Xerox Color 550 Printer

[Matt23]

Hi
We are looking at purchasing a Xerox 550 for short run greeting cards on 280-300gsm stock, we are a small family run photography business so we are looking for quality over speed.

Is anyone using the Xerox 550, if so what are your thoughts on this machine and would you recommend the 550?,

How does is handle 280-300gsm card for greeting cards?

 

[Printease]

Matt23-

Just so you are aware, I work for a Xerox agency.

To get a feel for what you are doing, what type of volume do you anticipate running?

The 550 will run those weight stocks nicely, but please be aware that it cannot auto-duplex them. Auto-duplexing on this machine limits out at 65lb cover(176gsm) for both coated and uncoated.
You can, however, manually duplex the higher weight stocks.
The 700i/770 will auto-duplex these weights, but that comes at a price(like all good things in life!)

Good luck in your decision!

 

[tppsg]

Hi
We are looking at purchasing a Xerox 550 for short run greeting cards on 280-300gsm stock, we are a small family run photography business so we are looking for quality over speed.

Is anyone using the Xerox 550, if so what are your thoughts on this machine and would you recommend the 550?,

How does is handle 280-300gsm card for greeting cards?

Running heavyweight stock can be tricky for the 550. Main issues to look out are...

1) Several heavyweight stock cannot be run from the large capacity tray.
2) Feeding the stock from the MSI(bypass tray) will then work, but it is labour intensive and can cause registration issues.
3) Heavyweight stock tend to curl due to the fuser heat, a finisher with decurler would help here. However, the finisher is costly considering the cost of the 550.

 

[Matt23]

Hi tppsg & Printease
Thanks for your reply and information about the heavier weight stocks, I also have an option to purchase a Demo Xerox 700 Color press (has only printed 100,000 copies) no finishing options just the main unit and fiery for $10,000 more than the brand new 550 main unit and fiery.

Will be printing jobs mainly on Xerox COLOTECH+ 280-300gsm for greeting cards and Xerox COLOTECH+ 140 –170 silk/gloss for general jobs.

Qty’s will be fairly low to start off with, but the aim is to really grow our business around the greeting card side of things.

What are your thoughts on the 2 machines Xerox 550 & Xerox 700?

 

[tppsg]

If the intention is to run xerox stock only, the 550 will be a better choice.

One more suggestion, if you are in the APAC region and very sure quantity will not exceed 5000 prints a month, the DC1450 could be perfect for your requirements.

 

[Possumgal]

The 700 won't auto duplex your heavier stocks, either. We had lots of registration issues with manual duplexing on a 700. The tech finally told me that's all you can expect.

 

[Amer]

The difference between 700 and the 560 is in the decurler, which makes manually duplexing heavier stock easier. We can usually dial-in Colotech paper dead-on. The challenge is aligning speciality papers. Sometimes (most times, really) you just have to give up and resign yourself to a 2-3 mm variation, and that is the best you can do. But with digital-rated papers, we are always within the specced 1 mm.

 

[jasonbrien]

In my opinion it is really good in context of quality. It's not Xerox's first offering in this sector - it replaces the DocuColor 252/260 products - but is designed to cover a broader range of bases. Enhancements include image quality, media handling and finishing.