wanted: one-off graphics

[knightsofnii]

I need someone who can work with me when I need quantity=1 of something for graphics.

I've seen a few topsheet options. Few base options.

Here are my needs:

1) Service, number one priority. I call you send you the files, and I get the product turned around ASAP, and its right the first time. No questions asked. I cant tell you how many times this has been a FAIL, with multiple companies.

2) Service: I'm the small guy, so what, you treat me like i'm the king of the friggin world. That's what you do, you're a service, and I'm the customer. I dont care if you have bigger fish to fry, fry them.

3) Price: I'd like to stay within a budget so I can make a board someone can afford. We can discuss this, but if you say you have a solution then when I call there are $1500 in setup fees? Dont bother please.

4) quality: no smudges, no dirt, no scratches, no fingerprints in the ink, if you cant get this dialed, shut down. Crown bases, when subbed, turn into a wrinkled mess of shrinkydinks, if you have a solution to this that's not 2000 bucks, get at me .

sorry it sounds like i'm angry. I am.
We have a couple people who can do graphics for us, but not at any given time, not at a moments notice, and so far not one-offs. They can probably do it, but i'd like to have more numbers avaialable to me when I need something done immediately, which is usually the case .
Thanks for listening to my rant, let me or us know if you or someone you know of is up to this challenge.

[sammer]

Sounds like its time to move this in house.
Found this when I was curious about the dye sub process.

http://www.advancedcolorsolutions.com/a ... gory_id=13

Not cheap but you already have a press and a heat source.
Just a thought.

Doesn't Brazen have a dyesub setup?

Hope you find a solution.

sam

[chrismp]

Many Epson desktop printers can be turned into sublimation printers simply by using sublimation inks (in combination with a continuous ink system). I have an Epson Stylus Photo 2100 that i'm going to convert to dye sub inks soon.

[twizzstyle]

Are you specifically looking for sublimation, or something else? Anything other than sublimation (like say screen printing) is always going to have a lot of initial costs, not worth it for one-off.

Have you worked with Miller Studios? They're main business is large quantities for large companies, but I've had a few one-off topsheets done by them now with excellent results every time, and I'll continue going through them.

I've always just assumed that since I'm a "little guy" I will be out-prioritized by their larger jobs, but even still the turn around time has always been just a couple of days. Give Vince a call/email if you haven't already.

From what I've been told by a few people, sublimated bases can yield pretty poor results, and the ink can even bleed through the material over time (yuck). The best option there is epoxy screen-printing - but that means a lot of money for screens. I have yet to try a base with any graphics at all though, so YMMV.

[knightsofnii]

best bases i got were direct printed with epoxy inks, right off the printer.
Not as vibrant as sub, but more crisp lines, no blurring of anything.

Miller doesnt sub to bases due to the shrinkydink issue i stated above, crown base does not like heat.

i have an epson 2200, with a CIS, with sub ink... we cant get the darn magenta one to print.

But yea we'll probably have our own print setup before i can find another printing person, and then we're screwing up royally and i'm putting my foot in my mouth for a while

[dane]

Have you tried Coda?

Chad has been really helpful for me. I do small quantity orders and he has nailed my graphics every time. Great quality, at my door in about a week.

Give him a shout. He should be able to work with you...

[chrismp]

i've had problems with clogging of the printhead in the past as well. i cleaned the printhead by folding a paper towel wetted with distilled water or printhead cleaner and putting it on the foam under the paper transport rolls and moved the printhead over the paper towel (you have to lift the printhead sligthly to get it on there). make sure you remove the cartridges before putting the printhead on the wet paper as the towel sucks the ink out of the channels. let the whole thing sit for an hour and repeat until the paper towel remains clean. insert the cartridges again and start doing printhead cleaning cycles and print some test pages. that did the trick for me...hope it helps!

[ben_mtl]

I had to work with Coda and Miller :
-CODA : super friendly, super fast if needed (like I sent my file saying it was rush, was in the mail the next day !) Only downside is he only worked with PBT topsheets when I used to deal with him. Colors were OK
-Miller : friendly too but more of a "big company", usually takes a couple days before they answer e-mails and they can send the topsheets printed 2 days after they got the file up to 10days after, depends of their workload I guess but it's never been a real issue for me. I deal with them now, even though they're not as fast an CODA they do print on Nylon which is a plus for skis and I find their colors more vibrant (same file as the one sent to CODA) even though CODA colors were good looking too !

[sammer]

The other route would be painting or printing on silk.
Under natural base looks pretty good. Gotta use bright colors and details get muddied up by the natural base material a bit.
I know they make inkjet printable silk just not sure if they make it in the size you would need.
I've been thinking about it for small logos etc.
I just found this...

http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/3901991-AA.shtml

mm is not millimeters it's some weird fabric measure. The 5mm is very thin
10mm would probably be a better call colors will not be so transparent

I've bought dyes and silk from this place in the past, service was pretty good.

sam

[MontuckyMadman]

you cant have your cake and eat it too.
Its either coda or miller or DIY.

[chrismp]

here's a video showing where the paper towel goes. i wouldn't resort to cleaning the head with a syringe as shown in the video though unless my described method doesn't yield satisfying results.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i78Tu3RVO3s

if all that doesn't help you could buy a small ultrasonic cleaning bath, remove the print head like shown here: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/178

use distilled water or printhead cleaning solution in the ultrasonic cleaner and fill it just so the nozzle plate is submerged in the liquid.

[Miller Studio]

you cant have your cake and eat it too.

I'm more of a pie person myself...

I will say it is really hard to make everyone happy. It seems like we do the same service for one person and they can't believe the turn around, yet another will complain that we didn't drop everything to make their one part that often yields us $10-20 to pay for labor and overhead.

Typically, it's the second guy that sends us an RGB file, or we have to go back and forth three times with them to get it sized right or in the right color gamut...this of course after already discussing it for a half hour with them before they sent the art. By the time we get paid for the part we have lost more money in labor than the part cost.

Then there is the one-off customer everyone wishes they had like twizzstyle that has his stuff together and smiles when he picks up his parts (and according to one of our larger clients) goes home and builds an awesome pair of custom skis like no one else

[Dr. Delam]

Miller, thanks for putting up with us homebuilders. I can see why there are so few resources like your company for printing topsheets. I am sure it doesn't yield very much profit for what you put into it.

I am lucky to have a local manufacturer print my topsheets for me but if that ever fell through I would be happy to utilize your services.

Message to homebuilders: Do your homework and have your files ready to go so everyone is happy.

[twizzstyle]

Then there is the one-off customer everyone wishes they had like twizzstyle that has his stuff together and smiles when he picks up his parts (and according to one of our larger clients) goes home and builds an awesome pair of custom skis like no one else

Awww shucks Thanks Vince!

I'm hoping to have 2 or 3 more tops for you to do in a couple of weeks.

Maybe next time I'll try to come up with something to complain about?

[knightsofnii]

maybe i have to go with miller/coda... maybe a combo?