[RESOLVED] lowest first page out time

Any one out there familiar with the first page out concept?

I noticed it is not very often advertised out there, even with really fast printers.

First page out is the amount of time the printer takes to print the fist page of a print job after sitting idle.

I have an unusual application, in a manufacturing process where I need an operator to insert a certificate in a box as a product is being made. It takes about 4 to 5 secs to stuff the certificates in each box and the certs must match the product.

Each certificate will be a new, separate print job, therefore the printer needs to have an exeptionally low first page out value.

Most 40 ppm+ printers have a 8 to 9 sec value, therefore I am thinking of using a dot-matrix, but its hard to find a dot-matrix with good cut-sheet handling capabilities.

Any ideas out there?

thanks,

Mike



[This message has been edited by mikevm (edited March 13, 2001).]

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<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by mikevm:
Any one out there familiar with the first page out concept?

I noticed it is not very often advertised out there, even with really fast printers.

First page out is the amount of time the printer takes to print the fist page of a print job after sitting idle.

I have an unusual application, in a manufacturing process where I need an operator to insert a certificate in a box as a product is being made. It takes about 4 to 5 secs to stuff the certificates in each box and the certs must match the product.

Each certificate will be a new, separate print job, therefore the printer needs to have an exeptionally low first page out value.

Most 40 ppm+ printers have a 8 to 9 sec value, therefore I am thinking of using a dot-matrix, but its hard to find a dot-matrix with good cut-sheet handling capabilities.

Any ideas out there?

thanks,

Mike

[This message has been edited by mikevm (edited March 13, 2001).]</font>

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Laser printers are usually fine as long as you print fast enough to keep it from going into standby. Once they are warmed up. Where I used to work, the HP laser printer would sit for at least 30 seconds before it idled down.

If you want to go the route of Dot Matrix...check out the Okidata ML320T. Not sure if this is exactly what you need but it is a decent printer.
https://forums.windrivers.com/

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One of my mentors called it "click to clunk" & that the rated speed only menat that you could get x + 1 pages out 1 minute after the first one.

If your a large concern, the manufacter will probably be happy to allow you a test model.

Laser issue: the speed of the print engine isn't critical to your task, the format of the jobstream & the supporting hardware is. It Is possible that you could test these also. My 1st suggestion is to find several of the machine that might already be available to you & bring the results while shopping.

Thanks for the info. Anything is useful with this problem.

Some printer vendors are sooo dense, they just don't get it. Most people out there recommend laser, but I 'm afraid it just won't cut it. Even the fastest printers have first page out times of 8secs...

Our production occurs in cyeles, therefore the printer will return to "idle" time way too many times during the day.

I tested an OKI ML 590, and I can get it to spit the 1st page fast enough, however the problem is that I am dealing with large quantities of 8 -1/2 x 11 cut sheets.

I am only printing 5 or 6 fields of info total, so dot matrix might cut-it...
Someone mentoned high-speed serial injkets to me, who makes those?



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More Info,

I refined my question as I am searching for more printers....


I am looking for a printer to fulfill an unusual application, in a manufacturing process where I need an operator to insert a quality certificate in a box as a product is being made. It takes the operator less than 4 seconds to stuff the certificates in each box. It is a pharmaceutical-type application, therefore we must ensure that each certificate is synchronized with the current manufactured product. We will be using a custom [WindowsNT based] application to track the product and print the individual [cut-sheet] quality certificates. Each certificate will be a new, separate print job, therefore the printer needs to have an exceptionally low first page out value and quick, reliable cut-sheet storage and handling capabilities. The certificates will be pre-printed forms and we intend to send about 4 to 6 fields of plain text data and one registered mark to the printer.

I have investigated and tested a lot of the new 32 and 40 ppm+ laser and inkjet printers. Unfortunately most of the high performance models have an 8 to 9 sec first page-out value, and my environment doesn't allow to have that much time between when the job is queued and the certificate is printed. I only have a few seconds...

I am thinking the dot-matrix based technology may be the way to go.

Any Ideas out there?

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Plug and Play
or
Plug and Pray?

If the dot matrix can churn out pages that fast, then sure.

To give you some perspective, my office is looking at new photocopiers and the first page out time on those is about 6-8 seconds. And these are not cheap photocopiers, either!

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Tech: "BECAUSE YOU'RE TOO STUPID TO OWN A COMPUTER!"

I rememeber the days of $3k Lasers with font boards installed in the PC. This was the beginning of the end for Daisy Wheel. The fastest one I knew of I think was called Primages about 100cps.

Try Panansonic and Epson for sheet feeders, allow Oki has a much better abbusive environment track record.

Bursting even the 'Kleen-Edge' page would take too long. so formfeeds probably won't do, unless the req can be modified so that it isn't a cut sheet that is inserted.

I found a printer out there, a Tally which has a 4 second first page out time.
Its the tally t9132

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Plug and Play
or
Plug and Pray?