I just bought a new Impressia. I run Macs in my shop & office. But I had to buy a PC (Windows) to run the iQueue software. SERIOUSLY! It wasn't written for a Mac as well. Duh. Just got it hooked up and have run a few 8.5x11 jobs with no problems. Got an order in for 500, #10 regular envelopes the other day. 3 lines of text in the UL corner in black toner. Easy peasy right? Wrong! I'm running diagonal seamed env. and the toner from left to right is light gray, black on the overlapping seams and a medium gray off the seams to the right. Then I made 2" wide strips, one down the left edge and one on the right. Ran a test, the stripes are not solid black. Even off the seams where there are just 2 layers of paper, the image is terrible. Sent an email to tech support. He got right back to me and has the engineers looking at my issue. I emailed photos of the envelope print quality so they could see what the machine is doing. Will hear back from them on Monday. Tech support has been great so far!
Xante Impressia opinions
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wonderings
Well-known member
Have you tried talking with the big players like Xerox, Ricoh and Canon? They may have used machines that are within your budget and allow for a service contract. We started this way buying an already old DocuColor 12 from Xerox, it was cheap and got our food in the door digitally. I cannot remember the click charge, but it was decent for the time and gave us the support when things went wonky, which they will. The headaches saved when something is not working right and being able to call service in is immense.
tjparker,
Have you tried increasing the Media Weight setting in iQueue (as damfino suggests)? Looks like you're feeding long edge first and that toner ghost is coming from the previous envelope.
The fuser isn't gapped for catalog envelopes is it? Also may be residue on fuser rollers. Printing several sheets of blank card stock through at heaviest media setting could help clean any residue from fuser rollers.
Have you tried increasing the Media Weight setting in iQueue (as damfino suggests)? Looks like you're feeding long edge first and that toner ghost is coming from the previous envelope.
The fuser isn't gapped for catalog envelopes is it? Also may be residue on fuser rollers. Printing several sheets of blank card stock through at heaviest media setting could help clean any residue from fuser rollers.
G
Guest
Guest
Hey Xante guy! Question, I used to have one of your illuminas and we were told by our dealer that it would print on the back flaps of baronial announcement envelopes. Unfortunately, along with the printing, it left areas of spare toner on our envelopes too. Xante couldn't solve it in the end. I know the impressia is a totally different engine, will this one do it without marking?
Anybody else have any experience with back flaps on an impressia?
Anybody else have any experience with back flaps on an impressia?
The issue is caused by the flap touching the color drums after toner laydown. Printing flaps on an Illumina (Oki) should be no issue if output is CYMK. I do it every day. Black only will scuff unless you print it CMYK instead of Grayscale. Sometimes you will need to convert the black copy to Rich Black ...20% C, 20%, M, 0 Y, 100% K will work. Or place one yellow pixel on the envelope (no one will notice) and print CMYK. The Impressa is a Ricoh and does not suffer the same restriction. Be aware that Grayscale is cheaper to print as there is no wear on the color drums and output is faster.
Correct. The Impressia uses a different imaging technology (laser) than the older Ilumina models so the media never contacts the imaging drums directly. The new model Ilumina HWC also differs from the older models in that the media and drums don't contact each other.
Printing on the back flaps with Impressia should be no different from printing on the front. Feed them with the flap (folded edge) as the leading edge.
Printing on the back flaps with Impressia should be no different from printing on the front. Feed them with the flap (folded edge) as the leading edge.
Shawnd,
During print runs with the Ilumina HWC, I haven't experienced it stopping that frequently. It's not unusual for any engine to pause and recalibrate etc during longer runs or as the consumables near their end-of-life. The Ilumina HWC does pause before the run starts and after any interruption during the job (e.g., misfeed) to bring the fuser temp back up to spec.
During print runs with the Ilumina HWC, I haven't experienced it stopping that frequently. It's not unusual for any engine to pause and recalibrate etc during longer runs or as the consumables near their end-of-life. The Ilumina HWC does pause before the run starts and after any interruption during the job (e.g., misfeed) to bring the fuser temp back up to spec.
Hello everyone,
This is my first post and I would like to express my opinion and observations on the Xante Impressia in this forum, and hopefully, it can be of, at least, a little help to those who are contemplating purchasing this machine.
We have owned the Impressia for about a year. We print mostly #10 window and regular envelopes, carbonless forms, letterhead and 10x13 catalog envelopes. Carbonless forms come out pretty well; the text quality is more than sufficient for our needs. We can even do duplexing on carbonless, which is great, although, for the time being, there is no way to change any settings for the reverse side, for example, you can't change the reverse to a screen or alter the registration. I was told by Xante that a software update was coming to allow that, but it's been about five months and nothing has happened in that regard. On occasion, we print a carbonless form that has some black text on yellow blocks, and it looks terrific.
Letterhead is also something that we print often, mostly consisting of a two-color logo, although the color portion (blue) is minute. The quality is so-so; the image is not sharp, but more aggravating is often the registration between the black and blue can be slightly off. It's hit or miss with this type of job.
For the most part, the printing of 10x13 catalog envelopes is satisfactory. Feeding is done best on the conveyor instead of the feeding tray. The tray produces more mis-feeds and damages the envelope flap frequently. Allowing these envelopes to feed on the conveyor produces no envelope-flap damage, but it is very slow, and you can only load so many large envelopes on the conveyor at a time. I would have to say, though, printing catalog envelopes on the Impressia is much more preferred than on a printing press, which entails set-up time and other issues. Overall, I'm happy to have the Impressia to do these kinds of jobs, and the print quality on the catalog envelopes is very good.
Lastly, we come to printing #10 envelopes. This is the weak area of this otherwise-satisfactory printer. The sensor that controls the feed roller is super-sensitive. If the sensor detects the SLIGHTEST resistance or determines that there is no envelope (which, obviously, there is) then it shuts down, and you have to reset it by opening the side tray door, which, in turn, takes a VERY long time to resume printing. It's ridiculous. Feeding envelopes consistently can test your patience, and it's not as reliable as is shown on their tutorial video. Basically, it requires constant babysitting, as feeding may not go smoothly, or a mis-feed can occur in a heartbeat. Not the greatest way to spend your production time. Then there is that round-ish black thing directly to the right of the feed roller of which I have NO clue what is the function. it is painted with what looks like Whiteout, and one of Xante's online tutorials does mention it, but only in the barest of terms, and they don't tell you exactly what it is for. There was a plastic clip that was originally covering it but it was so brittle that it broke the first time I removed it. Nice. Again, what was the purpose of that little white clip? Who knows. Fortunately, the Impressia works without it, but I have no idea if that clip could come in handy of these days. The envelope side guide nearest the operator is less than half the height of the far side guide, I assume to make it less obtrusive, but in doing so they made it more prone to skew the envelope as it is drawn in by the feed rollers, as there is less surface area at the end of the side guide nearest the feed opening, so there's not much side guide for the side of the envelope to keep it straight as it enters the Impressia, and depending on the angle and height of the trailing end of the envelopes they frequently skew. I've jerry-rigged the conveyor by taping very stiff chip board to the operator side of the side guide, making sure it is high enough at the feed opening so there is no chance of an envelope skewing; not a pretty solution but it works.
The software that comes with the machine, "iQueue", does work very well, and it is simple to use. I use it mainly for the printer settings and registration, or "imposition", as Xante refers to it. It is extremely easy to move the image around as you like, and we've barely touched upon the other uses for the software, such as color manipulation, etc. One primary beef of mine is, what exactly does "Envelope Lite" actually mean? I know that it does significantly increase the feeding speed, which is what you want for smaller envelopes, but what else? Does that setting use less toner also? Who knows, as Xante provides NO explanation as to what it entails. I've looked, but there is no description of it. I guess Xante assumes that you know what it means. Okay.
Xante support is spotty, at best. I've contacted them by telephone and they did return my calls, within the same day, if I recall. Online support is something else. I've asked them questions on at least two occasions and there has been no response. Support through their iQueue app is equally lame. There is a "Ask Us a Question" part that, after you fill in the few boxes and submit, it comes back with an error, so they never receive your message. This is unacceptable, and Xante really needs to work on this. Was this thing even tested?
Overall, I do recommend the Impressia, mostly for printing forms and catalog envelopes. With #10 envelopes it's hit or miss, and requires a lot of patience, not to mention, it's cheaper than buying a printing press and all that goes with that. One caveat: the replaceable parts (not including toner) such as the drums and fuser are EXPENSIVE, and are strongly recommended to be replaced by Xante every 40,000 impressions, which seems like a low number to me, so keep that in mind also.
This is my first post and I would like to express my opinion and observations on the Xante Impressia in this forum, and hopefully, it can be of, at least, a little help to those who are contemplating purchasing this machine.
We have owned the Impressia for about a year. We print mostly #10 window and regular envelopes, carbonless forms, letterhead and 10x13 catalog envelopes. Carbonless forms come out pretty well; the text quality is more than sufficient for our needs. We can even do duplexing on carbonless, which is great, although, for the time being, there is no way to change any settings for the reverse side, for example, you can't change the reverse to a screen or alter the registration. I was told by Xante that a software update was coming to allow that, but it's been about five months and nothing has happened in that regard. On occasion, we print a carbonless form that has some black text on yellow blocks, and it looks terrific.
Letterhead is also something that we print often, mostly consisting of a two-color logo, although the color portion (blue) is minute. The quality is so-so; the image is not sharp, but more aggravating is often the registration between the black and blue can be slightly off. It's hit or miss with this type of job.
For the most part, the printing of 10x13 catalog envelopes is satisfactory. Feeding is done best on the conveyor instead of the feeding tray. The tray produces more mis-feeds and damages the envelope flap frequently. Allowing these envelopes to feed on the conveyor produces no envelope-flap damage, but it is very slow, and you can only load so many large envelopes on the conveyor at a time. I would have to say, though, printing catalog envelopes on the Impressia is much more preferred than on a printing press, which entails set-up time and other issues. Overall, I'm happy to have the Impressia to do these kinds of jobs, and the print quality on the catalog envelopes is very good.
Lastly, we come to printing #10 envelopes. This is the weak area of this otherwise-satisfactory printer. The sensor that controls the feed roller is super-sensitive. If the sensor detects the SLIGHTEST resistance or determines that there is no envelope (which, obviously, there is) then it shuts down, and you have to reset it by opening the side tray door, which, in turn, takes a VERY long time to resume printing. It's ridiculous. Feeding envelopes consistently can test your patience, and it's not as reliable as is shown on their tutorial video. Basically, it requires constant babysitting, as feeding may not go smoothly, or a mis-feed can occur in a heartbeat. Not the greatest way to spend your production time. Then there is that round-ish black thing directly to the right of the feed roller of which I have NO clue what is the function. it is painted with what looks like Whiteout, and one of Xante's online tutorials does mention it, but only in the barest of terms, and they don't tell you exactly what it is for. There was a plastic clip that was originally covering it but it was so brittle that it broke the first time I removed it. Nice. Again, what was the purpose of that little white clip? Who knows. Fortunately, the Impressia works without it, but I have no idea if that clip could come in handy of these days. The envelope side guide nearest the operator is less than half the height of the far side guide, I assume to make it less obtrusive, but in doing so they made it more prone to skew the envelope as it is drawn in by the feed rollers, as there is less surface area at the end of the side guide nearest the feed opening, so there's not much side guide for the side of the envelope to keep it straight as it enters the Impressia, and depending on the angle and height of the trailing end of the envelopes they frequently skew. I've jerry-rigged the conveyor by taping very stiff chip board to the operator side of the side guide, making sure it is high enough at the feed opening so there is no chance of an envelope skewing; not a pretty solution but it works.
The software that comes with the machine, "iQueue", does work very well, and it is simple to use. I use it mainly for the printer settings and registration, or "imposition", as Xante refers to it. It is extremely easy to move the image around as you like, and we've barely touched upon the other uses for the software, such as color manipulation, etc. One primary beef of mine is, what exactly does "Envelope Lite" actually mean? I know that it does significantly increase the feeding speed, which is what you want for smaller envelopes, but what else? Does that setting use less toner also? Who knows, as Xante provides NO explanation as to what it entails. I've looked, but there is no description of it. I guess Xante assumes that you know what it means. Okay.
Xante support is spotty, at best. I've contacted them by telephone and they did return my calls, within the same day, if I recall. Online support is something else. I've asked them questions on at least two occasions and there has been no response. Support through their iQueue app is equally lame. There is a "Ask Us a Question" part that, after you fill in the few boxes and submit, it comes back with an error, so they never receive your message. This is unacceptable, and Xante really needs to work on this. Was this thing even tested?
Overall, I do recommend the Impressia, mostly for printing forms and catalog envelopes. With #10 envelopes it's hit or miss, and requires a lot of patience, not to mention, it's cheaper than buying a printing press and all that goes with that. One caveat: the replaceable parts (not including toner) such as the drums and fuser are EXPENSIVE, and are strongly recommended to be replaced by Xante every 40,000 impressions, which seems like a low number to me, so keep that in mind also.
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We've found it impossible to run 9 x 12 catalog envelopes on an Impressia. Yes, we open up the fuser rollers as indicated, but still get wrinkles running lengthwise, whether feeding from tray or conveyor, and we've tried running them in the other direction and all that. Those envelopes are one reason we got the machine, but we're outsourcing them again. From what I've heard, most people don't have that problem, but be aware, it does happen.
Also, has anyone noticed that when the envelopes jump from one set of conveyor belts to the other that they move sideways? I stack them against the back gauge, and then they jump up against the front gauge. Not a huge problem, as they only move the distance left to keep the envelopes running smoothly, but just wondering if anyone else has noticed this.
Also, has anyone noticed that when the envelopes jump from one set of conveyor belts to the other that they move sideways? I stack them against the back gauge, and then they jump up against the front gauge. Not a huge problem, as they only move the distance left to keep the envelopes running smoothly, but just wondering if anyone else has noticed this.
PrintIT
Well-known member
Have you tried different brands of envelopes? We have an OKI that wrinkles some brands (Printmaster run terribly for us), but others run fine.
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