Sign Wednesday: The Secret Weapon

I know what you are thinking. That is not a sign and this is Sign Wednesday. If you thought this then you are correct. This is not a sign but it is the secret weapon to sign making. This is called a plotter or a large format printer. Now that the introduction has been made you don't have to be afraid anymore. The one above is the one sitting in our church office and I use it every week. It prints up to 42 inches wide and I have printed up to 18 feet long images on it. If your church, ministry, or business does not have one you should get one. I mean this with everything in me.

But it is to much, right? I don't know how to use it... What programs do I use? Where do I get supplies? Won't this take me away from real ministry or business? What is the point of having one?

These are all of the standard questions. Believe me when I say that I have heard them all. I have done more research and crunched more numbers than most people in the printing industry. I have been to more print expos than I have Children's Ministry conference. I told you I was a sign geek. I know these machines. I have even walked into a local print shop and showed the owner of the company how to use his new DisplayMaker 98 inch flatbed UV printer. Before I left Fellowship Church I did tons of work to getting this machine pictured below:

This is a Zund UVjet 215 plus. This thing is so cool that it is on the church tour. It will print on anything, wood, glass, metal, paper, foam board, up to 2 inches thick and 7 feet wide. Just for fun I put a piece of corrugated metal through it so that I could say I was the first one to do so. You don't want to know how much this one cost.

So let me go ahead and answer your questions.

1. Where do I start? If you are really considering buying one, and you should be, then start off with a HP printer. They are the standard and will get you use to all of the other printers. Buy one that is a Post Script printer to start off with. This means you can plug it into your network at church or business and print to it like you do right now to your copier. Basically no extra hardware needed. HP is running a deal right now on their 5500 series which has been the best for years because they just came out with a newer, faster model. Either the 5500 or their new Z6100 series is going to be great. Remember this is a start and you will want to upgrade in 3 to 5 years after you see what these will do for you.

2. How much? You can get a refurbished HP 5500 with a one year warranty for $6400. A new Z6100 you can get for $13,000 for the 42 inch and $17,000 for the 60 inch. Inks are going to be about $225 per color and their are 6 colors. The ink last me about 7-8 months and I use mine like crazy. It comes out to be about $0.48 per square foot for ink. The paper, vinyl, polyester, canvas, magnets, and other material will come to you priced per square foot as well. That way you know how much a sign will cost you to print. For example, a 4' X 8' sign printed on paper and mounted to foam board would cost me $485 if I got it at Kinko's or if I printed it on my plotter it would cost me $37. No that is not a misprint. Now you see if you do any printing what so ever you will pay for the printer in no time.

3. Where do I get the printer/supplies? Don't get them from Kinko's. Get them from companies like Global Imaging or Queen City Reprographics. Both are companies I use and highly recommend. No I don't get kick backs.

4. What programs do I use? The easiest programs to use with this machine are Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, or Macromedia Freehand. Believe or not though, one of the guys here in the office uses Microsoft Publisher but I wouldn't recommend it.

5. What about real ministry or business? If you couldn't tell, I believe marketing works. I believe people want real ministries and real businesses to be as professional as possible. What is the best way to convert someone into a customer or tell them about Jesus Christ? That would be one on one conversations. What is the best way to show that what you are doing matters? The way your business or ministry looks and feels. Both are very important.

I know you have more questions. I know you I have talked over your heads on some stuff. Here is the deal. These printers are not hard to use. They will save you money if you are outsourcing your signs right now. If you aren't doing signs now then you will have to spend more money. I want you to care about how your area looks. I want you to care about how other people see your area. I want to stop mediocrity in this area. If you want help you can e-mail me.