Envelope Feeder Kit for Versant 2100/3100

[tngcas]

Does anyone have one of these things: Envelope Feeder Kit? If so does it actually help?

We've been running all our envelopes through our bypass tray because they tend to jam up so consistently trying to feed out of Tray 6 or 7. They've recommended this Kit for $310 and I'm struggling to justify it for what looks like three bits of plastic. From watching the video you still can't feed more than say 150 envelopes in without the stack starting to lean and if our problem is them jamming coming out of the tray then I don't understand how this solves the problem.

Running them in sets of 25 through the bypass tray causes a 30 second delay between "empty" trays whereas a "jam" is about a 90 second delay if it misfeeds coming out of tray 6 or 7. We've found the jam delays end up being longer than the empty tray delays in aggregate even if we can get it to print 150 or so in-between jams.

 

[jwheeler]

Have you looked into this envelope feeder option instead:

 

[azehnali]

what size envelopes are you trying

 

[tngcas]

Have you looked into this envelope feeder option instead:

They said it's roughly $15,000 and at that point I'd be better off getting a separate envelope printer.

 

[tngcas]

what size envelopes are you trying

All of them. A2 size through #10s

 

[azehnali]

I am customers who run thousands of those without any issues
be specific with what the issue is
also you can watch the xerox video and duplicate the pieces for almost free from corrugated poster board

 

[SoggyWinter]

Put a shim under the envelopes on the non-flap side in tray 6 and 7 and you should be able to feed hundreds of envelopes between reloads. If they are jamming after the fuser, tape a piece of plastic or tape over the angled plastic grid just past the fuser.

 

[pippip]

I find the quality of the envelope is crucial. Cheap envelopes can cause a jam constantly, I use tray 6 alot and find once it gets going it can be fine but getting it going seems like pure luck, I'd stack about 100-150 envelopes.
The other day I did a run of 3000 envelopes, high quality and I got 2 jams in the entire print run.

Worth taking the time to see if you can source better quality without braking the bank.

 

[jwheeler]

I find the quality of the envelope is crucial. Cheap envelopes can cause a jam constantly...
Worth taking the time to see if you can source better quality without braking the bank.

Definitely agree with @pippip ...whether running them on our Konica's or our Oki envelope printer, we've found getting higher quality envelopes that are 'side seam' rather than the 'traditional v-flap/diagonal seam' works much better. The spec guides of both machines also recommend the side seam envelopes, though they are not required.

 

[tngcas]

I find the quality of the envelope is crucial. Cheap envelopes can cause a jam constantly, I use tray 6 alot and find once it gets going it can be fine but getting it going seems like pure luck, I'd stack about 100-150 envelopes.
The other day I did a run of 3000 envelopes, high quality and I got 2 jams in the entire print run.

Worth taking the time to see if you can source better quality without braking the bank.

Do you have this envelope kit? Getting it going is the main problem since about half the time the sensor won't recognized that there are envelopes in the tray. This kit is supposed to solve this entirely with that little plastic piece that goes over the sensor. The envelopes rarely jam inside the machine, it's always either it doesn't recognize the envelopes are in the tray OR the first envelope doesn't feed out and throws a "jam" error.

The main problem is that no matter what, if it throws the Jam error then it's 90 seconds before it starts again. Our envelopes seem to be fine as they print consistently with no jams out of the bypass tray.

In any case, we decided to go for it. I'll report back if it is "life changing" like the sales rep says.

 

[pippip]

No I have just the standard metal bracket that comes with the machine. I'm on a versant 80.

Will be interesting to hear how you get on with it.

 

[tngcas]

We've used the envelope kit for 3 runs and it is more effective than I anticipated.
It has cut the time it takes to print envelopes in half. We can put 100ish envelopes (vs 25-50 previously) into the large capacity trays without them jamming or not acknowledging the envelopes are in the tray. I ran 2k #10 envelopes yesterday out of Tray 6 yesterday and only had two miss-feeds that were easily fixed and the rest ran smoothly.

I call that a win.