Versant 3100 Installed.

[ally170]

Went to see this booklet finisher yesterday at our local Xerox HQ. Very impressive to see it in action and the finish of the booklets is brilliant.
They were running a 28pp 200gsm self-cover booklet with a square fold as a sample. I think the Xerox guidlines for what it will do, in terms of page count on each paper weight, are quite conservative. Would you agree?
Do you ever get cracking on the folds/creases on the square fold? We run booklets with 250gsm cover and 170/130 inners as a standard and, when finishing off-line, we creased the covers on smaller page counts and on solid coverage covers, before putting through the Duplo. Do you have any issue with cracking or anything on the spines? This would be my only concern with this machine.

 

[pippip]

Doesn't the Xerox new finishing line come with the option of a creasing unit?

 

[ally170]

I believe it is called a crease/fold but im just not convinced that it would be as good a a dedicated creaser. Just wanting to know from someone in the field if it is an issue as it never is an issue with the sales guys!

 

[AP90]

Doesn't the Xerox new finishing line come with the option of a creasing unit?

The crease option is only a Fuji offering. We in the states can’t get it unfortunately.

 

[ally170]

Ah I wasn't aware of that. Strange how manufacturers don't offer the same options in different parts of the world.
So do you get any issues with the spines cracking on smaller page count runs?

 

[AP90]

Ah I wasn't aware of that. Strange how manufacturers don't offer the same options in different parts of the world.
So do you get any issues with the spines cracking on smaller page count runs?

I haven't experienced it really. I even did a 72 page booklet, 100# Gloss Cover, printing all through the spine with the highest pressure square fold setting and didn't get any cracking.

 

[ally170]

I haven't experienced it really. I even did a 72 page booklet, 100# Gloss Cover, printing all through the spine with the highest pressure square fold setting and didn't get any cracking.

Nice. It is a heavy duty finisher thats impressive for an inline system. We would notice cracking more on smaller books. We do some 8page and 12page booklets and that where we would have seen it. Just be interesting to see if someone has experienced this as the sales guys never do!

 

[AP90]

Nice. It is a heavy duty finisher thats impressive for an inline system. We would notice cracking more on smaller books. We do some 8page and 12page booklets and that where we would have seen it. Just be interesting to see if someone has experienced this as the sales guys never do!

Yeah on something smaller I'm pretty sure you would experience it. Especially for how hard of a fold the machine is capable of. I was going to finish a couple hundred 80# gloss cover programs today. Heavy coverage, 1 sheet bifolded. Went ahead and saw if it would do it inline full bleed. It did it wonderfully, except the spine cracked like none other. So for smaller page booklets I can see that happening. Although the good thing about it is that you can print the covers, score them, and then put them in the interposer and they will still get trimmed inline with the rest of the booklet due to them moving the interposer up the line and before all of the finishing. But we are very pleased with the finishing capabilities of the machine, and the quality is excellent. Most people around us haven't experienced a square folded spine so were really blowing people away with that capability.

 

[AP90]

Heres a few pics.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

What is the smallest size booklet it will finish? I have a client who runs 4 x 7" booklets, when folded, and it's a PITA to guillotine trim them.

 

[ally170]

What is the smallest size booklet it will finish? I have a client who runs 4 x 7" booklets, when folded, and it's a PITA to guillotine trim them.

From what we have been told it will do A5. I know theres about 11mm of adjustment in the A4 booklets (bigger or smaller), within the RIP from what I seen on Tuesday, but not sure if its as much on A5.

 

[kdw75]

We have the 2100 with the bookletmaker and square fold trimmer.

Our biggest complaint is the variance in the square fold trimmer cuts. Apparently, it doesn't hit a guide before being trimmed, so some books get trimmed crooked by as much as 3/32". Doesn't matter on junk work, but on high-quality jobs, we will have to face trim off-line.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

We have the 2100 with the bookletmaker and square fold trimmer.

Our biggest complaint is the variance in the square fold trimmer cuts. Apparently, it doesn't hit a guide before being trimmed, so some books get trimmed crooked by as much as 3/32". Doesn't matter on junk work, but on high-quality jobs, we will have to face trim off-line.

I picked up a booklet that came off the J75 in-line from the Graph Expo like 3 or 4 years ago and noticed it was pretty crooked, asked the sales person and he said that it was a fluke. I think I grabbed another and it was definitely crooked as well, but slightly less than the other and he said that it wasn't printed at the Graph Expo but at the headquarters in New York. We opted not the buy the trimmer module when we got our J75, seems like it was a good move from what you are describing, especially since we have a lot of customers that have 1/8" margins on the bottom of their 8.5 x 11" booklets.