Yes, it's seriously important to redo the math. The factors you need to include in your pricing are amortization cost of the printer on a per print basis (adjusted for size of print), utilities consumed for running the printer, paper, ink for prints, ink for maintenance, an allowance for maintenance costs and an allowance for wastage. This is all before we get to the value of your time for doing the work. You say you need to buy a 44" carriage printer for this work, so I take it from that very large format prints. For sake of illustration let us assume that your average print size will be 44*34 inches (twice a 17*22 inch print on each dimension) including a one inch border all around for both. The calculation I've done for producing a 17*22 inch print taking most of the above-mentioned factors into account using my Epson 4900 printer and Ilford Gold Fibre Silk paper (there is more expensive, but this is fine), is about CAD 11.40 per print without any labour charge. At today's exchange rates between CAD/USD that would be about USD 8.75 per 17*22 inch print. Scaling that up to a print size of about 44*34 inches, for example, you would need to multiply this value by about 4.5, bringing you close to USD 40 per large scale print. Now of course costs vary depending on the paper, the printer, your production volume and the ink usage for the conditions at hand, but this gives you a reasonable framework to start from. And your time will be needed for arranging and administering the job and minding the printer. These things don't just work only on auto-pilot - they need some attention during the processing. Then there is a question of who pays the packaging and transportation.
Concerning the printer, which to buy has become a real topic of research these days because with the new crop of printers from Canon and Epson, the output quality is very competitive, so the choice of machine, especially for commercial purposes, depends on comparative reliability for routine operations, service and supplies. You should be studying the features of these printers, asking a lot of questions and pulling in as much information as you can find in order to make an informed business decision. All these printer models (Epson 9000, Canon Pro-4000 for example) are quite new so operating experience is relatively limited, but still there may be enough experience out there to help make an informed decision. It's your key investment for this business, so worth some time. Small differences of price may not be as important as serviceability, recurrent operating costs and performance efficiency differences between eligible models.
