Need Advice for Medium Volume Color Printer

[jpfulton]

We are looking to add color capability for the first time to our shop (we aren't a print shop really but almost every job we do is printed in house either on our Itek715pfa/ryobi3200 offset press or our Canon ir105). We would only consider something in the used market. My boss is strongly leaning toward the Canon color image runner at 65 ppm. We currently have an old Canon ir105 which we would get rid of. We print all 8.5 x 11 right now (though we could be printing on 11x17 and cutting in half). Every job we do is 2-sided and registration is important. One concern I have is heavier stock duplexing without having to babysit (or I'd like to not have to run it once then flip the job and run again if possible). The ir105 has been fine with duplexing the paper weights we use and with registration.

Our volume is as follows:
190k clicks per year in black - 8.5x11 on 20# stock
60k clicks per year in color - 8.5 x 11 on 80# cover or 90# index

I'd like to be able to print on 12x18 though it wouldn't kill us not to. We pretty much never do anything on coated stock though the option would be nice. Also, we never print on stock with weight over 80# cover but the option would be nice. We currently have a maintenance contract on the 105 and we would do the same with anything else we get.

One other concern is the speed. We currently run jobs that take up to 2 hours to complete and that's on a 105ppm machine (though we are duplexing so it's never really 105). We have a low budget... less than 10k probably so we are willing to take a hit on speed if necessary.

The final issue is quality. We aren't trying to win awards but we need something that will look like we are professionals.

Thanks in advance for help and suggestions!

Pete

 

[OkiTech]

Hi Pete. There is a problem with your whole concept/vision of change. I am a copier/ptinter tech and prinshop owner so I do know what you are about to get in to. To get started, the idea of running sh@$ load of b/w is not as harmless as you think, forget the speed... Think - in color machine there are 4 imaging units, 4 drums and 4 cleaning sections, Toner left over after transfer also serves as lubricant to the drum clening blades so while you're actually imaging black, abnormal friction puts extra wear to CMY drums, to add oil to the fire, everything else is still turning so you do wear whole machine anyway and when time comes to print quality color, you get garbage caused by printing not so color/quality critical b/w job. Every piece in that color machine will cost twice as much and have yield twice as less than in b/w machine. Black toner for color unit cost a lot more than toner for your b/w machine...
Don't do it, you think you will have convenience of having "one stop shop, solution" , you will, on paper, not in real life.

 

[OkiTech]

If you decide to go with it anyway, we have Konica Minolta Bizhub c65hc + finisher + high pacity tray, only 229k pages. It can take up to 13x19 media, duplex #80 cover no questions asked, happily handels coated/uncoated stocks and prints awesome color. If you interested, send me few files, I will mail back the samples.
Should you concider my advice, I could offer you something like Konica Minolta Bizhub Pro 1050e B/W + OKI CX3641 Color. We run bizhub 1050 in our printshop, book and magazine orders take 2-3 days of continuos printing, what a beast. I bought it with 1.4 mil and run 1+mil on it in a year. Oki is nice machine, 36 ppm color, 41 b/w, will match all your specs and more. #80 cover duplex, not a problem, 12x18 media could be installed in all 4 trays even #80 Cover, gloss or uncoated, not an issue, it can even print banners 12.5"x47".
The kmb c65hc with 229k will actuall cost you more than $10k, more like $14k (it is $65k new) the bizhub 1050 + oki cx3641 will cost you $9500.
If anything said above sparks any interest, let me know, I will be happy to discuss further.
Roman.
UnlimitedBT at Yahoo dot com