Other Uses for Xante or OKI Based product besides envelopes?

[gutenberg]

I am currently looking at a Xante machine for printing envelopes for my shop in Philly.... For those of you have machines, can you tell me what else you use them for realistically.

I want to do Business Cards, Invitations and ??? Anything other applications that is truely an option...?

Would be nice to know before i dive in....

 

[Keith]

I am going on 5 years with my Ilumina that started my all digital shop. Basically, anything you can do on any other toner machine can be done with the Ilumina... with the exception of heavy coverage (unless you're on a service contract). You start getting over 30% coverage and the toner alone will cost more than what you are selling the job for. After learning that the hard way, this is what I use my Ilumina for:

-Addressing envelopes as well as printing them.
-Addressing offset shells.
-Biz cards on ultra thick stock. Forget 14pt, I'm talking 24pt!
-Invitations with matching envelopes. Since there is no click charge, you can run Park Avenue panel cards 1up for a few pennies in color.
-And you can print any odd job that won't fit through your other machines. One time, I printed a few hundred prayer cards that were 3"x4".

I'm in Cecil County Maryland, about an hour from Philly. Please call me, I would love to tell you all the good and bad about the Ilumina. I also know an excellent supplier (he sells the machines as well, but I imagine you are already talking to a sales rep) for the Xante- George Richardson in Virginia Xante Laser Printers - Xante Color Printers - The Richardson Company. Between him and I, we could probably build the machines. But seriously, he offers free tech support to people who buy supplies from him. I would have thrown mine out the window if it wasn't for him.

 

[Scottford]

Considering Xante myself, but it's frightening. I haven't read such a disparity of opinions about a printer that the Xante inspires. Some people claim it drives them to the poor house and others love it. I currently pay my pressman $18 an hour to run an AB Dick for invitations. I love the quality of real ink, but providing color to customers is prohibitive. The Xante seems like almost the only choice for entry-level digital color because of its straight path.

 

[medialounge]

Read this first! I bought an Oki C9600 for a really good deal and I found out that it doesn't print envelopes well. Yeah, I know, I thought that because the Illumina prints envelopes, the Oki would too but it doesn't. To be specific, the print is fine but the Oki smashes the envelopes so you always get an embossed look in front of the envelope, no matter the size. In other words the envelopes don't look like they came off of a press, it looks like it was just smashed flat and your left with an embossed look. I hope it makes sense. For you Oki users out there that has solved this problem, could you please explain how you've fixed it? Thanks in advance!

 

[gutenberg]

I am going on 5 years with my Ilumina that started my all digital shop. Basically, anything you can do on any other toner machine can be done with the Ilumina... with the exception of heavy coverage (unless you're on a service contract). You start getting over 30% coverage and the toner alone will cost more than what you are selling the job for. After learning that the hard way, this is what I use my Ilumina for:

-Addressing envelopes as well as printing them.
-Addressing offset shells.
-Biz cards on ultra thick stock. Forget 14pt, I'm talking 24pt!
-Invitations with matching envelopes. Since there is no click charge, you can run Park Avenue panel cards 1up for a few pennies in color.
-And you can print any odd job that won't fit through your other machines. One time, I printed a few hundred prayer cards that were 3"x4".

I'm in Cecil County Maryland, about an hour from Philly. Please call me, I would love to tell you all the good and bad about the Ilumina. I also know an excellent supplier (he sells the machines as well, but I imagine you are already talking to a sales rep) for the Xante- George Richardson in Virginia Xante Laser Printers - Xante Color Printers - The Richardson Company. Between him and I, we could probably build the machines. But seriously, he offers free tech support to people who buy supplies from him. I would have thrown mine out the window if it wasn't for him.

I am working with a local dealer here in Philly. It sounds like all other things, a great service resource can make or break an install.

I am not considering an OKI right now, even though it is the same engine!

When you say addressing, do you actually address and barcode and print the logo at the same time?

What software are you using ?

 

[gutenberg]

Considering Xante myself, but it's frightening. I haven't read such a disparity of opinions about a printer that the Xante inspires. Some people claim it drives them to the poor house and others love it. I currently pay my pressman $18 an hour to run an AB Dick for invitations. I love the quality of real ink, but providing color to customers is prohibitive. The Xante seems like almost the only choice for entry-level digital color because of its straight path.

That is why i joined here! On the other hand i am wise to the fact that reviews are often heavily swayed by one thing or the other. The Xante reviews are generally positive, supplies expensive .

 

[Keith]

When you say addressing, do you actually address and barcode and print the logo at the same time?

What software are you using ?

Yes, all at the same time. For presorting, I use Postage Saver; for the data merge I use FusionPro Desktop. I just make a multipage PDF, there's not that much static information so it doesn't take long to RIP at all. 99% of my work is less than 1000 pieces. It's quite easy.

 

[Happyprinter]

Keith, Glad to hear your having a better experience with your Ilumina than we had. Just out of curiousity how are your drums holding out switching from 24 pt to small cards to envelopes. Our experience was not very good. Very short drum life. Between using their HIGH priced consumables and replacing drums, we never could make money.

 

[gutenberg]

Yes, all at the same time. For presorting, I use Postage Saver; for the data merge I use FusionPro Desktop. I just make a multipage PDF, there's not that much static information so it doesn't take long to RIP at all. 99% of my work is less than 1000 pieces. It's quite easy.

I already have Satori BulkMailer in the shop for addressing...We run jobs over 20k regularly on a old Rena Imager III we have here...

 

[Keith]

Keith, Glad to hear your having a better experience with your Ilumina than we had. Just out of curiousity how are your drums holding out switching from 24 pt to small cards to envelopes. Our experience was not very good. Very short drum life. Between using their HIGH priced consumables and replacing drums, we never could make money.

Honestly, I haven't ran 24pt in a long time. It's not easy to get and most customers find 12pt and 14pt thick enough. I agree, drum life is short and they are pricey. For some reason, my Ilumina goes through cyan drums faster than any other color. I wonder if it has something to do with being so close to that hot fuser. When the Ilumina was my primary machine, I would look back at the past year of sales versus costs and it would average out to about 7 cents a click. So it did make me money. I imagine that is how most of these guys (Canon, KM, etc.) make money with the service contract, they average it out. And I'm sure they pay a lot less than we do for toner. But if you look at any one single job and you will be disappointed. One of the senior techs at Xante told me it's not so much about the thickness of stock that wears on the drums, it's how many times it rotates. So a #10 envelope fed long edge rotates the drums about 4 inches. I used to think envelopes were hard on drums till I learned about that. And the past year, my Ilumina has been primarily running envelopes and I have replaced the drums a lot less frequently. I've heard of people getting 75,000 envelopes out of the drums. So to answer your question, yes, the drums last longer when printing envelopes excusively.

 

[damfino]

Oki Drums

Oki Drums

The Oki-Xante drums make direct contact with the paper, unlike other lasers whose drums transfer to a belt. This contributes to a short life. Oki's belt is there only as a transport and charging component.

Another factor which causes premature drum wear is the built-in cleaning cycle. Multiple short runs and one-off's will result in a shorter life than long runs as the printer will perform a rather aggressive scrub of the drum surface. Generally not an issue if you are doing production envelope work. There is a setting to turn this feature off, but I have never tried it for fear of quality issues.

One side effect of drum wear is poor toner adhesion. Near the end of life I find that I have to slow the printer down or toner rub-off will occur. Certain colors, more specifically certain color densities, are more susceptible than others.

 

[Knight Images]

Considering Xante myself, but it's frightening. I haven't read such a disparity of opinions about a printer that the Xante inspires. Some people claim it drives them to the poor house and others love it. I currently pay my pressman $18 an hour to run an AB Dick for invitations. I love the quality of real ink, but providing color to customers is prohibitive. The Xante seems like almost the only choice for entry-level digital color because of its straight path.

Don't do it, terrible support!!!!!

 

[uncle leo]

Alternative uses for xante

Alternative uses for xante

Boat anchor.

 

[JaimeZ]

I run a lot of announcement envelopes through our Ilumina, we've had it for over three years. I have also use it for Magnacote by putting two sheets together so that the magnet part is not exposed to the inside of the machine.

 

[TheProcessIStheproduct]

I am kind of surprised all you printers are complaining about smashed and embossed envelopes off the OKI engine... Whenever I have run envelopes on a duplicator I smash the crap out of it to get nice solid ink, sure you get some flap lines and some embossing, but it is not that bad, are you guys saying off the OKI it is even worse then a traditional press or just not any better?

 

[OkiTech]

Read this first! I bought an Oki C9600 for a really good deal and I found out that it doesn't print envelopes well. Yeah, I know, I thought that because the Illumina prints envelopes, the Oki would too but it doesn't. To be specific, the print is fine but the Oki smashes the envelopes so you always get an embossed look in front of the envelope, no matter the size. In other words the envelopes don't look like they came off of a press, it looks like it was just smashed flat and your left with an embossed look. I hope it makes sense. For you Oki users out there that has solved this problem, could you please explain how you've fixed it? Thanks in advance!

Dear Mr. Medialounge for your problem I think I might have a solution for you. Take one of the fusers (You would need to dedicate it to Envelopes only) take a plastic covers off to reveal pressure springs, twist them to release a pressure, say 1 full turn, put the unit in to printer and run few envelopes - see how they come out. You may have to go back few times to find a balance so toner will still be fused and pressure won't smash the envelope. Once you done - just make a note "2.5 turns cc wise" for example so you can do the same with new fuser shell you ever need a replacement. I can probably give you some guidance on disassemble PM me - it should be reasonably simple if you're handy enough.
Roman

 

[medialounge]

Oki Embossing

Oki Embossing

I am kind of surprised all you printers are complaining about smashed and embossed envelopes off the OKI engine... Whenever I have run envelopes on a duplicator I smash the crap out of it to get nice solid ink, sure you get some flap lines and some embossing, but it is not that bad, are you guys saying off the OKI it is even worse then a traditional press or just not any better?

Yes, it embosses the crap out of envelopes. The smashing is a LOT worse on the Oki than than a duplicator. Every time I print envelopes I wonder if the customer is ever going to come back and chew me out.

It's an extremely bad emboss, and to be honest with you, I wouldn't buy ironed envelopes like this if I were the customer!

 

[OkiTech]

I can imagine that heat and pressure in the fuser are great. but there should be some tolerance between lowering the pressure and still fusing. Please don't forget to mark the starting point if you follow my advice. what interesting is - some printers, like HP LaserJet 9000 series, for example, have fuser pressure release arms marked with envelope, meaning HP engineers oversee this problem and pre-designed their printer to avoid this issue.