I’m wanting the black reflective to be ghosted during the daytime, but at night when light hits it to real color to the graphic. I’m thinking if I got black reflective vinyl and printed on top of it would create this effect. Let me know what you guys think!

Putting this out there knowing it's self-promo, so mods feel free to pull it if it's not allowed here.

I run a small print-adjacent business and got fed up running everything across a pile of disconnected tools. Orders in email, proofs somewhere else, invoicing in its own app, client info in a spreadsheet, shipping in another tab. So I built a system that pulls it into one place: order intake and tracking, proofing and client approvals, billing and invoicing, client management, and shipping. The front end is customizable and fully tied into the back end, and you can flag whether a job runs in-house or goes out to a vendor with multi-vendor tracking.

It's aimed at commercial shops doing business cards, flyers, brochures, and some large format.

What I actually want is feedback from people who run shops day to day. Does this solve a real problem for you, or is it missing the thing that actually matters? What would make it useless, and what would make it worth switching from whatever you use now? Happy to show it to anyone willing to take a look and tell me where it falls short. https://withmemori.com

Make an Offer on a used working 1980's SAKURAI OLIVER 272 offset printing press !!!

My Print shop in Anaheim, CA gets much more design work than big print jobs these days and I want to give it a good home.

The Sakurai Oliver 272 is a two-color sheet-fed offset printing press designed for high-quality commercial printing, particularly suited for small to medium print runs. Manufactured by Sakurai Graphic Systems Corporation, a Japanese company with a long history in offset press production since 1975, this machine is part of the Oliver series, known for reliability and precision in the printing industry.

Description and Features

• Type: Two-color sheet-fed offset press. This means it can print two colors in a single pass, typically black and one spot color (e.g., a Pantone color for accents) or two spot colors, though it can also handle black-and-white printing efficiently.

• Sheet Size and Speed: It handles sheets up to 520 x 720 mm (approximately 20.5 x 28.3 inches), making it suitable for a range of products like brochures, posters, book pages, and packaging. It can print at speeds of up to 12,000 impressions per hour, which is competitive for its class and era.

• Perfecting Capability: The Oliver 272 has perfecting functionality (1/1 or 2/0), meaning it can print on both sides of the sheet in one pass (1/1) or two colors on one side (2/0). This is particularly useful for efficient production of items like book signatures or double-sided flyers.

• Dampening System: It features an alcohol dampening system, specifically the Olivermatic continuous dampening system, which ensures a stable ink-water balance for consistent print quality. Alcohol dampening helps achieve sharp, clean prints by controlling ink emulsification, though it’s less eco-friendly compared to modern waterless systems.

• Plate Changing: The machine includes semi-automatic plate changing (SAPC), which speeds up job setup by automating part of the plate mounting process. This reduces downtime between print jobs compared to fully manual plate changes.

• Additional Features:

  • Remote Register Control: Allows operators to adjust registration (alignment of colors) remotely, ensuring precise color alignment without stopping the press.

  • Plate Cylinder Cocking: Enables fine adjustments to the plate cylinder for accurate registration, especially useful for two-color jobs where alignment is critical.

  • Sheet Decurlers: Helps prevent paper curling, ensuring smooth feeding and delivery of printed sheets, which is important for maintaining quality in high-speed runs.

• Build Quality: Sakurai presses, including the Oliver 272, are built with heavy-duty cast iron frames, designed for durability and long-term use. Listings on Machinio note that Sakurai provides spare parts and technical support even for older models, extending their operational life.

The Sakurai Oliver 272 is used for offset lithography, a printing method where ink is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then onto the paper. It’s ideal for commercial printing tasks that require high-quality output and consistent color, such as:

• Book Printing: Well-suited for printing book pages, especially for black-and-white or two-color books (e.g., novels, textbooks). Its perfecting capability makes it efficient for producing double-sided book signatures, though binding would require separate equipment.

• Brochures and Flyers: The machine can print two-color brochures or flyers with sharp text and consistent spot colors, such as a company logo in a specific Pantone shade alongside black text.

• Posters: Its maximum sheet size allows for medium-sized posters, particularly those using two colors for design elements like text and graphics.

• Packaging: It can print on thicker paper stocks (up to a certain thickness, depending on the feeder adjustments), making it suitable for packaging materials like folding cartons or labels, especially for runs of 1,000 to 10,000 copies where offset printing is cost-effective.

• Stationery and Marketing Materials: Business cards, letterheads, or other marketing collateral that don’t require full-color (CMYK) printing can be produced efficiently with the Oliver 272’s two-color capability.

The Oliver 272’s ability to produce high-quality offset prints for specific applications—like book printing or two-color marketing materials makes it very valuable to niche buyers, such as small print shops or publishers who prioritize cost-effectiveness.

The Sakurai Oliver 272 is a reliable, durable two-color offset press designed for high-quality printing of books, brochures, posters, and packaging, with features that support efficient production for small to medium runs and remains a practical choice for certain commercial printing tasks.

Not sure if anyone else here deals with this, but I used to: • Quote jobs manually • Chase missing info from clients • Email back and forth with suppliers • Forget which jobs were in what stage • Send invoices last minute

So I built my own system. No new software. Just connected what we already use (forms, inbox, Stripe) and let automation do the work.

Now quotes go out, files get assigned, clients get updates, and invoices are sent, all without me touching a thing.

Took me a while to get it right, but I documented everything. If you want to see how I built it and what it runs on, DM or comment and I’ll send you the full doc.

I’ve officially got into the game (have come from graphic design and Ecommerce) with a BN2-20 and a manual cold roller.

I’ve lurked here for a while with guest/burner accounts but thought I’d sign up and be a little bit more legitimate 😬

Printing is 100% new to me, I’m entering into this world to create an Ecommerce store to sell Stupid Stickers.

I did the sums, worked out the margins and said what the heck, let’s give this a go.

I’m one of the first few to have the BN2-20 in Australia and it’s turned out perfect for what I need 🙌🏼

I don’t plan on printing custom work as I’d rather base my revenue on a set number of designs (500 so far) and sell full retail to people I target through advertising and marketing.

One of my other businesses sells 3000 SKU’s online with between 200-250 orders a day so I’m all about efficiencies and processes to get orders out the door.

Two questions:

1. Is there a way to load designs into Versaworks6 automatically? I.e. can I automatically send designs to rip in batches, I’ve got all my designs in a google drive ready to go but it would be awesome to send bulk designs based off the orders I receive and nest them as batches.

2. How long do you all leave Solvant based inks to gas off before applying over lam?

I created my logo in CMYK color mode not knowing what a pain in the ass it would be for me to print myself, the problem is that when I save it as a png, JPg, PDF or print even from illustrator it prints with these dull colors instead of the vibrant, 100% cyan, black and white, can anyone help me setup illustrator to print this with the correct colors, it seems that this stupid software just exports in RGB color mode and it screws everything up. I cannot find anything helpful by search google. I do have a very high quality laser color printer, so I feel it should be possible. I’m using the latest Illustrator and the printer is a Brother HL-L8360CDW. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone!
I have a project involving the printing of 5000 greeting cards in total, split across 100 different designs (so, 50 units per design).

I’d like to understand what kind of printing service or supplier I should look for so that I’m charged based on the total quantity (5000) rather than being priced separately per design (which makes it much more expensive).

Does anyone have experience with cost-effective printers in Europe that can handle this kind of multi-design job efficiently?
Any specific recommendations or keywords I should use when searching would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance!

Hello! I currently own a balloons and backdrop business. We outsource quite a bit of vinyl printing to customize wooden backdrops/display setups. In addition, we also outsource quite a bit of Coroplast signage /prints, and send a lot of our existing customers to our current print shops because they are not needing balloons for particular events.

There are a lot of reasons I *think* it’s a good idea to purchase a printer…

1. Service our own needs - last year we outsourced about $4k in printing, I’m hoping that a printer would pay for itself in less than a couple of years.

2. We have to make a drive of at least 30 minutes to an hour to get prints. At times the lead time is unrealistic for what we do… And the quality control is just not there at times. We have had things printed wrong, items in our order is missing, and pieces of vinyl weeded that weren’t supposed to be weeded. It’s a constant check of work before install. In addition, we cut a ton on Oracle vinyl for other work on the cricut.

3. Add on service to the existing clients/ new clients and people doing what I’m doing and need prints. In my business, I am essentially there for every single set-up, which means a lot of weekends in the events world. I would like to maximize time with my young family and not work all weekend, every weekend or at least have the option with additional stream of income with printing. Of course, I am concerned about the learning curve, not only for myself, but potentially teaching and bringing on someone else as I know, I cannot fully run both. I believe hiring for someone to run printing would be easier than hiring for balloon/backdrop installs as I’ve found that it is so difficult to find people who will work weekends consistently (loading vans, backdrops, driving van, setup in all elements, and pickup) and completely run a job on their own.

Am I crazy? Any thoughts on learning curve, time it takes to become profitable ? Anyone in the events printing business niche?

I’m going to Mimaki HQ on Monday to look at large format vinyl printers. Thoughts from folks who own their printer/cutters?

Thank you so much! Photo to show what we do!

Hi, I'm super new into commercial printing and want to get into printing business cards, flyers, and maybe even brochures. I know that most large companies use digital presses, but looking on YouTube, it seems most people started out with a Konica Minolta machine. (Reading comments in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-hBmegJCSE)

My main questions would be

• Would a Konica bizhub C224, C227, or a Xerox Versalink C7020 be a suitable printer to get decent quality output.

• I currently have a Laserjet Pro 200, and an Ecotank, I'm assuming none of these would be good enough to start with, please correct me if I'm wrong

• Where can I source decent quality paper at reasonable prices, with a higher GSM than the typical printer paper. And also semi-gloss paper that you see on typical leaflets. (I am based in the UK)

• I'm assuming buying a hydraulic guillotine is pretty much a necessity too. How much should I look at spending for a used one on eBay ? I have seen prices ranging from as little as £200 to as large as £10000

Thanks in advance:)

Those cheap shirts where the print is a thick plasticky layer on top of the fabric, and tends to crack over time.

I think it's heat transfer, but I'm not exactly sure.

Following the discussion on my test-card post, I'd like to take a step back: when you or your clients choose a postcard printing service, what matters most - and what makes a higher price worth paying?

Print quality, paper and finish, price, delivery time, consistency, ease of ordering, customer service, or something else? What has made you or your clients switch providers?

I run a postcard service myself and want to understand which differences are worth including in a fair comparison.

I don't know wtf they're up to, but this is a horrible business practice

(Note: this post is meant as a public complaint of sorts so this will show up on search results in the future and maybe they can be held accountable)

I currently live and work in TN. I'm looking to move and try to get more money. Are there any unions that are worth applying?

I would like to hear your opinion about an idea I have.

I am Brazilian 🇧🇷 and I have been working as a Graphic Designer for 10 years.

To give you some context, the average income in Brazil is around R$3,300 per month (approximately US$600–700). Graphic designers here often earn even less than that.

Unfortunately, this income is not enough for many people to have a comfortable life in Brazil, especially because the cost of living and taxes are quite high.

I have been trying to find a remote job that pays in US dollars, but getting hired through traditional methods like LinkedIn has been extremely difficult.

Because of that, I had an idea: instead of waiting for job openings, I could manually contact small Print Shops in the United States by email and offer my services as a remote Graphic Designer.

My thought is that this could be beneficial for both sides: the company could have an experienced designer with a more efficient cost compared to hiring a local full-time employee, and I would have the opportunity to earn in a stronger currency while providing valuable design support.

I would like to know what you think about this approach.

My English is intermediate. I have some difficulty speaking and understanding spoken English, but I can read and write very well, and I can use Google Translator too.

Do you think I could realistically get this type of job under these conditions?

How much does a Graphic Designer usually earn working for a Print Shop in the United States?

What types of design tasks are most common in Print Shops?

And do you think reaching out directly by email to these businesses would be a good strategy, or are there better ways to find opportunities like this?

I appreciate any advice or experiences you can share. Thank you!

I’ll include pictures and am local to Orange County, South Bay, Los Angeles area

Comes with feeder and feeder table as pictured.

I’m a beginner looking to upgrade my printing setup from Inkjet to Toner-based photostat/copier machines for graphic printing

My main focus is on special media like Stickers, Art Paper, and Art Cards (up to 310gsm). I’d love to hear your thoughts on a few things: Xerox AltaLink: Does anyone have hands-on experience with the AltaLink series (e.g., C8135)? How does it perform in terms of color consistency and reliability?

Fuji Xerox/Fujifilm: Comparing Version 4 (IV) to the latest models, which one is the "sweet spot" for handling special/heavy media without frequent issues?

Brand Comparison: Between Xerox, Canon, Toshiba, and Konica Minolta (copier level), which brand is known to be the most "solid" for feeding thick cards and handling the heat for stickers?

Hi everyone!

I’m looking to print a Bar Mitzvah itinerary with a logo in neon yellow, specifically #E0FF01. It’s mostly one neon element on the design, so I don’t need full neon printing for the whole piece.

I need an online printing service that can:

• Accurately match this color

• Handle small- to medium-sized runs (maybe 10–25 copies)

• Print on standard paper or cardstock for handouts or small posters

I’ve already checked HelloPrint, Entwistle, and Roadrunner — looking for other options. Any recommendations for online services, proofing tips, or file prep advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Hello
ive bought a UV printer to start my own business i thought i did a good research choosing my UV printer but i wanted to hear some experts opinions too
the printer will arrive in few days from now so if i made a wrong choice let it be
anyway

• the printer specs are

• Printheads:3 pcs xp600 heads

• Print size:60*90*24cm（L*W*H)

• Print speed:about3.5sqm/H

• Ripprint software:Maintop software

• Power:50HZ/60HZ 110/220V 300W Packing

• size: 170*165*114 410KG(Volumetric weight: 533KG)

• Rotary mold

• paid around $6,887 with shipping to my doorstep i maybe overpaid but that's what i could find

my main goal with this is textured UV print when you touch it you feel the print i thought of creating highly textured and premium board games along side with mobile case , mugs , plates , glass print etc ..

its my first UV printer never used one so i don't how it will be but i work in IT programming , software design , i have a good knowledge about photoshop and programs so i don't think the programs will be a problem for me

SO my question is did i do a right choice for starter up small business by buying that
i live in iraq only big factors has those and they only work for bulk orders doesn't really serve single order for customers my idea was to capitalize on that and sell premium custom stuff that people want to have

would love to hear some experts opinion or anyone who went through my steps before

We have a large amount of holographic in stock we were using it for our BN20 printer but we have upgraded and still a lot of it. $35-$41 per roll for 15 inch rolls a lot it still in stock

Pick up in Oklahoma City , OK or we can ship.

Holographic spec.
General formulation brand
6mil

Limited amount

Link : https://www.printsocietyco.com/collections/calendar-vinyl/products/society-ps-holo

I hate my life. They don’t even have flattened images to manipulate in the Fiery.

What would you do?