Considering Buying A Vinyl Cutter And Press. Thoughts?

J-Peffer

Every year I normally buy quite a few yard signs......t-shirts....hoodies.....truck decals.

I have been considering buying a vinyl cutter this year, and press. I could make all this stuff myself, and I don't have to buy it in bulk.

I buy 50 or so T-shirts at a time and it generally cost me about $500.

I buy about the same amount of yard signs, that cost about the same.

Hoodies really cost me a ton too.

I could change out decals on the trucks on a regular basis, keep people looking and guessing.

If I need a shirt, I can buy them from walmart, and make it up.

Thoughts? I can find decent cutters and presses for under $700. Good enough for my basic lettering.

Home Services

J-Peffer,

I would carefully consider 2 issues before purchasing the vinyl machine...

1. What is your time worth? You may save $ on uniform costs & then lose money on the other end. There are only so many hours in the day, etc...

2. If you do your own "lettering", what will the "quality" look like? IMHO everything that represents your company in print (truck signs, ads, uniforms, signs, website, etc.) is a reflection on your companies quality.

This may be unfair - you might have a crappy looking printed ad & your company does very high quality work, but, perception (in the eyes of the consumer) is reality. Hope this helps...

__________________
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mnjconstruction

I say go for it. master it, then start a little side buisness. Do some lettering for your buddies to get the cost of the machine back!

J-Peffer

It's defiantly something I consider. I had my logo's done by a company though, and they send me the proofs for the logos'.

I'd be using their logo's, then just print/place.

I'd mostly be doing it for signs and shirts though. Major decals would be bigger on the truck than I would be able to do, so I'd have to have those done.

But I could get more creative with shirts and signs.

I'm young, but I'm liked and have a lot of friends in the community. I like them ALL wearing my shirts. I have ex girl friends that still wear my shirts. Even if they cheat on me, and we break up, I keep the "friendship" because they have family members, and friends that will need work some day and I give them shirts every year.

I never burn a bridge!

Vince_B

I've looked into making my own signs. You could quickly recover your investment on not that many signs.

The reason i haven't pulled the trigger is that this could be another one of the things that look good on paper and end up being a rat hole I throw money down. How much time will it take to make a few signs? that's where the wheels could fall off.

HSConstruction

I am new to this site so, hello all.

I have a construction company AND a vinyl company. I started with the same logic... do my own stuff save money....wrong. I invested in a Roland 24" cutter and some warez (pirated) software, total investment $3000. I wasted so much vinyl just learning the program and making decals for friends. I figured on making signs for fellow contractors and make a few bucks on the side. As with any trade it takes years to master, I made some nice stuff but hr for hr I was loosing money. If you do not have the most up to date equipment its not worth it. I can cut vinyl and layer them to make a multi color sign and spent hrs doing it OR call the vinyl shop and have them PRINT on vinyl to make the same design at 1/2 the cost. The vinyl company has all but fizzled out due to lack of time, I still have all the stuff but rarely use it.

If you really want to make a go of this I will sell you my stuff.

J-Peffer

3k?

I can get a 34" cutter and a shirt press off ebay for $800.

It might not be able to put flames on the truck, but I can do my basic logo and basic lettering with it.

HSConstruction

Signsupply.com
I have Roland DX24
And I use Flexisign pro 7.5


check out vistaprint.com

@ $20 each for full color 2 side sign you cant beat that. Even if you master the program it will still take at least 30 minutes to layout, cut, weed, layer and apply. $20 is a fantastic deal with much more flexibility on design.

Just giving my .02 about my attempt to save money/ make money. As for the deal on fleabay, do your homework on the brand and model. I tried to sell decals on ebay but with others offering the decal and shipping for $.99, hell I am out .50 with postage and an envelope, .50 material and labor...no thanks.

J-Peffer

Thanks a ton for the insight, something I'm going to have to consider. the biggest thing I'd like to be able to do with it, is make shirts.

The only thing I've learned from them, is what I've watched on youtube.

I like the idea of making signs, simply because I could customize them per job. "Another quality roof by", "Siding by". Even change the signs as the job progresses. "Roofing coming soon by"

I've toyed around with making more custom signs, with lights in them, job signs are one of the best forms of advertisement and by getting a little creative, spending a little coin on them...it shows your enthusiasm in your work.

I know a lot of people in the community too, and I put a lot of people in shirts. I like the idea of my logo and number on the back, and give them a name tag on the front. Right now I'm ordering 50 shirts at a time, 50 hoodies, 50 yard signs and they all have to be the same.

I can catch shirts on sale for $2-5 each. Mendards just had Gilden Polo's for $2. Walmart sells quality T-shirts for $5 every day. Quality Hoodies for $8-10.

Being able to customize things, is the real perk I'm looking at. It COULD save me money in the long run which would just be an aditional perk.

EPD

I invested in all this equipment, vinyl and press for my girlfriend, the 1000 it cost me paid off in my trucks lettering and a couple of hoodies .....

we have done many different jobs with it , like making 4X8 signs (great money)

dont try to mass produce lawn signs, and dont try to keep up with screen printers (it will cost you a lot less money to sub your tee branding for other customers)

all in all , buy it , letter your truck, car, get the odd job from a friend, make your company lots of shirts and hoodies and signs .... and let it collect dust ... or keep your girlfriend busy with it

its a worthy investment

unhique

I already have a vinyl cutter (24", the $500 version, works okay). Haven't done any sign on it yet, just banners for my youth group.

Those with shirt presses, can you please give some pointers on brands/models. Also, where do you get bulk t-shirts for less? I'm looking at 50s or 100s at a time.

Thank you.

Nhi

mattp

So the same machine that makes t-shirts can also make yard signs and stickers?

unhique

From what I know, you can use the same vinyl cutter that cuts truck & sign lettering to cut heat transfer vinyl for t-shirts. I think people mostly print on transfer paper from either laser or inkjet printer, then use a heat press to tranfer the design on t-shirts and whatnot

done4fun

if they are making signs for 20 bucks....why cant you....may take soe work but what the heck.........im in a different position and am going to ruffle alot of feathers locally.im totally disabled from a work place fall and cash is plentiful......i have no overhead......and only need to make a few bucks to buy those little extras so i dont have to get into my cash stack.......i plan on charging 1/3 less than everyone else....im going to hire an expert in the biz and if i can make ans extra 2500.00 a month....ill be rich........i dont have the overhead that the others do.....i have nothing but timeand after my injury....i found out that not many people give two craps about you....even close friends.......so this biz will make me just alittle play cash...where others do it for a living...ill be doing it for money to blow and pay my top notch graphic designer who left his old job for and extra 100 a week.....always treat you employees good....or they will leave you at the drop of a 100 dollar bill.......i think i can make some cash to pad my play account.any input welcome....but please none feelong sorry for the biz guy who has loans on equip,overhead,and so on.......any good biz man researches all possible things that could come up and endanger his biz,livilihood......and people doing it just as a hobby....and being totally disabled is no fun for me.....ever...so when i can make easy money....it does make me smile and upgrade college choices.as i said...any thought or help is welcomed.

done4fun

hey can you message me...im in similair way....i would be doing it to let my girl make a few bucks and my brother does all his kids gokart numbers and such at no cost but the material....but i figure with being wealthy i can make alot of mad money if im thinking right!poeple that do it as a biz would be no competion at all and could cut profit margin to a reasonable rate but dont want to leave any cash on the table either.....i also plan to give a good portion to locan food bank if i make the kind of cash i think i can....let me know your thoughts....sounds like we think alike somewhat

mrghm

good buiness plan there, under cut the other guys, i am sure they are making a killing an all.