newbie needs advice please!

[flash baz]

[h=hello all!]2[/h]

hi everyone!
I am barry from west midlands nr brum [uk]
I have been looking for some while now to find a business for my pc/gaming mad daughter she has just turned 16 and due to enter the 'working world' [ or she would be if there were any jobs out there! I refuse to let her work for mc.doughnuts]. [I run my own business and will aid her at first]
she is very good at art,she lives on a pc [unless she's on her ps3 or xbox] she is trying to start a website selling gaming and collectable goodies and we thought a mug and t-shirt printer would allow her to sell some unique items [plus i have been itching to find a excuse to get a vinyl cutter for the past 2 years]
my question now is which ones to buy. there are many vinyl cutters on fleabay at cheap prices mainly chinese i think [and i read on this forum that they are not much cop.] also mug presses from less than £60 new buy now! [uk-racer] the seller is fairly local and offers a 2 year parts warranty. but i am still wary [I read somewhere on here that coralgraph were ok and i have seen them on amazon. any ideas??]
i know i should be looking at a roland or graphtex but my lottery numbers haven't come up yet. i could scrape about £500 to get a start in this business new or second hand? fleabay or where? which printer? [epson seems to be the make on here but any partic. model?]
I fancy having a bash at a bit of vehicle sign writing my self, so how big a cutter?
sorry to ask soooo many questions on my first post, but you seem a friendly lot, and i dont want to make my usual mistake of buying the first thing i see and then finding out its no good
many thanks for even reading this far and extra thanks if you can help!

[AJLA]

I only have a craft Robo as I only produce tees,

My very first Robo is still going strong after producing thousands of t shirts, I can honestly say it is the least problematic machine i have ever owned.

Last year I thought ..this little beauty's not going to go on much longer so I bought a new one and it's never been out of the box as the old one is still plodding along. A great investment for me that was. Having said that it would be too small for you me thinks to do vinyl graphics, have a look at the Cameo which has a much bigger cutting area.

Printer..Ricoh a few niggles but sorted now.

You couldn't be looking at a better time with the show just around the corner, that should give you all the ideas as to where your budget will be allocated.

[RogerC]

Good morning Barry.....I'm new to this forum and sublimation but have been doing vinyl (both cut and print) for about 3 years or so. I think your budget is honestly too low to get into this without buying equipment which will probably be a 'pain in the neck' for you.

Just to give you some sort of idea take a look at MDPsupplies starter packs...in particular the Graphtec CE5000-60 (I have this one). This machine will do what you need as a cutter and is big enough to cut vehicle graphics although not 'huge ones. If you want to get into printed vinyl you are looking at a much much bigger budget. Then you will need some software to work with which is supported by your cutter/printer. The Graphtec supports Corel draw which I use. That will set you back another £50+ if you go for the home and student version on fleabay or a lot more if you go for the full version.

Then for Tees and mugs etc you'll need heat presses and a sublimation printer and the specific materials required for production. From my research the Ricoh is the better bet for light use as the Epson printers print heads tend to dry up if not used regularly.

Then you need stock....vinyl of different colours/grades or specialist vinyl/papers for printing, application tape etc which you will get some idea about on the MDP site.....and you'll also need a few tools to cut/weed etc.

It is a fairly big market for machinery but there is a lot of rubbish out there which might give good service but I think you'll find most folks will tell you buy cheap and you'll buy twice.

I have been talking to Martin from BMS (printerowners.co.uk)and he has been really helpful to me and has a good reputation on here as has Coralgraph so a couple of phone calls might prove beneficial.

Whichever way you go....good luck to you and your daughter.....it's tough out there right now and it's good to see her being supported.

Just to add to this if you do decide to go down the 'chinese' route I have a cutter (about 24 inch width I think)which I bought from a graphics business which was closing down and have never used it...it's yours to try if you want it. I'm in Wiltshire so if you're interested drop me a PM.

Good luck.