Xerox C60 Printer

[mangcang]

Hi There

Trying to set up a small printer shop but tight budget. What do you think of Xerox C60 Printer? Is it a good machine for entry level production digital press? Or is it just an office printer?

Thanks

 

[MailGuru]

It looks pretty robust, and, paper handling/media weights looks ok, but, I'd still place it in the category of an office printer instead of a digital production press.

In actual production, other than speed and color quality, one of the most important things to look for is sheet-to-sheet, and front-to-back registration. If you can't get it to hit the same image in the exact same area from sheet to sheet, then, you can't print a couple of hundred sheets and cut/trim on your cutter. You can't use it in a production environment.

On an actual digital production press, the detailed specs should specify what the sheet to sheet and front to back registration tolerance is.
On our Versant 2100 it is "+/- 0.5mm".

I've noticed that on a lot of smaller machines, (such as the C60) there is absolutely no mention of the registration tolerance on the detailed specifications sheet. I don't think that is an oversight. I believe that is a "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" type marketing tactic.

When I see that (or, don't see that) in my mind, it is an office printer and will do a great job for office use, but for production......ahh....not so much

 

[MailGuru]

I stand corrected (a little bit). I did find where the front to back registration is "+/- 1.2mm". It was on a different specifications sheet. However, I still can't find any information on sheet-to-sheet registration from the literature.

Still +/- 1.2 mm front to back would be way out for us.

 

[Keith]

I ran a Docucolor 252 for 5 years, the predecessor to the C60, and it did fine. As long as you keep the +/- 1.2mm in mind when you create files and make sure your paper is nice and square, it'll serve you well. When you do get demanding jobs- tight borders and images across folded panels - send it out or modify the layout. By the end of the lease, you should have enough volume to justify a "production" printer.

 

[kdw75]

Hi There

Trying to set up a small printer shop but tight budget. What do you think of Xerox C60 Printer? Is it a good machine for entry level production digital press? Or is it just an office printer?

Thanks

I have run the 560, which was the previous model before we upgraded to a C75 and Versant 2100. It is a fine starter machine. The weakpoints for us were the developers wore out frequently with heavy coverage, and it didn't like duplexing 70# satin paper, or anything heavier than 80# cover.

All of our machines, except the 2100, have random issues with splotchiness depending on humidity and paper texture.

This would be a fine starter machine, but make sure you get the oversize high capacity feeder.

 

[Lorenzo lab guy]

I ran a Docucolor 252 for 5 years, the predecessor to the C60, and it did fine. As long as you keep the +/- 1.2mm in mind when you create files and make sure your paper is nice and square, it'll serve you well. When you do get demanding jobs- tight borders and images across folded panels - send it out or modify the layout. By the end of the lease, you should have enough volume to justify a "production" printer.

That was our experience - good, better, best over time. We went from 242 to 700 to V80. Was the 242 a great spec ? - nope, but we made money and grew our business. The key, as Keith said , is that we understood the limitations of each machine and managed file design and expectation accordingly.

 

[mangcang]

I ran a Docucolor 252 for 5 years, the predecessor to the C60, and it did fine. As long as you keep the +/- 1.2mm in mind when you create files and make sure your paper is nice and square, it'll serve you well. When you do get demanding jobs- tight borders and images across folded panels - send it out or modify the layout. By the end of the lease, you should have enough volume to justify a "production" printer.

They showed me how to do the alignment adjustment function on C60 to alleviate the registration concern. Do you think this will help? Thanks

 

[mangcang]

It looks pretty robust, and, paper handling/media weights looks ok, but, I'd still place it in the category of an office printer instead of a digital production press.

In actual production, other than speed and color quality, one of the most important things to look for is sheet-to-sheet, and front-to-back registration. If you can't get it to hit the same image in the exact same area from sheet to sheet, then, you can't print a couple of hundred sheets and cut/trim on your cutter. You can't use it in a production environment.

On an actual digital production press, the detailed specs should specify what the sheet to sheet and front to back registration tolerance is.
On our Versant 2100 it is "+/- 0.5mm".

I've noticed that on a lot of smaller machines, (such as the C60) there is absolutely no mention of the registration tolerance on the detailed specifications sheet. I don't think that is an oversight. I believe that is a "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" type marketing tactic.

When I see that (or, don't see that) in my mind, it is an office printer and will do a great job for office use, but for production......ahh....not so much

Thanks. All good points!

 

[Keith]

They showed me how to do the alignment adjustment function on C60 to alleviate the registration concern. Do you think this will help? Thanks

If you are referring to SIQA - Simple Image Quality Adjustment, then yes, it will help. It's confusing at first but once you wrap your head around it, it's easy. It doesn't do as good of a job on 13 x 19 paper but it gets it close enough that you can manually tweak it the rest of the way. But it's not going to help the machine register any better than it's designed to do. I wouldn't worry too much about registration. As long as the machine can produce the types of jobs you want to sell, do it within your budget, come with good service and reliability, you're set.

 

[Inkscape Print]

If you are looking to do production I would spend a little more and get the V80. Registration will be a lot better and the developers are more robust. You can get a V80 with bustled Fiery at a pretty decent price.

 

[mangcang]

If you are referring to SIQA - Simple Image Quality Adjustment, then yes, it will help. It's confusing at first but once you wrap your head around it, it's easy. It doesn't do as good of a job on 13 x 19 paper but it gets it close enough that you can manually tweak it the rest of the way. But it's not going to help the machine register any better than it's designed to do. I wouldn't worry too much about registration. As long as the machine can produce the types of jobs you want to sell, do it within your budget, come with good service and reliability, you're set.

How do you think of Ricoh pro 5200 compared to Xero C60?

 

[Keith]

How do you think of Ricoh pro 5200 compared to Xero C60?

Sorry, I know nothing about the Ricoh pro 5200. I would look at the specs at see which one has the most capabilities you need.