High Speed Digital Envelope Printing

[duncndonut]

In discussion with the owner of our company the issue has been raised relating to the printing of envelope orders. I discussed with him the different options for envelope printing. Amongst our discussion were Halm Jet Presses(offset, 4 color unit can run up to 30,000 eph), to the other end of the spectrum of an okidata 960(digital, 32ppm). In my research of this topic I was hard pressed to find something in the middle ground on the digital side. It seems that Okidata and all the resellers of that unit...xante, etc. have the only finished unit made for digital envelope production. This is where I look to the community, does anyone know of a higher-speed digital envelope press. Is there any in the works? Let me know what you all have found!

 

[Keith]

Riso Comcolor? You can get it with an envelope feeder. The machine is rated for 150 ipm, I believe. Don't know if you'd consider that high speed.

 

[dnmtt96]

MGI also offers one that can run paper, plastic and envelopes but it's pricey though.

 

[markhunt]

The Standard SD700 digital duplicator with envelope feeder may be an appropriate in-between product for your production. Rated speed up to 7,200 eph, and spot color capability; comparable in acquisition cost to Oki and Xante products; operates at a cost that can be 80% less per envelope than some other digital choices. The SD700 can also be used for other utility printing of static documents, and switch between envelopes and cut sheets in seconds. You'll find more information here SD700 Digital Duplicator - SDMC.com - Standard Duplicating Machines Corporation, and please contact us if we can assist further.

Mark Hunt | Director of Marketing
Standard Finishing Systems
978 289 5444 direct | 978 886 1784 cell
[email protected] | www.standardfinishing.com | Mark Hunt (ThinkFinishing) on Twitter

 

[RGPW17100]

When running envelopes digitally is the toner or ink laser compatible or will the ink run when the printer heats up?

 

[ondemandbindery]

When running envelopes digitally is the toner or ink laser compatible or will the ink run when the printer heats up?

I was waiting to see if someone was going to post their opinion. The Standard ink will give you the best shot at it. But you will have to produce from first generation and change the files for coverage. Too much density and it will not dry. Not today, or tomorrow, or next year!! I have learned way too much about these machines in the last 4 months. Standard actually had a UV capable duplicator but had too much trouble with it. They could rewrite the way people process envelopes if the problem ever gets figured out.

 

[postnetnc133]

Xante has their envelope printer but my understanding is the package itself is around $18K and the consumables are pricey.

The RISO I hear is pretty fast but the quality of the ink is more in line of office color printing and the samples I have seen I would not be able to sell to most of my clients.

Really comes down to just how much work do you have and will grow to have in the future. May have to go to a digital press.

 

[acronut]

RENA Mach 5 inkjet

RENA Mach 5 inkjet

I recently read of the new RENA Mach 5 inkjet envelope printer. I haven't seen the output yet but should recieve samples shortly. I pasted a link to their brochure below:

http://www.neopostnewengland.com/sites/default/files/productfiles/documents/rena_mach_5_brochure.pdf

 

[Printease]

Acronut-

I am just curious if you recieved your samples off of the Rena, and if so, what is your impression of them?

 

[ShortRunMagazines]

I had the predecessor to the Mach whatever from RENA... Biggest piece of crap I had! (Actually it's quite small, but the crap to size ratio was huge!)

I would never do that again.

 

[Printease]

Going tomorrow to take a look at the Astro Machine AstroJet M1 (Memjet) envelope printer. They cite a 1600x1600 res. and it is rated for up to 500,000 envelopes/mo.
We saw a video of it in action-pretty impressive. Hopefully it performs that well during our tests. The other factor we will be looking at closely is the cost per print on this thing.

 

[gutenberg]

Going tomorrow to take a look at the Astro Machine AstroJet M1 (Memjet) envelope printer. They cite a 1600x1600 res. and it is rated for up to 500,000 envelopes/mo.
We saw a video of it in action-pretty impressive. Hopefully it performs that well during our tests. The other factor we will be looking at closely is the cost per print on this thing.

Im curious if you saw the machine. The local Rena dealer here in Philly is proposing the Rena Mach 5 (same machine, Rena says they have exclusive distribution on the Astro machine???), our shop is looking at the Xante machine in comparison....The Rena unit consumables are being quoted way lower...

What is the print quality like?

 

[Printease]

We did go see it. It is an impressive little machine. It has a nice straight paper path that works good with envelopes. The quality was very good, but being an inkjet process, you end up with more of an offset printing on uncoated stock look. In fact, I would say that is probably the main difference(outside of speed) between the AstroJet and the Illumina- the Illumina is a laser machine, so the colors are more vibrant because you don't have ink spreading into the paper. The AstroJet holds type surprisingly well- we took a loupe to some 3pt. text, and it still looked sharp. As is, they were producing variable data using Mail Merge in Word, but said other 3rd party RIP options may become available that can handle other VI languages.

Overall, the finished product is very sellable, especially if you need a machine that can produce short-run color envelopes for your small-mid sized customers.

 

[gutenberg]

We did go see it. It is an impressive little machine. It has a nice straight paper path that works good with envelopes. The quality was very good, but being an inkjet process, you end up with more of an offset printing on uncoated stock look. In fact, I would say that is probably the main difference(outside of speed) between the AstroJet and the Illumina- the Illumina is a laser machine, so the colors are more vibrant because you don't have ink spreading into the paper. The AstroJet holds type surprisingly well- we took a loupe to some 3pt. text, and it still looked sharp. As is, they were producing variable data using Mail Merge in Word, but said other 3rd party RIP options may become available that can handle other VI languages.

Overall, the finished product is very sellable, especially if you need a machine that can produce short-run color envelopes for your small-mid sized customers.

We saw some samples today on The Rena Mach 5 from Rena itself, turns out Rena is based outside philly, it is the Astro machine you saw. Rena is a semi exclusive distributor for Astro, they will start shipping in Jan 2011. I was also told the other color machine they sell, the CS is from HP technology and really is meant for low end applications.

Under the luope the quality is pretty sharp, must be because the dot size is small. Machine is fast. Getting a quote shortly...also looking at Xante.

 

[Printease]

What did you think of the Xante? We liked the quality a lot, but the consumables are quite a bit more expensive than the M1.

 

[OkiTech]

Gentelman, It must not be Xante, please consider OKI C9800 or C9850 which is who makes engines for Xante. If you are not in super hi end color need - you may use aftermarket toner and save a lot. We have 4 of OKI ES3640e machines for sale which are OKI C9800 engine with scanner-head to add multifunction capability. A descent envelope feeded for small offset press like this:

Suspension Strate Flo Envelope Feeder + Very Nice! - eBay (item 370423752260 end time Jan-20-11 13:40:17 PST)

for example, which is, by the way has lifetime parts warranty, combined with any OKI models above should give you "Digital envelope press" capabilities for under $5-6k. A by-pass may have to altered or removed to allow envelope feeder roll-up but that is far not a rocket science...

 

[gutenberg]

What did you think of the Xante? We liked the quality a lot, but the consumables are quite a bit more expensive than the M1.

I think the biggest thing is that the Xante and PSI machines have high priced consumables. The oki's are cheaper. Xante has some pre printing software that adds value though, but I have good buddy who dos oki enevelope printing in NJ, he buys aftermarket toner etc and gets the cost down....still says the drum damage is an issue no matter what, he says on thick pieces you were down the drums even though you are using them to print becasue they, the envelopes make contact with the drum....so if you are printing monochrome black on a think envelope say for invites, you still wear down the color drums....

So for me the Xante is out of the question....Rena Mach 5 /M1 or Oki 9650....

 

[OkiTech]

Yeah well - sure there is always supplies cost. But, for example, if put machine on "per click" contract, especially if you do 10-20k per month, dealer should give you a good rate, that you should not worry about all that.

 

[Zwicker Press]

Under the luope the quality is pretty sharp, must be because the dot size is small. Machine is fast. Getting a quote shortly...also looking at Xante.

Just wondering where the quotes are coming in on the Rena / Astro...
Watched the video on the website, it's impressive, BUT I can't see investing in an envelope printer that can't do 10x13's, which we do our fair share of.

 

[JayDA]

Please let me know where I can get a reasonable "per click" service contract on an Oki printer....I would love one.

Yeah well - sure there is always supplies cost. But, for example, if put machine on "per click" contract, especially if you do 10-20k per month, dealer should give you a good rate, that you should not worry about all that.