Flawless BW production printer

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What are litho-shells?

Litho-shells are items printed on an offset press that are then run back through another printer, such as letterhead. Since digital devices have 400-degree fusers if the ink on the press melts at too low a temperature then it'll melt on the fuser and "offset" that image on subsequent sheets.

 

[Mr Production Print]

The Océ machines (like the Titan 6000 and DT135) are extremely well made (except the cheap Canon finishers on the DT135), however, it's important to factor in the limited earning potential from not being able to produce over-printed work. This is a significant proportion of mono volume. The supreme reliability comes from a simpler technology and a much lower fusing temperature. Less heat equals less problems with curling, jams, no need for cooling technology etc. At my company, we would recommend the Ricoh 8000 or 2 x 80ppm Kyocera boxes (for redundancy). These are cheaper (important in a declining market) but have more earning potential for over-printing, books and booklet work. The Xerox Nuvera is long in the tooth with a 1990s-design, has limited 300gsm+ capability, slows badly on SRA3 and won't fuse coated stocks at all well. It's over-priced (a refurbished 'Source' Nuvera costs more than brand new Ricoh) and suffers from static too, with printed sheets sticking together. Xerox have long since decided that mono is old-tech and have switched R&D towards newer technologies. The R&D budget going into mono is about zilch. However, it's a real workhorse and Xerox service is still the benchmark. The KM are good too but with a lower image quality than the others. That said, they have impressive specifications with multiple finishing options. Hope this helps. Best of luck to you. There's no bad machines, just one's that aren't fit for your intended purpose.

 

[Kyle Arn]

The better question is what company can offer the best service plans for your needs. You will not fine a machine anywhere that will not need maintenance. However there are companies like HP and Xerox that will train you to replace everything yourself, this can reduce cost of paying a service plan. Although paying a service plan can save you big on parts. Plus with a service plan you get the benefit of having a trained experienced tech help but you may have to wait on them to get there. However if you service yourself you will not need to wait on a tech but given the lack of experience could take longer and may as well get a tech. If you are in a heavy production facility get a service plan hands down. If you are in a low production facility you might get by just doing repairs yourself.

 

[gregbatch]

The Océ 6000 mono range is the Rolls-Royce of monochrome printing. But be mindful that the CopyPress/Direct Imaging won't do over-printing of litho-shells (a big achilles heal in mono printing). It's made for short run book production due to the cool fusing process enabling a perfectly flat sheet (no curl or ripple).
The Ricoh 8300 or KM offer a cheaper alternative that will run over-printing applications. Mono is on the decline, save your money.

Are you saying it won't overprint inked areas, or it won't print on a shell period?

 

[Sertech]

Are you saying it won't overprint inked areas, or it won't print on a shell period?

It would depend on ink used. Oce/ canon(now) should have a list of inks that don't cause problems. The copypress technology preheats paper opening the fibers and cooking the ink out. (Does it to glues in the paper too, that's why the VP6000 has glue rollers and radiators).

 

[Sertech]

Is there such a thing as BW production printer that can print day and night and not need a service technician, just toner and replenishment of wearable parts? I imagine with one toner/fuser less can go wrong. Looking for something that is least headache but prints forever using cheap toner. I think i once heard KM 1250 last forever.

The KM1250 isn't made anymore, from what I heard KM was losing money on them. I know of a place that had one. They just replaced it with two of the 135, I believe, models. It would depend on your needs which machine is best. The VP6000 is fantastic, but it's not for every place that wants black and white. I'd say you should be doing at least a million a month consistently to justify cost, otherwise the small VarioPrint is a better choice. I've had them running a million a month reliably. The finishers aren't so tough, but an oce designed stacker is available. Otherwise, we've just started selling Ricohs, the black and white machine from them has been so far so good too. Best thing I heard was from our ricoh representative saying he never sees them. That means they run. You need to shop and see what YOU need

 

[Ynot_UK]

The KM1250 isn't made anymore, from what I heard KM was losing money on them. I know of a place that had one. They just replaced it with two of the 135, I believe, models.

The 1250 was replaced by the 6120 and 6136.
The 2250 is still current, which is essentially a pair of 1250 engines in series, giving single pass duplex output at 250ppm A4 (one engine per side)

 

[Craig]

Is there such a thing as BW production printer that can print day and night and not need a service technician, just toner and replenishment of wearable parts? I imagine with one toner/fuser less can go wrong. Looking for something that is least headache but prints forever using cheap toner. I think i once heard KM 1250 last forever.

I had a 1250 that had 13 million on it but it was FAR from the utopia you describe.

 

[KopyBoss]

We have 2 Xerox Nuvera 314 and run 3M-4M month per machine with very little service.

 

[Dmiller35]

We currently have 2 Ricohs, an 8320 and 8220. We're looking at replacing the 8220 soon with a VP6000. Can anyone give me more info about the issue with printing on shells? We do a lot of mailing work for other printers so we don't really have any control over how the shells are printed.

 

[Sertech]

This is the list of approved inks,