A Printer for Large Amounts of Cardstock (163 - 199 g/m2)

[MO Printer]

Hello All,

I'm a newbie to this site but have had a printing business for the last 4 years where I only print onto Cardstock (Exact Index and Digital Cover) and cut it to create 4 index cards per sheet. I'm in the market for a new Printer to replace my existing Konica Minolta PagePro 4650EN which has been a workhorse for me printing over 200,000 sheets in the last few years. Alas Konica Minolta has discontinued this printer making it very difficult (and expensive) to find a new one along with finding a reliable (refurbished) Toner provider.

I only print onto cardstock (163-199 g/m2) doing Black and White only, and do not need any other functions (No Copying, No Scanning).
I have considered leasing a large commercial printer but am lacking to space to store and run it out of my small home office so I'd like to find a printer that I can use at home (if there is one).

Ideally these are the requirements I have:

1. Must be able to print onto Cardstock (163-199 grams per meter squared) in Black and White only.
2. Can load up 300-500 sheets of Cardstock into printer (not using Multipurpose loader)
3. Straight Paper Path (to avoid curling)
4. Has an output tray to hold at least 250 sheets
5. Costs Under $6000
6. General Annual Yield of 250,000 Sheets

If anyone has any opinions or advice, I'd appreciate it. I'll be calling all the major Printer companies (Xerox, Lexmark, HP, etc.) this week and getting their suggestions as well so I can decide which one will best meet my needs.

Thank you in advance!

 

[The Hat]

Your not going to have any luck in finding a laser printer that will fill all of your wish list, there are many Digital printers’ than can print card stock in large volumes but would not have a large enough feeder stack for the heavier stock.

To use a straight through paper path the stock is usually loaded into a very small feeder (100 plus) at the back of the unit and the delivery tray is also much the same size unfortunately, the card weight you want to print on just might feed from a paper bay below but would then emerge with a curl in it.

Good luck in your quest, you might give OKI a ring but I reckon your answer may lay in a small Litho Press..

 

[MO Printer]

Thank you for the advice...I'm not sure if you were serious about the small Litho press. The fact that I have to print different information on each individual index card that I produce, along with the large amount that has to be printed means that a Litho Press will simply not meet my needs.

My requirements were for my ideal printer but I figured I will have to be flexible to find a replacement. My current printer feeds from the paper bay below but only creates a slight curl since the paper path is more like a "C" than a "S" pathway so I don't require a straight paper path but one with as few bends as possible. Also with my current printer, I can load about 250 sheets in the paper bay which is adequate for my needs as well as the option to print out of the back of the printer into a delivery bay that can hold up 500 sheets (cardboard box that the paper falls into and stacks after coming out of the back of the printer).

I'm ultimately looking for a robust digital laser printer that can handle heavy volumes of cardstock without jamming. Making sure the fuser can get hot enough to fuse the toner to the cardstock. If I have to come up with alternate methods for paper delivery, that is not a problem. Please offer me any suggestions on what you think might work best for me.

Does anyone have any experience with a Xerox Phaser 5550? http://www.office.xerox.com/printers/laser-printers/phaser-5550/enus.html

I appreciate your suggestions and time, thank you!

 

[The Hat]

I couldn’t recommend any laser printer to you because I am out of that environment for a few years now, but I have noticed that a lot of the newer printer use a toner that cracks and falls off the paper surface.

That Xerox 5550 would be useless for your kind of work because it won’t take heavy cart stock without it needing constant maintenance plus the feed tray can only hold 100 sheets.

It’s a very nice postscript printer but it’s more suited for multi-page document work and high quality output, if you manage to find something remotely suitable, make sure to have some of your cart stock with you to test out the feed system and trays..

 

[fotofreek]

Most of our participants use consumer-grade printers, and for color printing I believe that the majority use inkjets. For text based B/W printing my choice has been mono laser printers. None of the mono laser printers I've used are nearly as good for printing photos or graphics as my inkjet printers. Forum members who have had really good results printing photos or graphics on laser printers can chime in on this thread. @The Hat is much more knowledgeable than many of us in knowing what printers are in the marketplace.

@MO Printer has mentioned card stock and B/W only printing but hasn't mentioned if it is solely text or if it contains photos or graphics.

 

[MO Printer]

Thank you both for your input. I mainly print text and only rarely have to print graphics onto the card stock. I'm only interested in Mono Laser Printers as those will fit my needs the best. I'll continue my research and once I find a solution, I'll let the forum know what my best option is.

 

[fotofreek]

Thank you both for your input. I mainly print text and only rarely have to print graphics onto the card stock. I'm only interested in Mono Laser Printers as those will fit my needs the best. I'll continue my research and once I find a solution, I'll let the forum know what my best option is.

If any of the consumer grade laser printers would work for you I'd suggest that you take a quantity of the card stock on which you will print and go to the largest vendor in your area. You can test paper handling, suitable paper path, and the stability of the image, a reflection of the fuser function with the thickness and surface of the card stock. At the low laser printer end of the market the fuser doesn't get hot enough for anything much thicker than copy paper and the printed image will virtually wipe off the paper with thicker stock. Also the gap through which the paper travels may not be wide enough. Since I have no need to purchase an "industrial grade" Laser printer I wouldn't know where to go for a test run with your card stock. I'd probably check in with any large corporate office manager to see where such units are demonstrated.

 

[The Hat]

@MO Printer Here’s just one example of what’s out there, expensive...
http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/new-5-colour-laser-printer-from-oki.9417/