Recieved an insane quote for Formax ColorMax8 parts

[ReproElectroProspero]

Anyone else who has a ColorMax8 or similar memjet rebranded printer - can you please take a look at this and let me know if this seems as crazy to you as it does to me?

I have a ColorMax8 that is just over a year old. Been a pretty solid machine for us, but it's starting to have some wear and issues that we couldn't resolve ourselves. So we called in the dealer we bought it from (no service contract). They looked at it and sent us a parts list for what they say it needs. First off, I don't think it needs all of this. Second, I think they're charging at least 2x what the OEM would be charging them. They want this PLUS labor. Please take a look and let me know your thoughts on this insanity, lol

 

[SoggyWinter]

Call Formax directly?

Affinia has a similiar looking memjet envelope printer. They might be a resource or a Google rabbit hole for finding service manuals and parts.

CP950

Print directly on envelopes and thicker media Adjustable media height — accepts material up to 10mm thick The CP950 Envelope and Packaging Printer is

afinialabel.com

 

[ReproElectroProspero]

After making this thread, I called up a local technician who I trust. They are getting me prices direct from the OEM. If I end up getting a service contract on this machine I'm going to probably throw it through him since he's actually honest. I'll report back when I get different numbers... I mainly made this thread because I wanted to complain and see if anyone else has dealt with this kind of nonsense lol

RE: The similar looking affinia machine... This particular memjet model has been rebranded under at least four or five different company names that I've seen. That's a new one to me. This industry is interesting.

 

[namelessentity]

Yeah, we have the Ijetcolor NXT. As far as I can tell they all use the same feeder and print module and the only difference is the output and a coat of paint.

Did you buy it used? We've had ours for about 2 years and I haven't had any need for any of those supplies. I usually just give the rollers some rubber rejuvinator if I'm having feeding issues.

 

[ReproElectroProspero]

Yeah, we have the Ijetcolor NXT. As far as I can tell they all use the same feeder and print module and the only difference is the output and a coat of paint.

Did you buy it used? We've had ours for about 2 years and I haven't had any need for any of those supplies. I usually just give the rollers some rubber rejuvinator if I'm having feeding issues.

Nope, brand new. Which is another reason I am balking at this list of "required" parts. I think I'll go pick up some rejuvinator lol. Any other tips?

 

[Ynot_UK]

This sort of thing is why I’ve been wary about these devices. Whilst the demos and versatility of the Memjet head is awesome, all the claims of how cheap each copy is, can be blown out of the water if you have a massive invoice to pay after just over a year.

Are there any of the re-badgers (Quadient, Formax plus others) offering an all inclusive click contract? And if that’s not available, that in itself makes a statement…

 

[namelessentity]

Nope, brand new. Which is another reason I am balking at this list of "required" parts. I think I'll go pick up some rejuvinator lol. Any other tips?

I find for some reason envelopes tend to print straighter if I run them with the flap towards me. I also rarely have much luck feeding them from the short edge so I generally run everything lengthwise. It takes longer, but it's worth it to avoid the misfeeds and doubles.

 

[Shawnd]

You don't mention what your actual issue is, but I am guessing it is feeding and your tires are worn down? How many clicks do you have on it?

One thing I did that helped a lot was flipping the envelope around and feeding it flap last for a majority of our jobs where we don't need to run SEF.

 

[namelessentity]

You don't mention what your actual issue is, but I am guessing it is feeding and your tires are worn down? How many clicks do you have on it?

One thing I did that helped a lot was flipping the envelope around and feeding it flap last for a majority of our jobs where we don't need to run SEF.

Whoa, I always assumed it would cause issues going flap last. You just made my day!

 

[tngcas]

This sort of thing is why I’ve been wary about these devices. Whilst the demos and versatility of the Memjet head is awesome, all the claims of how cheap each copy is, can be blown out of the water if you have a massive invoice to pay after just over a year.

That's why we got rid of ours. The machine is cheap to run until you need service or consumables and then we found it was less expensive to just run envelopes through our printers AND that we actually were about the same on time except on very long runs. I was also floored by how awful the software on the ijet was.

 

[Hulign]

This sort of thing is why I’ve been wary about these devices. Whilst the demos and versatility of the Memjet head is awesome, all the claims of how cheap each copy is, can be blown out of the water if you have a massive invoice to pay after just over a year.

Are there any of the re-badgers (Quadient, Formax plus others) offering an all inclusive click contract? And if that’s not available, that in itself makes a statement…

The machines are great...but yeah pricing is out of hand. We have a iJetNXT. We do love the machine but wouldn't buy another. I don't want to use any company that has a "service contract" just so you can get a a "better price" for parts without any real in person service. The prices are still too high for parts for a machine that is released under multiple brands. Whatever happened to supply and demand? Repair videos and advice are on YouTube and forums like this. We paid for this machine outright, Yet once we were out of any warranty we found out that they have a lockout against any other ink cartridges. Ink cartridges they probably also make.

 

[Shawnd]

Nope, brand new. Which is another reason I am balking at this list of "required" parts. I think I'll go pick up some rejuvinator lol. Any other tips?

The rollers on these things are like an eraser on a pencil, they do wear down quicker than other rollers from what I have found. I am babying mine along with over 1.5 million clicks till the Quadient Mach 7 gets released. I have found roller rejuvenator was eating these type rollers and I went back to using water to clean the rollers.

 

[Shawnd]

@ReproElectroProspero what did you end up doing? Did you find feed rollers from somewhere else?

 

[ReproElectroProspero]

@ReproElectroProspero what did you end up doing? Did you find feed rollers from somewhere else?

So, kind of a funny story, that still is not resolved.

We pushed back on this quote, because as previously discussed, the machine was relatively new and our utilization was nothing compared to others. I asked for their service manager to clarify line-by-line why each item on the invoice was necessary.
They came back and said that the technician that inspected the machine and gave us the quote was actually a PitneyBowes style mail-machine tech, not an inkjet tech. As such, he didn't know what he was doing or how to address the problems we were having, and just reccomended replacing every single consumable. They sent a different tech out who told us our machine was fine and needed no parts. We've asked them to clarify why this happned and to give us a maintenance/service agreement so if expensive repairs are needed in the future, we're not surprised like this.

It's been ages, and I only got that meeting scheduled last week. I'm meeting with them on Wednesday. smdh.

 

[tngcas]

So, kind of a funny story, that still is not resolved.

4 Months. It's like people don't really understand that we all have orders to actually produce and ship. :-/

 

[Shawnd]

I just had to replace the exit conveyor on mine, not a cheap fix either as you have to buy the entire assembly unless you have the Jig to fix individual parts (jig is around same price as new assembly). Parts for these machines is not cheap since they are for production. Mine has well over a million clicks on it so it is due some parts upgrades. Next is the feed tires, that will also be an expensive fix as they are $100/per tire.