Can someone help me with some info on the right printer/copier to buy

[gowent]

Tired of salesmen trying to sell me the most expensive equipment... Looking for a real answer not based on commission but based on your experience. Thank you in advance!

I am starting a small business and trying to invest in a copier/printer that will print brochures, fliers, postcards, business cards etc. on paper as large as 11x17 and up to 14 pt. card stock. My own marketing stuff not trying to re sell or print for other companies.

I am wanting to print around 10 to 20k per month full color.

I was thinking of buying a used/refurbished machine for around 6 to 7k.
A few companies I have talked with said that for what I want to do and the amount of prints and being that I want to do everything in full color I will need something larger and the base price for a refurbished/used machine for the need above starts at around 12k.

I was looking at a few models they had being; Bizhub and Toshiba e studio but they said any of the machines they had around 6 to 7 k could only handle about 1k per month.
Is this true or false and could you recommend machines you could suggest thank you in advance.

 

[Jeff]

Two things that small printers are typically challenged by are registration and heavy stock.
For 14pt, you'll need a printer with a good feed wheel on the tray with a (fairly) straight-thru paper path (not one that makes it turn a sharp bend.)
For registration, you'll probably be ok for postcards, but business cards can be a challenge. For most small lasers, you'll have to be content keeping content well away from the edge on business cards so you don't notice slight skew or registration issues between front and back (which you'll have to run separately not duplex.) Honestly unless you're doing cards that really benefit from short runs, outsourcing business cards probably makes more sense than running them on a small laser. I only print business cards when I need them the next day and can't make time to have them printed offset.

The numbers above seem conservative to me.

I suppose the question is how long do you want/need the machine you are looking at to last with perfect quality.

Many years ago, we printed 10,000-20,000 11x17's a month on a $2500-$5000 new printer (new not used) and it lasted about 9 months before quality issues developed that we couldn't solve 100% (and that the manufacturer couldn't solve under manufacturer warranty.)