Wedding Invitation Company Searching for best digital printer for the price

[MyBigDayDesigns]

Newbie here, hi all! Thinking about taking my wedding invitation printing in house and have heard many many pros and cons regarding the Xante Illumina and the OKI 9 series. Just woundering what you guys thought, or have experienced with these machine as far as ease of use, consistent print quality and life of consumables. I',m really lost here but plan to see demos of both. I don't trust sales reps so you guys are the opinions that matter. Main priorities are the capability to print and print duplex on heavier (16pt) matte stock while maintaining the virtual look of an offset printer. I don't do heavy volumes... maybe 100 - 200 cards per order at 15 orders a week, but they are invitation, so they have to be nice. My main gripe with most digital printing services is that the paper/cards warp and bend due to the heat and that is unacceptable for wedding invitations. ANY experience or advice would be helpful. Over the moon appreciate any feedback.

Brian

 

[Tim-Ellis]

Hello,

We bought a OKI ProColor 930. I think you will find it struggles with anything over 12pt / 250gsm. The stock will go through but the print goes out of register. We print on 300gsm and above so we rarely use it.

 

[MyBigDayDesigns]

Hello,

We bought a OKI ProColor 930. I think you will find it struggles with anything over 12pt / 250gsm. The stock will go through but the print goes out of register. We print on 300gsm and above so we rarely use it.

Oh no, that's not good. I was seriously considering that one as they claim it handles heavier stock. Ok, thank you so much for the valuable information. May I ask what you decided to go with for your short run, heavy stock orders?

 

[OkiTech]

Hi guys, to run 16 pt you have a very limited choices, look at I've 4 and kodak nexpress line. To operate smoothly, you may want to have specs of the printer to be slightly over the job requirements. Sadly majority of so so on the budget printers can do 300 GSM which is stretched 14pt, I think.

 

[MyBigDayDesigns]

Hi guys, to run 16 pt you have a very limited choices, look at I've 4 and kodak nexpress line. To operate smoothly, you may want to have specs of the printer to be slightly over the job requirements. Sadly majority of so so on the budget printers can do 300 GSM which is stretched 14pt, I think.

Thank you, yes, it does seem like a daunting task, but I'm a small outfit and have to look at something around $8-10k. Literally ONLY printing 5x7, 3x5, 4x6 and 4x9" cards so hopefully someone has a good experience with one of these new so called heavy stock printers. Ugh

 

[Tim-Ellis]

Oh no, that's not good. I was seriously considering that one as they claim it handles heavier stock. Ok, thank you so much for the valuable information. May I ask what you decided to go with for your short run, heavy stock orders?

We continue to use our old HP Indigo 3050 which is not an option on your budget.

 

[Printshopgal]

Hi Brian,
I also have a small invitation shop and have owned many machines - 3 Xante Iluminas and 1 Xante Impressia and 1 OKI. My favorite so far is the Impressia because the stock does not touch the drums like it does on the Ilumina. I found the drums would scratch too easily on the Ilumina whenever I used heavy card stock. The only thing I don't like about the Impressia is there is not a straight pass. I think you are always going to have issues with warping but when I do I just run the cards back through upside down. This seems to flatten them pretty well. Let me know if you have any questions for me. I would be happy to talk to you.
Debra

 

[Printmorefaster]

The new Oki is the C931 or 941, it replaced the 930. The drums on the 931 do not touch the paper which really helps with drum life and print quality. The machine is specified to run 360 GSM simplex and 300GSM duplex. Both of these specs are a little bit of a stretch. You should be fine running 300-320 gsm in simplex mode.

 

[onwsk8r]

With digital printers, you will, in a sense, get what you pay for. If you don't want to spend six figures, there will be a trade-off. The question is "what do you want to trade?"
I would trade registration because that's a workable issue. If the printer consistently jams with certain types of stock, there is no working with that. If the image quality is not good, there is no help for that either. I'd say registration is the least "evil" problem of the above. You can avoid letting it become an issue in the design phase. Plus, if you're handy with a cutter, you can fix it - just shim whatever side of the paper needs shimming and you'll get one straight cut, then two, then remove the shim for three and four (that's a terrible suggestion btw - it does work but it's very arduous and difficult to do well consistently).
After a quick search on ebay, it looks like you can find used Xerox 260 series (242,252,260) and 550/560's with <100K clicks that would be within your price range. They may not be rated to handle your type of stock, but I've yet to find something a Xerox can't print on. Heck, I ran wood through a 560 (think it was a 560 - it was a little Xerox). I've gotten complaints about Oki and Xante (same thing) quality, but I've never heard a complaint about Xerox quality. Plus, the Xerox will be much more bulletproof than the Okis (however make sure you'll be able to run the size of envelopes you need to run).

 

[MyBigDayDesigns]

Thank you sooo much for all of the input. It's uch appreciated. My head is currently swimming with decisions. It seems like there no users of the New Xante Ilumina Heavyweight Champion, which shockingly enough, is in my price range. They claim to have worked out many of the registration and heavy stock kinks. I really can get by on 14 pt and 16, duplex standard, but have yet to find a review on the thing aside from Zante itself haha. It all sounds great though and the samples I received from them/it are seriously mind blowing.

Debra, I would love to correspond with you regarding your experiences if you'd like to email me it's [email protected]. Your knowledge and experience are golden and would be nice to speak to another like minded shop owner trying to get the job done right!

Thanks again guys, and if anyone has seen or used the Xante Heavyweight Chasmpion, please post up!!

Best,
Brian

 

[MyBigDayDesigns]

Hi Brian,
I also have a small invitation shop and have owned many machines - 3 Xante Iluminas and 1 Xante Impressia and 1 OKI. My favorite so far is the Impressia because the stock does not touch the drums like it does on the Ilumina. I found the drums would scratch too easily on the Ilumina whenever I used heavy card stock. The only thing I don't like about the Impressia is there is not a straight pass. I think you are always going to have issues with warping but when I do I just run the cards back through upside down. This seems to flatten them pretty well. Let me know if you have any questions for me. I would be happy to talk to you.
Debra

[email protected]
Would love to chat about your experiences and thoughts on the newest Xante HWC, which I can find ZERO outside info or reviews on. You?