Hardware suggestions - 350gsm full bleed duplex

[Lorenzo lab guy]

Chris,
On a small to mid-size printer I don't think there is a machine that prints full-bleed directly. If you are doing folded cards, you are going to need a finisher anyway so look at a creaser/cutter. You may as well get something like a Duplo DC-646 to cut and crease your cards out of a larger sheet. Creasing digital output doesn't work with every creaser. The Duplo wil also solve your bleed needs. With our click-rate we can make 2-4 cards for less than 5 cents +paper.We use a Xerox Versant to make greeting cards with the duplo combination and produce 20K per month quite easliy with that combo, aside from a lot more "regular" printing. I think a used Versant could get you going fairly inexpensively. But really, your finishing equioment is a much bigger issue than what printer you choose. I have had this discussion mutliple times in our photo lab buying group. Some small printer's toner costs will not let you be competitive on materials cost.

 

[wonderings]

I would advise against a refurbished machine. If you have work to do done' waste time on a so called bargain. An't worth it. A lease on a new machine isn't much and you'll need the support if you are new at digital printing. I'd consider a refurbished as a back up press only.

You can get refurbished machines with a service contract. That is how we got into digital printing (were offset only). Was much cheaper, did the job reasonably well and let us figure some things out with what we wanted to do and did not want to do. Much smaller investment on a previous gen machine and a service contract to keep us up and running.

I would only agree with avoiding used machines if you do not have a service contract. So many things can go wonky the time of trying to fix it yourself would cost more then the service guys coming in and having parts and everything you need at their disposal.

 

[chrisbyrd]

Thanks everyone - really appreciate the input.

I’ve learnt *a lot* from this thread!

 

[msaeger]

You can get refurbished machines with a service contract. That is how we got into digital printing (were offset only). Was much cheaper, did the job reasonably well and let us figure some things out with what we wanted to do and did not want to do. Much smaller investment on a previous gen machine and a service contract to keep us up and running.

I would only agree with avoiding used machines if you do not have a service contract. So many things can go wonky the time of trying to fix it yourself would cost more then the service guys coming in and having parts and everything you need at their disposal.

Yes I agree you can get a contact on a used machine. Just talk to the local service manager before you buy and see what they want done to it before they will cover it.

 

[chrisbyrd]

So, I think I’m going to get an Oki c911 and a 450VS+ guillotine to get started with this - anybody see any major problems with using this Oki?

 

[SoManyPixels]

How did the test prints turn out? Was the demo unit using the revised transfer belt? I'd be very interested to hear, this colour registration has been annoying me but I'm loathe to fit a new belt as I've no idea if it would actually improve things.

 

[Shawnd]

911 is worse than the 931 on thicker media, why would you go that direction? Price?

I wouldn't touch a 911 with a ten foot pole if I was doing professional work.

 

[chrisbyrd]

911 is worse than the 931 on thicker media, why would you go that direction? Price?

I wouldn't touch a 911 with a ten foot pole if I was doing professional work.

Ah, I thought they were similar

931 looks discontinued - what’s the replacement?

 

[SoManyPixels]

At the time I bought my c911 the dealer told me the only difference to the pro series models was the CPU speed. Having just checked the Oki website though I can see the pro series models use different imaging drums, so it's only the transfer belt and fused that are common to all the models.

The model numbers differ globally, I was told the 931 was the 9431 in the UK, so it all depends where you are based.

Interestingly, the dealer I bought from has the 9431 listed on their website, but has a note recommending the c911 over it as it has a longer warranty and is "the same specification"... very confusing! Maybe Shawnd can shed more light on the difference between the internals of the models?

 

[Shawnd]

https://www.oki.com/us/printing/products/light-production/c931/index.html

Doesn't say that on oki's site. Still the 931 will not handle heavy media that well either. For heavy media like 350gsm+ you need either memjet or production class equipment or you will be hating your decision while trying to fill a bigger order.

 

[SoManyPixels]

I've just seen that the c911 is due to be discontinued soon (in the UK at least). According to the dealer I bought from the consumables should be available "for about 5 years". Given that it only launched here in November 2015 it's been abandoned by Oki pretty quickly. Not the best long term purchase I've ever made..