New sublimation printer a3 or a4?

[ptholt]

As the title says really, after an aborted attempt with a friends epson which after 5 hours of head cleaning etc refused to print correctly I've decided to order a new Ricoh.

My wallet says a4 initially, but a3 looks cheaper in the long run? Any other advantages for a3 over the bigger cart?

Which supplier would those in the know recommend? I have had some issues with xpres in the past so will not e going there would like to find a knowledgeable company that can help me expand and sell sub blanks for a variety o products not just flog me a Printer and leave me floundering :)

[RogerC]

BMS....after a bit of research I went for the Ricoh 7700 with 60mm carts. Their backup and assistance is brilliant and nice folks to deal with. Highly recommended.

The Ricoh 7700 cost (per A4 sheet) if I remember correctly is approx 25p against the Ricoh 3300 A4 sheet price of something in the high 60 or 70p per sheet. I seem to recall it worked out that I could print 3 sheets from the 7700 for the price of 1 from the 3300.

It installed very easily and is running hassle free.

[logobear]

I have only dealt with BMS recently and they have been good, - I have traded with The Magic Touch for 20 years and they are awesome! They do unlimited free training and the 4 guys in technical support will do anything to help. I too have found xpres impossible to deal with, thou i have heard some favourable reports.
Re 275 a4 - 825 a3
if you are just thinking about potential ink saving 10p per mug you will need to 5500 mugs to justify the difference.
At 50 mugs a week this is 2 years worth of production. My Richo has been great, but if something serious blew, the A4 is much cheaper to replace.
True - the A3 can open options for bigger prints, - but it takes up a load more desk space.

[bassqee]

Its down to what you will need in the long run - will you use anything above a4?

[ptholt]

My initial thoughts were cheaper ink prices and the ability to do more to a single sheet hence less use, plus in the event of sale the greater residual of the A3 printer over the A4 (this could be an incorrect assumption).

Logobear has given me some real food for thought though, as 5500 mugs is a lot of mugs, plus the a3 footprint could snooker my available space, which i will measure shortly.
I also want to do ipad, iphone, kindle covers etc, not sure if the A4 has restrictions on what it can make compared to the A3 model (not seen anything A3 only size, perhaps someone could confirm), but logobear certainly raised some very interesting points that i hadnt initially thought of, plus the initial purchase price of the a4 is much more favourable, specially as i may need to buy a press as well....

[bms]

My initial thoughts were cheaper ink prices and the ability to do more to a single sheet hence less use, plus in the event of sale the greater residual of the A3 printer over the A4 (this could be an incorrect assumption).

Logobear has given me some real food for thought though, as 5500 mugs is a lot of mugs, plus the a3 footprint could snooker my available space, which i will measure shortly.
I also want to do ipad, iphone, kindle covers etc, not sure if the A4 has restrictions on what it can make compared to the A3 model (not seen anything A3 only size, perhaps someone could confirm), but logobear certainly raised some very interesting points that i hadnt initially thought of, plus the initial purchase price of the a4 is much more favourable, specially as i may need to buy a press as well....

You will be able to do the iPad covers, iPhone and Kindle Covers on an A4 printer. Even larger items such as netbook covers, medium bag flaps that are tight on true A4 can be printed if you cut A3 down to Legal size (8.5" x 14") which will print in the Ricoh GXe3300 A4 model

[ptholt]

Thats also a very interesting point i was not aware of Martin, so is there anything that the a4 cannot print?

[bms]

Thats also a very interesting point i was not aware of Martin, so is there anything that the a4 cannot print?

There are a few - laptop covers, reporter bags, large trays, large metal sheets, full prints to tea towels but there is a vast array of sublimatables for the A4 printer.

[JackB]

If you want to do Photo panels ie: Expres square ones, you will need A3.

Jack.

[logobear]

When we do single mugs we feed a full A4 into our GX3300, - then trim off the top 1/3, - and continue to re use each other 1/3 as required.
I think feeding scraps on an A3 would be a lot harder too !