Other Uses for Xante or OKI Based product besides envelopes?

[gutenberg]

I am currently looking at a Xante machine for printing envelopes for my shop in Philly.... For those of you have machines, can you tell me what else you use them for realistically.

I want to do Business Cards, Invitations and ??? Anything other applications that is truely an option...?

Would be nice to know before i dive in....

[Keith]

I am going on 5 years with my Ilumina that started my all digital shop. Basically, anything you can do on any other toner machine can be done with the Ilumina... with the exception of heavy coverage (unless you're on a service contract). You start getting over 30% coverage and the toner alone will cost more than what you are selling the job for. After learning that the hard way, this is what I use my Ilumina for:

-Addressing envelopes as well as printing them.
-Addressing offset shells.
-Biz cards on ultra thick stock. Forget 14pt, I'm talking 24pt!
-Invitations with matching envelopes. Since there is no click charge, you can run Park Avenue panel cards 1up for a few pennies in color.
-And you can print any odd job that won't fit through your other machines. One time, I printed a few hundred prayer cards that were 3"x4".

I'm in Cecil County Maryland, about an hour from Philly. Please call me, I would love to tell you all the good and bad about the Ilumina. I also know an excellent supplier (he sells the machines as well, but I imagine you are already talking to a sales rep) for the Xante- George Richardson in Virginia Xante Laser Printers - Xante Color Printers - The Richardson Company. Between him and I, we could probably build the machines. But seriously, he offers free tech support to people who buy supplies from him. I would have thrown mine out the window if it wasn't for him.

[Scottford]

Considering Xante myself, but it's frightening. I haven't read such a disparity of opinions about a printer that the Xante inspires. Some people claim it drives them to the poor house and others love it. I currently pay my pressman $18 an hour to run an AB Dick for invitations. I love the quality of real ink, but providing color to customers is prohibitive. The Xante seems like almost the only choice for entry-level digital color because of its straight path.

[medialounge]

Read this first! I bought an Oki C9600 for a really good deal and I found out that it doesn't print envelopes well. Yeah, I know, I thought that because the Illumina prints envelopes, the Oki would too but it doesn't. To be specific, the print is fine but the Oki smashes the envelopes so you always get an embossed look in front of the envelope, no matter the size. In other words the envelopes don't look like they came off of a press, it looks like it was just smashed flat and your left with an embossed look. I hope it makes sense. For you Oki users out there that has solved this problem, could you please explain how you've fixed it? Thanks in advance!

[gutenberg]

I am going on 5 years with my Ilumina that started my all digital shop. Basically, anything you can do on any other toner machine can be done with the Ilumina... with the exception of heavy coverage (unless you're on a service contract). You start getting over 30% coverage and the toner alone will cost more than what you are selling the job for. After learning that the hard way, this is what I use my Ilumina for:

-Addressing envelopes as well as printing them.
-Addressing offset shells.
-Biz cards on ultra thick stock. Forget 14pt, I'm talking 24pt!
-Invitations with matching envelopes. Since there is no click charge, you can run Park Avenue panel cards 1up for a few pennies in color.
-And you can print any odd job that won't fit through your other machines. One time, I printed a few hundred prayer cards that were 3"x4".

I'm in Cecil County Maryland, about an hour from Philly. Please call me, I would love to tell you all the good and bad about the Ilumina. I also know an excellent supplier (he sells the machines as well, but I imagine you are already talking to a sales rep) for the Xante- George Richardson in Virginia Xante Laser Printers - Xante Color Printers - The Richardson Company. Between him and I, we could probably build the machines. But seriously, he offers free tech support to people who buy supplies from him. I would have thrown mine out the window if it wasn't for him.

I am working with a local dealer here in Philly. It sounds like all other things, a great service resource can make or break an install.

I am not considering an OKI right now, even though it is the same engine!

When you say addressing, do you actually address and barcode and print the logo at the same time?

What software are you using ?

[gutenberg]

Considering Xante myself, but it's frightening. I haven't read such a disparity of opinions about a printer that the Xante inspires. Some people claim it drives them to the poor house and others love it. I currently pay my pressman $18 an hour to run an AB Dick for invitations. I love the quality of real ink, but providing color to customers is prohibitive. The Xante seems like almost the only choice for entry-level digital color because of its straight path.

That is why i joined here! On the other hand i am wise to the fact that reviews are often heavily swayed by one thing or the other. The Xante reviews are generally positive, supplies expensive .

[Keith]

When you say addressing, do you actually address and barcode and print the logo at the same time?

What software are you using ?

Yes, all at the same time. For presorting, I use Postage Saver; for the data merge I use FusionPro Desktop. I just make a multipage PDF, there's not that much static information so it doesn't take long to RIP at all. 99% of my work is less than 1000 pieces. It's quite easy.

[Happyprinter]

Keith, Glad to hear your having a better experience with your Ilumina than we had. Just out of curiousity how are your drums holding out switching from 24 pt to small cards to envelopes. Our experience was not very good. Very short drum life. Between using their HIGH priced consumables and replacing drums, we never could make money.

[gutenberg]

Yes, all at the same time. For presorting, I use Postage Saver; for the data merge I use FusionPro Desktop. I just make a multipage PDF, there's not that much static information so it doesn't take long to RIP at all. 99% of my work is less than 1000 pieces. It's quite easy.

I already have Satori BulkMailer in the shop for addressing...We run jobs over 20k regularly on a old Rena Imager III we have here...

[Keith]

Keith, Glad to hear your having a better experience with your Ilumina than we had. Just out of curiousity how are your drums holding out switching from 24 pt to small cards to envelopes. Our experience was not very good. Very short drum life. Between using their HIGH priced consumables and replacing drums, we never could make money.

Honestly, I haven't ran 24pt in a long time. It's not easy to get and most customers find 12pt and 14pt thick enough. I agree, drum life is short and they are pricey. For some reason, my Ilumina goes through cyan drums faster than any other color. I wonder if it has something to do with being so close to that hot fuser. When the Ilumina was my primary machine, I would look back at the past year of sales versus costs and it would average out to about 7 cents a click. So it did make me money. I imagine that is how most of these guys (Canon, KM, etc.) make money with the service contract, they average it out. And I'm sure they pay a lot less than we do for toner. But if you look at any one single job and you will be disappointed. One of the senior techs at Xante told me it's not so much about the thickness of stock that wears on the drums, it's how many times it rotates. So a #10 envelope fed long edge rotates the drums about 4 inches. I used to think envelopes were hard on drums till I learned about that. And the past year, my Ilumina has been primarily running envelopes and I have replaced the drums a lot less frequently. I've heard of people getting 75,000 envelopes out of the drums. So to answer your question, yes, the drums last longer when printing envelopes excusively.