Replacing a Iris 43 wide with an Epson 9800???

[pworlledge]

I have a 43 wide currently and although it's bulletproof I need to get something faster. I've looked into a 9800 because it's in my budget and will work with my EFI front end. (Coming from Prinergy)
How well will it back up? Is there someing better for the same money? Open for suggestions.

[hagar]

Using Epsons for backup can be hit and miss, first you need to have the software to do the correct alignment, which be an issue on tumble jobs, The second is the physical alignment of the jobs, Epsons have never been designed for two sided alignment, hence you can get some units which will be so spot on its amazing, and other can be out 5 mm or so.

There are two ways of loading sheet by the way, the documented way of lifting the handle and aligning paper, and the quicker way of placing the sheet in the paper path as far as it will go and pressing the pause key, where the epson then takes over. which is quicker

[pworlledge]

Hmmmm....

So with kind of a budget (Epson 9800) what is a suggestion someone would have?

[Cory Smith]

I do backed up proofs on both our epson 7000 and 9800, both produce accurate results.

The loading and flipping of paper is time consuming, but not a big deal for us (not doing a ton of proofs per day). Registration depends on how straight you load your paper, at least in our experience.

[kabel]

Just over a year ago we purchased the following system for approximately $17,500:

Epson 9800 Pro
EFI Colorproof XF RIP
Xrite Color Profiler Gold
Xrite spectrophotometer
Xrite Monaco Optix colormeter
Install + Color management training
Two year extended warranty

Not having to send out for large format prints and the ability to do color proofs in house? +Priceless+

[G_Town]

So you guys are using the epson for 2 sided printing?

We use rolls for our printing but do print the occasional back print job.

Would you need to use sheets or could you print the front via roll then load the cut sheet and refeed it for the back print? It doesn't need to be exact more as a check that we have the right back on the correct front.

Thanks

[kabel]

We're not doing 2 sided printing on ours, though if we did, we would likely print off the roll first then run the second side through as a sheet. That may require you to print the first side to a standard sheet size in to help ensure a closer alignment of side two to side one.

There is another thread about two sided proofers here: [Two Sided Proofers|http://printplanet.com/discuss/threa...?threadID=545]

[ASM]

The 9800 can back-up satisfactorily by making sure the paper goes back in at exactly the same position. To do this, I have seen a one-dollar fix used by an ingenious tech from the proofing company Oris.
Buy a piece of aluminium right-angle extrusion from any hardware store, about a foot will be more than enough.

Decide where the paper must always align up to.

Glue/screw the angle extrusion to obvious part of the printer where the paper will butt up against it evey time.

When you reverse the paper, assuming your impo software has positioned everything right, you will have backed-up proofs within + or - 2mm.

Of course, if you do mostly backed-up proofs, get a proper 2-sided impo proofer. If colour is more important, the 9800 with the right software (check out GMG Color - they wrote the original Iris drivers) will exceed your expectations.

By the way, when you say you have 'EFI front end' do you have ColorProof (aka Best)??

[prepresscolor]

Keep the 43" Wide for backed up proofs and use the Epson for the "matchprint" type press proofs.

[Fiz]

Epson 9800 here works like a charm. We've had it since it first came out and have had next to no issues. We have an Onyx rip running it along with Nexus rip. Thing does everything we need. It seems slow these days but compared to our other comparable printers, it's much better. Just my 2cents