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Purchase replacement parts for industrial printing machines

For normal wear and tear on your equipment for printing, you need to have access to spare parts that work with your brand.

I recommend: Find aftermarket replacement parts for over 125 brands of printing machinery at C&G Printing Equipment. If you can't find the spare part you're looking for at Global Printing Equipment, contact them and they'll locate it for you. Buy vacuum pumps for printing presses and bindery equipment from CFP (Combined Fluid Products). They can cross-reference other brands like Becker and Rietschle, so that you get the proper part for your printer.

Stock up on supplies for your industrial printing machinery

Many different supplies are required for everyday function of your industrial and commercial printing machines. Most supplies you'll find from printing machinery dealers that are specific to your type of printing, such as thermal printing, screen printing or pad printing.

I recommend: Microcom sells labels, wristbands, ticket paper, and tags for their thermal printers sold to the travel, mail, healthcare, and ticketing industries. The Pad Printing Network provides all the supplies you need for pad printing machinery. Find soy-based ink suppliers for commercial and industrial printing from The United Soybean Board (USB). Find all your screen printing accessories at Screenprinting Products.

Find chemicals for your industrial printers

Cleaners, solvents, rejuvenators and ink degradants are just some of the many chemicals used in industrial equipment for printing. Hazardous shipping charges will apply to some chemicals you purchase online.

I recommend: Purchase press and printing chemicals, like press cleaners, glue, and waxers from General Graphic. Lawson Screen & Digital Products sells screen printing chemicals with a low minimum order amount. Their inventory includes ultra-fast drying blockout pens and bottles of blockout for fine, medium and course mesh counts.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  First, try the manufacturer of your printer, then compare those prices to generic supplies and see if your business can save some money.
• •  Order all of your year's supply of hazardous chemicals at once to save on hazardous shipping charges.

Guide to Printing Machinery and Equipment

Find printing machinery and equipment specific to your business needs

By Angela Roe, Freelance Writer

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Choose industrial printing machines for your commercial needs

Commercial or industrial printing can be challenging when it comes to finding the appropriate equipment. Whether you're looking for printers that can handle high resolution artwork or printing large scale maps to book publishing, you'll want to look for commercial printing solutions that can meet your needs.

I recommend: InfoPrint Solutions offers a variety of commercial printing equipment that handles a variety of jobs including book publishing, marketing campaigns and direct mail. Hewlett Packard has printing machinery capable of handling unusual commercial printing needs like maps and plots that won't fit on the more common printing equipment.

Network your printing equipment

Setting up a network for your printing needs allows several users who may not be in one location utilize one printer or one set of printing machinery. By searching for equipment that can handle networking, you save costs by not having to purchase multiple pieces of equipment when one will do the job for you.

I recommend: GMI Color has a vast supply of printing equipment, all of which can be networked to allow you to enhance your printing performance with less money. Multitec offers web presses for book covers, checks, tickets and a wide array of printing needs.

Choose printing machinery suppliers with good customer service records

Your printing machinery and equipment is only of use to you when it's properly functioning. When you are considering purchasing your equipment, make sure you consider their customer service and support polices and procedures. You need to be able to depend upon that support to keep the machines properly functioning and your office running smoothly.

I recommend: Oce provides customer service that you can reach via the telephone or through online contact, making it easier to find the answers to your questions. Hewlett Packard provides a variety of customer service support that will meet all of your needs.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Consider purchasing used and refurbished machinery for printing. When purchased from a quality company with a good reputation, it's a good way to cut costs and still have dependable printing machinery and equipment.

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Buy new equipment for printing

New equipment prices will vary depending on the type of machine. Driving forces behind higher prices are characteristics such as automated machines, larger and faster production, and digital time and temperature controls.

I recommend: Hand model pad printing machines from Service Tectonics will run you about $1500 to $2400. Find reasonable priced industrial barcode printers for less than $1000 at PrinterSavings.com.

Consider used printing machinery and equipment

Buying used industrial printing equipment saves capital at the time of purchase, but budgets should include normal wear and tear replacement parts and service calls that the warranty doesn't cover.

I recommend: Check often for updates to the specials at Superior Graphic Equipment's used sheetfed printing presses, which can range from $200,000 for four-color models to $800,000 or more for six-color models. Ryonet offers starting kits for screen printing starting at $140 and increasing to $310. They also sell other printing packages that give you the screen printers along with an assortment of accessories, ranging in price from $645 for the basic 4-color economy package, to $77,000 for a package that includes an automatic screen printing press with a manual press and heat transfer press among many other things to start a business venture in screen printing.

Compare leases for industrial printing machines

You can lease equipment from vendors or from third party funding companies. Comparing rates and equipment offered will help you decide who to use. Don't forget to have quotes in hand to compare insurance company rates with the rates of your lease provider.

I recommend: Get an insurance quote from Amerifund for your leased printing machines. They insure a typical ordinary printing press valued at $100,000 for less than $10, which includes both physical damage and liability coverage. Printing Press Financing offers an Easy Start program where your company puts $100 down at the start of the lease and pays only $100 a month for six months. Regularly priced monthly payments start at month seven. Inkcups Now leases their new screen or pad printing equipment for as low as $230 a month for 24 months. Down payments range from $2000 to $3500. Hirsch breaks down some of benefits of leasing printing machines.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When buying used printing equipment, ask vendors to estimate average repair costs for most customers to include in your budget.

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Prepress equipment

Prepress equipment is any piece of equipment used to create a book, magazine or other document before it goes to print. This includes equipment such as cameras, image setters and processors.

I recommend: WiseGEEK explains in detail what prepress is, including the process documents usually take prior to printing.

Sheet fed offset press

In order to work, someone or something needs to feed a sheet fed offset press single sheets of paper. The machine then individually prints every sheet, which can produce a finer quality printing than other types of presses.

I recommend: Suba Solutions describes and pictures its sheet fed offset printers.

Web fed offset press

A web fed offset press allows an entire roll of paper to feed through it. Once printed, workers need to cut the paper into sheets. Web fed offset presses are much faster than sheet fed offset presses and are generally more economical.

I recommend: TechTarget describes web fed offset presses in more detail.

Padding machines

Padding machines bind together stacks of paper in such a way that someone can easily tear off each page. An example of a product made with a padding machine is a writing pad.

I recommend: Heavenly Office describes and pictures several padding machines.

RIP

RIP, or RIPs, stands for 'Raster Image Processing' software. It is software that's purchased separately from a press and made by a manufacturer other than the printer's manufacturer.

I recommend: Thomas Zuber explains what RIPs are and offers general how-to guidelines.

Imagesetter

Imagesetters are high resolution devices that expose sheets or rolls of film or paper with a laser. Imagesetters create high-quality black and white images or text, and the machine burns the data onto a plate for a printing press.

I recommend: ZDNet explains imagesetters in further detail and provides pictures.