4 Essentials for Your Print Ship

When starting a printing business, your most obvious purchase is a printer. However, just one type isn’t going to meet all your needs. Printing isn’t the only step in the process either, and even if you’re doing the bare minimum you still need multiple pieces of equipment.

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Unless you’re offering design services, you don’t need an art degree to run a print shop. However, since a lot of your clients are going to be designers and are using design-specific software, you need a working familiarity with those programs. Adobe Creative Cloud is considered a design industry standard and requires powerful computers to run it, so be sure what you have is up to the job. 

Pick a Printer

Banners and posters require special wide-format printers. If your focus is on printing documents or making copies, you might be able to get by with just laser printers. However, if you want to make highly detailed photos or art prints, you will need inkjet printers. Printing on clothing requires specialized garment printers, but for less intricate designs some people prefer to go “old school” with a silkscreen. 

Different printers require different care. Even the inks you use can dictate what press cleaners you need. No matter what machine you pick be sure to educate yourself on its operation.

Cut It Out

If you’re printing smaller mailers or business cards, you are likely printing on sheets that you will have to cut into smaller, individual pieces. You can either use a manual cutter, such as a standard 12” guillotine, or a fully automated one. 

Laminate and Bind

Laminators help make cost-effective covers for manuals or other multi-page documents bound with either a comb or wire binder. If you want to make higher-end booklets, you will have to invest in a thermal binder.

Different projects have different needs. Some may require more specialized equipment but having these essentials ensures that most of your bases are already covered.