Printer for postcards?

Discussion in 'Small Format Inkjet Printers' started by YogiBear, Feb 27, 2012.

  1. YogiBear

    YogiBear New Member

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    Hi all, just wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions for us.

    We do a lot of postcard printing, usually in 500-1,000 card batches. We use pre-perforated light cardstock and a Xerox Phaser 8860. We have had it for a couple of years and are thinking of upgrading to something comparable, but with better image quality. Any suggestions?
     
  2. OkiTech

    OkiTech Senior Member

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    Hi. Are you after a brand new machine or something nice used?
    I have OKI CX3641 and Xerox Phaser 7760 GX they both a big upgrade from the printer you have but they're not brand new. Let me / everyone know what do you have in mind - new/used equipment, budget, would you like buy and own or sign your soul away with a lease. Say you want something that $15,000+ you better of leasing it, if you just want a nice printer, you can get OKI or Xerox even new for 6000-7000 - just as an example. I mean you have an experience running your machine - what would you like to be improved, etc.
     
  3. xfactor printing

    xfactor printing Senior Member

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    What is your monthly volume YogiBear?
    This is posted in the inkjet forum but I don't think there is an inkjet that can print economically enough at the present time to make it viable.
     
  4. OkiTech

    OkiTech Senior Member

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    Hey XFactor. They had posted in to InkJet because phaser 8860 is solid ink jet. Going any higher in production equipment would be laser printer unless picking for Xerox ColorCube..
     
  5. YogiBear

    YogiBear New Member

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    Gotcha. We would be interested in purchasing. The Phaser's speed is very good for our needs, but we would like an upgrade in terms of the quality of our image. We have some designs we would like to use, but the image quality is too grainy. We looked at outsourcing our postcard production to increase the quality, but were taken aback by the cost. That's why I am here, to see if there is an upgrade that makes sense for us economically.

    We ran about 120,000 cards last year, so we don't do high volume. An average run for us would be 3,000 cards at a time, so 750 pages. However, we would need something that can print quick. We will have a client call us in a specific area and we need a machine that can produce cards quickly, so we can get word out ASAP.

    We don't have a set budget, if the machine will pay for itself we would be interested. That being said, I don't think we would be interested in getting involved in the higher end items. We would be interested in new or used, we just would like an efficient, cost-effective machine.

    From the other reply, it sounds like I should be looking into laser printers? I don't have a ton of experience with printers, just with the Phaser 8860, so all of this is somewhat new to me.

    Thanks for the help.
     
  6. OkiTech

    OkiTech Senior Member

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    Hi, The Phaser 7760 would give you an excellent quality print and definitively capable to stand up to you job runs. As I mention before, I have an OKI CX-3640 which is also a amazing printer.

    Xerox Phaser 7760 GX has a 68,000 pages on it (it does not differentiate b/w or color) and has descent level of all supplies for you to get started. $1600

    Oki CX3640 has only 19,000 color and 121,500 b/w pages printed on it and all the supplies are sufficient level. $1800

    While a Phaser 7760 is the one with higher regards in graphic arts crowd, what I like about OKI CX3641 is that it has a straight paper path so whatever printed on the cardstock comes out flat where on phasers it is not always the case because "S" like paper path....

    If you want, you can send me a sample file to UnlimitedBT@yahoo.com and I can print you a samples out of both printers. We can pelletize and ship nationwide.
    If you want me to print the sample, please include your mailing address and type of stock you use so I can print it on something similar.

    Roman.
     
  7. YogiBear

    YogiBear New Member

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    Sounds good. I am going to shop around and see what else is out there. I will get back to you if we have interest.

    Thanks for your help.
     

  8. printchesco

    printchesco Member

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    Don't discount professional printing entirely because there is a chance that all of the printers available would be too expensive and you wouldn't be printing enough or making enough to justify buying them. With professional printing you can get great deals and discounts especially if you are a regular customer.
     
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