Riso ComColor 7330 demo

[Inkscape Print]

Riso just installed a ComColor 7330 demo for us. We are looking at using it mostly for envelopes and notepads etc with minimal color. Anybody have any feeback on this printer?

Couple things I saw after one morning of running it.
1. It is very quiet and very fast compared to the Xerox Versant 80.
2. The Fiery and the machine seem to have some communication issues. It will send jobs just fine but will not show job progress or details for errors. If you send a job to a tray with the wrong paper size it will just sit there not printing and not give you any indication of what is wrong.
3. Print quality is far less than toner machines but is more than good enough for envelopes, letterheads, scratch pads etc.

 

[Keith]

I just bought a used 7050 and love it as much as I hate it. I bought it to do carbonless and envelopes. It's finicky with the type of carbonless and brand of envelope you use. Flat sheet work, like black and white forms with a little bit of color, it's awesome. Fast, as you noticed, and adding a little bit of color doesn't quadruple your cost like having a service contract would. We also use ours to do notepads and tickets. Ultimately, it depends upon the specific job you are doing. We were able to get form work from a big customer that was using another vendor. So I am glad I bought it.

 

[Inkscape Print]

So we ran about 34,000 sheets on the Riso demo. It is very picky on envelopes. We did finally get them to run ok but now there are ink splotches on the envelopes from it hitting the print head. The main thing we wanted this thing for was to run envelopes. If it will not run envelopes better than what I have seen so far we have no use for it.

 

[Keith]

I felt the same way when I got mine. What I found is that you have to use the envelope setting. I don't know how different yours is from mine but the envelope setting, unfortunately, doesn't have as good of an image quality as all the other settings. You end up with a magenta halo around everything. Recently, I figured out that the matte paper setting helps eliminate this. I think the setting raises the height of the print head (or lowers the platen the envelopes ride on) to allow for the non-uniform thickness of envelopes. If I run an envelope job without the envelope setting, I get the same issue with the stock hitting the print head.


Another thing to try is different brands of envelopes. What's important is that they sit flat. If there is a curl or waviness to them, you will have feeding problems and they will hit the print head. I use the envelopes from Western States Envelope. They run great. It's their basic Western Sulfite white wove. For social envelopes, we use Mohawk Opaque.

 

[Inkscape Print]

I think we tried all the settings. Even with the envelope setting and Cougar envelopes that lay totally flat it is still hitting the print heads.

 

[BobRym]

We have run Riso Ink Jets for about 8 years now - on our third one - each generation gets better. Currently on a 7150 - have not worked with the new machine but imagine it's similar. Great for what we call "communication colour" - not the same quality as digital toner machines or good offset work BUT has it's place. We have over 1.5 million impressions on this machine and a total of about 5 million on the 3 that we've had. Envelopes can be tricky - finding the right stock is critical (experiment) - if you are doing high volumes - talk to Riso about the optional envelope feeder - there is so much profit in envelopes - it will pay for itself. The big trick with envelopes is the ability to add customer addresses thru mail merges - the software handles variable data without hassle (no experience with the new Fiery interface but we use Fiery on our digital toner machine and it works fine on variable data). This is also the trick with NCR - number as you're printing - pure profit as we charge numbering as a separate item when invoicing. Not all NCR stock works well - we have found over many years that Nekoosa U20 is what it likes best. NCR stocks are not all created equally - different brands are different. Any stock that is formulated for an Igen or anything else with a coating on it will not work.

The Com-Color is not the same as anything else out there - great for directories, envelopes, NCR, simple cheap flyers, some books where some colour (like charts etc.) is needed, instruction manuals or sets etc. - govern by the amount of ink you're using - too much and we go to something with a click charge where we are protected. Our ink cost on 5 million impressions has averaged 1.5 cents per impression - this includes everything we do - but we are very careful in selecting work for it.

Useful machine but is not the be-all and end-all - just another tool in the box. We make a decent profit on ours - if you have the right work for it - you will too.

Quality always comes up when discussing these machines - I can output incredible quality on it if I select the high quality ink settings and utilize higher quality stocks - if I'm trying to do a job as economically as possible - then I'm obviously not using those settings or stocks.

 

[Inkscape Print]

Tech was just here and widened the gap between the belt and the print heads. That took care of the paper hitting the print head. Will run some more tests and see what happens.

 

[Inkscape Print]

We ran a bunch of envelopes this afternoon. The issue of hitting the print head is pretty much gone. Out of 500 there were maybe 2 or 3 on average with slight markings. Our demo has the high cap feeder. I loaded the feeder up with approx 750 envelopes and they run fine. It takes 6 minutes to run a box of 500 with no stopping to load or unload.

I did a comparison between this and the Xerox Versant 80.
Riso 7330 - 500 envelopes in 6 minutes at a cost of $.0049 each in color
Xerox Versant 80 - 158 envelopes in 6 minutes at a cost of $.01 each in b&w.

So the Riso prints 3 times as fast in color for half the price of the Xerox in b&w.

 

[BobRym]

Hi Inkscape Print - interested to find out how you arrived at a cost of $.0049 ea. - just curious. Our biggest beef with the Riso Ink Jets has been the inability to determine costs on a job. We are very conservative and if there is any possibility that we will exceed roughly $0.03 ink cost on a letter size print - we move the job to our digital toner machine (currently a Ricoh 7100X). We know we are overestimating at times and would like to be able to run more volumes on the Riso and offer better pricing on some jobs but are always watching the profit margins. We don't really care which machine we use as long as we can generate the same profit levels. We feel we would capture more of some types of work if the selling price were less. This is only a concern on higher volume jobs - envelopes are a no brainer anyway due to the extremely low volume of ink used.

 

[Inkscape Print]

They have an online cost calculator. You upload the print file and input your ink cartridge costs and it will give you the cost. I took that cost and added the per page service cost.

http://us.riso.com/resources/color-calculator/

 

[BobRym]

We've used that calculator in the past - is fine for small jobs (however we are always skeptical of software estimations) but not much good for larger colour files such as books, manuals, directories etc. We have been bugging them for years to get ink usage tracking on the printer such as HP uses in their wide format machines - still might not be 100% accurate but feel it is capable of being much closer. The ComColor does know with great accuracy when an ink cartridge is empty and as there are no sensors to measure remaining ink in the cartridge (such as photocells or weight) - the software must be keeping a very accurate track of how much ink is actually being used. We've encouraged them to give users access to an accounting function in the software but they have not responded. We feel that it is a great limiting factor in how much we use the printer - we would do more work on it if we could confirm costs more accurately.

 

[gregbatch]

If you mainly want to run envelopes, look at the iJetColor from Printware. Built for envelopes, but can run more - full bleed. Quality better than ComColor even in standard mode 1600x800. Not as fast. And for ComColor users, try the inks from Duplicator Source. Less than half the price. No complaints.

 

[Keith]

I bought my ComColor from Duplicator Source. Super nice and very friendly. Ink prices are great and work very well.

 

[Shawnd]

How is the Ijetcolor different from the memjets from the other vendors? They all look the same.

 

[PolyLowTCO]

The iJetColor Press Bundle is different from all the rest as a COMPLETE turn-key package that includes the Print engine, conveyor, color matching RIP workstation and workflow, full set of supplies, table w/ monitor arm, a Full year warranty Install and a 90 day Expert Training program - at a price that is lower than anyone else. The other Memjet vendors sell through dealers a la carte at usually a much higher piece-meal price. Usually without a front end color match workflow and workstation, limited warranty and limited Memjet support skills. iJetColor from Printware sells more Memjet single head systems than all other dealers combined. www.ijetcolor.com.

 

[Shawnd]

So the hardware is the same.

 

[gregbatch]

Yes. The printer is the same. The RIP software, conveyor and extras make a huge difference. Much like the iQueue software, feeder, stand, and conveyor make the Xante more than just a Ricoh office printer.

 

[printing656]

We've tried an add-on RIP with our Memjet. Dull inket is still dull inkjet. It didn't do much for what we were running. Keep in mind it's still the finicky time wasting hardware when it comes to head cleanings and clamshell operations. You're still held hostage by layers of companies all wanting their share in the consumables (Memjet, Astro, Neopost, iJet) = annual and quarterly price increases. If you're stuck on Memjet, I'd suggest waiting for the Mach 6 to come out from Neopost. They've got some long awaited enhancements for about the same money.