printer for short run #10 envelopes

[buckeyewta]

We are looking for a decent printer for doing short run envelopes (500-1000 per run). The Xerox machines we have do not do a very good job on envelopes. They are banged up pretty good by the time they get through the fuser. I am looking at getting an Epson inkjet to do this. We did a demo on a small Epson desktop that seems to do a decent job. They actually run faster than on the big Xerox, cost less to print and look better. Am I crazy to consider a small inkjet for envelopes? The one we are looking at is the Epson B-300.

 

[Keith]

No, I don't think you are crazy. Some people think that if the machine doesn't weigh at least 10,000 pounds it's not a production machine fit for a print-for-pay environment. But I say, if customers give you money for it, does it matter what it is produced on? Of course, that is a gross simplification but as long as your expectations are reasonable of the machine and your customers find the output acceptable.

On your Xerox, have you tried heavy weight envelopes of premium quality? Say, a Mohawk or Neenah brand at 28/70lb weight? Have you tried running them open flap?

 

[buckeyewta]

I have tried open flaps with some success. The biggest problem with that is having to open them all and then either give them to the customer open or close them again. The other thing I run into is someone wanting peal & seal windows. Digital windows in specialty envelopes are almost always special order if even available. With inkjet any windows can be run without a problem.

 

[BillJ]

How often are you doing these jobs? If you are doing multiple times per month you might want to look at a OKI envelope system. They do a good job and are easy to set up. It can do open flap.

It can also do variable data.

 

[Craig]

Just be careful about water smearing the ink from the Epson. I don't have any experience with it, but I know when I looked as a Riso the ink smeared when wet and also from the oil on your hands. That's why we went with the Xante Impressia.

 

[Schnicklefritz]

Our Riso Comcolor 7050R will do closed-flap envelope short runs pretty well up to 1000. The trick is to use envelopes fresh from our paper supplier. Envelopes which have been subjected to moisture mean jamarama time.

 

[oxburger]

We bought a Formax Colormax 7. If I had to do it again, I'd probably go laser instead of inkjet......

 

[Guest]

We had a Xante illumina and sold it to go for a Formax Colormax 7. The Xante had many issues leaving toner streaks on the envelopes to the point where Xante Corp eventually replaced the entire machine. The next machine was not much better.

Got a demo on a Formax and went that way. Colors are not as vibrant with inkjet but they run way faster speeds and the consumables per print are a fraction. Also you don't get that toner piling and gloss. The inkjet looks more like litho.

The Colormax has it's own set of issues but easier for us to deal with than the Xante. Sometimes the ink head will leave your prints with trail edge dots and if you're running heavy coverage, you have to run maintenance often to keep the head clean.

I hear the Xante impressia is superior to the old illumina (which is essentially an Oki) but haven't had a demo. Best bet is to get a demo on everything you're interested in. Also, just fyi the Formax Colormax is the exact same machine as the Rena Mach 5 and is also sold under some other brand tags.

Good luck!

 

[Possumgal]

Inkjet inks will run on envelopes. The Oki printers are toner-based, and the colors are bright. Xante and others rebranded Oki printers for their envelope printers, but if you buy from Oki, your consumables cost will be half to one-third what you'd pay with a rebranded machine. Oki now sells the whole kit with envelope feeder.

These machines, like any toner-based machines, thrive on a climate-controlled environment. The only streaks and toner ghosts I've had on an Oki were due to too much humidity.

 

[jrsc]

We have been running envelopes on epson inkjets. The key is to make sure you are using pigment inks and not dye inks like most inkjets. Epson makes a lot of their printers with Pigment inks. Pigment inks will keep the ink from running when getting wet. We actually had 3 epsons sitting next to each other to print envelopes since they are only about $100 each. The biggest problem is they are very slow and only hold about 10 envelopes at a time. You generally have to print on a higher quality setting to make them look good which makes them really slow. Then basically sit there reloading them. We are considering getting an xante impressia to replace ours. They would be great if someone could develop an envelope feeder that could hold a few hundred envelopes with an epson. That would make it a great envelope printer.

 

[JustinB]

I've got the Oki C931 for doing envelopes and so far we've been happy with it. Here is what I've noticed:

1) Input tray only holds about 15 envelopes to reliably print straight.
2) Color looks good
3) Minimal creasing (so far)
4) When the drums say "Replace me" that's it. They're done. No more sticking it back in for a few more impressions. The machine is absolutely done and will not function without another drum.
5) Just got 38,000 impressions out of my black drum, and that was with mostly envelopes. If there's a way to reset the drums, I haven't found it, but I haven't looked either.
6) Straight Shooter has an envelope feeder for my printer, and mine should be here next week!
7) This Oki is WAY more tolerant of environmental changes than the previous machines (9800, 9650, etc.)

I wish I could reset the drums, because I really don't think mine is dead after printing 38,000 envelopes. If anyone knows a way, chime in!

For me, there's more good than bad with this printer, so I will stick with it, even though I don't seem to get as far with supplies as I would like.

Oki wanted something like $25k for their printer with feeder. I've got $10k into my printer, straight shooter feeder, and 6' long conveyor.

I'll report back after I get my feeder up and going and let people know well it works.

 

[BillJ]

I don't know a way to reset the drums either. There must be a chip just like inkjet cartridges but someone would have to make a restter to make it work.

Just to clarify, the Oki envelope system for $25,000 includes the feeder, printer, conveyor, and also comes with a Fiery controller. They also make a "low pressure" fuser for this model that reduces the seams being pressed into the front creating lines.

 

[giant1958]

Contact Don Bonin at Total Office at 813-886-3401... we got a colormax inkjet printer with a envelope feeder and works great......ran 10,000 today

 

[Guest]

There was a guy on ebay selling reset fuses for the Xante illumina drums. I'll bet it's the same procedure for the OKI. I bought some and it worked. It was a bit hokey, but it reset the drums. There was nothing proprietary about it. It was just a cheap electronics fuse and he sends you the instructions of how to install after you buy them. You basically bypass the fused chip in the drum with an external one. aaatoner.com(Drum, Transfer Belt Reset) (the actual fuse he sends looks nothing like the picture in the listing) 4 for $40.00. After you get the instructions from him, you can then buy them from an electronics retailer for well under $1.00 each.

Yeah... just looked. he has all kinds of resets for OKI. click on the OKI link in the left sidebar of his site.

 

[msaeger]

I have been to two places with the impressa that are happy with it and the feeder on that thing is a beast.

 

[Printman352]

I have a Xerox 560 and print short run envelopes on it and yes I have to do the open and closing of the flaps, but I don't do them everyday or even every week. For longer runs 2,500 or more I use a trade printer. Xerox does have an envelope fuser for this machine and it makes a world of difference. They also have a heavyweight fuser for paper over 177 GSM. When using the heavyweight fuser the paper, either coated or uncoated comes out flat as it was in the box without having to have a decurler on it. I usually run 110# Blazer cover and 100# Cougar cover. You can only get those fusers from the service tech they don't have them through their normal ordering system.

 

[BobRym]

We run a Riso ComColor 7150 for short run envelopes - a little picky to feed and doesn't like some brands of envelopes but generally pretty easy to use. The ink will not smear and does not run when wet - dries before it's out of the machine. It does not produce vibrant colour like a fused toner machine but does an acceptable job for this type of work and running costs are minimal - well under $0.01 per envelope.