Xerox Square Back vs Plockmatic

[kdw75]

We are thinking of going from a Xerox with the square fold trimmer to one with a Plockmatic 35/55 and I am wondering how the fold and spine quality compare. Our Xerox unit makes some really nice looking square back folds.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

We are thinking of going from a Xerox with the square fold trimmer to one with a Plockmatic 35/55 and I am wondering how the fold and spine quality compare. Our Xerox unit makes some really nice looking square back folds.

What is your reason for switching?

 

[kdw75]

We are looking at lease renewal options and one of them includes the Plockmatic for the same price. As we know nothing about it, I wanted to make sure it was capable of the same quality of work.

 

[msaeger]

My Plockmatic experience is that you can adjust the square fold pressure to the point where you can crush the egde more that you would want so I am sure it can match what the xerox one can do. They should be able to give samples. Plockmatic has some good videos on their YouTube page. The Plockmatics are nice in that they can be used off line too.

 

[cqb1988]

plockmatic has better square back for sure, can do 35 sheets or 50 sheets without slowing down the engine speed, and you can also hand feed it like a offline booklet maker,it is nice if you have other printer without booklet maker.
xerox can only do 25 sheets max. I had one xerox unit before , the square back is not consist if you insert 12pt glossy cover stock with full coverage. the trimmer from xerox is also not good. size is not consist, and waste bin is too small.
the plockmatic is a better hardware overall, software wise, it is headache to connect or disconnect, you need restart the machine and fiery to enable or disable the booklet mode .

 

[AP90]

We are thinking of going from a Xerox with the square fold trimmer to one with a Plockmatic 35/55 and I am wondering how the fold and spine quality compare. Our Xerox unit makes some really nice looking square back folds.

My guess is it would be a better finished product than the xerox version. Is the for the RCT module too? Idk who you would be able to get them for the same price. Last time we looked at adding a plock it was going to be like 50k more over the lease which was like 900ish/month more. But this was for the full unit, booklet maker, rotate crease and trim, square fold and face trim. I think a lot of people get them without the full bleed capabilities.

 

[gregbatch]

Yeah, the rotate crease and trim unit cost more than all the other modules combined. We were fine without it. The books come out nice and flat, so no problem throwing on the cutter for a top and bottom trim. The Xerox square fold and trim unit (my understanding is that it is a Plock 104 in Xerox skin) just forms the square spine and trims. the initial fold is from the Xerox finisher which can be unpredictable if you use heavy or slippery covers. The plock 350/500 folds nice every time and have lots of adjustment for fold and staple position and good control over the spine.

 

[AP90]

Yeah, the rotate crease and trim unit cost more than all the other modules combined. We were fine without it. The books come out nice and flat, so no problem throwing on the cutter for a top and bottom trim. The Xerox square fold and trim unit (my understanding is that it is a Plock 104 in Xerox skin) just forms the square spine and trims. the initial fold is from the Xerox finisher which can be unpredictable if you use heavy or slippery covers. The plock 350/500 folds nice every time and have lots of adjustment for fold and staple position and good control over the spine.

I think it depends on what machine your running now. We have a V3100 with the full bleed inline kit. The 2 sided trimmer is pretty good when you get it dialed in. The bookletmaker is pretty robust (30 sheets 20# bond, 25 sheets 80# gloss text) and the fold is also good. I think the downfall of the package is the face trimming. The unit squares the spine nicely, or if you apply low compression it gives it a good flat booklet. The face trimming will sometimes be pretty skewed. The only time I really notice it is if there is a line running parallel to the face trim. Most of them come out straight, some come out looking like a politician (crooked) lol.

 

[jwheeler]

The Plockmatic is a much more robust unit than the Xerox unit. As such, it is also much larger, much more expensive, and often comes with an additional base service fee that is either listed on the service contract, or is hidden/buried into the lease. Either way, the Plockmatic handles more sheets, heavier weights, and has a very nice square fold. If you plan on doing constant production of booklets, upgrade to the trimmings conveyor which automatically conveys the trimmings to an external large waste bin, as opposed to having the unit stop every so often to empty. You can also opt for the larger stacker.