Best printer for solid color?

[Leonard]

I need a solution for short-run A5-A4 flyers (100-5000) etc. I know I'm asking a lot from a digital printer but can any of the newer models handle solid color/coverage without banding? I've used older Xerox machines and I'd always get a line 2" down the page with solid color or ghosting if I use white text on a dark background.

The Konica Minolta C754e and Xerox J75 has caught my eye but not sure of the price and how they handle solids.

Budget of around 20k

 

[Stickman42]

We have 2 Xerox Versant 80s with external Fiery's that replaced a DocuColor 5000 and 7000. We've been very pleased with the print quality, whether it be solids, gradients or pretty much anything we throw at them. They are NOT perfect though. Each machine was around $30K, but included a high capacity feeder and high capacity stacker. Your needed config could bring that cost down some, especially as year-end gets closer. Purchase price is important, but so are running costs - supplies are included in our contract. We don't shy away from those rich blacks anymore.

 

[arossetti]

The banding comes from aging of the consumable parts of a xerographic printer. As developer and the drums age you get more and more streaking. It will cost a lot of money in replaceable parts to keep the image quality up. This is why 2nd generation xerographic printers have moved away from the traditional developer/drum model - think iGen and Indigo.

 

[Stickman42]

The banding comes from aging of the consumable parts of a xerographic printer. As developer and the drums age you get more and more streaking. It will cost a lot of money in replaceable parts to keep the image quality up. This is why 2nd generation xerographic printers have moved away from the traditional developer/drum model - think iGen and Indigo.

Agreed, however newer Xerox printers incorporate operator-replaceable drum cartridges (included in click charges) and trickle-charge developer (mixed in with the toner cartridge). End result, for us anyway, is ease of accomplishing better print quality when needed. This comes along with a decreased need for a tech to "tune up" the machine.

 

[MailGuru]

The banding comes from aging of the consumable parts of a xerographic printer. As developer and the drums age you get more and more streaking. It will cost a lot of money in replaceable parts to keep the image quality up. This is why 2nd generation xerographic printers have moved away from the traditional developer/drum model - think iGen and Indigo.

Hey arosetti ! I think an iGen or Indigo on a $20k budget is a little unrealistic, unless you "know a guy, who knows a guy". Maybe "Bugsy" or, "Scarface", or a couple of made guys from Chicago, maybe.

 

[Leonard]

The banding comes from aging of the consumable parts of a xerographic printer.

With my OLD Phaser model Xerox said it was a "common hardware limitation" with the toner going direct to the paper instead of toner>transfer belt>paper. I wasn't sure if the technology has changed or is different with the bigger presses.

I'm not expecting perfect quality but also don't want a dark streak through the design.

I'll have to get some solid coverage samples sent from Konica and Xerox.

 

[arossetti]

Hey arosetti ! I think an iGen or Indigo on a $20k budget is a little unrealistic, unless you "know a guy, who knows a guy". Maybe "Bugsy" or, "Scarface", or a couple of made guys from Chicago, maybe.

Haha no I wasn't suggesting it as a solution, I was just commenting on how the higher end devices have done away with those variables to solve the problem of banding in digital toner printing. The assumption is that you won't get perfect halftone solids on any device in the $20k range, some might work better than others but I can assure you that once the drums/developer has less than 75% life you will start to see these issues. A lot of the "seeing" depends on what your solids are. If you are printing a 50% CMY gray you are going to have a bad time. If you are attempting a 90% red you might have better luck.

 

[arossetti]

With my OLD Phaser model Xerox said it was a "common hardware limitation" with the toner going direct to the paper instead of toner>transfer belt>paper. I wasn't sure if the technology has changed or is different with the bigger presses.

I'm not expecting perfect quality but also don't want a dark streak through the design.

I'll have to get some solid coverage samples sent from Konica and Xerox.

With a transfer belt the drums no longer go into direct contact with the paper. Paper is very abrasive to the drum where a transfer belt is a nice smooth continuous surface. Because of that your drum life drops off much faster. You also have again a consistent surface which helps with a consistent edge to edge solid, so yes you should see improvement. When I evaluate digital toner devices one of the tests I perform is with the max sheet size, 13x19 or whatever. I have them print 5 files, each one is a 40% flood of C,M,Y,K respectively then I send a 50% gray flood (50C, 40m 40y). This will show you real quick how well the printer handles such work. What is acceptable to you will be the deciding factor, I went into this thread with my expectations which might differ from yours and your clients.

 

[MailGuru]

The newer presses, whether it be Xerox, Ricoh, KM, Cannon, etc., will pretty much eliminate "banding" and give you much smoother gradients. This is because they all use the new VCSEL 10-bit technology. In other words, older digital presses use a 1-bit raster/rendering technology. Newer presses will give you 10 times that raster/rendering capability. What this means to the laymen is that older presses will give you 256 shades (gradients) of any color. The newer presses will give you 10 times that amount, or, 2,560 shades of any color. This eliminates banding and gives you a smooth gradual gradient when moving dark to light, or, light to dark on color shades. You might want to take a look at the Xerox Versant 80 (now called a 180). It'll be over your 20k budget, but, not by too much.

 

[arossetti]

Banding in a gradient is different than banding in solid colors however.

 

[MailGuru]

Banding in a gradient is different than banding in solid colors however.

Ok, I may have misunderstood the OP.