know what to charge - unless you just pricematch or undercut any given price.

A recipe for ruin if you ask me - but hey each to their own.

BTW how much did you get your L528 for?

Zirkon - not Czech but East German (when there was an East Germany!)

HI, lol, no i dont just try to under cut the printer with the cheapest quote, for a full col set up i charge about 100 quid, but if i no i can get more from a different customer i would up my price.l 528 was bought bout 6 years back, for abou 40K, plus dismantle and reinstall, i bout it from a finance company. just out of intrest,how much did you get for your 26" komori.