Starting A Printing Business, Why I Bought A Konica Minolta
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มิ.ย. 2021
- Hopefully this helps some people with taking the leap to purchasing your first printer or machine for your business. Xerox, Konica Minolta, Canon, Ricoh will all deliver you a product that you can sell your customer.
This video is 2+ years old and still super valuable
Deciding between the top companies, and which is the best option, is not just price. There is service. And when you own a production machine, service availability and the quality of the service staff is actually more important than the price of the equipment. We have leased Ricoh machines exclusively in our location since 2008 due to Konica service issues in the past, when we had those. And have never looked back. Ricohs service techs are very-very good and why most of their techs have been with the company for many years.
Veteran equipment dealer. Xerox would be a distant fourth place finisher well behind Konica, Ricoh and Canon in the production space......and in the office space too. Konica, Ricoh and Canon are by far the top manufacturers with the best equipment.
Dollar Buyout Leases I would advise against as the interest you're paying going that route is very high. You're actually better off doing a Fair Market Value lease and negotiating the buyout with the finance company (note I said finance company) at the end of term IF big IF you want to keep the machine at the end of five years. Your needs five years from now may be totally different.
Most important of all, unless you're the exceedingly rare person who can service their own production copier (basically nobody but a trained professional can properly service these machines), your biggest consideration needs to be your choice of dealer. The choice of dealer is more important than the brand on the front of your printer. When your lease payment is hundreds, a thousand or a couple thousand dollars per month you have to have that machine up and running. You could have the best machine in the world but if the dealer or their technicians are incompetent, far away, or just don't care because they low balled the service contract your down time will be exponentially higher. Often you will find that the dealers quoting the lowest prices also have terrible reputations on the service side. Its not cheap to have competent, factory trained, technicians and product specialists, not to mention have an inventory of parts. Expect the best dealer to not necessarily be the cheapest.
Don't take the salesman's word for it.....even be suspect of dealer provided references. Ask around. Talk to your local chamber of commerce or others in the business. . Any reputable dealer will be proud to give you a tour of their entire operation. Its a red flag if you can't go beyond the showroom or especially if their facility is JUST a showroom. Meet the people who run their service department. You'd be surprised how many disreputable copier companies are out there. Also a lot of one man bands that are hiding behind impressive websites.
Used? Only, I repeat ONLY buy a pre-owned machine from a reputable dealer who you know is going to stand behind the machine. eBay.....NO WAY. There are also a lot of on-line brokers of used equipment who just want to move a machine and they don't give a rip what happens to you once the machine is sold. Those on line sellers would be a BIG no-way too no matter how impressive their pricing or their websites or claims of being local or partnering with local dealers. RUN. I've got no shortage of horror stories I could tell about businesses who thought they got a good deal on-line for a used copier only to find out they bought a piece of garbage that nobody can fix or that looks good but is actually very old in terms of copiers. Beyond 8 years old you are on borrowed time with any copier manufacturer especially post-covid. If in doubt of the age of the model you will often find a copyright date on the brochure somewhere in the margins.
Lot of info. Hope it helps someone.
Would you mind me asking you your opinion on something? Is there any way I can contact you? Thanks in advance.
Wow, that was great and very interesting. Thanks for sharing your wisdom. You make me wonder how post-covid might negatively effect service and parts. I have not thought of that. Time will tell. Thanks again!
A lot of good advice in your comment.
Damn, am enlightened.
thankssss
hi, I recently bought a used Konica Minolta bh c6500, before that I printed a little on the c224e KM. I recommend everyone to buy KM production machines, there is an obvious difference between photocopier machines and a production machine. In Poland, yesterday, on June 4, we celebrated the Day of the Printers. I wish all printers around the world rich orders and great customers. Greetings!
"Day of the Printer" I like it!
C14000 is frigging amazing - they sent out test prints around the office with embellishments from a MGI they look amazing
What kind of products do you print ? I'd like to buy c6500 as well( or c6000/7000) to use 350gsm with no duplex - have you tried
@@kepesian there were such tests and the machine prints on 350gsm, I do not know if it is on all surfaces. I tried on a coated mat of course not duplex
Day of the Printer, I cannot believe I missed it!! I'll mark my calendar for next year!
This was truly outstanding. There is a wealth of information that you gave out, which I struggled to find in other videos. And you are right, looking at the comments was very helpful too, I am so grateful to see that other people like to share knowledge!
You are sure right about outsourcing in the beginning.
I love watching you. And period. The topics you talk about are great for us. Please continue with good work
Thank you, I will
Forking out from offset into digital, we started with an mgi meteor, and are now running a Konica Minolta bizzhub press c1100. The meteor certainly had it's shortcomings, but was a great learner machine for the KM, since it basically uses the same print engine.
Yes, I never understood why someone would buy the Meteor since it is just a rebranded Konica. I did like the Meteor paper feeder.
I do binding in my garage. I noticed that the office machines I had access to would print high GSM covers, so bought a OKI 9650. It was still viable when I got rid of it, but OKI exited the printer business and would no longer provide support, so after some 15 years it developed a print issue and the repair shops would not touch it. I ended up with a Xerox Versalink C8000. Its a LED bar printer, which means it can do 11x17 300 gsm covers. I even run 11x19 though it in the bypass tray to make full size 8.5x11 bound books. I also bought a Chinese C50 binder, about a knockoff copy of the BQ-140 binder. Based on your videos, I got a single side laminator setup, formerly I was using spray fixatif on the covers. I have a used Triumph 4810 cutter which is a TANK and will never die.
The result is I can produce gloss laminate good quality perfect bound books for less than $5000 total outlay. That's usually a $10k and up capability.
The thing I learned: be ware of refurbishers. There are a lot of crooks running around nowadays, who find junked machines, send them to you and then fight against returns or refunds. I learned this the hard way.
We started out by reselling print and it’s a great way to start. The issue we found though was that local customers expect printing done quicker than trade printers could offer so we ended up buying a Konica copier. Ran that for about 6 months and then bought a Xerox C560 which was awful in the end. Quality was good but the placement on the page was shocking.
We’ve now got a Konica C3070 and absolutely love it. Prints everything we throw at it with ease. Definitely a Konica fan now.
Thanks for sharing. I agree, some people want their prints NOW! :)
When I had my Bindery there was also an opportunity to put ink on paper.... We had a huge electronics company tank and they had IBM infoprint 1567's everywhere you turn. Those days are gone however the value was the fire sale on the final weekend and I bought the comsumables out of the stockroom for a price that people would not believe had they not been there. My point is look at the angle of who is going down the tubes and how can you act on it. With my investment it literally made a profit the first time I plugged in the machines.... Nice work once again Dan....
YES! There is always opportunity out there you just need to be a the right place at the right time. I love those events! Buy it all!
I work at KM and I appreciate your videos - it’s cool seeing how KM equipment is used and helps print shops like yours!
Absolutely, glad you enjoy!
I owned a shipping store franchise and our corporate office strongly encouraged the franchisees to offer digital print services. I started out by outsourcing my printing to local print shops. Once I got to a run rate of $5k in gross monthly revenue I purchased a Konica production printer. I took sample files to the local dealers (Xerox, Ricoh, and Konica) and had them do sample printing. I provided the paper (sub straight) because I wanted to compare apples to apples. I decided to go with Konica because of their service level agreement. The service techs vary by market. I spoke to a few Konica customers in my market and they were ok with Konica's responsiveness when they had a maintenance issue with their press.
I've used Canon, Oce and Xerox machines while working in print shops over the years. Canon and Oce always had much better uptime than Xerox did. And the Oce VarioPrints were beasts as long as the maintenance was done properly. One night alone I did 20k clicks of NCR and the only error was being out of paper. We always had problems with finishing our our Xerox machines, the finisher get bumped a hair out of alignment and it was over.
Love the IH and A/C signs hanging on the wall.
Thanks! I have my grandfathers Allis Chalmers B in the shed. :)
I had a Konica 6500, for me I was dealing with many issue, now I got a Konica 1070 is heaven, way better quality like printing in offset, the toner yield is amazing. The cliente are happy
Interesting, lots of people have c6500 machines in their past.
We started out on a Konica Minolta C550 and are currently running a C1060. It's a reliable work horse that, apart from the usual occasional banding and run-down transfers, has served us well. To this day, customers are pleasantly surprised with the quality coming out of a digital machine, and it's not too fussy about what paper it will print on. We are going to upgrade soon, but only because our lease on the machine is up, and it makes more economical sense to move on to an new contract with the next best model...
Also, we're going to get an HP 700W soon, which I am really excited about...
Thanks for commenting! Interesting to see what everyone has!
Thank you for the video.
You bet!
Respected sir,u saying u r not a perfect engr.but u know best.
I started with trade printers.
Then the HP Latex and a year later the Konica c3080 (demo unit)
And thats just the beginning for you! Looking forward to see you fill that new space with running machines.
When i started working in print shop 3 years ago, we had Develop C1060 & Konica Minolta C1085.
Now i operate on two C1085, two C3070 and C1070.
Hi Eklips,have you encountered a carriage slide rail problem on C1070? if yes,how did you solve it?
@@ryanbartolo3849 I don't have any problems with this machine besides drums/wires/developers. After something like 900k clicks i had to change transfer belt and thats it- 1070 is a beast.
Thats some serious power between those machines. Sounds like you have some fun!
Started with Xerox 7435, then Xerox 7765, now running both Xerox 550 and KM c6501. Konica seem to be more stable printer with fewer paper jams. Though it throws many codes, not sure if its about the maintenance. Thank you Dan for this forum.
You are welcome!
We started in 06 with two used HP LJ5000 and a Canon A3 inkjet printer and a 60s paper guillotine, went thru KM C350, Ricoh office and then print production and now we have a C6085, a 2250 and 1052.
Hello cosmin176 thanks for your input, can you share with me what production is like on 1052 machine. I also want to buy one
Nice, you have some serious horsepower now! Sounds like fun!
Thanks for the content! Do you have any suggestions of a good trade print partner for someone looking to dip their toes in the digital printing business.
I started watching Just A Printer because I leased the same color KM production machine KMBS C3070. I tool a gradual path for printers, office machines, used production machine and the KM C3070 was my first new machine. I had through demos on Ricoh, Canon, Xerox and KM. I chose the KM because they are the only manufacturer with a modular system, meaning the front end (paper feed) and back end (finishing, binding etc) work on all their print engines. Such a simple system that I'm sure is cost effective for KM and a win for the user like me. I needed a high end precise paper feed that I could get on my entry print engine. the other manufacturers offer entry level front end and back end for entry level machines. Also the cost and clicks for KM was much lower than the competition. The print quality is the same on all machines. As Dan mentioned my clients would never notice the difference of a print from a KM vs Xerox but they would notice the cost I charge and the speed at which we can deliver.
100% agreed, thanks for commenting!
I think Konica owes you a commission by this point. We're seriously thinking of switching from a Riso comcolor to a KM c258, with the better support & reliability being key selling points. And the comment section on this video seems to be a glowing recommendation too.
Turns out we print so little on regular paper that the lower speed is not an issue, and the use of coated stock is going to be nice too. Most of the stuff we do is photo printing, but this is going to be a nice addition.
Yes it was interesting to see the amount of Konica fans here. :)
Hi, what do you do your photo printing on now?
I started out in 1999 running an Indigo 1000 Turbostream. A very costly, complex and expensive machine at that time
I progressed to a Hp3050 then a 5500 before I left the industry 5yrs ago. One company did look into Xerox and Konica but ended up with a couple of Nexpress machines.
Your advice is spot on in thinking carefully on what machine to install.
There were plenty of trade printers here in the UK that enabled a broker to set up. In fact my last employer was a broker until they took the plunge and installed a Hp5500 and then bacame a trade printer themselves.
Once worked in a shop with an Indigo 1000, around the same time as you. It was cutting edge at the time and all the offset press shops came to gawk at it and laugh. Well. Nobody is laughing at digital color presses now. I never had anything to do with that Indigo but I still remember how much it beeped all the time and the smell of the Isopar. Good times.
@@LatitudeSky yes good times but so glad they moved on. Took alot of skill to keep the thing printing.
Indigos are impressive but I could never justify the cost. Even though I wanted to make it work on paper it wouldn't. Thanks for commenting!
Started with a KM c6500 now running KM c1085 with inline booklet SD513 saddle stitcher.
Great machine, prints on virtually anything.
So many people have started with the good old c6500. I have heard good things about the 1085.
You are a genius! i wish i would have discovered you before i started my business. I was forced into a contract with a Ricoh 7110. I hate that dam thing, so many plastic parts. GRRR... Im currently doing my own repair on a xerox, bizhub, and a ricoh. Ive bought all the service and maintenance on all the machines. Its pretty much the same process wise but geting into service mode and understanding all the different codes is a bitch. My main machine right now is the Konika 6000 and i just had to re install operating software on the fiery. Yes id rather get a service contract but at .045 cents a click and the run around with some of these techs is ridiculous. Im having a meeting with Shamrock tomorrow and see what they say about trading in some office printers, shredders and cutters i have to get a reliable digital machine and use the konika as a back up.
Man you are freaking awesome for this. Love the way you work and multi tasking setting up all the machines moving on to the next, Its great to see people like yourself out there .
O and the way you cut business cards is perfect. some guy told me to cut the sheet in half then in half again to eliminate the creep because his ass didnt want to put gutters. What a fucking asshole. YOU ARE THE MAN! It be great to get your insight on the post covid print world and what i can do to attracty more business. 80% of my clients are real estate agents. so im constantly doing mailings either direct mail or EDDM. But now there doing virtual tours so the demand has gone down.
Please feel free to call me when you get a chance. My name is Patrick and i could be reached at hameisterp@gmail.com or my cell 925.695.5800.
Thanks your an inspiration to stay in this industry.
Thanks for your comment and kind words! I don't claim to know it all, but I think what I'm doing is working. LOL. Thanks for watching!
Hi. Thanks for sharing the best ones. I have checked commercial color printer, color laser printer and many different types of printers all my life. One cannot pick and choose amongst those because all have their specifications but it is just that it depends on your requirement. I completely rely on Axis Business Technologies for copiers and printers related decisions. They have been such a help because apart from providing good services, they also offer repair services.
Sounds like a good company to have around!
I quite appreciate the insights you offered. The comments are also quite an interesting guide.
Please I'm planning to invest in DI printing. I started with large format printing.
Please I would appreciate if you share a cost calculator template for profit/loss tracking.
Thank you.
excellent
I still have a Bizhub 6501 a couple of C654’s a Accurio 2060 and a envelope printer Okidata. My main source of print production is still offset presses. Oh and a Bryce address imprinter that prints about 22,000 per hour. I always watch Wirebids in case I see something I can’t live without 🤗
Phil, we have a lot in common. Most obvious is our addiction to wirebids, haha!
I started with hp laser jet 5500 and added Canon copier c4580i. The hp was good but could not handle thicker stock. The Canon was a workhorse but issues with colour inconsistencies. I later traded the hp and Canon and move to Konica Minolta and that's where I belong. My first KM machine was the Bizhub c550. Added a couple of these copiers (c451, c452 and c652DS). All work like pro. Minimum jams but consumable life are too short. We now have 4 production presses in our shop. These are MGI dp60 pro, KM C6000L pro, KM C8000, KM 1250p. They are all working great. I personally like the KM C6000L pro. I have used Xerox Dc250 before but the downtime is too much. I will on any day recommend Konica Minolta presses. Cost of running these machines are low compared to others.
Agreed. 100%
We just had a Konica Minolta 4070 installed last week. First machine. The printing adventure begins.
Don't have to much fun!
I’m in the UK and bought my first production machine in 2007, a Xerox DC260, great little machine, continued with Xerox over the years with Xerox 700, J75 and now have 2 V180’s. We had a Ricoh C7100 for 6 years up to last week when we made our first purchase with KM, the new C14000 which is a beast of a machine, so far very impressed 👍🏻
Very cool! Those c14000 look like they would run 24 7. Looking forward to updates on this machine as you run it. Let me know.
@@justaprinter they do run 24/7! I am a KM service tech. We have a company that purchased 4 c14000s about 8 months ago and they're pushing around 30 million clicks each now
@@jimmym2405 Wow! Thats awesome!
With how much you bought the c 14000?
@@jimmym2405 just curious what do they pay per click for maintenance
I have a versant 180. Need to upgrade within 13 months.
Started with a xerox 7400 great all rounder up to sra3 print size.
Consumables are super cheap.
Downsides 270gsm max.
Now have a xerox dc 5000ap that I use as just a desk because I can't get it repaired.
So now I have a Oki es9431 really good all rounder it will happily take 360-400gsm card.
Awesome, thanks for commenting. It's a bummer when a machine is just a desk. :)
Yo comencé con una ricoh 2550 a color que compre dañada. No sabia nada sobre estas maquinas, fui aprendiendo viendo videos y otras cosas que no estaban en internet las fui arreglando buscándole la lógica, despues de casi un año logre arreglarla por lo completo y comencé a imprimir con ella por un tiempo. Luego la vendi y compre una Ricoh 8002 que es la que tengo actualmente.
I'm running a Konica Minolta C7090 and a Konica Minolta C1085
Our first digital press was a Xerox Docucolor 260. Then we bought a KM C6000 and a C360. The Xerox was easier to change toners, drums and fusers. Why that is became clear to me running the two machines side by side. The C6000 doesn’t need drums and corona wires changed as often as the Docucolor. I opened my C6000 fuser for the first time two days ago to replace the belt and roller. How many xerox fuser replacements have I had in the past 12 years? At least 20.
Now that I service the machines myself, I prefer Konica over Xerox.
As for using office copiers, we have the C360 and a C368. They are little workhorses, but not built for production. The mechanicals wear so much faster the the big presses.
Well, there’s my two cents worth. Thanks Dan! I do learn something from you every week.
Valuable input! I like the way you think. Thanks for watching!
Just adding you have a third lease option. You can do a fixed buyout for an amount other than $1. We did this a few times. It was a little more than a $1 buyout but, we knew exactly what the amount would be at the end of the term if we decided to keep the machine.
I didn't know that. That is a nice option.
@@justaprinter One of the sales people gave us the option. It let us have a fixed buyout that we could take or leave. It also gave us the same tax advantages of a $1 buyout.
I think your advice is sound. We got into adding page printing and commercial printing to our existing graphic arts and photo business with a Konica Minolta Bizhub and then went to Xerox Docucolor. Several machines later we are at a Xerox Versant 4100. Kind of bootstapping up to actual production machines once our volumes justified it, as the video talks about. We still use trade printers for a few things - we can't own every machine for every possibility. Thinking about service support is a major factor in choosing how to operate.
Agreed! I forgot to mention the availability of service.
If u were an indie author and wanted to print your own books instead of using offset or POD, but actually start your own publishing company that essentially prints your own books…but also try and keep it as lean as possible, what equipment would you need and recommend?
Let’s say the goal was printing 5000 books off the hop but wanting it scalable to be able to print hundreds of thousands to millions…basically I’m wondering what it would look like to print and ship my own books for an upcoming release…what would I need?? And could I get the job done in a small office or room…
-printer
-paper cutter
-binding machine
-laminator
-anything else I’d need and would love to hear your recommendations! Thanks bobby
Started with a Canon c7000 in 2008. Moved to a Ricoh c901, then a c7110. Now we have:
Ricoh c9200
HP Latex 335 Print & Cut
Printware iJetColor
Konica Minolta AL230 Label Press
Ricoh 9200 👍👍👍 master printer
@@sajeeshps100 It's a pretty robust machine. Love it.
Thanks Mike. I need to get around to hanging your gift! :) The Ricoh c9200 intrigues me, looking forward to learning more about that machine.
@@justaprinter I have to get off my butt and start making some videos. I feel a little weird because I don't own the business myself, but my boss has given me free range to do whatever I want pretty much. I'll see if I can start a little something, some time soon. I'm anxious to see where you put the graphic and how it turns out.
@@justaprinter For sure Dan. Looking forward to see how it turns out on the wall. I need to get with it and start making some videos showing the c9200. It's a really great machine.
I bought a used KM1060c 5 years ago in the uk when it was 4 years old with warranty and maintenance contract. I still have it on a maintenance contract and wouldn't do it any other way. I pay around 4.5p (5.7cents) per SRA3.
Thanks Dan for your awesome videos! What would you recommend for a new small book printing business (width up to 3cm; only cover needs to be color), that gets similar results to your video "Book Production From Start To Finish, Digital Printing and Binding Perfect Bound Books", but with a ~$15k budget? Is there a KM machine that could do Perfect Bound (paperback)?
Konica does have an inline perfect binder. I have not seen the quality of that though. You might be able to find some used equipment for that price but you will likely need to spend more.
Definitely important to find out what service and sales teams are available in your area for the different brands when choosing. We have been with Xerox for a while now, and while Konica and Ricoh are offering some competitive prices, in our area, Xerox has a lot more customers, so their service team is larger and more readily available. Our Xerox sales rep and repair tech are so amazing I just don't think we could ever switch. If you're a small shop and don't plan to do the repairs yourself, you definitely want to go with whoever can offer you the fastest turnaround to get your machine(s) back up and running because there is nothing more stressful then having a machine down when jobs are piling up.
I couldn't have said it any better!
I also owned 3 Konica Minolta machines one out of them is c3070 production press and I think according to my experience Konica Minolta is best company to buy digital press 😉
They know what they are doing. :)
Hello thanks for this precious session
My question is we will start our printing business like printing flyers business cards enveloppes small books posters we have the choice between KM C4065 OR C 450 I or a xerox wc7845 thanks 😊
Hello Sir, I am a graphic designer from India. Now i am thinking to buy production printing machine. so i am confused with Konica Minolta Accurio Press C4080 and Ricoh Pro C5310s. Which one is good for color accuracy and good quality production printing machine?
If you start now, so many printers are good in all factors. But the most important is the sustainability, efficiency and productivity.
If you want a superb quality print, go for the Ricoh Pro c7210sx or xerox Iridesse
Then if you want a newly good go for accuriopress 4080 and if you want an overall the best go for the inkjet printer like accuriopress km1e, fujifilm Jpress 750s or HP Indigo series
I would love a KM1, thats a solid machine.
While not being a printer at my last job running IT we had an IK*N lease for all offices for BW and Colour. When it was time to renew the lease I looked at the cost we were being charged per click, even scanning for fax was a click. It was cheaper to replace the contract for HP BW printers and Colour MFPs for each office. At the time we were buying 50+ desktops and laptops at a shot so I told the HP rep to add toner and fuser kits to the order. They would do 80% discounts on those consumables. The printers themselves were easy to fix by my staff. I cannot forget when the I*ON rep was told we are not renewing and would like the machines picked up at all offices.
I*ON and Cargon Bus Solutions were notorious for getting businesses upside down on copier leases. Their accounts were easy pickings because every time you went on an appointment where they were the incumbent vendor the odds were the customer had rolled debt several times over and was upside down.
Wow. I am amazed at what some offices are paying for a copier. So many people are scared of owning their own machine but they are paying out the nose for the convenience of a monthly payment.
Ricoh Pro C9100 is a beast I love it.
Yes, I have heard that they are.
Lol...I started out with a Savin c2525 (oldie) about 7 years ago (looked like what you had sitting there). Progressed to Konica c454e w/full finisher that same year. Am on the lookout for pro now... I think I messaged you on this very subject! Thank you for this.
Savin is a name I don't hear about too much.
@@justaprinter I looked closer. Yours is not a Savin. That was prior to Ricoh. Think mine was from late 90s but I had it for less than a year, it was on its last leg!
Moving my shop over to KM printers from Xerox was the best decision I’ve ever made. Better uptime, better service, lower lease cost and lower click rate cost.
For anyone curious with what we went with. C6100 with inline booklet maker and full edge trimmer. C12000 with folder/creaser and inline business card trimmer. It’s been a great setup for us.
@@nate_riggins_photography Nate, I'm curious about two things. 1) does the machine slow way down when using the inline trimmer unit? 2) how much additional cost does that unit add to the overall machine lease/purchase cost?
@@miketheprintman I’d have to do some research on the cost difference, but I know it wasn’t all that much. Not enough to chase me away from doing it. We went with a 5-year lease so I’m sure that helped. As far as slowing the printer down, it does slow down. How much? Maybe kicks it down to 60-75% of the normal speed depending on what it’s doing in-line. The trade off of doing it in-line versus offline was worth the loss of speed. When you figure it out it probably comes close to equaling out for time spent on the job. We were able to get rid of a couple of machines in the shop as well. One being the offline Duplo booklet maker. Hope this helps. If you need some exact numbers, I can see about getting those for you.
@@nate_riggins_photography Appreciate the response. We had an offer for a c12000 during the summer last year, ultimately we stuck with our Heidelberg/Ricoh partnership and purchased a c9200. One of the things that appealed to me was that inline finisher of the c12000, but our KM rep told me the machine slows down when it's in use and his recommendation was to get a Duplo 645 or other to handle the finishing. I was just curious to see someone's thoughts who had it in the field. Thanks for your reply.
@@miketheprintman Marco actually told me to go offline as well on the finishing but I’m glad I ignored them and went in-line. It’s worked out well for us!
Could I print a small town newspaper on a Konica Minolta?
great video. I would say the most important thing to look for is the service. Your printer is only as good as the service around you. You could have the best machine in the world but if service stinks, you’ll be screwed. You don’t want your machine to be down for a day or two or more especially with every customer wanting their jobs by yesterday.
Yes! That is the big thing that I forgot to mention! 100% Thanks!
I love Konica Minolta!!!!!
Seems to be a common thing amongst viewers!
where can you buy the transfers
About the Office version of the Konicas, here in Brasil we use this machines A LOT, i know people that runs literally millions of copies on "Office" Konicas, i think today the best laser printer to start a business here its a konica like that, a C224, C364 etc and the konicas final 8, here in Brasil its very very difficult to buy a konica 3070, is REALLY expesive so you need to have a reaaaaly big print shop to justify buying one of those. Today i have in my print shop a Konica C364, a Ricoh 2051, both color machines, konica to run thick paper and ricoh to run text / color books, a Xerox 5890 (90ppm mono) and a Samsung 4070 for mono reallllly cheap mono printing. I hope you can understand my english, i learned pretty much watching youtube videos hahahah
Here in Greece too the office ones are very popular because we can't compete with the offset printshops even with the big KM and we mostly do many but small runs. Also they can print carbonless paper for receipt books that are still in use here, the production machines can't move that 60gsm paper. Not to mention how great they are that they can use 300gsm paper for menus and invitations.
@@NikolasKarampelas here in Brasil the offset printers are dying, no one uses paper blocks anymore, so the fast print shops are taking his places...
Awesome, thanks for commenting, your english is great! You confirm that many people use office machines and get good results.
Hi please can you tell me which printer model you are using for book printing and book cover printing, I have a publishing business I was outsourcing the printing work till now, but now I want to setup for printing own books so can you please tell me which printer model will be best for starting book printing
For book pages printing and for book cover printing or a single machine that can do both.
Thank you for your channel. I worked in a screen print and offset shop and loved it.
I have a chance to get a Ricoh MP C4000 with 320k clicks for only $300. I make notebooks as my main product, but not sure if the Ricoh has the resolution for graphic covers. Think it’s worth picking up?
Sorry, I don;t know much about Ricoh printers. Make sure you can buy parts and supplies for it before you buy it.
That's a very old mfp. If you are looking after a solid old Ricoh mfp, I would rather get the next model MP C4501. Fuser on these can potentially do double or tripple PM intervals without servicing, just reset counter on fusingroller if the machine is whining about it. Probably the best mfp fuser from Ricoh. And pcu's are much better built with improved wax and do longer runs. Only positive with MP C4000 over MP C4501, is that you can carefully modify black pcu's and run them as colours, as they are cheaper. May need cleaning chargerollers often if used in low humidity, especially on the Mp C4000. Fuser on Mp c4502 has fragile fusing sleeve. Mp c4503's are ok, but flimsy built, same with MP C4504, but improved. Replace separation rollers often is a tip that applies to all Ricoh mfp's in these series, and then they mostly run smoothly
...or you can just get serious, throw out all small offsets, get a great service deal on couple of Pro C9210 (Whitout ACD option, just to keep it simple) and impress some customers.
@@JT-hm1rf thanks! I ended up not getting it, I’ve been looking at xerox c60 and c70s as I’m printing a lot of graphics and they seem like solid machines for low run, graphic intense printings. My biggest issue is that I’ll need to move the unit into a basement, and hiring a moving company will be almost as much as the cost of a machine!
Approximately 14 years ago, I had the opportunity to work with a Fuji Xerox machine for 2-3 years. Following my departure from that position, I pursued a career as a freelance designer. Now, I find myself contemplating a return to the digital printing industry as an entrepreneur. Recently, I've been enticed by testimonials from acquaintances who enthusiastically endorse the Toshiba brand. Do you think opting for Toshiba e-studio printers is a wise decision?
Hello, congratulations for your video very informative, i call it a tutorial. I am majory concerned with one very important issue or factor or may be its not very important as i think. The issue of DPI. What is the basic acceptable dpi for a graphics press. I see most. Office copiers like konica c220 is 600x600, c454 is 1200x1200, a big press like konica c7000 is also 1200x1200, konica 1030 is 1200x1200 too. But konica 3070 is 1200x3600 dpi, xerox c252 is 2400x2400. Between the konica 3070 and xerox c252, which is better in terms of resolution and color cosistency?
I started out with offsets ABDick 360, Ryobi 3200, then an Oki c9300 was my first digital color machine for color covers for b/w book jobs. Then went to Canon's which I regreted. Upgraded to a Konica C652 with Fiery and Finisher good quality but slow unless plain paper. Also upgraded to a Toko R2SL offset, then a ABDick Century 3500 and a Ryobi 3302 (Item 3985). Upgraded the Konica c652 to a c654e. Ran anything under 1000 on the digital and over went offset. Now I have a Ricoh c901 but parts and toner seem pricey compared to Konica. I have an Oki c9650 for envelopes with a feeder/conveyor. Looking for production Konicas as a backup for the Ricoh c901 which is 90 pages per minute color or black and the toners hold about 5 pounds of toner each. Duty cycle on the Ricoh is 1/2 million per month and quality is extraordinarily great. If you get a service contract insist on 1 click for tabloid paper or reject the contract.
I too clocked many hours on a AB Dick 360. Thanks for the timeline. It fascinates me to see what people have owned.
@@justaprinter thanks for the videos and I appreciate your knowledge and opinions on my delima with the Ricoh
Hi, where do you buy your A4 printer paper from and how did you find them? I'm looking to start a small A4 paper wholesale company but need ideas on how to make the business grow apart from distasteful cold calling.
thank you :)
You bet!
I have seen print shops start out with konica mid volume machines. You can put a FIERY on most models. When buying used machines be sure to know the "end of life" or obsolete dates. Finding support on old FIERY devices that run windows xp can be challenging. Microsoft may also not support drivers on older machines.
There's also click end of life. My shop had a Xerox i700 full color printer. It turned pumpkin at 10 million impressions and had to be dragged away. This was the hardware lifespan set by Xerox. You get 10 million. And then you replace the whole machine. To be fair, once you put 10 mil on a press like that, it's done. But something like a Nuvera can do 10 million a month, and more, for years. Totally different class of hardware of course.
Good point, but I never know who to believe. I was told 6-7 years ago that my c6500 was obsolete and I put another 4 million clicks on it.
LOL, turned into a pumpkin at 10 million.
I am about to pull the trigger on the versant 280, I am thinking of not optioning the face cutter/ "perfect bound" stapler finisher. How often do people in your experience option the stapled "perfect bound" spine?
great vids keep it up!
For me, hardly ever. I either do a saddle stitched or perfect bound. I'll only do the two staples if someone requests that specifically.
Started with Xerox. Still run Xerox. Early Nuveras were DOGS. My former employer got one of the first Nuvera installs and it was a complete lemon and we told them to drag it out of there. It was a massive disappointment. We had 180s ready to retire but the first gen Nuvera couldn't do it. The current non-MICR Nuveras are FAR better. The things are tanks. The MICR versions eat heat rolls and there is no fix for it, plus lots more issues thanks to that ink. But it's a solid platform now. This is typical for Xerox. They push the edges with new stuff and it hits the field riddled with bugs they can't fix in the field because they've never seen the problems before. After a year or two, it settles down and gets vastly better. A proven, battle-tested Xerox product like the current Nuvera is a fearsome beast.
Glad to hear others had issues with the first Nuveras and it wasn't just me. I figured they would get things better over time. I liked the heavy duty quality of the Xerox Nuvera, which is heavier duty than the Konica machines.
Do they make a digital press that also cuts? My fast growing business requires a specific size card that goes behind the product with a die cut sombrero hole for hanging. I would love a solution where we could print these cards on demand. Maybe I'm dreaming but I certainly would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!
Just an addition whether you have to have a printer under contract or whether you buy the supplies separately. This also depends on your order book. In your vlogs I see that you mainly have book productions with a low ink utilization, then purchasing supplies separately is more economical, but if you have an average ink utilization of, for example, 30% then a fixed tic price is more interesting.
I agree RV V. We print greeting cards and other stuff with heavy coverage so a click plan makes sense for us.
Good point. But I would bet that even heavy coverage self service would compete with a contract. Toner is a small fraction of operating costs... I think. This intrigues me, I need to look into this more and make a video on what operating costs are for low and high coverage. This will be fun. Thanks for the idea!
How much investment need in this printing business ?
Thanks for your advices. You made me make a decision on Acuriopress C3070 and man, I cant regret. One question bothering me though, can you trust printing 350gsm on it? I'm not sure I heard someone say they affect the drum or some part. Previously I have been running KM c224e, which I still decided to keep, and I've been doing 350gsm on it (though it's not supposed to) but Im hesitant to try 350gsm on this very expensive machine, and I could not afford maintenance contract with it. Kindly advice.
As long as its within specs of the machine, run it. It will be fine.
Any leads on where to get this printer in254 and pricing? Thanks.
I cant decide on a business card printer. I need one to do about 100-500 a week. Can you make a suggestion please?
Hi I am following your useful Chanel. Recently I made decision to buy new Konica Minolta AccurioPrint C4065 3600x2400dpi for high end printing art book and PhotoBook that is better than old one AccurioPrint C3070L 1200x1200 dpi I guess. Please let me know based on your well experience, is this decision is correct? Thank you
We still have single color offset presses for super long, single color runs. Then moved into digital. Started with old KM 200 and 400 series. Then got a KM c353.
Then got a sharp 7001n, never jams but print quality was lacking. Tried a brand new sharp...same print quality issues and the fuser quit at 27k :/
Meanwhile the KM c353 made it to 690,000 before we swaped it out.
We don't lease anything anymore or pay clicks...we only buy used machines and run them and fix them or call a tech for big stuff.
We now have 3 KMs, a 253, 452 and 652 , a Richo and a smaller lexmark 8770x that prints bW only but at 70 ppm...and it unjams itself...which is crazy...only 1,200 new.
Big KM fan now and want some newer models but these are amazing for the cost.
This week alone we ran 5k 2prt NCR printed 2 sided and 500 8.5 x 11 notepads at 100 sheets per pad on a c253 i got for 200 bucks 3 years ago.
They are little beasts!
Very nice, sounds like you have a good thing going! I do like my Konicas!
If you buy a printing machine you can only write off its depreciation when doing taxes, but when you lease there are benefits, you can write off the lease payments, you will also get maintenance and ink as part of you lease as well. So buying a machine you will have to call a technician to come in and repair your printer and then you also have to buy ink every week. 🤷🏽♂️ I think leasing would be the smart way as a business owner.
Hi, we have Xerox Versant 180 in UK. Production print quality is so good. The bad thing is you must stick with click agreement, otherwise toner yields are at 3000 clicks and toner prices are high, and click costs are high as well. We are ordering toners repeatedly, for one order we spend at least 2 toner cartridges. We tired with Xerox Versant 180. When we buy it first day, it was putting vertical lines on 350gsm paper, we called engineer, many parts are taken out at first day. Still, it is making vertical lines sometimes. We print mostly 150-200 gsm colour flyers. According to your experiences, which machine can be a good choice for flyer printing with low running cost which can create similar quality? We do not expect same quality.
A Konica c3070 would be a good choice.
Have you looked at the Ricoh Pro c7200 with 5 colors? I have calculated cost/print on many machines and they are all about the same. You will pay more up front and less on supplies/parts, or the other way around. Most important is that you can print close to the manufacturer's recommended monthly volume. Write off of the machine makes up for a good part of the cost/print.
I have not, I like my Ricoh copier.
@@justaprinter The 5th color on the c7200 is a game changer. You can do Clear or White. If your printing business does a lot of marketing type materials this is the machine to have.
Lol. You have many printers it's funny. Congrats on your new printer.
Thanks!
always a good advice... your machine in our place cost more than arm and leg... what is we are using today is epson L1800 printing on C2s paper, it takes forever.. to print a page
Im the same as you where um from there arent even available only country next..l1800 is it worth the upgrade from the 4 color l1300? Whats the speed u getting on l1800
@@madmozzie9714 here is i the setup.. C2S PAPER 100gsm, artpaper /semisol ink (a little modified), RIP software (PrintFAB), L1800 with modified blower, 8.5x11.5 full photo full color: highest quality 6.5 minutes per page: standard quality 4.5 minutes per page,run almost 24/7 rain or shine, luckily we figure how to eliminate the slow printing of inkjet, almost no manual headclean. L1300 to L1800 yes because of our projects are yearbooks and storybooks the skin is better with L1800
Oh man, that is forever for one page. But I bet it looks great!
Hi and thank you for such a good video ! I want to get into Digital Print and I already read all the comments here (over 300 haha). What I noticed is (almost) no one is talking about Canon printers, users said more KM, Ricoh or Xerox. For me as a beginner Canon looks just fine just from some internet research I did.
My question is : Is something bad/wrong with Canon (quality, price, etc) ? (reason that almost no one here uses Canon machines)
I like canon machines, they would be a good choice! I found that interesting as well that not too many people talk about their canon machine on here.
Congrats fo the great job! I have this old - but still up - 652 . It was recently displaced and is now showing the message: "a component is open", pointing to right hand bypass tray, which is closed. Don't know how to check further. Any thought appreciated.
Could be a bad sensor that thinks the door is open, maybe a plastic tab broke off?
How I wish I can be your apprentise learning printing. All the best
Thanks!
Hello,
I looking for a printer that I can print short run folding cartons. 450 gsm. Any recommendations?
I Started With Used one Ricoh 2050
then 2 Year Later I Bought three Xerox Machines ( Xerox 7535 and 7845 Brand-new ) and ( Xerox 5875 I Still Use All the Above machines though. I do all the repair myself
and Next I'm Going to Purchase Xerox 700i Or Versant 80 Or Konica C7000. we do Wedding Invitations and Greeting cards from those machines
Interesting, I have heard good things about those machines.
I used koinca c7000 since 5 years ago.... Now the machine still work .. but i m disturb with technics solution... severals ago, I hve Contrack Clicks.. but now i must service and buy everything by myself... By Employ , machine can run but not high result... I m worry , One day He will not work again... I hope this chanel can help me for maintenance C7000 ... Thanks Mr Dave .. Nice to meet You .. Keep make video for us... God Bless..
You can do it. It can be scary and difficult but if you are clean and have a service manual you should be able to fix anything.
We started with xerox C75. Then moved to KM2070. The best change in my life.
But since we learned well how to use the km, we have started the xerox just a couple of time in 5 years 😄
And for better I found you.🕺🕺🕺
Now we have km 2070, 3070 and the old and not used xerox.
Smart man! :)
I have a question. I see your beautiful place where you print the product, but do you get all order over Internet? What is my main question is when you have an order do you print a sample to the client or do you print the whole stock of the order? Because I have a printing-house too and 90% of all of my order I need to print a sample copy and the client have to see and agree with the quality of the product and then I print the rest of the order. How do you manage when I client what to view a sample before getting the main order?
I require the customer to view a printed proof most times. If they don't want to see a printed proof thats fine only if I know the customer expectations.
I started with KM C458, Canon IPF770 and some office inkjet printers. I would suggest to have one new copier with service contract or used copier serviced youself, and don't waste money on desktop printers. A production press is a significant investment to start with, but as I know the cost per click is about 40-50% of office copier. There are no prefect solution, unless you have existing customers. I setup my own rules and pricing with customers to adopt my machines.
Smart advice. I agree!
I must be the only guy here still getting dirty printing offset. I started out printing on a halm superjet. Now just small roll to roll. I also help on the larger book presses printing sigs.
There are others but it is becoming more rare. Those are fun machines to run too. I consider offset the "real" printing. :) Thanks for keeping it alive.
I’ve got a KM1060L it was a compromise at the time for us we leased it under the $1 buy out option at the time we probably should have done more research but now have and I love the machine it’s got it’s little kinks but 95% of the times other printers in my town end up coming to me for jobs where colour accuracy and details are important. Would I change the machine if I could hard maybe
The make good print when taken care of.
@@justaprinter they do indeed I’m just waiting on new drums to come in to do some PM on it
I have a small print shop (~2yrs old) and I started with an HP LaserJet Pro M452dn. Learned a lot and moved to a Ricoh SP C840DN after about 4months. I still use it till this day. Great printer but we are now out growing it. We recently got a Konica Minolta AccurioPrint C4065. It's been sitting here for over 2months because I didn't have the proper work area for it. Electrical is the biggest problem especially if you are running your business from home. On top of getting a custom outlet, I have to get a buck boost transformer installed since the voltage in my neighborhood is too high for the printer. Wish Konica Minolta warned me about that. The first two printers I purchased but the KM C4065 is a lease.
Nice! Yes electrical requirements can be tricky. You'll like the Konica once its up and running.
Hi Friend, what type of jobs or printing services can you offer with your Ricoh SP C840DN?
My first machine was a HP CP4525. But my production run machine was is a konica minolta C6500. And my large format is a HP T770. BTW, Dan, did you happen to order that developer unit you were talkin about in your error 2804 video for the C6500? The /k unit is definitely giving me the same issue again. I have cleaned that sensor about a billion times. I did notice that a chunk of the rubber piece that is supposed to keep the developer and toner off that had been torn off.
No, I didn't replace that... at least I don't think I did. Check the counter on it.
@@justaprinter Nope, nope. Its at over 2mil.
@@justaprinter Yea, c2804 continually keeps returning I clean it but there is a tear in that blade.
Good morning sir I run coaching class and monthly print duty cycle is 3 to 5 lakh copies . please suggest me which printer is best for me canon vario or konica 6120?
I started 6 years ago and i use just konica equipment... They were:
- bizhub C350 (first)
- bizhub C360
- bizhub C280
- bizhub C5500
- bizhub C364e
- bizhub pro 1051
- accuriopress C3070
Last three positions i use now... Except the accuriopress all of them was bought used...
All of them was good for begining, but 3070 and 1051 are ideal for any small-medium printing business...
Thank you, Please I need to ask you more questions about the KM machines, can you share your contact. My mail is c.vibukun@yahoo.com
Agreed!
How do you find the BizHub series for quality and click price? I'm often seeing refurbished ones at good prices. Wondering if it would be a good starting point.
@@DaneOfAllTrades If you want quality...you need a production machine....from C5500, C6500, C6000, C7000....i heard that C8000 is, how can I say....verry cost UNeficient :D .....stay away from C8000...then newer generation C1070, C3070...an so on....are the best. For C7000 and earlyer generation you can find parts on aliexpress...if you want to have the best price/quality raport.....but if you want to sleep well I recomand to buy a new Accurio press, like 4070, in leasing direct from konica...and chose an service and maintenance contract....I paid 0,17cent for color click and 0,04 for BW....If you are like Dan and you can change parts and do maintenance....just buy parts from konica you will pay about 0,10/color click....and 0,02 for BW....anyway, for BW I recomand a BW machine I bought an 1051 with 8milions click with 3000 euro and it work like new....this are my opinion about konica....about other brand i can not tell anything because i use konica since i start this bussiness.
A primeira que usei foi uma HP CP1025 color, estou usando atualmente uma Ricoh MPC 2800, quero demais comprar uma em breve a Konica AccurioPrint C3070L
Ótimo, aproveite o passeio!
My first black and white machine was and still is canon but color was also canon but later switched to Hp and still enjoying Hp
Interesting. Yes they all make a quality print when well maintained.
canon make a lot of HP laser printers
If any is lucky enough to get a production machine in 2000$....😉....
Well my advice is with Konica Minolta...as you said Xerox and Konica are neck to neck in general but Xerox do have edge in some advance printing features like multiple ink shades...
Yes, its interesting the Konica has not added a fifth color. Even if they would I doubt I would want it. Yes, $2,000 was a deal of a lifetime!