Producing Business Cards

[decbrad]

Hi!
I read another posting here regarding printing business cards and was hoping to expand on it? In a nutshell, i'm looking for advice on setting up a small, but professional business card shop?

I'd love to hear from people that have already taken the plunge! I'd like to know what kind of initial investment i'm looking at? what equipment best suits. I have no problem looking at used equipment. What about consumables? inks / toner, card stocks etc.

As this will be short run business, I would like it to be based on A3 format (10 - A3 sheets can produce 240 business cards (24 up)

From my research, I believe I will need the following...

1. A3 Digital Colour Printer (Duplex) -
What brands should I be looking at that will product near offset quality? Minimum of 1200dpi
What are other similar companies using?
What is the minimum spec? For example it would be required to print on to heavy card stock of 350grm+. Do I really need 1200dpi?
Most A3 digital printers that I have seen seem to be multifunction? (Print, scan & copy) Is this not excess to requirements? I would rather a really good printer that does none of that stuff!

2. A3 Laminator
After printing, the A3 sheets will be fed through a gloss laminator, laminating both sides at the same time. Can anyone reccommend a good one?

3. A3 Card Slitter
I have seen on youtube a couple of different card slitters capable of cutting a variety of sizes, for example the thermo-type Zip-A3E and the Duplo.

4. Stock and Consumables
Where can I get the card stock? Is there a wholesaler that anyone can recommend?
Does the card stock need to be coated for digital printing. Keep in mind that I will be also laminating sheets.

Sorry for the essay, there seems to be a lot of different options out there, need some advice on choosing the right one for my needs. Anyone care to share their experiences?

Thanks a million in advance
Decbrad

 

[OkiTech]

Hi, I will try to answer your questions but some key information is missing - like type of printing you plan or majority of your customers demand, also projected load - how many printed pcs per month, etc. This will give me and others a chance to recommend most fitted piece of equipment for the task. Here is what I can advice and/or offer you:
If you plan to print cardstock you better off with printer that has straight paper path, i.e. - paper does not bends from point of entry to the printer to exit, just going straight trough.
I would recommend OKI / Xante printers but since there are no "per click" contracts on these, you need calculate / estimate / research cost of printed page VS what can you sell it for. This will depend a lot by average toner coverage of your jobs. Say you have a chance to score all business cards printing orders from some university or hospital, for example, and they have a little logo and just some text - these machine should serve you well but if it fully inked sheet always and every order - may not be so cost effective due to price of consumables, so ...
1) OKI CX3641 / Xante Illumina (I happens to have 4 of OKI's for sale, should you decide to go for it) also Xerox DC242
Konica-Minolta C6501 is a highly regarded machine but ink formula contains high percentage of wax so laminating could be an issue, I know that for UV coating, a specially formulated UV liquid is required + IR lamp before UV curing lamp. Xerox and KM6501 are $30K+ when new and 10K to 15k for a nice used machine, while OKI will cost you near $2000 only, Xerox and KM6501 could be enrolled on service contract with your local dealer where it would cost you 8-11 cents per color click and 1-2 for b/w, the cost of the contract will be affected by your commitment, say if you tell them: - guys I will print 20,000 pages per month, they will give you better price than if you ask for "no commitment" contract. There are plenty more of different machines out there but since you're taking on printing on Cardstock, I would strongly recommend against some POS machine just because it is cheap nor should you get machine that feeds paper with numerous U turns - will be nothing but problems.
2) Has to be the kind that can trim the film with some kind of register, i.e. there must be the same cut on every page.
3) Sorry, I have no info about these
4)You have made your questions visible for printers nationwide and most likely worldwide, you may want to add some info about where you are so someone can recommend you a local paper supplier. As far as paper - if you print on coated paper, all colors are coming out brighter and lamination process.... I don't think your laminator could care less. Another thing that I had barely seen a business cards laminated - laminated, I mean using film, etc. Is this a requirement or just your vision? Most of the cards today are Aqueous or UV laminated or left uncoated. With tight market and small margins a snail-fast conventional laminating does not fit the production line / demand these days.

 

[jameswaugh8]

Best of Luck for your shop.
http://www.proxprint.com

 

[longlivemedia]

As for the stocks, I think you can find what you need at the Papermillstore site. Whether it is coated or uncoated, I think it would depend on your client. Good luck with your venture.

 

[midnightstar]

Professional print shops use offset printing presses. They use litho ink when printing.

 

[xfactor printing]

Professional print shops use offset printing presses. They use litho ink when printing.

Offset has the advantage of good registration unlike low-end digital machines and also greater scuff resistance than toner based. But the OP said he needs to do short run business cards and the first post mentions 10 sheets or 240 business cards... about 1/4 of a small run on offset even when you have the business to gang the cards.

 

[niklaus]

Hi, thanks for your info.

I do agree about your point in the lamination of business cards. Lamination will not work on these things and it doesn't bring out any more professional look.

Anyway, do you have by any chance have a list of suppliers for nice used, second hand machines like the ones you mentioned above?

 

[johnfred01]

High quality color business card printing services is good business.

 

[Paul smith]

wish you best of luck for your shop

 

[SBCS]

Hi, thanks for your info.

I do agree about your point in the lamination of business cards. Lamination will not work on these things and it doesn't bring out any more professional look.

Anyway, do you have by any chance have a list of suppliers for nice used, second hand machines like the ones you mentioned above?

I agree as well, there's no real incentive to laminate business cards IMO. You can just use CS1 stock to give a nice finished look on the front, or even CS2 if they're double sided, but laminating...nah. Here's a good article explaining business card stock for beginners.

I hope you're successful in starting up your shop. I used to work at a place that did a lot of business cards and funeral memorial cards, etc. Was a decent experience, not my favorite job though.

 

[xfactor printing]

I tend not to agree with that article. Yes, there is some savings to going to a larger sheet size on the paper stock alone. There is also savings on the click charge going to a contract printer. And there's a savings on ink cost over click charge going to a press.l But most of the savings going to gang printing is labor savings.

 

[networkingjunky]

in most cases people like the Super High Gloss UV vs the laminate option. Also the trending seems to be more to a AQ semi-gloss. I see increasing popularity in plastic cards too. - we get ours at http://www.hungrydogprinting.com/

Feel free to contact me directly to brainstorm. Good luck! It's a great idea! Kate

 

[kettycool]

That's really nice! Best Of Luck for your shop. Its a kind of business which never going to close and is having a really growing opportunities like along with this you can start Brochure Printing and other printing material as well which are being used by many small business owners for their promotion purposes.