What inkjet printers are commercially used?

[Laith]

I saw real samples of business cards to be probably at least 400 gsm. However, laser printers go only upto 350 gsm (like some Xerox machines), unless they are from Intec or Xante, whos reliability and print quality I question. The material might not even be paper, and might be (light) board. Also, the print quality of the cards is better than the laser copier we use, Konica Minolta C368. A colleague said it is probably inkjet. Can anyone tell me whether or not inkjets are used professionally for business cards? If yes, which makers and models?
I do not think they use the wide format inkjets, for example from Epson, like the stylus pro 3880, which can print on 1000 gsm, because the ink cost per 8x10 inch full coverage print is at least $ 0.53, which does not seem so economical, compared to our laser copier which is around $ 0.2. And these inkjets do not last long at all.

Any information is appreciated. Thanks

 

[The Hat]

Can anyone tell me whether or not inkjets are used professionally for business cards? If yes, which makers and models?

I used the Pro 9500 to print hundreds of business cards 25 up on SRA3 400 gm board for years very successfully, I also had the use of a powered Guillotine for finishing..

 

[Laith]

I used the Pro 9500 to print hundreds of business cards 25 up on SRA3 400 gm board for years very successfully, I also had the use of a powered Guillotine for finishing..

Thanks for replying
Is it common practice to use this category of printers for this purpose? I am asking because the print cost for 8x10 inch prints for the Pro 9500 is $0.82. Of course the ink cost will vary widely for cards because some are not full coverage.
For what price do you offer the cards? Where do you get the board?

 

[Laith]

But to compare ink from the previously mentioned printers with a laser like the xerox c9000, $ 0.82 does not seem so way off. I haven't tried their quality to see how they compare.

Alternatively, I just found out that some presses can go up to 400 gsm, but do not know if it is economical to run it for very short runs, like business cards. These machines probably need to run almost full time without interruption in order to make a profit.

 

[PeterBJ]

I think the print cost calculation is not relevant as it is based on photo printing. A photo is printed with nearly 100% ink coverage, a text document maybe 5%. There may be some graphics added to the text in the layout of the business cards, but the ink usage printing these cards will still be much lower than for printing photos.

The calculation is also based on the use of OEM inks. If you accept to refill using a quality refill ink, ink costs will be further reduced maybe even to 10% of the cost using OEM ink.

 

[INKJET ARTIST]

I saw real samples of business cards to be probably at least 400 gsm. However, laser printers go only upto 350 gsm (like some Xerox machines), unless they are from Intec or Xante, whos reliability and print quality I question. The material might not even be paper, and might be (light) board. Also, the print quality of the cards is better than the laser copier we use, Konica Minolta C368. A colleague said it is probably inkjet. Can anyone tell me whether or not inkjets are used professionally for business cards? If yes, which makers and models?
I do not think they use the wide format inkjets, for example from Epson, like the stylus pro 3880, which can print on 1000 gsm, because the ink cost per 8x10 inch full coverage print is at least $ 0.53, which does not seem so economical, compared to our laser copier which is around $ 0.2. And these inkjets do not last long at all.

Any information is appreciated. Thanks

Take a look at below image. Visit card vs Credit CR 80 card
This is stacking process. You print your first visit card image on any printer you like. Then you take an HP LaserJet 1200 and print on 200 gr m2 an mash Then you stack photo print + 200 gr m2 + 200 gr m2 and use some laminator to merge this sandwich
And that is easy 300 400 or 500 gr m2 visit card

But if you like to print directly to 400 grm3 visit card then you can take that paper cut it in particular visit card. Glue it by double face tape on same piece of paper an d put in an Canon iP 1800. And prin to it. Here is an sample printed directly on Canon iP 1800 at printable CR80 credit card

Or you can try sublimation transfer on any type of paper weight

 

[Laith]

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Take a look at below image. Visit card vs Credit CR 80 card
This is stacking process. You print your first visit card image on any printer you like. Then you take an HP LaserJet 1200 and print on 200 gr m2 an mash Then you stack photo print + 200 gr m2 + 200 gr m2 and use some laminator to merge this sandwich
And that is easy 300 400 or 500 gr m2 visit card

But if you like to print directly to 400 grm3 visit card then you can take that paper cut it in particular visit card. Glue it by double face tape on same piece of paper an d put in an Canon iP 1800. And prin to it. Here is an sample printed directly on Canon iP 1800 at printable CR80 credit card

Or you can try sublimation transfer on any type of paper weight

That is some interesting way to print on heavy material.

 

[Andreas S]

Inkjet for commercial prints may be done with RISO printers. At the moment the lacks powerfull colors but at less in France that shall soon be resolved. Their printers are the fastest up to 190 sheets/minute, followed by RICOH I think, both of them have a problem with profiling and calibration as far as I know. And RICOH isn't an inkjet printer.

For those who need better printouts, close to Offset, they might have a look at jorg.de. They have a RIP soft dedicated for this. I used their RIP a couple of years ago and I was very satisgied by the results.

 

[Laith]

In addition to Riso, Epson, Canon and HP started making linehead printers, as opposed to the shuttle print head.

 

[YourInkedGirl]

I saw real samples of business cards to be probably at least 400 gsm. However, laser printers go only upto 350 gsm (like some Xerox machines), unless they are from Intec or Xante, whos reliability and print quality I question. The material might not even be paper, and might be (light) board. Also, the print quality of the cards is better than the laser copier we use, Konica Minolta C368. A colleague said it is probably inkjet. Can anyone tell me whether or not inkjets are used professionally for business cards? If yes, which makers and models?
I do not think they use the wide format inkjets, for example from Epson, like the stylus pro 3880, which can print on 1000 gsm, because the ink cost per 8x10 inch full coverage print is at least $ 0.53, which does not seem so economical, compared to our laser copier which is around $ 0.2. And these inkjets do not last long at all.

Any information is appreciated. Thanks

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