Pre-Printed Offset Covers / What digital equipment to use?

Sterling

Member
We have a client who is asking us to run black and white variable data on pre-printed offset covers. The covers are heavy poundage - 80 lb glossy cover and above. In addition, we will need to autoduplex and these runs are 20,000 per month.

Our current equipment will not handle this type of run. This is a big client for us and we would like to accommodate his wishes.

Any suggestions on which type of equipment to use?

I have a number of commercial printing contacts throughout our region and they are simply doing these jobs on printers that are not specified to do this type of work. One is using a Xerox 4127 and another is using a Canon 110. According to their specs, these printers should not do these types of runs, but they are. I don't know how their machines are holding up or what their service call rate is.
 
Ouch, I'd buy a roll of disposable digital presses for work like that. Once one bites the dust, in the skip with it and tear off a new one.

Seriously though do you have to duplex? If you can let that go and just manually duplex (ie. put 'em back in for the other side) you could get a considerably less serious printer. Given that it's VDP I'm guessing the registration isn't gonna have to be stellar so I'd muchly recommend getting something cheap with a high-cap feeder and stacker, just print simplex.
 
If this customer is that valuable and you see room to grow in this market, why not look into investing in an inkjet solution to imprint the variable data? If the customer isn't that important and you don't see growth potential outsource it. You will destroy your copiers trying to do this kind of stuff with them. I've been forced to run this kind of stuff before and watched machine after machine degrade and die. If you are adamant about using a copier solution invest in used auctioned copiers.

Another more risk invoking thought is to subsidize extra repair costs that covers parts and labor into the estimates for the jobs. This will make the job more costly but at the same time keep you and your equipment covered and in working order.
 
a Xerox Nuvera can do the job, it's the next step from the Xerox 4112/4127
 
My new Xerox 700 is doing this same type of job (80# cover) (offset, preprinted...we're printing black/white)...

Have prob run 60,000 clicks or so...with only one or two jams...

Should I be worried I'm killing my machine?

Other than potential ink buildup on feeder wheels...is there any difference running 80# cover whether it's preprinted or not? Can't see how there would be...

(Same job we were running on a couple of Canon 3220's...lotsa jams...lots ink buildup on feeder wheels)
 
We are considering the Xerox Nuvera. However, in the Nuvera's Customer Expectation Document it has a lot of warnings and conditions pertaining to autoduplexing heavy pound preprinted coated offset on this machine. Not to say it won't do, it just seems to have quite a few suggestions and conditions (types of offset powder, etc...) on how to do it.

On the B&W side, we are also considerating the brand new Canon 1110 and the KM 1050e.

Even though these jobs are B&W variable data, we are also considering just doing these jobs on a color machine since it seems the color machines seem to handle the heavier paperweights more easily. On the color side we are considering the Xerox 700 and 5000AP, Canon C6000 and the KM C6501.
 
Nuvera Research

Nuvera Research

Before you consider a Xerox Nuvera, keep in mind of the old interpolation law Xerox has for their dpi ratio and claim that they can produce 1200x1200 dpi.

Xerox claims that the Neuvera has a 92% up time. This is simply "Xerox math". Up time does not equal "Schedule Printing".

92% at 40 hrs per week, will give you a 5% downtime ratio (that is 2 hrs). If the machine goes down then it varies due to service and other complications.

On the other hand, a Konica Minolta 2500 will give you a true 91% thru put and a DigiMaster will give you 85% thru put. That is scheduled printing, this is what printers get paid for is "Scheduled Printing".
 
Before you consider a Xerox Nuvera, keep in mind of the old interpolation law Xerox has for their dpi ratio and claim that they can produce 1200x1200 dpi.

Xerox claims that the Neuvera has a 92% up time. This is simply "Xerox math". Up time does not equal "Schedule Printing".

92% at 40 hrs per week, will give you a 5% downtime ratio (that is 2 hrs). If the machine goes down then it varies due to service and other complications.

On the other hand, a Konica Minolta 2500 will give you a true 91% thru put and a DigiMaster will give you 85% thru put. That is scheduled printing, this is what printers get paid for is "Scheduled Printing".
What are you talking about. This product is a beast. You need prozac!
 
Good luck feeding with anything once the feed tires get full of spray powder. No one has seemed to address this issue.
 
We run pre-printed offset pieces through an AB Dick 9810 before I imprint
them with our Docucolor 5000. That takes almost all of the powder off, so
feeding and imaging aren't really an issue.
 
Listen to Craig. The key is that the pre-printed work is COMPLETELY dry. Given that, you will see powder. Powder plus rollers = failure.
Find a vacuum fed machine and you will be fine (the Canon 110 you mentioned will work well. The Canon production gear is all vacuum fed.)
 
Hopefully the inks are laser safe as well - the only way to tell is to run some. The term "laser safe" means different things to different mfrs.
 
We do a lot of what you're talking about using Kodak Digimasters. It seems you could duplex plywood on these things with no problem. The issue we do have is lots of service calls related to offset ink build-up on the rollers. They have thusfar honored the service contract and continue replacing rollers, but it does mean frequent downtimes. If you have the ability, increasing the UV to help get the ink as dry as possible on the offset sheets before heading to digital helps some.
 
Kodak Digimaster is the best paper handling B/W digital press . period.

Kodak Digimaster is the best paper handling B/W digital press . period.

if you are looking for B/W paper handling for vdp, Digimaster is the only way to go...new or used 110-150ppm. Every Nuvera owner has been told that they received the "beta" version and that is why all of the problems occurred.

for a color unit, the ProC900 prints at rated speed duplex up to 220gsm(in spec) and you can manual duplex up to 300gsm(in spec).

you just need to negotiate a good b/w click rate for the 20k/mo you will do.
 

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