Is the Ricoh SG7100DN a good printer for my business?

[Dagema]

Hi there.

I'm looking for a printer that I can work with to produce mugs and shirts, also small logos for things like pens and usb sticks. I'd like to look at acrylic blocks too, but this isn't a priority just yet.

I would like to be able to print in full colour.

I can imagine doing runs of anything from a single print up to maybe 200-300 at the top end (at least for a good while).

A lot of people seem to the think that the Ricoh SG7100DN is a pretty good all round printer. Can anybody see any reason why it wouldn't be a good choice for me? If it isn't, what should I be looking at?

Thanks in advance for your time,

Da

[Justin]

I'm using the 7100 printer at the moment and it is very good. If you're dye subb'ing shirts it'll be fine. Pens and usb sticks you'd need to be looking at a different process, personally I work with a promotionalk merchandise company to get that sort of thing done.

[Dagema]

Thank you for the reply Justin. I currently work with other companies to supply the smaller items, but I'm trying to move a few things in-house. What process is generally required for pens and usb sticks then? I was really hoping that could be done with dye-sub actually...

[Justin]

USB Sticks I only had one job so contracted that out. Pens I don't think it's realistic to offer these in house imo. My supplier for example has many different types, price is excellent and profit margins are very good. Trying to source and stock many types of pen and compete with all of the companies doing this really isn't for me. I guess you'd be looking at pad printing if you really want to look into it. very time consuming for a few pence profit

[Dagema]

Ah, ok then. Thanks very much Justin. It was one of those things we had thought of doing and I'd just assumed it would be DS as well. Like you say though, if it involves a whole new set-up then it would make sense to continue buying the pens and usb's from else where.

[pisquee]

I would think you could do pens and usb sticks in a vacuum heat press?

[Justin]

Can't see them liking the high temps.

[socialgiraffe]

I would not touch pens with a barge pole.

As Justin says, most companies that print these do them using a method called pad printing. They have automatic hoppers so can produce hundreds an hour. The charge for the actual print is pence so its simply not worth getting involved. Add the fact that you would need quite a bit of stock for various colours and styles of pens and you start to realise that its not worth it and farming out to a specialist pen printer is a better route. As an example I had an email the other day that was quoting between 1p and 5p per print on the pen depending on quantity. Digital methods can not compete with 5p per print!

USB sticks are slightly different in that you could print the Twister range digitally as the metal part of the stick comes off. You can offer your customers full colour and low runs quite easily. But if they want something different then again, pad printing is the really the only option as the heat required for digital methods could corrupt the electronics inside the unit.