We had an open house a few weeks ago, and while the turnout wasn’t real big, the people that came were genuinely interested in what we were doing. So, quality over quantity, I guess. It’s probably also a good thing, since the newer bigger space is already pretty tight with the TEC Lighting UV Coater and the MGI Meteor DP60 digital press on the floor. We also had on display an EFI SendMe unit, which is used to scan and fax documents in an office environment. (In fact, having a digital press means not having a scanner, so if anyone is interested in purchasing this cool machine, we’ll let it go at our cost of $1800).
I took a few pictures of both the space and of the other vendors that came to support us. Kelly Paper was there with all of their digital stocks; Manny from TEC Lighting came in; as did Steve Enstad from PageDNA. Steve was kind enough to do a presentation to some of the guests that came to our open house, including Nathaniel from Olympus Press in Seattle, Washington. Nathaniel also brought down some beautiful press samples off their new MGI DP60 press, some with UV coatings and some without. (They also purchased a TEC Lighting UV coater at the same time that they purchased their press).
Some of the local printing companies came by, too. Dave Butel from AAA Printing in El Cajon stopped in. I’ve known Dave for years, and he runs a traditional and digital printing company with an offset press and two Kodak NexPresses. I like talking with him, as he is a pioneer in buying digital presses off eBay and getting them to work without the help of the manufacturer. He’ll be the subject (hopefully) of a future interview I’ll be doing with him in regards to his adventures with his NexPresses. Buying a NexPress on eBay is not for the faint of heart.
Jon Melcher from Emagine Digital came by as well. He recently purchased an HP Indigo 5500 with the white ink option – the only one that I know of in San Diego – and also spent some time with PageDNA here. The web to print software from PageDNA is a popular choice among printers who want a great product at an affordable price. We use PageDNA for our own web to print site, and we’ve been very happy with it. I did get Steve to give me a deal for our friends that want to try out PageDNA for free for 30 days, just click on this link to get it: http://www.pagedna.com/spe. In typical PageDNA fashion, they also include free training and support in using the trial, so you’re not left without help during the trial.
We also got a deal on TEC Lighting UV coaters for anyone that is a Social Print Experiment follower for their new mini UV coater that was released this month – a free startup kit for the unit (a $600 value). This new mini unit is built for the digital copier (as well as digital press) market, with a UV coating formulated for dry toner/ink from Xerox, Canon, HP Indigo, Konica Minolta and the Ricoh C900. Street price of the new mini unit is $12,000. Coating ends up costing about .008 cents an impression. If you’re interested in ordering it, call KW Graphic Consulting at 619-696-9160.
On the second day of the open house, we picked up a rush job for a company in Las Vegas that needed 600 prints 13″ wide by 36″ long printed for a short deadline. We ran the job with guests milling in and out of the open house, and the customer sent his driver from Vegas to our office to pick up the job and take it back that evening. Word has it that their customer was thrilled with the way the job turned out.
Overall, the open house was a great success for us, and we’re already planning a second one for late September or early October. I hope you’ll be able to attend, and let us share the data we’ve collected so far over the past 6 months of the Social Print Experiment.
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He’ll be the subject (hopefully) of a future interview I’ll be doing with him in regards to his adventures with his NexPresses.
That should be interesting that sounds like a crazy idea.
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