From Goss Press Parts to DTF Printers: Six Procurement Questions Answered

I handle purchasing for a mid-sized newspaper publisher — roughly $300,000 annually across 25 vendors, reporting to both operations and finance. That means I get printer questions from both sides. These are the six I hear most, with honest answers from the procurement end.

Is Goss Printing Press Company still making presses?

Yes, and that surprises more people than it should. Goss is very much around — they've just shifted focus. Instead of selling brand-new mega-presses, the emphasis is now on parts, service programs, reconfiguration, and relocation.

The Goss name goes back more than a century in printing. That heritage matters when you're buying parts for a press older than half your production staff. They still have the engineering drawings. They know the quirks of each model. We've had a Goss Community press since 2004, and we've bought more parts from Goss in the last three years than in the previous fifteen. Not because the press is failing — because we finally implemented a preventive maintenance plan.

I can only speak to our experience, but publishers at regional association meetings tell me similar stories. Goss has been responsive on parts and technical support. They're supporting legacy models instead of pushing replacement-press conversations. That counts for a lot.

Is a Goss Community printing press still worth running in 2025?

Probably the most common question I get. The short answer: yes, if your volume and quality needs align with what a web offset press does best.

A Community press is built for high-volume newspaper and circular work. It's not a short-run digital machine. If you're doing variable-data jobs or 50-copy orders, it's the wrong tool. But for a daily or weekly with circulation in the tens of thousands, it's still a workhorse.

What most people don't realize is the cost math. A new digital press with finishing equipment can easily run $500,000. Keeping a Goss Community running — regular parts, scheduled maintenance — costs a fraction of that. The trade-off is makeready time and flexibility. You have to be honest about your workflow.

What changed for us: when I took over purchasing in 2022, we had zero parts inventory strategy. Something broke, we ordered rush, we paid rush premiums (which, honestly, felt like a tax on bad planning). In 2023, I worked with our production manager to identify the high-wear parts. Now we stock the obvious ones and monitor the rest. Unplanned downtime dropped around 70%.

One more factor: we track USPS mailing rates because our weekly edition goes out by mail. The January 2025 price adjustment put First-Class letters at $0.73 (usps.com/stamps). That affects circulation decisions, which affects press run decisions. It all connects.

What's the one thing to verify before ordering Goss press parts?

The obvious answer is part numbers. The real answer is compatibility with your specific press configuration. We learned this the hard way.

In 2023, I ordered what I believed was the right gear assembly for our Community press. The part number matched the catalog listing. What I missed: the listing covered two configurations, and we needed the one with a different tooth depth. The part sat in a crate until our technician went to install it. Cost us about $800 in restocking fees and a week of downtime.

Now, every parts order goes through the same 5-minute verification: press model, folder configuration, unit number, revision level. That checklist — created after the mistake — has saved us an estimated $8,000 in potential rework.

I'm not a press engineer, so I can't speak to the mechanical details of compatibility. What I can tell you from a procurement perspective: catalog numbers alone aren't enough. Confirm against your press's build sheet. If the parts supplier offers verification support, use it — but they can't verify what they can't see. Send your configuration info upfront.

Does translucent 3D printer filament actually print translucent?

This one comes from the office side of my job. We bought a Prusa for engineering prototypes, and somewhere along the way I became the unofficial filament buyer.

First, the terminology: translucent is not transparent. Finished prints look like frosted glass — light passes through, but you can't clearly read text behind them. How much light gets through depends on filament type, layer height, infill density, and wall count.

In my experience, PETG gives the best strength-to-light-transmission ratio. PLA is easier to print but clouds more easily. What surprised me: translucent filament has to stay dry. Moisture makes it milky and stringy — worse than expected, honestly. A $60 dry box solved what had been a month of frustrating prints. And if you're printing light guides or lampshades, layer height matters more than you'd think. We run 0.12mm layers for anything light-related — slower, but noticeably smoother.

Also check diameter consistency before buying bulk. We once got a spool labeled 1.75mm that varied from 1.65 to 1.78mm. It caused intermittent under-extrusion that took weeks to trace. Test one spool thoroughly before committing to a case.

What's the actual HP printer customer service phone number?

Real talk: this is one of the most dangerous search queries in the printer world. There are websites that rank for "HP printer customer service phone number" that have nothing to do with HP. They look official — logo, layout, live chat popups. In 2024, I nearly called a third-party number that appeared above HP's real result. Our finance team flagged that the "support renewal fee" was going to an unrelated company.

From a purchasing perspective, here's what I tell our staff: start at support.hp.com and find the contact section there. HP runs a portal-based support system — enter your printer model, and you get the contact path for that specific device. It's not the most convenient process (probably intentional, honestly), but it's how you avoid scam numbers.

One more thing: HP support options vary by product line and warranty status. Consumer printers get different paths than commercial fleet devices. If you're a business with a service contract, check that contract first. Your dedicated support line is printed on your invoice — not on a third-party website.

The FTC's guidance on advertising and consumer protection is clear: search ads that impersonate official support channels are misleading, and the FTC has pursued this exact practice. But you don't want to be the one calling those numbers. They may ask for payment, personal information, or remote access to your machine.

How to make a DTF printer: is DIY conversion actually worth it?

Yes, but let's be clear about what "yes" means.

DTF (direct-to-film) printing has exploded in custom apparel. You can convert certain Epson printers to print DTF — and the tutorial videos make it look like a weekend project. The reality: it's a process you're committing to maintain.

Our conversion parts and DTF ink cost about $350. Then we spent perhaps 60 hours over two months dialing in settings. White ink clogs. Nozzle checks become a daily ritual. Color management on film takes more calibration than anyone mentions. Not ideal at first, but serviceable once you understand the quirks.

From the outside, it looks like a business-in-a-box. What you don't see is the maintenance rhythm. For our volume — a few hundred prints a month — DIY DTF works and saves money. If we were doing thousands of pieces weekly, I'd buy a purpose-built machine. Different math entirely.

What made ours reliable: a strict daily routine. At the end of every shift, the printer runs a nozzle check. If there's any sign of clogging, we clean before shutting down. Five minutes of prevention saves about an hour of troubleshooting the next morning. Honestly, that's the lesson that applies to everything I buy — from a $350 DTF conversion to a $40,000 Goss parts order.