It appears my company is thinking of getting a digital press. The 3 I've heard mentioned are a Ryobi, Kodak Nexpress, and a DI. No specifics. Which is better and should I:
a: run for the hills
or
b: embrace it?
Joe, I'm going through the same thing. My boss is somewhat whimsical and had been talking about bringing in another offset press for months, but suddenly we got a new color copier and this week we're doing demos for wide-format inkjet printers.
Printing is DEAD DEAD DEAD. Doomed.
At my age I'm not sure I'm up to all that learnin' that will be needed. Youston works with a Nexpress and my mind almost explodes every time he talks about it.
Youston makes me explode also, but for different reasons. Are you really against learning new things? Personally, I think you're just ready to move on - I feel the same way and I'm 15 years behind you.
I'm thinking about becoming a locksmith, actually.
Prepress has gotten really boring because there is not much of a challenge most days. Open a PDF, maybe do a minor fix, close PDF. Repeat 200 times. Blah. :sleepy:
I know what you mean. Most of what I do is opening archived files, making a change, print. Press repeat. The rest is crap Word/Pub files that consume half of my day. Looks like I'm getting back into web dev again. :death:
Run for the hills.
Quote from: Joe on February 17, 2011, 12:24:31 AMIt appears my company is thinking of getting a digital press. The 3 I've heard mentioned are a Ryobi, Kodak Nexpress, and a DI. No specifics. Which is better and should I:
a: run for the hills
or
b: embrace it?
I would embrace the hills...
and I'm going through the same thing here Joe, doing a lot of research on these digital "copiers", VDP, and all the assorted apps and functions.
in my opinion, you can do good with any of the above, and you can also get screwed with any of the above. You just have to get one, find out what doesn't "work", and then figure a work-around. Kinda like the good ole days of prepress.
Run for the hills.
My new bossman is sending me to Kinkos tomorrow to see how they have the machines set up. He wants to make the storefront like a Kinkos. I miss offset.......so very very much.
Miss it?
Haven't you only been out of it a month or so?
beck
Quote from: Joe on February 17, 2011, 01:47:28 AMPrepress has gotten really boring because there is not much of a challenge most days. Open a PDF, maybe do a minor fix, close PDF. Repeat 200 times. Blah. :sleepy:
Your life will not change much with the NexPress. In fact, it will get much more boring. Prepping for the NexPress (as opposed to offset) is almost a joke. It's the running and maintaining of the damned thing that will cause significant hair loss. Oh, and the salespeople who expect you to match color between the NexPress and an offset press. That's pretty annoying.
If you also move into VDP, however, things get a little more ... interesting.
Quote from: youston on February 17, 2011, 09:08:48 AMOh, and the salespeople who expect you to match color between the NexPress and an offset press. That's pretty annoying.
I get this all the time and just have to wonder why someone would think I could suddenly match a digital sheet to an offset sheet, even after I've repeated 100 times it's not realistically possible.
We've been down since October 10th.
Quote from: gnubler on February 17, 2011, 09:41:47 AMQuote from: youston on February 17, 2011, 09:08:48 AMOh, and the salespeople who expect you to match color between the NexPress and an offset press. That's pretty annoying.
I get this all the time and just have to wonder why someone would think I could suddenly match a digital sheet to an offset sheet, even after I've repeated 100 times it's not realistically possible.
You're off your game, using this word in reference to salespeople. Is everything okay?
Quote from: Joe on February 17, 2011, 01:47:28 AMPrepress has gotten really boring because there is not much of a challenge most days. Open a PDF, maybe do a minor fix, close PDF. Repeat 200 times. Blah. :sleepy:
Exactly why I took early retirement, Joe. Well said. :hello:
Had a sit down with the brother this AM about getting a digital press and told him I'd post up here and see. Looks like Joe beat me to it. I do have insight on the DI. I used to run a Hedi DI until I managed to get my hand caught and never went near it again. The hardest thing I found was getting the paper through he damn thing. We had 2 and one ate 80# coated cover all day, the other would trip every 4-5 sheets with the same stock. Take a monkey and a large enough hammer and within a week you will have a passable operator. I had maybe 4 days of training on it and was able to get most jobs done. I did have a 23hr day running NCR but that was early on.
We are looking at a used iGen3 with 150k impressions on it. I know nothing about them. Is that low or is it going to need a rebuild soon. My head is going to be spinning soon with all the stuff I have to research.
Quote from: Farabomb on February 17, 2011, 10:29:06 AMMy head is going to be spinning soon with all the stuff I have to research.
Like your avatar?
embrace it joe. im not crazy about it either, but it will keep you employed. just ask my 3 press operators who got laid off last year.
im a diehard too, love the smell of ink and typewash, hell i even take tours of old letterpress shops on my days off. its all going away, all the rubber, gears, the squeaking.. slowly. replaced by microchips, static charges and software scripts.
the worst part is the "dumbing down" of your skills as you make the transition. i used to make sure all my output files were properly trapped and setup, now i barely give 2 shits about it as the rip make it look pretty regardless.
Quote from: gnubler on February 17, 2011, 10:32:19 AMQuote from: Farabomb on February 17, 2011, 10:29:06 AMMy head is going to be spinning soon with all the stuff I have to research.
Like your avatar?
Yep, Pretty much.
Quote from: Farabomb on February 17, 2011, 10:29:06 AMWe are looking at a used iGen3 with 150k impressions on it. I know nothing about them. Is that low or is it going to need a rebuild soon. My head is going to be spinning soon with all the stuff I have to research.
From my understanding, that is extremely low. Our Xerox guy services iGens (Ray Morgan), and sometimes the service takes a while, but otherwise they are solid, quality machines. Hell, we do close to 150k impressions a week on our old Canon iR110; I put over 60k on it just yesterday alone. We switch image loops around a 800k to 1 million.
It seems we are just looking to replace the 2 color AB Dick and they asked about the digital press but they really do not want a digital press for that kind of work. I can turn off the alarms now. Whew...but good luck Farabomb.
Quote from: Joe on February 17, 2011, 11:35:53 AMIt seems we are just looking to replace the 2 color AB Dick and they asked about the digital press but they really do not want a digital press for that kind of work. I can turn off the alarms now. Whew...but good luck Farabomb.
We're looking at dusting off the old Hamada and put it back into service... but the Boss is backing off a bit after the pressman told him he need new rollers for the Komori 26"
Instead of buying out some of our BC imprint jobs, I'm now running them on our little Xerox 4110.
Since the shakeup we may be loosing some iron and if the price is right we may get a digital machine. I honestly think it's a good idea even though I will be the one pulling my hair out. If we can offer more services to our customers we can also re-purpose some of our workers. They might not like it but it sure beats not getting check and looking for a job.