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Before you buy any direct-to-surface printer, get six answers in writing
A lot of direct-to-surface printers look alike on a spec sheet, and they put a similar image on the surface. What separates them shows up after the sale. Ask every vendor the same six questions, including us. Our answers are below each one.
Six questions
The six answers that separate machines
01
Is white ink standard?
Without white, dark and colored surfaces are off the table. It's standard on all three of ours: the Pro, the Tech and the Floor Series.
02
What are the fees after the sale?
Ask about software subscriptions, per-print fees and royalties. We don't charge any of them. The RIP and layout software comes with the machine, with no annual fee.
03
Who helps you in year three?
Ask where the support team sits, where parts and ink are kept, and what hours they answer. Ours is in Wilmington, NC: lifetime support by phone, email or video, 9am to 8pm ET, seven days, and a hardware warranty of up to five years on new machines. The people who train you are the people who pick up the phone after.
04
Can I watch it run before I buy?
You should. Come to Wilmington, bring your own file, and run the machine yourself.
05
Does the vendor take print jobs?
Some sellers print for clients in the same markets as the people they sell machines to. Ask. We don't compete with the operators we sell to: print requests that come to us go to trained operators near the job.
06
What are the running costs per square foot?
Ask for the ink price per litre and per square foot, and the price of a print head. Ours: ink is about $160 a litre, about fifty cents a square foot printed. The print head is a wear item at about $2,000 on the Pro, so keep a spare on the shelf.
The short version
Our printer packages: Pro, Tech and Floor Series, $39,995 to $44,995
White ink standard on all three
No software fees, no per-print fees, no royalties
Lifetime support from Wilmington, NC, 9am to 8pm ET, seven days
Hardware warranty up to five years on new machines
A floor machine in the line
Print speed published as a range, 10 to 20 sq ft an hour, because it moves with resolution and color mode
Certified reconditioned from $29,995
See the specificationsHold any machine to the same list
Ask any other vendor
Is white ink standard, or an add-on?
Any software or per-print fees after year one?
Where are support, parts and ink, and in what time zone?
How long is the hardware warranty?
Is there a floor machine in the line?
What print speed, at what resolution and color mode?
Does the vendor take print jobs in your area?
Running cost
What it costs to run, in numbers
About 50¢
ink per square foot printed, about $160 a litre
About $2,000
for a print head, a wear item
$0
in software fees, ever
Send a quote
Have another quote? We'll read it with you
Any brand, any listing. We go through it line by line with you, including what happens with training and parts. If theirs is a better fit for what you print, you'll hear that too.
On video
Before you compare, watch this
Thinking about buying? Watch this first
R&D: white UV ink
The Pro Series at work
Rather talk it through?
Call 910-632-0320 or send us the form. Bring your surfaces, your volume and every machine you're looking at, and we'll go through them side by side.