Upgrade advice - 300 to 350gsm Silk Coated SRA3 - 5000+ prints per month

[antsevo]

Looking for advice on a printer upgrade please, if anyone has spare time to give me some advice.

I currently run 6 x Xerox Phaser 7800's and 3 Summa Contour Cutting Machines, and use Flexi and Flexi 21 Production Manager.

I am happy with the cutters but need to look to upgrade the printers.

I know 6 of them are a bit of an overkill, but I get paranoid of failures and I have bought most of these fairly cheaply as I have the software to "fix" the blue screen of death and other issues with this printer, all of them except ONE runs on remanufactured toner (one only runs on original cartridges but from a Workcentre 7830/7835/7845/7855 with tabs removed and the chip changed, only because I am able to usually get these around £35 each)

So I am looking at a printer that can print heavier stock than 300gsm and be able to run on a dedicated paper tray rather than pass through, I have been looking at the OKI Pro 9531DN, the Xerox VersaLink C9000 and the Xerox PrimeLink C9065

Toner and drum costs are important, and I am pretty tech savvy on repairing most printers.

I currently print on Silk Coated 280gsm card which I have taken years to source the correct one and the card I use provides the "stiffness" of a card around 320gsm, in the past I used and OKI printer on Xerox 350gsm card through a bypass try and would like to have the option to move the weight up a bit.

For a bit of background, I have a book full of new idea for when I move premises in the next month, but currently concentrate on designing, creating and printing personalised and celebrity card party facemasks, the quality does not need to be "top notch" as they are designed as a bit of fun, but for other ideas I have, I would need a more better quality printer.

I know its a big ask, as everyone is probably getting ready for Christmas, but would appreciate any advice any of you "wise men" may have

Thanks in Advance

 

[kslight]

I would price buying or leasing a single small but more production oriented machine, with service and supplies included vs having one or multiple office printers and buying supplies for this… set up some demos with your paper and jobs with competitive brands to see if it meets your requirements. A more “light production” style printer will probably give you the quality boost you are looking for, though the cost may exceed what you’re suggesting. Something similar to a Ricoh 5300.

 

[antsevo]

I would price buying or leasing a single small but more production oriented machine, with service and supplies included vs having one or multiple office printers and buying supplies for this… set up some demos with your paper and jobs with competitive brands to see if it meets your requirements. A more “light production” style printer will probably give you the quality boost you are looking for, though the cost may exceed what you’re suggesting. Something similar to a Ricoh 5300.

Thanks for taking the time to reply with your advice and suggestion.
I assume you are talking about the Ricoh Pro C5300S at around £28,000.

I would not really like to go above £12,000 at the moment, until I expand into other areas I have my sights set on as soon as I move premises.

I like the OKI as the consumables are very cheap in comparison to the Xerox 7800's and will print on thick enough coated card.

And the Xerox PrimeLink C9065 seemed to also fit the bill albeit at a much higher price.

Are you advising me to steer clear of the OKI?

 

[jwheeler]

Take a look at this previous post I did about our OKI. I'd stay away from it and look at a true light production machine as @kslight suggested. Yes, the machine cost is a bit higher, but the cost for supplies and service will be much lower, and predictable if you get on a service plan. Plus, you can finance these bigger machines. Along with the Ricoh and Xerox units mentioned, take a look at the Konica Minolta C4065 for their entry-level production unit.

 

[antsevo]

Brilliant, you're a star!!!

I totally get what you mean now, and the only sensible option to move forward is to get, as you suggested a small.production press.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply and point me in the "correct" direction.