Printer and Plotter for Sleeves

[PMST]

Hi!

I am looking into making my own sleeves and labels and wondered if anyone has any advice on this? My thoughts are an A2 printer and plotter, especially an A2 printer with a longer feed as this will then work for 12", as well as 10" and 7", although this is not essential.

If anyone has any advice or even anyone currently doing this with experience it would be massively appreciated. I've searched the site but didn't find too much on this and anything up to date.

Thanks!

[trailerparkjesus]

Roland!

[PMST]

Roland!

You got any links i can check out, which model etc? and thanks!

[David34]

yes I am also keen to do this, but no idea where to start
11

[raretone]

No help from me I'm afraid but also keen to know more about this, have been meaning to do some printer research for ages.

[PMST]

Basically you just need a printer, and plotter, it just a huge scale of quality and price. Or if you have the funds, a printer/plotter combo.

If anyone else has some recommendations it would be great

[drdub]

Depending on the quantity of Covers you need to make there are some options.

For a long time we printed onto fat precut inkjet cardboard sheets 350g/m² then did the Cutting/Embossing by Hand. Labor intensive but works. For this you can use a quite cheap desktop inkjet printer.

Other Option: Talk to a print shop and have them make custom tooling for a press to make unprinted cover cardboard with embossing & cutting in big amounts. Then print on it using a flatbed printer. Professional Grade printers needed.

-Dub

[PMST]

Depending on the quantity of Covers you need to make there are some options.

For a long time we printed onto fat precut inkjet cardboard sheets 350g/m² then did the Cutting/Embossing by Hand. Labor intensive but works. For this you can use a quite cheap desktop inkjet printer.

Other Option: Talk to a print shop and have them make custom tooling for a press to make unprinted cover cardboard with embossing & cutting in big amounts. Then print on it using a flatbed printer. Professional Grade printers needed.

-Dub

That's really helpful, and from experience, so thanks! I will have access soon to a 24inch plotter, so maybe i will go the cheaper inkjet printer route and get it going with the plotter and see how i get on.

[boryo]

I think only a good big printer is needed. Cutting the cardboard with razor blade takes a minute if you have some kind of template/frame prepared. You need to fold the sleeve anyway so you will always need some manual work. I'm not sure it is worth to pay big money for big plotter. I've made a lot of 7" sleeves and cutting the paper is nothing, really... At least I'd go on DIY/cheapo way.

[raki1983]

I was going to buy cheap second hand ploter (700€) but luckly I talked first with friend who owns print shop and he told me that I will have more trouble than sucess and it will cost me around 5-7k to get a laser printer for that format (12")

[drdub]

We used an Epson SC-P800 for about 3 years without issues - from time to time we hade to make head cleaning but all in all it paid itself off many times. You can even use cheaper inks with these printers.
If you use it weekly they are great.

-Dub

[HannesFTL]

@drdub

Do you print on mat or glossy paper? The glossy ones look more "real", but are very easy to scratch imo.
I settled for foldovers in plastic covers because of the hassle.

[boryo]

I wonder how much damage a few drops of water make on the sleeve? Did you guys ever tried it?
Thanks!

[trailerparkjesus]

If anyone needs sleeves made for your short runs/one offs, we can help with 7 and 10"

Water resistant (UV cured), can be handled by hand with no scratches, printed on 300gsm 12mil paper. Scored and glued.

$4.50 for 7" and $5.50 for 10"

Prices might go up soon unfortunately

[boryo]

So, I went to the Epson distributor and they told me that the newer model of Epson, SC-P900 is pro grade printer for exhibitions and prints with really really good quality. They also offered me L8180 which is A3+ size, which is not the perfect size for 12" sleeves but could work to someone, the ink is much cheaper than the SC-P900, unfortunately the size is a bit smaller and risky for 12" in my opinion. Unfortunately I have a problem with the paper, can't find 300/350 gr/m2 here. They had 290 gr photopaper which was ok but not as hard as I would like to. Could anyone recommend a place on the net (EU) where I can find good paper for sleeves?

[tragwag]

sounds good, I would just caution against using an inkjet printer if you're doing quantity.
I had an Epson Artisan 1430 for a while and solid black art (which most of what I do is) would use up a whole cartridge per order of 20 12x12"s or so.
And I would suggest using their proprietary inks for quality reasons, I know it's more than twice what the re manufactured ones cost, but it's worth it.

[boryo]

sounds good, I would just caution against using an inkjet printer if you're doing quantity.
I had an Epson Artisan 1430 for a while and solid black art (which most of what I do is) would use up a whole cartridge per order of 20 12x12"s or so.
And I would suggest using their proprietary inks for quality reasons, I know it's more than twice what the re manufactured ones cost, but it's worth it.

did you print on cardboard like paper with it?

[tragwag]

sounds good, I would just caution against using an inkjet printer if you're doing quantity.
I had an Epson Artisan 1430 for a while and solid black art (which most of what I do is) would use up a whole cartridge per order of 20 12x12"s or so.
And I would suggest using their proprietary inks for quality reasons, I know it's more than twice what the re manufactured ones cost, but it's worth it.

did you print on cardboard like paper with it?

that type of printer wasn't able to do very thick cardstock, nothing in the pt scale (my understanding is at least 18pt stock is used for jackets, if not more)
I was printing the heaviest stock I could use, more like 65 lb matte from Staples.

my main point is the Epson cartridges for the Artisan 1430 in this also supposed "high quality photo printer" were tiny, and went through very quick.
they're meant for people who do like 10 photo prints a month or something.
certainly not the volume of a record cutting business making any quantity of full size jackets.

[Tim w]

Water will wash away standard ink. You need a sublimation ink printer. A customer once brought in an Artisan 1430. He bought a modification kit to convert all the cartridges to black. They could be refilled and the chips could be reset. I'm sorry I forgot the name of the outfit. Some judicious googling ought to find it. There are printer & plotter forums to use for research as well.