Rena Mach5 to replace my offset press?

[Roback]

The wrangling starts. They want to put in a new print head and if that works, change out the entire insides. I said no. I contracted for a new machine. Even if the proposed action fixes my machine, I've got a rebuilt or refurbished machine. And not even by the factory. It will have been rebuilt by a repairman in the field that has told he basically knows nothing about it. They then offered me their demo that they claim works fine. Once again, I didn't buy a demo, but I might be willing to, whats the price? Waiting on an answer.

 

[Roback]

They also told me they have 90 machines out and 5 are experiencing the same issues as mine. It would look to me like, if this is true, that they would quickly just replace the bad ones with good ones. Bad PR is very expensive to overcome.

 

[damfino]

The Story

The Story

The head, ink, and circuitry are made by MemJet in Australia. The mechanics are made by Astro Machines. The marketing and some tweaking is by Rena (and 2 others). Every issue has to go through a long train of investigation.

The guys at Rena are likeable and sincere in their fervor for this machine, but it's honestly not ready for market.

Again, bail and come back for another trial in 6 months time. I would also be realistic about the claimed consumable costs. Double would be more like it.

 

[Roback]

What they say they are going to do now is bring in a new print head and try to get my machine working. Then in a few weeks when they get inventory, they'll replace it with a new machine. I've told them I'll take nothing less than a brand new working machine or its a no go. I've told them they need to make some restitution to me for my loss of use and for my employee who has logged over 20 hours working with their repairman.

 

[Roback]

I know the consumable claims are probably optimistic. But truthfully, I'll still be happy if they come in double their claims.

 

[Roback]

They picked up my Memjet this morning. Supposed to have a new one in 2 weeks. Supposedly, this is a newer version that fixes problems in the first design. I'm supposed to get compensated for my loss of use and employee use during the shot in the dark repair sessions. I asking for at least a full round of consumables (Ink and nozzles) or $1000.00. It's easy to document that much actual loss with 2 lease payments, employee pay and the expense of putting jobs on my offset press that were quoted using Memjet pricing. I not even talking about loss of expected profit.

 

[Snydlyx]

So how did you make out Rolback? Very interested!

 

[Roback]

They are bringing my new machine in tomorrow (Mon). They called and said it came in Fri. I'll keep everybody posted.

 

[Londen]

What happen Roback?

 

[Roback]

So far so good. I have no complaints now. They gave me a full round of ink and a nozzle replacement. $1300 value for my loss of service and funds. They replaced the entire insides of my machine with what they told me was an upgrade version from what I had. I think they called it the Z3 version. It has some covers over some of the electronics that they believe will cut down on noise (interference) that was probably causing the problems. I've run several jobs and as I said, no complaints.

 

[kristianeyman]

canyou upload some photos of the quality of the work that you are producing on the machine? thanks, kristian!

 

[Roback]

That wouldn't really show you much. I ran a case of envelopes for one of my local competitors and we compared it to what they previously ran on their Heidelberg DI at a tremendously greater expense. I thought the Memjet looked better. It's not quite up to toner quality but thats a much more costly and much slower process, not to mention the embossing that the fuser does and the requirement for special window material to withstand the heat of the fuser. The special window requirement alone adds about 20 bucks a thousand to the cost. I have an OKI 9650 so I can make a judgement on that. The Memjet uses no expensive fuser. How it holds up is the next question to be answered but for right now I'm delighted.

 

[kristianeyman]

Roback, i too have a DI and xerox digital color machines. the question is for doing flyers on 135gsm 4 up on letter, how good is the quality? also what is the cost to do 1000 pieces of letter with med-high coverage? thanks, kristian!

 

[Roback]

I really can't answer either question at this time. I also have a Xerox Docucolor 242 that I've used in the past for such flyers. I pay .07 a click on it even on tabloid size so I will probably continue using it for jobs like you describes since the cost would be around .009 ea for the flyers for excellent quality. Yesterday I ran a carbonless multi-color invoice job on the Memjet that I sequentially numbered at the same time using NumberStar software that ran and looked great. I will be trying some flyers and some coated stock in the near future. Consumable costs are going to be kinda hard for me to determine for a while because of my earlier issues. I don't know how much we wasted trying to get the machine to work right or how much they used when I sent it back. They returned it with my old ink in it but gave me a whole new set to put in when I need it. also, the cost will depend on the coverage. They advertise that the total amount of consumables used in 1000 envelopes (just corner copy color I assume) is $2.77. My guess for the flyers would probably be around $15-20 per 1000 or .015-.02 per copy based on the envelope claims.

 

[MacDaddy]

Fuji 720 jpress is a sheet feed inkjet press. But it flood coats the sheet which makes a offset sheet of paper inkjet paper before it is inkjeted which resolves the problem.

 

[Roback]

After operating the Mach 5 for almost a year, I still very satisfied. The cost for consumables for corner copy full color envelopes is as advertised. One thing I have found deceptive in their claims is the speed. With no jams or other issues, it will run 5000 #10 envelopes an hour, not 7500. I had the tech verify that as the best I can expect. The problem comes in when the machine pauses for 20 seconds of every minute to clean the printhead. It does run at 7500 per hour for 40 seconds of every minute, but I find that to be deceptive. You may also have problems running window envelopes landscape because the lip of the window tears. I've found Xpedx envelopes to be the best. It will run envelopes fine portrait but that lowers the speed to 2500 per hour. The quality is very sellable. I've not had one complaint and I do work for several of my competitors.

 

[ICNCMYK]

Our in-plant has but recently had the opportunity to demo a Rena Mach5 for a month before purchasing, I have been given the duty of learning the nuances of the Mach5 and am interested in learning what the best way for feeding #10 no window and window envelopes would be. I have had luck feeding envelopes without the back guide and by setting the envelope to feed landscape, but I am told that running the envelope portrait style and by using the back guide you have less trouble with the feeding although it runs at half the speed of landscape. Colors aren't the greatest but do-able. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[printmail]

After operating the Mach 5 for almost a year, I still very satisfied. The cost for consumables for corner copy full color envelopes is as advertised. One thing I have found deceptive in their claims is the speed. With no jams or other issues, it will run 5000 #10 envelopes an hour, not 7500. I had the tech verify that as the best I can expect. The problem comes in when the machine pauses for 20 seconds of every minute to clean the printhead. It does run at 7500 per hour for 40 seconds of every minute, but I find that to be deceptive. You may also have problems running window envelopes landscape because the lip of the window tears. I've found Xpedx envelopes to be the best. It will run envelopes fine portrait but that lowers the speed to 2500 per hour. The quality is very sellable. I've not had one complaint and I do work for several of my competitors.

Hi

What software are you using to get data into the Mach 5?
I am in the middle of discussions with regards to purchasing an Astrojet (which I believe is the same machine).

 

[Roback]

Hi

What software are you using to get data into the Mach 5?
I am in the middle of discussions with regards to purchasing an Astrojet (which I believe is the same machine).

They recommended making everything a PDF but I send a lot of stuff straight from Corel Draw. It pretty much works just like ant other printer as far as the interface is concerned so I'm pretty sure any software could be used to send from.

 

[printmail]

They recommended making everything a PDF but I send a lot of stuff straight from Corel Draw. It pretty much works just like ant other printer as far as the interface is concerned so I'm pretty sure any software could be used to send from.

Are yours generic?
Ours is Variable Imaging and variable addressing between 1,500-50,000. Although we do break down all our bigger files to 10,000 clumps maximum. printing to pdf first makes our file huge. We also tried sending down as a PS file with little success. They are suggesting Microsoft Word but to me is a 15 year step backwards.