cheap digital printer

[firefighter]

Dear forum users,

I'm looking to buy cheap, small printer. At the moment I have KM 6501 but I don't use its potential at all. My volumes went up so I'm using local offset printers. Every so often I have to print covers for our books.

I'm using 250gms stock double sided print, volume - not more than 2000 SRA3 sheets a month (5000 max)

Would anybody be willing to recommend a printer with reasonably good quality and that wouldn't cost me too much.

I'm considering: OKI 3640 PRO or KM bizhub 224.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

F.

 

[OkiTech]

As long as you don't run superglossy stocks, OKI should be fine, it will be OKI CX3641 most likely not a 3640.

 

[onwsk8r]

Oki? Yuck They tend to have strange problems. I've heard lots of Oki horror stories (especially in the customer service department) and I've got plenty of my own.

Are you in the US? I'm guessing not if you're running SRA3

If you don't mind, what's the story with the 6501? Is it on a lease? If your lease is about to expire, do you have a cheap buyout option or something similar (this is common here in the US)? You can get genuine toner + drums on ebay which will effectively lower your "click charge" to about $0.02. I know a shop that does this with much success.

The problem with going down much below the 6501 is that you won't get good color on the thicker stock. Are you printing heavy coverage on the covers?

If you must get rid of the 6501, you might consider a Xerox 242; that's technically a business color machine but I worked at a shop that used one for small jobs and it does a bang-up job on thick stocks.

 

[firefighter]

Hi

6501 was paid for in full (with 50 sheet booklet/trimmer finisher, IC408 fiery). Since in I bought it in 2009 i did approx. 300k clicks, so obviously it was a big mistake. At the moment I'm leasing it to a local digital printers.

I'm based in Ireland. I will be probably selling it (through company I bought it from and who are servicing it for us, they might be able to find a buyer for a small commission)

If anybody could advise me a machine cheap to do about 2k clicks a month on 250gms stock and yes coverage would be heavy.

I think Xerox 242 might be little to much for me, as it's bit too expensive...

If I won't find anything with reasonable quality (used for 3-4 k euro) I'll probably stick to my 6501...

Thanks for all the advise.

Regards,

F.

 

[JTFLO]

I would think you should be able to find a decently used xerox 240 for around that. In my opinion that would be your best bet, especially if your using heavier stocks.

 

[onwsk8r]

I don't mean at ALL to sound shoot-down-y, but I think if you go much below the Xrx 242 class, you'll run into problems getting good colors. Anyone else care to confirm or deny?

 

[JTFLO]

With a "Cheap Digital Printer" Your going to run into color issues but for the money I don't think you can complain. I've used a 240 for years and I love the thing.

 

[printPlant]

price of cp2020

price of cp2020

With a "Cheap Digital Printer" Your going to run into color issues but for the money I don't think you can complain. I've used a 240 for years and I love the thing.

Anyone knows about New "Intec CP2020 Printer and also its Tonner price each".

 

[onwsk8r]

I'd bet my next paycheck that Intec deal is a relabeled Oki - looks identical to Xante (which is a relabeled oki)

 

[easiprint]

I'd bet my next paycheck that Intec deal is a relabeled Oki - looks identical to Xante (which is a relabeled oki)

It is a rebadged OKI.

Personally I would stick with what you have already. If it's paid for and all you have is the clicks, then why spend thousands on something else? The OKI is probably the only one which fits the bill, but they do not work well in printshops. We had one a while ago, and had to get rid. Colours all over the place, and running costs out of this world if you want to keep any sort of quality.

 

[pacart]

If you are only doing 2000 clicks a month it's probably not worth it to get a machine at all. Just buy your prints from another printer, use a trade printer or one of those cheap online print companies.

Otherwise I would stick with the Konica, Especially since it is paid for! It's perfect for the work you want to do with the heavy coverage and 250 gsm stock.

 

[[email protected]]

I'd sell or lease your konica to the printer you said was doing it already and just have him take off so much of the payment or work out a deal for a special rate and have him/her run your jobs on the machine.

 

[onwsk8r]

+1 to the last three replies here.. I work at a smallish shop now and we have a couple of customers that are basically walk-ins that get steep discounts in return for continued volume. If you can get over the being-out-of-your-control aspect of printing, this would make financial sense in most scenarios.

What are your plans volume-wise in, say, 3-5 years? Will you be doing less, the same, or more printing? If you plan to do much more volume, obviously it would make sense to do it in house. And the Konica is your only bargaining chip.
On the flip side, unloading the Konica pretty much guarantees you can't do anything that anyone else can't already do with office color. Also, if you unload the Konica, will you need to purchase an office printer/MFP?

Let me just see if I can't introduce some more variables into this equation

 

[Muddy]

I must be missing something here.

Why are you not using your KM 6501?

 

[ilovemedia]

I think you need not settle with subpar performance. You can get discounts from online e-commerce sites or from slightly used good machines. That's my usual solution when I find something quite expensive but I extremely like or want.

 

[police01040]

KM C280 I use and happy with it, i print up to 300 gsm papers on it

 

[karim]

If you are going to purchase printer, first decide what kind of printer you want because cheap printers may be traditional printers with no digital effects. Though digital printers are available in market at affordable prices. I would suggest, If you want to analyze the effects of digital printing then do not use the world "cheap" and go for the affordable digital printer.

 

[Mark Flanders]

I think you'll miss the KM6501 if you downgrade.

 

[heidythompson]

I agree with karim here. You should use "affordable" instead of "cheap" when you wished to have a digital one.

 

[Happyprinter]

Stay away from Oki's and rebranded
Oki's. They are more trouble than
Their worth.