ribbon printer

[india]

HI I am thinking of adding this to my collection of machines, does anyone know the best place to get one from and the pros and cons.

thanks

[purpledragon]

keep away from CPL best advice i can give

[india]

oh ok, thanks
can u suggest anywhere? and how much can i expect to pay for a starter machine?? thanks

[purpledragon]

about 500 quid if memory serves me right

[Jimbo]

Try here

http://www.ribbonprint.co.uk/

Jimbo

[logobear]

WE jumped in a couple of years ago, it is hard work!
While the margins might be as good or better than T's, nearly all the jobs are small, so you work HARD for any proper money, - we have yet to see any return.
Most people only want a m or 2, and the doner material comes in 110mm wide rolls. the doner is much more expensive than the ribbon, and if the client only wants a few m to go round a wreath or for a few wedding favours you waste more media getting everything set up properly than you can actually sell. and you waste most of the doner if you don't use the full width.
eg typical tshirts jobs.
1 basic tshirt costs £2 sell £15
10 basic tshirts costs £20 sell £100 (this is our bread and butter)
from our humble experience, a £15 ribbon job is totally the exception, and we never have £100 + jobs

A ribbon printer is a neat gadget, but will not earn you much profit. You can buy mine if you like !
pm me!
Phil

[Limara]

Hi I agree with logobears comments and I do own a ribbon printer from ribbon print I also find they are " hit and miss" and every colour ribbon and every foil works different they all need to be printed at different settings and even a new roll of ribbon bought at the same time and same colour can act totally different to the one you just used up! which is a lot of waste of time and materials initially, the vast majority are one offs and larger runs are mostly popular for weddings so no repeat business. I would say a £1.00 to £1.50 cake band would be the most requested job!
Just to warn you beware if you get a second hand one they require a registration number that you have to contact the company for I am not sure if they are charging for that now so make sure before you get one.
If you could strike up with a local funeral parlour I think they would have great selling opportunity ( untill the local florist buys one and undercuts you! )
Also just another point before you buy check what OS they will run on I remeber having terrible troubles getting mine working on vista which I eventually managed but the company couldnt help, now I have upgraded to win 7 and at present have nothing at all working on it its so bad I am going to have to keep a seperate pc for old softwares.

[logobear]

Cakes and funeraly - YES, - tiny runs. no repeat business.
Agree media can be fickle. Not had any issues with serial numbers or what.
Mine came with VERY primative software, - doesn't even support cut and paste if I am doing 4 identical ribbons from the same doner, each has to be manually entered.
I got my setup from http://www.charmersuk.com/
They are very helpful if you show interest in buying, - but not quite as helpful if you have a problem, - BUT - to their credit, they do always answer the phone, and do try to help.
I don't know what alternatives there might be, but I am frustrated by the control software, it works, but it is S**t! - then again, a florist could probably work it !

[logobear]

Re comment, £1 to £1.50 for a cake band, - sorry, but I won't get out of bed for less than £5!

[socialgiraffe]

I did look at a ribbon printer a few months back. I put it on the back burner due to my robbing low life scum ex business partner. So glad I did now as I thought it would be money for old rope. Wedding cake band £15.00 3 mins work job done!!!!

This forum is great. £10.00 memership has just saved me £600.00 in machinery that would collect dust. Thanks for the info logobear and Limara.