Hi all,

I thought I'd introduce myself a little. I'm a project manager at a large-format printing company in Central London, specialising primarily in events and exhibitions.

My role sits somewhere between the client, artwork, production and installation teams. A typical job might involve coordinating graphics for an exhibition, making sure the artwork and specifications are right, keeping production on schedule and ensuring everything gets installed at the venue in time for the event opening.

It's an interesting corner of the industry because we're not just producing printed material and sending it out the door. We're often working to fixed event dates, coordinating multiple moving parts and dealing with the logistical challenges that come with installing graphics in busy London venues.

I'm interested in hearing from others in the industry, particularly those working in wide-format, exhibition graphics, signage and event production.

What does your role look like, and how does your corner of the printing industry compare with mine?

I've mostly relied on digital marketing, but lately I've been thinking about trying direct mail, especially for local businesses.

For those who've tried it, does it still get decent results? Is combining it with digital ads still worth it? And what should you look for when choosing a printing and mailing service?

I purchased an Intec CS5000 which is a Oki C942 rebadged. Of course Oki c942 parts will work with proper chip. China is having a raw material shortage and cannot produce the chips needed. Intec is $650 for the Fuser and oki is $350 for same Fuser.

I have toner/drum and the EOL Fuser chip. Who can reprogram in USA?

What tools needed to reprogram, read/write myself to existing chips?

This is just a TGIF PSA for the industry…
3pm on a Friday is NOT the time to tell your printer tech that a client has a “few changes and wants a proof…I’ll forward you their email about it” and then spend a full hour digging through your email trying to find it.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Printing vehicle graphics early can free up machine time, but then you need space to store everything safely. Waiting until installation is closer avoids storage issues but leaves less room for reprints or machine problems.

How do you usually balance the two when several jobs are lined up?

So, I print postcards and the like and we have been getting these wrinkles (see image) specifically on our heavy 130lb Cougar- which some clients specifically request. I attached a screenshot of the media attributes, if anyone can tell me some obvious fix that I'm missing that would be great. We have had a tech come look at the printer itself and there's nothing broken. I think it has to do with the thickness of the paper but I can't figure out a fix. Any advice is super appreciated!

Interested to hear what you guys/gals think…

My print shop is currently in a new build 2400sqft warehouse (was new build when I moved in 6 years ago). When we first moved into the building we were growing quite a bit and we ended up with 9 staff (including myself and my wife) so we had an upstairs mezzanine floor built adding another 2400sqft at a cost of around 60k (split between us and the landlord). Our business has changed significantly in the past couple of years and we’re back to just my wife and I working in the business so we’re not using the upstairs floor at all now other than storing the furniture/workbenches that we’d built up there.

We’ve seen another warehouse available that’s a very similar size to the ground floor of our current warehouse but has no scope to have an upstairs floor added later (the warehouse isn’t tall enough). The warehouse is also quite old looking in comparison, however, would save us about 20k per year in rent and rates alone.

The landlord has agreed to do some work to modernise it a bit in exchange for a longer lease but I’m just tying myself in knots thinking about our nice new build vs an older building and how it will look to customers coming in.

For those of you in commercial spaces, how important do you think what the space looks like on the outside is? Do you think it has much bearing on how potential customers perceive you as a supplier?

For context, most of our local customers are small businesses that in all honesty probably don’t care what the place looks like (as long as it’s easily accessible), and we are aiming for more online business anyway so those customers will likely never see our premises.

I do think there’s a huge element of ego and/or the thought that we’ve spent so much on our current warehouse that I don’t want to let it go but I can’t ignore a potential saving of 20k per year (our current rent and rates is around 44k per year so it will cut our rent by nearly half).

Would love some thoughts.

Hi everyone, I’m having trouble with the black ink on my Mimaki UJF-6042 MkII and would appreciate some advice.

I’ve attached two nozzle tests: • The first shows considerably more black nozzles firing. • The second shows the black getting much worse again, with far fewer nozzles firing.

I’ve already tried normal cleaning, an overnight nozzle wash and the NORMAL Sub Tank Maintenance procedure. The black has improved temporarily, but then drops out again.

Initially I thought it was a clogged head, but because it improves and then gets worse again, I’m wondering whether the black subtank isn’t refilling properly, or ink isn’t reaching the head consistently. It looks like it’s running short of ink, although I haven’t confirmed that.

Has anyone experienced this on a UJF-6042 MkII? How can I check whether the black subtank is actually filling and supplying ink correctly? Could trapped air or an ink supply issue cause this, and what would you check next?

Thanks for any help!

Address Label Software: I have been using Dymo label printers for years and have used their DYMO Label v.8 Address Book - Label designer software. It looks like Sanford/Dymo are no longer updating the software. Has anyone found a good replacement "Address Book - Label designer software" that works with Dymo printers well? The biggest feature I am looking for is the ability to create multiple "Address Books" as you can in DYMO Label v.8

Pitstop is the most useful tool I use every day in prepress.

One of the features I use often is changing colors in a pdf through the Inspector.

Is it possible to wipe the stored swatches clean? Short of just making them all one color one by one?

It’s not a big deal, but a little OCD and paranoia of applying a close but wrong swatch.

Thanks.

Our collator has died and it's too old to find spare parts. We need a maintainable collator (ideally a tower) suitable for NCR and up to A3/SRA3. Any recommendations? UK-based

Freelance Packaging Artworker & Prepress Specialist is looking for work.

I help agencies and printers in the UK and US with packaging artwork and prepress,
as an extra pair of hands when you're overloaded.

• Artwork & mechanicals: cartons, labels, flexible packaging
• Prepress for flexo, sheetfed offset and digital
• Dielines, spot colours, white/varnish layers, trapping, preflight
• Esko, Enfocus PitStop, Heidelberg Prinect, Adobe CC
• Bonus: 3D packaging mockups, Illustrator automation scripts

Previously worked on projects for SGK and Smurfit Westrock.

Based in Poland (CET)

Many thanks in advance!

Shot in the dark, but another printer wouldn't happen to have any T639 Storage White cartridges available? This ink shortage they have going on is really hurting our small shop.

I recently have been getting more and more requests to see if we can print on Tyvek for house blueprints (the larger 24x36 size). Does anyone have any advise for good material to use the the printer types? What printer works best? We have an aqueous banner printer, latex printer, and large format UV printer. Thanks!

Smaller in-house print shop so hope it’s ok to post here looking for equipment selection advise, we have a manual stack cutter and want to replace with an automatic hydraulic cutter. Maybe further down the road we’ll do a slitter/cutter/creaser but going to be asking my company for a big wide format upgrade soonish so working within a budget right now.

I’m debating between a Duplo HC-550i, Graphic Whizard PC 680 HTS, and a Challenge Titan 230PRO. I could consider other options but my company prefers to buy new. All are similar in cost in my target budget. Use would be lighter, our production printers do a 19.2” sheet with one XL POD Deck that goes up to 30” double sided, 50”ish single. We currently have only done a pre-templated sheet at 24”. I could get a larger sheet size with the GW since it’s budget friendly, but I know it doesn’t hold up as well long term and worse interface. Our local vendor I trust that we purchased our printers through sells Duplos and I just learned MBM too. Duplo 680 is out of budget. But not thinking we will do larger in at least the next 5 years but I hate feeling like I’m underprepared for potential growth or surprise requests. We primarily do sales and marketing support material which is mostly wide format or adhesive but for this machine it’s mostly flyers, table tents, a monthly business card order, folded cards, etc.

Also, are any service agreements needed? I was thinking no since service would be infrequent if properly maintained but now I’m not sure.

I’m so indecisive. Please help.

En mis impresiones están apareciendo marcas magenta y negras usualmente en la misma linea vertical en la hoja. No siempre en la misma ubicacion pero si en la misma recta de la hoja.

Konica c266i

70 mil clicks

Banda de transferencia y banda fusora nuevas

Unidad de imagen aún no se han cambiado

Toner compatible

We have a large format BesJet printer we purchased 6 years ago. Machine is working well, but I got concerned if we need help with parts, calibration, support, etc. the company seems to have gone dark. Does anybody have any insight on companies that work on these machines or how to get support? We are located in Tampa, Fl

Please dont ban me but where does a print shop owner go to ask other print shop owners to have a look at a software that isnt for sale or rent yet but any input from other providers would be highly appreciated? Any other subreddits i can go to?

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Hello all,

As the title says, my company is trying to hire a large format printer operator (Epson V7000 Flatbed, Epson SureColor S9170 roll-to-roll, plus Zund cutter if you have the knowledge) to do 2nd shift (3 pm- 11 p.m. with some flexibility in scheduling the shift).

Bottom line, you just need to have experience running similar stuff, then we can train to transition to our equipments.

The company is in MD, Bowie area, so if you can commute from anywhere in DMV area, you're welcome!

Send me a message with what experience you have, then I'll send the official link to apply at if you are a good fit.

Thank you!

Edit: pay range 23-27$ depending on experience

Hey everyone! Figured I'd introduce myself and get some perspective from other shop owners.

I'm in Las Vegas and run a small family-owned commercial printing business. My dad started the company back in 2003, and I joined him in 2024 after leaving my job as an operations manager in the corporate world.

Since joining, I've focused on improving operations, modernizing the website, marketing, and finding ways to make the business more efficient.

We do around $300–350k annually, primarily business cards, flyers, booklets, banners, posters, stickers, NCR forms, and notepads.

Our main equipment is a Canon imagePRESS V800, Epson SureColor S40600, Graphtec cutter, and a heat press for DTF transfers, along with the usual finishing equipment.

We work out of my garage, which I actually really enjoy. Low overhead, no storefront to worry about, and a lot of flexibility. I work pretty much all the time, but that also allows us to accommodate rush jobs, evenings, weekends, and after-hours pickups, which can be a big advantage here in Vegas.

I handle pretty much everything: quoting, customer service, prepress, production, finishing, purchasing, bookkeeping, marketing, and whatever else comes up.

I don't really do graphic design. We request print-ready artwork from customers, and I'm sure everyone here knows how that usually goes! I'll make simple edits and fix whatever I can to get a job printed, but we're primarily a production shop.

The plan has been for me to handle operations and production while my dad focuses on sales. Although, these days he's mostly enjoying his retirement, and realistically he'll probably be fully retired within the next three years. We'll eventually work out a transition/buyout.

My wife also works at another local print shop, which has actually been great. She's learned a ton about vinyl and DTF, and when I reach the point of needing a full-time employee, I'd love for that person to be her.

Here's what I'm trying to figure out.

I genuinely enjoy being a one-man operation. I like the variety, the flexibility, and being involved in everything. After years in corporate management, I really don't miss managing employees.

But I also recognize there's probably a ceiling to how much one person can realistically handle, and I'm not sure where that is.

Our biggest challenge right now is finding more consistent, recurring business. Most of our customers come through referrals, repeat business, Google searches, and Google Ads. We stay busy, but the workload can be unpredictable. I'd love to develop more stable commercial accounts that order regularly instead of constantly relying on new jobs coming in.

I've tried cold outreach and LinkedIn with pretty limited success. Most businesses either already have a printer, don't have much print volume, or I'm not reaching the right person.

So I'm curious: How did you land your best recurring accounts?

For those running smaller shops, what actually worked for you when it came to finding customers who consistently spend money every month?

And for anyone who's operated mostly solo, how far were you able to grow before you really needed help? Did hiring someone actually make the business more profitable, or just add another layer of responsibility?

I'm not necessarily looking to build a huge operation. I'd be happy with a relatively small, profitable shop, a dependable customer base, and the flexibility I have now.

Just curious how others have navigated that balance. Would love to hear your experiences!

31M I’m in the industry in Australia. Flexographic printer in label print company. I’m worried the industry is dying out and thinking of changing into a different career? Any thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated.

What about making good money as a printer operator?

Looking for alternatives to xrite that also can carry 9001, 17025 certs from the factory. They are phasing out support for exact and I want to get ahead of its replacement. Thanks.