[Steve Chapman]

Hi all,

picked up a riso machine on ebay for £50 and just wondered whether if any of you use these regularly to produce leaflets etc and what's the best type of master to use.

i've run several attempts and often they come out very dark  and some smudgy!?

Also it shows you can reproduce photos, obviously in black but i would imagine this would be quite difficult to get good quality?

Is just more bold text the best way to go ?

would appreciate any comments from those that use such a machine

cheers
steve

[Mike Osbourne]

Ian Harper is the man to speak to. I've kept an eye out on ebay and they seem to go for 3-5 hundred so you got a bargain. How many copies/masters?

[Steve Chapman]

Mike,

its got 37,000 masters and 2 million copies on the clocks, so its done a fair few but was told it was only half way through its life so thought it was a good deal.

it all seems to work fine, just need to understand how to use it properly to get the best out of it!

it came with an additional new bottle of ink and roll of master paper as well so made it even better 

After being used to a normal printer i was amazed at how fast the machine is, ideal if you want to knock out 1000 leaflets very quickly.

cheers
steve

[*paul_moss]

Steve I have a Riso CR1610, a great machine, prints 120 A4 copies a minute.

[Mike Osbourne]

Steve

For that money it's worth a punt. You might get a million out of it without trouble.

I like the idea that you can just change one thing and really test 2 versions of a leaflet.

Blue is the colour apparently.

[Mike Osbourne]

Paul

Do you have a cheap source of A4. I was wondering what the breakeven is with one of these machines compared to say using printcarrier.

[Ian Gourlay]

Usually you use Riso Masters you shuld find a good price on ebay

I think they are designed to produce 2 million to 3 million  copies.


I had the use of one but to keep them going they need to be used regularly.

If you do not the Ink flow blocks causing terminal problems

Personally i think you should have got one for about £350 with less use you can get ones that have done 500K but you do need to have a trial run before you hand your cash over.


Repair costs are about £100 a visit but if ink flow is restricted it could be a problem

In the past 7 years we have sent three to the knackers yard


When working they produce copies fast

Picture reproduction can be good on newer models but requires skill  If you are doing  a decent size photo we found it better to run the paper through just doing the photo sepratley as it requred a diffrent setting

Ok to a head picture small in standard print run

You can get manuals on ebay

Paper jams can be a problem

We buy Colour paper from Viking but A4 white from wilkinson £1.99 a ream

Tried Tesco £1.79 but it jams. We have also used Vikings white  depending whats available in the shops.

If you want two colour or a diffrent Clour print you need a diffrent drum

To get Two colour you run red through first and then black

On the 15k machines you can do it in one go

[Mike Osbourne]

I bought some A4 from morrisons at about £1.75, it works fine in my laser printer. It's obviously not high white but is fine for leaflets.

[Steve Chapman]

Nice summary Ian,

  i went for the cheap riso , (its the tr1510) as i wasnt sure how much i would use it, but to be honest it seems a decent machine and is printing well, have just realised that you can adjust the scanning contrast and mine was well up high and printing really dark, have readjusted it and is producing much cleaner copies now 

I was finding whenever i had leaflets made up i wanted to change them or found they were not working well before they ran out, i still have 10,000 of the last lot, but really did not like them so haven't bothered using, at least this way i can change them at will and not have any waste!


Am trying to jiggle about a bit to reproduce a decent photo, but i think this may be asking a bit much 

regards
steve

[Ian Gourlay]

If its working you got a good buy

Stick to small face photo.


Works good on Pink Flyer  or letter type leaflet

[Mike Osbourne]

Just picked up a Riso today. Engineer went through everything with me and even got some extra ink and master roll thrown in.

They sell quite a lot of old Risos on ebay and are really professional.

MURODIGITAL

Weston super Mare.

[Steve Chapman]

Nice one Mike,

I'm getting on with mine fairly well now after tinkering with it for a while, definitley the way to go to produce cheap leaflets for yourself!

I had a good idea today ( i dont get many  ) to print on the reverse side of some leaflets i had made up some time ago with a special offer etc, it means i can get some use out of the leaflets but add something extra to get the customer to bite. & the beauty is i can change it as many times i like

I had 10, 000 left over so has to be worth a go,


hope you get plenty of use out of it !

the only problem i'm getting is to find someone reliable enough to deliver them, who dont want £10 an hour  :


regards
steve

[Mike Osbourne]

Steve,

Glad you are getting on with it, I can't believe how quick they fire out copies 

Good idea about on the back, with my laser printer I do a batch then localise the back with testimonials from the same area.

 Mike

[Mike Osbourne]

I've been faffing for the last hour to get a half dcent image on my leaflets. What setting do you guys use. It's a CR1610.

I'm not expecting anything amazing it's just there's very little contrast on any setting, text fine.

[Joe H]

Mike, why not ring your supplier. Been on their website and they seem a helpul crew.

[Mike Osbourne]

Joe,

They are helpful. One lady there is a good Client of mine, but is suggesting a maintenance and support contract which I'd like to avoid.

The other is a potential Client and is the service engineer if you get my drift.  Unfortunately I have lost his mobile number already (which was in the manual) :

No probs, I will cal them tomorrow.

[ianharper]

Steve

This is the best value money you will ever spend. They take some getting used to but they are worth every penny. I spent many thousands on photocopiers over the years and compared with a riso they just can’t match them.

Forget photos. Use large text in place. As you have found out older riso can’t give poor quality on a photo. This just means you having to think a little more about layout and how you use your headlines and subs headlines.

If you really want to make a riso work look out for a paper folding machine that will do A3 then if you use any leaflet destitution companies the smaller leaflets will go inside your a3

Respect

Ian Harper

[Mike Osbourne]

Ian

It was on the back of some of your threads I opted for a Riso as I think Steve has done so thanks.

I have seen pink flyers with far better pics, unless they have better dpi.

Anyway just knocked out 2x250. ones got a marginal before and after pic, the other all text.

Cheers

[Ian Gourlay]

Mike

To get a quarter decent photo you need to run photo through machine first on a diffrent setting to the text.

All you will get is a reasonable face shot small,

Newer Riso have improved

[Mike Osbourne]

Ian

Thanks for that and I read your post a few back which I missed.

Cheers