Buying Ricoh Pro Press and Guillotine Cutter

[Sammkrtch]

Hi everyone,

I’m new to the printing world and in the process of building out a small but serious print operation. I’m taking a long-term, practical approach and am looking for commercial-grade equipment that is still supported by the manufacturer for parts and service. I’m also very open to feedback and guidance as I’m learning.

I’m located in Los Angeles, CA and I would say I would probably run 50-100k clicks a year mainly on thicker 300-330 gsm.

Local pickup is preferred, but I’m open to freight shipping if the machine and deal make sense.

Commercial Programmable Paper Cutter
Required

• Hydraulic clamp only
• Programmable
• Functioning safety system (light curtain / safety sensors)
• Manufacturer parts support still available (no orphaned or fully end-of-life models)
• Cut width:
  • Preferred: 27″+ (to handle parent sheets such as 23×35, 25×38, 26×40)
  • Also open to: ~20″ programmable cutters

Nice to have

• 3″–4″ stack height capacity
• Touchscreen or modern digital controller
• Air bed / air table
• Side tables or ball transfer table
• Recent service or maintenance history

Would not entertain

• Electric clamp machines
• Non-programmable cutters
• Machines without light-curtain safety
• Units no longer supported for OEM parts
• Disabled or bypassed safety systems
• Missing guards or major mechanical or electrical issues
• Unknown or unserviceable controllers

Brands I’m open to

• Polar / Mohr
• Challenge
• Duplo
• MBM
• Prism

Ricoh Pro Production Presses
Required

• Ricoh Pro models: 5200, 7200, or 9200 series or newer
• Moderate or lower meter count (lower preferred)
• Fiery controller

Nice to have

• 5-color capable configuration
• Service and maintenance history
• Color calibration tools or spectrophotometer
• Original manuals and documentation
• Included consumables or spare parts

Would not entertain

• Very high meter count with no service history or pricing adjustment
• Known major electrical or imaging system faults

Thanks in advance. I appreciate any leads or guidance as I continue building out the shop. I’m in no rush at the moment, as I currently use a vendor I’m happy with, but I’d like to bring printing in-house for more control over the process. I’m also not actively looking to buy from brokers due to markups and my lack of immediate urgency.

Bonus: If anyone knows a good independent Ricoh service technician or company in the Los Angeles area, I would really appreciate the connection.

 

[azehnali]

commercial-grade equipment that is still supported by the manufacturer for parts and service
the ricoh models you listed are antiques

 

[Sammkrtch]

commercial-grade equipment that is still supported by the manufacturer for parts and service
the ricoh models you listed are antiques

Are you saying that Ricoh no longer supports the 100s? I was under the impression that they did. Do you recommend I only look for newer models? Any guidance is appreciated.

 

[bill kahny]

Talk to your local ricoh service dealers!

 

[azehnali]

find service first and then shop for machines in you budget

 

[Sammkrtch]

shop for m

find service first and then shop for machines in you budget

I have found a Ricoh Tech locally, he use to work for Ricoh and now independently services machines within my area. I was trying to source a machine without a service contract to optimize savings. Am I taking the wrong approach? Should I only be leaning towards service contracts?

 

[bill kahny]

"Am I taking the wrong approach? Should I only be leaning towards service contracts?" Simple answer - Yes

 

[Sammkrtch]

"Am I taking the wrong approach? Should I only be leaning towards service contracts?" Simple answer - Yes

Do you mind elaborating?

 

[J_DVRS]

Do you mind elaborating?

Service is the most important part of the machine

 

[bill kahny]

A Trusted reliable service tech is essential. Independent while costing less than a established company; does he have backup for illness or vacations? Knowing the click charge on every sheet you sell isn't possible when your paying for every part that is going to wear out. Much less calculating toner use without a known click for heavy coverage, forget about it. I tried it with OKI printers years ago and would never do it again. You don't know stress until the machine breaks down during the biggest job of the year or is drinking toner twice as fast as you thought.

 

[Sammkrtch]

A Trusted reliable service tech is essential. Independent while costing less than a established company; does he have backup for illness or vacations? Knowing the click charge on every sheet you sell isn't possible when your paying for every part that is going to wear out. Much less calculating toner use without a known click for heavy coverage, forget about it. I tried it with OKI printers years ago and would never do it again. You don't know stress until the machine breaks down during the biggest job of the year or is drinking toner twice as fast as you thought.

I currently pay for all my digital printing to an actual print shop near by. Digital printing is something I am trying to bring in house for additional profit and control over.

In my specific use case even if my printer was down for a week or two it would be a very minimal impact to me.

Am I missing something?

 

[bill kahny]

I would think it unusual for a business to accept that a production machine could be down for a week, but if that's your case go for it.

 

[kslight]

I agree with all stated above, you’re looking at obsolete equipment…support will be limited and costly even if the machine is “cheap”. One detail from your post that I wanted to emphasize - 50-100k clicks annually is probably not worth the hassle, investment, commercial space / electrical requirements, and upkeep if you are not already a print business, imho. If your printer needs parts / technician / etc every other month as an example, with that low of volume (these printers are designed to run more than that in a month, but that doesn’t mean the machine won’t develop issues from idling) you’re probably eating up whatever profit you might believe to gain. In your case I would highly recommend a cost analysis to determine if / when you might break even on this venture before buying anything.

 

[Sammkrtch]

I agree with all stated above, you’re looking at obsolete equipment…support will be limited and costly even if the machine is “cheap”. One detail from your post that I wanted to emphasize - 50-100k clicks annually is probably not worth the hassle, investment, commercial space / electrical requirements, and upkeep if you are not already a print business, imho. If your printer needs parts / technician / etc every other month as an example, with that low of volume (these printers are designed to run more than that in a month, but that doesn’t mean the machine won’t develop issues from idling) you’re probably eating up whatever profit you might believe to gain. In your case I would highly recommend a cost analysis to determine if / when you might break even on this venture before buying anything.

I really appreciate all the feedback. It has been very helpful to hear insight on what I’m doing and how I’m thinking about this.

I run a handwriting service that produces handwritten letters using robots, so our real margin comes from the handwriting itself. That said, digital print is still a major component of our operation. We’re also actively working on expanding our mailing services to include postcards, which would significantly increase our revenue.

With that in mind, what machines would you recommend that are less likely to feel “obsolete” in the near future? Is the Ricoh C5200, C7200, C9200 generation and newer generally the right cutoff to be looking at?

 

[kslight]

I really appreciate all the feedback. It has been very helpful to hear insight on what I’m doing and how I’m thinking about this.

I run a handwriting service that produces handwritten letters using robots, so our real margin comes from the handwriting itself. That said, digital print is still a major component of our operation. We’re also actively working on expanding our mailing services to include postcards, which would significantly increase our revenue.

With that in mind, what machines would you recommend that are less likely to feel “obsolete” in the near future? Is the Ricoh C5200, C7200, C9200 generation and newer generally the right cutoff to be looking at?

Only Ricoh knows for sure when they’ll EOL a machine, though I understand you want to use an independent tech it’ll come down to how long parts and toner is available. I have had a 7210 since 2022, which I believe came out in 2019. Our lease is up on 2027 and we will just replace it with whatever the current model is at that time...we run ours hard and I don’t like fighting to keep worn out printers going. I believe you can currently buy a remanufactured machine of that generation from Ricoh, which would probably be my suggestion ahead of buying one off the free market. I would expect they may begin to ween people off that series around 2029, but that’s speculation only, and doesn’t necessarily mean a third party won’t service it. Usually when a printer is old they start implementing high click charges, etc to incentivize people to move on, until it becomes a hard EOL and they won’t renew your contract. I would suspect if you bought a 100 series today Ricoh would not write a new contract on it, but if you currently had one in good standing they may keep servicing for a while. I don’t think a 200 series is bordering obsolete yet but I wouldn’t expect to buy one today and run it for 10 more years.

 

[Sammkrtch]

Only Ricoh knows for sure when they’ll EOL a machine, though I understand you want to use an independent tech it’ll come down to how long parts and toner is available. I have had a 7210 since 2022, which I believe came out in 2019. Our lease is up on 2027 and we will just replace it with whatever the current model is at that time...we run ours hard and I don’t like fighting to keep worn out printers going. I believe you can currently buy a remanufactured machine of that generation from Ricoh, which would probably be my suggestion ahead of buying one off the free market. I would expect they may begin to ween people off that series around 2029, but that’s speculation only, and doesn’t necessarily mean a third party won’t service it. Usually when a printer is old they start implementing high click charges, etc to incentivize people to move on, until it becomes a hard EOL and they won’t renew your contract. I would suspect if you bought a 100 series today Ricoh would not write a new contract on it, but if you currently had one in good standing they may keep servicing for a while. I don’t think a 200 series is bordering obsolete yet but I wouldn’t expect to buy one today and run it for 10 more years.

Thanks for all the info. I updated my post to focus on newer models based on everyone’s suggestions and feedback. I’m also reaching out to Ricoh directly to better understand their remanufactured options, service rates, and which machines they will and will not support with service contracts if I were to purchase one on the free market.

I really appreciate all the help and guidance from everyone here.

If I were to purchase a printer on the secondary/free market, it would be good to know that if issues came up or our print volume increased, I could easily transition into a service contract with a reputable company in my area rather than relying solely on a local independent service tech.

 

[kslight]

Thanks for all the info. I updated my post to focus on newer models based on everyone’s suggestions and feedback. I’m also reaching out to Ricoh directly to better understand their remanufactured options, service rates, and which machines they will and will not support with service contracts if I were to purchase one on the free market.

I really appreciate all the help and guidance from everyone here.

If I were to purchase a printer on the secondary/free market, it would be good to know that if issues came up or our print volume increased, I could easily transition into a service contract with a reputable company in my area rather than relying solely on a local independent service tech.

For machines you don’t purchase direct from the manufacturer/servicing dealer - if they are willing to put a contract on it, it is subject to at minimum an inspection fee, plus parts + labor to get the machine up to spec…could vary thousands of dollars depending on the condition of the machine at the time of inspection. When buying a reman you at least know what your true cost is upfront and have some leverage to negotiate click costs, etc. I bought a reman small office from Ricoh (IM3000) about a year ago and it was a great deal, cheap to run, and perfect for that use (just a central printer for various people to use for printing emails and making copies).

 

[Sammkrtch]

For machines you don’t purchase direct from the manufacturer/servicing dealer - if they are willing to put a contract on it, it is subject to at minimum an inspection fee, plus parts + labor to get the machine up to spec…could vary thousands of dollars depending on the condition of the machine at the time of inspection. When buying a reman you at least know what your true cost is upfront and have some leverage to negotiate click costs, etc. I bought a reman small office from Ricoh (IM3000) about a year ago and it was a great deal, cheap to run, and perfect for that use (just a central printer for various people to use for printing emails and making copies).

Good info, I didn't consider that. I have reached out to a couple of our local Ricoh companies, waiting to hear back sometime next week and get some more information.

 

[Ynot_UK]

• Cut width:
  • Preferred: 27″+ (to handle parent sheets such as 23×35, 25×38, 26×40)
  • Also open to: ~20″ programmable cutters

Would not entertain

• Electric clamp machines

Your Reasoning?
For the smaller width guillotines you're looking at, there are some very capable electric clamp models.
I totally understand the reasoning for hydraulic on wider cutters.

 

[Sammkrtch]

Your Reasoning?
For the smaller width guillotines you're looking at, there are some very capable electric clamp models.
I totally understand the reasoning for hydraulic on wider cutters.

I have been told by many print shops to not even waste time/money on an electric cutter. I currently have a Duplo-618 and Chinese 18" cutter (picked up for free). This cutter is not very accurate and also has some sort of calibration issue that I cannot 100% seem to fix.

Since I will only be printed on a maximum sheet size of 13"x19", I do not really need the bigger cutter for much. I would benefit from being able to buying larger parent sheets and cutting them down to size and faster cutting by being able to cut larger stacks vs smaller stacks.

It just really depends on what comes my way on the free marketplace. I had no intention on purchasing the Duplo, but I saw one pop up with a ~45k meter for unbelievable cheap and I couldn't pass it up.