New to iGen

Discussion in 'Xerox iGen3, iGen4, & iGen5 Digital Presses' started by Stiv, Jan 26, 2010.

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  1. Stiv

    Stiv Senior Member

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    Newbie here, I go for Xerox training next week for our new iGen3.

    Any words of wisdom from the veteran iGen users?
     
  2. ddigen3

    ddigen3 Senior Member

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    Welcome Stiv-

    Training is a great mix of hands-on & bookwork training. They cover enough to really get you started. Then the following 2 weeks of in-house training with your local Rep gives you the advantage of being the only student, allowing for all the questions you can muster to be answered.

    You're given 3 binders of information, 2 of them serving as resources for the parts & features of the press and how they function/operate. And the 3rd as a maintenance manual.

    My tip would be to bring some post-it notes along with hi-lighters. Take copious notes (and cliffsnotes) on a pad you will save or directly on the pages in the binders. Use the post-its throughout the binders to tag the important sections. They're hard to find when you need them =)

    Also, if you haven't yet, get very familiar with what your output will be. Meaning, what sort of products exactly are you going to be printing? Books, magazines, business cards, brochures, full-color with photos &/or graphics, text-only, black-only, etc. Once you're familiar, you'll be able to focus directly on the steps necessary to produce your product efficiently.

    Another place to ask a fair amount of questions is in regards to the weaknesses of the press & how to get around them. Such as when printing gradients & midtone solid colors (especially pastel colors) over large areas of the sheet. These always get me! But your instructor will have great suggestions on actions to take to improve these areas. Write them down. You may be fine-tuning them (to your specific needs) in the coming months.

    And lastly, make some friends. You'll be able to share your coming challenges & victories together (maybe even on this forum!)

    Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me with anything else! Good luck ;-)
     
  3. igen jim

    igen jim Member

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    Wish I had all that advice when I started.
    :)
     
  4. Stiv

    Stiv Senior Member

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    The install is almost complete - it is a pretty impressive machine. Thanks for the advice, I'm sure I will be tapping your shoulder often.
     
  5. ddigen3

    ddigen3 Senior Member

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    What's your front-end?

    Hey Stiv-

    I'm curious: are you having an additional front-end installed, such as a Creo or Fiery, or do you plan to simply work with the stock computers (DocuSP)?

    I'm running with a Fiery Front-End and love it. It was some extra moolah to add on but it really makes a beautiful difference, especially if you're planning to run jobs containing Pantone Colors.
     
  6. Stiv

    Stiv Senior Member

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    We have the Freeflow option.
     
  7. Stiv

    Stiv Senior Member

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    Second week of training is completed. My maintenance manual has stickers all over it, thanks for the suggestion. The Xerox facility is very cool. The class was small so I got a lot of one-on-one. Xerox really treats the trainees well.

    I'll have some questions as I get into the production work, mainly towards settings for the developer and how you might have tweaked settings for media.
     

  8. ddigen3

    ddigen3 Senior Member

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    Round 3!

    Great to hear!

    Believe it or not, its funny but maintenance will become very simple for you. You will have new & interesting challenges come up. That keeps the job exciting!

    Good luck. I'll be talking to you.
    -Solomon
     
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