Xerox Self Service

[John U.P.]

I am new to this forum but I have perused it for the last few weeks. I am in a remote area and service is not easy to come by. Xerox is our best bet! I am looking into getting a used Xerox 260 from JJ Bender and doing my own service. There are a few options for acquiring the training and the cost is expensive ($5000-$6000)

Are any of you doing your service in shop or would you even consider it? If I do go this route, what advise could you give me as to what parts are needed to keep on hand and if you have some ballpark costs for these items.


Thanks...

[UnlimitedBT]

Hi John. I am a copier service engineer - not Xerox but do pack descent experience. Let me know if have or will have any questions - I will try to answer to the best of my abilities.
#1 You should know that Xerox does glossies prints and excellent print quality assuming machine is well maintained but down side is that it's a biggest rip-off on parts and consumables. In my opinion - whatever will cost $100 for anybody else will cost twice as much from Xerox. Still want it? -OK
DC-260, be careful when buying - there are plenty happy users but many complain about registration issues. Test run is the must. test it with cardstock and paper, make sure registration and colors are the way it should be. Search Ebay for OEM consumables, get in touch with PartsDrop.com guys - they're alternative to Xerox and do pack descent knowledge and parts stock. Calculate cost of toners ( do assume that 15,000 with 5% coverage will last you 5,000-7,000 in real life) make sure you're will be profitable. Buy a service manual download on-line - about $15-20 this will give you a chance to interpret error code to the actual problem. Keep in mind that some error codes and adjustments can be done only with Notebook computer loaded with Xerox proprietary software that almost nobody but Xerox guys have and service call from them is over $350 to walk trough your door. Doing everything on your own might cause you prolonged downtime, consider this - I have 14 years of experience fixing office equipment but enrolled Xerox used in my printshop on the contract... just because everything included with toner at 12c per color click any size made more sense. Also make friends at Smarka.com and CopierTechNet.com you might need that
Copy count under 200,000 considered low everything else is sales person's BS, sorry - Imagination.
Machine should cost 8-10k no more or seek other sources. I can get them off-lease/repo for that much.
Please pay attention to the level of consumable life remaining - last thing you want to spend so much for the machine and start buying toners/drums/fusers after 200-300 pages printed.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Roman.

[John U.P.]

Thanks Roman-

In response to your input I have a few questions. You mention 200,000 copy count, are you saying stay away from used machines with more. What do you think is over use for this type of machine? I will probably put 25k through it a month, variable data type of mailers in booklet form will be a must for our application.

Registration issues I have seen in this forum as well and then there are those who say 1m front and back(card stock). Which feed tray is better for registration? We will have the light production finisher and the over sized high capacity feeder as well.

Our small shop is located in a very small market area and my competitors dot.com 99% of their color work. We do job out quite a bit also, but to survive I want to produce more in-house with better control of quality and turn around time.

I service almost everything in our shop and have only needed service a few times over the years. I am hopeful that by eliminating Xerox service charges I can maintain a competitive margin on our cost per copy and offer something to our customers that the competition can not. The training I have surveyed does provide computers with software- not cheep around $1500. I also have a local backup trained service tech that is available when I run into a brick wall.

Any input is greatly appreciated!

John...

[adriansto]

Belt life for good printing quality is around 800k.
2nd BTR is also another spare part that need attention.
Of course drums module must change when copy/print quality change to low.
At a print rate of 25K per month you need to do a good cleaning of machine at every two monts. Registration area, sensors and pick-up rollers need attention for maintain registration.
The best result for registration with card stock is OHCF. However the registration is around 1 mm.
DC 260 is a good machine but for self service you need to know how it is work and also you need pws and service manual.
The belt assy is a complicated mechanism who do almost all good printing or copy.

[UnlimitedBT]

25k per month? It is a lot of baby sitting to feed 25k trough what? - 100 sheets bypass? Hmmmm - my be we should consider another machine that can feed cardstock out of Large Capacity tray?
Konica-Minolta C6500?

[John U.P.]

The KM 6500 would be the best or one of the best choices from what I read, but the closest dealer is 175 miles away. What about the 700i?

[UnlimitedBT]

What is 700i? Xerox? I am not really familiar with entire Xerox lineup... In any case - pumping 25k per month - machine should be equipped with Large capacity tray that is able to take a paper types weights that you are planning to run.
Just out of curiosity - where are you located?

[adriansto]

The KM 6500 would be the best or one of the best choices from what I read, but the closest dealer is 175 miles away. What about the 700i?

Xerox 700i is a production machine.
Better machine, more reliable and strong registration.

[John U.P.]

What is 700i? Xerox? I am not really familiar with entire Xerox lineup... In any case - pumping 25k per month - machine should be equipped with Large capacity tray that is able to take a paper types weights that you are planning to run.
Just out of curiosity - where are you located?

The Upper Penninsula of Michigan!

[hondarr9]

I recently called JJ Bender to sell them our 260 that came off lease and Xerox doesnt want back. They told me $1500. Funny to see what they can sell them for.