Hey All

[Twedd]

HI Everyone,

I am Alan, I own a independant gaming store in Northumberland called R U Game, I have a large area at the back of my store which is never used so going to put this space to use and start a printing company since I already pay the rent on the entire shop including the back might as well put it to use!

with me owning a gaming store I already get my target customer through the door and feel this is just natural progression for the company to take, I have a artist already employed who customises my gamepads and consoles etc and he is happy to design gamer related copyright free tshirts for me as these will be 100% his own work and designs.

I am wanting to use this forum for advice on many things as although I run a business I know nothing about printing! (except for what I have read over the past month).

I have pretty much weighed up all the pro's and cons of each process and yes I would love a dtg but I will be printing mainly onto dark tops so the budget cant stretch that far...

I am thinking of using 3 different printers for the all the printing that we are going to be offering but I am very flexible on this and will listen to you guys for any guidance....

Inkjet Epson SX130 - this printer is going to be our printer to print onto inkjet transfers for use on dark t-shirts only.

Canon Ip3600 - this printer will solely be used for edible inks to print cake toppers / cupcakes etc..

Epson Photo 1400 - this will be our main printer for printing everything else such as white/light t-shirts and anything with a polyester coating as I am wanting to set this up with a CISS system using dye sub ink...

please feel free to suggest changes or offer any sort of advice.

Many thanks for your time

Alan

[ADP]

Hi Alan, Welcome to the forum, To be honest im not much help to you at this point in time as im slowly building a small sublimation business my self but i will say that ive read allot of posts on here and got most the info i need to help me and im very sure you will get all the help and advice you need from other members as they are all very helpful

Adam

[Twedd]

Hi Adam,

What stage are you at? have you picked your printing method and equipment yet? I have decided on equipment about 20 times and changed my mind lol its a minefield to a newbie so much choice..

[ADP]

Hi Adam,

What stage are you at? have you picked your printing method and equipment yet? I have decided on equipment about 20 times and changed my mind lol its a minefield to a newbie so much choice..

I went for the Ricoh SG3110dn A4 printer for the reason that all the bits i want to do to get started it is the right size and another fact i went for Ricoh was i used to use a epson 1400 which was great being A3+ for larger prints but the person i used to work for refused to buy the correct ink and no matter how many icc profiles i had done for it the colours wernt up to scratch and it kept clogging up , If i had the money i would love to get the A3 Ricoh but as im starting on my own A4 Ricoh is a great starter and it wont clog as much as epson.

[Twedd]

whats the model number of the A3 printer you would be interested in as I still havnt purchased my A3 printer and would like a closer look at the rioch but not sure which it would be as I havnt really considered them

[ADP]

The A3 printer is the Ricoh GXe7700, If you want any info about it i would recommend Martin for BMS who is on this forum to advise you as he is very helpful as well as others to on here

[Justin]

Hi Alan and welcome to the forum

Justin
DSF Admin

[Craig]

Alan

Welcome to the forum, Firstly being new into this industry aswell there is alot of advice on here that will help along the way and also Martin/Scott at BMS ae very helpful and will giv any advice you will need.

If you join the premium membership which Justin can help you with for a small sum a year then you will more than likely receive that back on the order of your equipment.

Being new and taking advice from people i went for the ricoh gxe3300 a4 printer as i did not want the clogging/cleaning issues with the epsons etc and also the wasted ink that comes with unclogging the machine so for my only recommendation frm being new is the ricoh printers

Finally sounds like you have a good plan in running it from your shop and good luck

Craig

[Charlie_]

Hello and welcome to this very imformative forum Alan .....................

[WorthDoingRight]

Hi Alan,

Welcome to the forum. If you are going to print transfers then your choice of Epson and hopefully their durabrite inks is a good choice. You may, if the volume justifies it, try refillable cartridges and pigment ink.

Never tried edible inks but read that the choice of a Canon printer is a sensible one.

For your sublimation printer if you require A3 size and sawgrass technical backup then you really have the Epson 1400 and the Ricoh 7700 as choices. If you do not require a tried and tested and officially supported option then one of the new A3 Brother printers have been trialed by members successfully.

I know that a new range of Epson printers with sawgrass support is due and maybe Martin at BMS could tell you if there will be a cartridge based Epson printer in A3 available soon.

Best regards,

Richard