tired of brokering envelopes-is Xante the answer

[Morning Flight]

On the second run of LH (letterhead) I did for a customer they complained about streaking.

Hi Keith, nice to meet up with you on PrintPlanet! Anyway, just so you know, that's not limited to digital. The same thing happened with letterheads that we printed by offset on our two-color Ryobi (when I still owned the print shop). Not just once, but a bunch of times. The problem disappeared when we told the customer to turn down the heat while imprinting.

There, aren't you glad you're working purely digital?! BTW, based on your post, I might have to revisit digital envelopes.

Hal

[Al Ferrari]

Hi Hal,

Was the streaking problem on offset on a 3302? Was it in the image or non image areas? If the latter, was it like toning bands across the cylinder direction? Older press, or fairly new? Was it worse on certain colors (violets, rhodamines, reflex)? Were you able to lick it? Did you try:

roller settings, especially removing any end play?
higher tack inks?
using alcohol instead of substitutes?
reducing excessive cylinder pressures?
other?

Thanks,

Al

[Morning Flight]

Hi Al,

I probably should have been more specific. First, yes, the Ryobi was a 3302 equipped with Crestline dampening (great press and dampening system, BTW). On the other hand, the streaking manifested itself not during the initial run, but during the imprinting phase. When the letterheads left our shop, they were clean as a whistle. The imprinting was done by our customers. Back then, usually on high-speed Xerox copiers.

Invariably, the customers pushed us to deliver the job as soon as it came off the press. When told the ink needed to cure for a couple of days before the letterheads could be imprinted, they said, yeah right ... got it! Then ran it through the copier the next morning. And on the horn to us before noon. Printing is what printing is.

As for ink, we generally used oil-based Van Son. Where we knew the customer had a high-speed copier, we switched to heat-resisting inks on a case by case basis. With Reflex Blue, or anything resembling it, we reached for the heat-resisting stuff right off the bat.

Ah well. There are times when I miss the old shop. Other times, not so much!

Hal

[Aloha Wreckshop]

I'm actually looking for a color envelope solution myself. I was considering a Xerox 8860 solid ink printer for heavier loads. The printer is more like an ink jet, but cold fuses the ink to the media thus not sealing the envelope. They configured a model with multiple trays, so I could print a few hundred at a shot. The challenge I've got, printing to the edge of a #10 envelope. I guess there's a 5MM margin, but to me it looks like a 15MM margin when using Print Shop Mail or Word Mail merge. I'm using the standard PostScript driver and have had no luck tricking the machine to do my bidding. Any one have this device that could recommend a work around? The machine prints envelopes great, but not to the edges.

[Keith]

Hi Keith, nice to meet up with you on PrintPlanet! Anyway, just so you know, that's not limited to digital. The same thing happened with letterheads that we printed by offset on our two-color Ryobi (when I still owned the print shop). Not just once, but a bunch of times. The problem disappeared when we told the customer to turn down the heat while imprinting.

There, aren't you glad you're working purely digital?! BTW, based on your post, I might have to revisit digital envelopes.

Hal

Hi Hal! Nice to see you hear! I need to make a stop the the Lounge here soon.

It is comforting to hear that offset is not invincible. Before I opened my all digital shop, I used to run a Ryobi 3200. I'm not always glad I'm all digital because I miss being able to run 5000 of something. It frustrates me everyday. No matter how i juggle the numbers, I don't have the volume for any offset equipment. I did look into the Riso HC5500, an inkjet sheetfed that prints at 120 ipm! And it can do envelopes too (I thought I'd mention that since this thread is about digital envelope printing). If you are considering an Ilumina, call George at-
Xante Laser Printers - Xante Color Printers - The Richardson Company

Keith

Oh wait- by "revisit digital envelopes" do you mean with estimating in Morning Flight?! That would be so damn awesome!!!!! I would love to be able to click on "envelopes" and then select "digital"!!!!!!!!

[Morning Flight]

... by "revisit digital envelopes" do you mean with estimating in Morning Flight?! That would be so damn awesome!!!!! I would love to be able to click on "envelopes" and then select "digital"!!!!!!!!

Keith, haven't thought it through yet, but yeah, that's what I meant. Not that I'm running out of work or anything!

Hal

[QueenMac]

Intec Printers (establish in mid-2008 in partnership with Oki Europe) has developed another envelope solution to the market and I encourage you to research all the brand options available before making a purchase. In regards to the questions asked on this thread about the Xanté envelope model, I can only comment from my personal experience with the Xanté (where I previously worked for 8 years) and my evaluation of the PSI unit.

There are three basic differences between the development of our Intec envelope unit and the two already on the market:

1 - The Intec envelope unit will consist of a much smaller footprint and be at a lower price point. Both the Xanté and PSI units consist of large conveyer belt systems and bulky external items. The Intec input/output will be streamlined to account for shops where space is at a premium... especially in those shops where I have worked on equipment located in a hallways, tiny old darkrooms or even converted closets and baths!

2 - Intec will also offer more input/output options to customise the unit for your individual business needs (i.e., we will offer a envelope model that can be purchased with/without the Compose RIP option, customize with different input/output configurations, etc.).

3 - Since all three units use the same base engine—the speed, quality and media specifications are virtually the same—but upon closer inspection, the Intec CP2020 already supports lower media weights than the Xanté Ilumina and has the ability to print on a wider range of medias (i.e., NCR and polyester plates).

Additionally, Intec does not make physical modifications inside the base engine that can ultimately alter your print quality or have an effect on product reliability. Of course, I will not claim that the Intec will print perfectly on every type of media, but we will do what we can to help you find the right product for your application—even if it is not ours.

Good luck in your search! - Ann
Intec Printers

[gcspec]

The Xerox 700 supports running some envelopes and all of my customers have started running envelopes with very satisfactory results. I have heard of runs in the area of 5,000 at a crack. Be sure to talk with your Xerox rep about this to make certain you are completely aware of the ups and downs to running envelopes from a support standpoint to avoid being disappointed later. I agree that offset is still the most economical method for high-run envelope applications.

[Dennyboy]

Padraig you mentioned an alternate source for toner and drums. I have the envelope from Xante and it is a real time saver and does great work. But like us all the cost of consumables is high. Where do you get your consumables?