Xerox Production Ready Booklet Maker Slow?

[TJPrinter]

I have a Xerox 280 with the production ready booklet maker and the productivity is running at 50% of rated engine speed. This is not with mixed media a simple 8 page newsletter, self cover with uncoated 90gsm stock will run 11 duplex sheets per minute. The rated speed is 22 (11x17/A3) duplex sheets per minute and I do get that speed when running the same stock without the booklet maker. This is perplexing because the same production ready finisher is used on the Versant 4100 and even the Iridesse.

I can do the finishing off-line but it seems odd that the booklet maker is affecting the productivity this greatly. So I'm wondering if anyone else sees this same reduction or do I need to get service in to take look?

 

[AP90]

Do you have the 2 sided trimmer with the buffer module? If you do it should run at rated speed. If you don’t have it then it will decrease production dramatically. Our old 1000i with production booklet maker was slow with it. Our 3100 runs fast because the buffer module allows it to keep running while booklets are being made. Or at least that’s how it was explained to me.

 

[TJPrinter]

I don't have the trimmer just the interface decurler module. So that's very interesting that it will run at rated speed with the buffer and trimmer that you have. I can still go offline to speed things up but I may look into the trimmer and buffer (when things pickup again). It's odd because the booklet maker on the Canon C810 could keep up with the engine, so it's disappointing that the Xerox slows down so much.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Try running a 16 pp or 32 pp book and let us know the duplex sheets per minute speed. Do you have a production model 280?

 

[TJPrinter]

I don't have the production upgrade. I ran some 16 page and the duplex speed did creep up to about 12.5 sheets per minute. I see where you were going with the higher page counts. I'm guessing that the dwell time is a bit high in the finisher.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

I don't have the production upgrade. I ran some 16 page and the duplex speed did creep up to about 12.5 sheets per minute. I see where you were going with the higher page counts. I'm guessing that the dwell time is a bit high in the finisher.

Talk to a Xerox second level tech, they might give you some insight on whether the production upgrade ties in well with the finisher or not. If I had to guess there is a correlation even though it is not sensible.

 

[tngcas]

Our V2100s slow down quite a bit on books and we just accept that as par for the course.

It always seemed logical to me that a printer with an inline finisher would have to print at the speed that the booklet maker could punch/advance and press the spine. Anything faster would cause a bottleneck in the booklet maker.

I’d move to an offline device in a heartbeat if I could justify the cost and get a machine that would do everything the inline finisher could do. We haven’t gotten there especially with events not coming back full strength yet (which was a large portion of our booklet volume).

 

[TJPrinter]

I agree, the booklet maker should keep up with the engine speed better. If you're seeing a slow down on your v2100 machines, then I'll see the same thing. That's really what I wanted to confirm. I did see Xerox specs that said the trimmer/buffer will hold 2 sheets and "To regulate booklet processing and keep pace with print engine productivity". So that's the answer and AP90 said it solved their problem. Since I can do booklet finishing offline (older Watkiss) I'll kick the Xerox upgrade down the road.

I was hoping for a simple solution but how often does that ever occur. Thanks to all for your input!