Full Bleed on a C900

[Shadow1]

Has anybody had any luck getting a C900 to print full bleed? I'll settle for a 3 edge full bleed.

Ricoh keeps saying it won't do it: Print oversize and trim down. My customer keeps saying there's a mode for it in the Fiery, and they use special stock on a certain job so trimming is not an option, so it needs to work like they said it would.

[FASTSTI]

print shops suck #1 but more interesting is this article I found, so it must be capable of doing it Here is a quote from it
" the RICOH Pro C900 will provide expanded capabilities that include faster
turnaround on high volume applications, and the ability to produce
cost-effective, full-color, full-bleed work on a variety of substrates. "

Sir Speedy Selects RICOH Pro C900 for King of Prussia Center | Reuters

[FASTSTI]

A co worker is telling me that you can only do on 11X17 full bleed but it needs to be run on 12x18 or 12x18 on 13x19

*Also look on page 398 of the operations manual it mentions editing the borders for a full bleed no margin. The manual can be downloaded from this address you need to have access to the site if you dont already do so.

http://www.rfg-esource.ricoh-usa.com/stellent/groups/public/documents/service_manuals/rfg037355.pdf

Someone correct me if I am wrong on the sizes my co worker told me.

[unisys12]

A co worker is telling me that you can only do on 11X17 full bleed but it needs to be run on 12x18 or 12x18 on 13x19

*Also look on page 398 of the operations manual it mentions editing the borders for a full bleed no margin. The manual can be downloaded from this address you need to have access to the site if you dont already do so.

http://www.rfg-esource.ricoh-usa.com/stellent/groups/public/documents/service_manuals/rfg037355.pdf

Someone correct me if I am wrong on the sizes my co worker told me.

I was also told this a few weeks ago from our regional solutions rep, while we were talking about this monster. My understanding is that Ricoh calls three covered edges as "Full Bleed" on all their products. They maintain that at least one edge has to be free of toner to reduce jams and such. And I can understand that. And I also understand the customers frustrations when the marketing dept says the product will produce full bleed, but only "their" definition of full bleed.

Looks like your only option is to contact your regional rep and let him take it from there.

I will probably never get to work on one cause theres not much of a market up here for that product, but would love to get my hands dirty on one.

[apache_cat]

Hi Shadow,
In the postscript driver under the media tab, paper size, it gives you full bleed paper size options. Not sure if this is 3 edge or full bleed but worth trying.

[Paper_path]

"Full Bleed"

As far as I understand it, there is no laser printer that will bleed over all four sides of the paper. There needs to be a void on the leading edge to allow for seperation. Most printers that advertise full bleed say it because it does oversized and custom size prints, such as 9x12 or 12x18. They do sell punch-out paper for doing this that you run as 9x12 then snap the borders off. That is if you want the full page bleed.

Not sure if the bleed option on the driver will print the 3 edges over or not. Also, remember that the file needs to be oversized too in order to overlap the edges, such as a 9x12 document to do full bleed on 8.5x11.

Usually the problem that you run into with the customers is that they have a misconception as to what doing a full-bleed print involves. Most think it is just something blindly done by the print, but in fact is something that involves the document, the software creating it, the printer and the end user. Full bleed is a process, not a sole function of the printer.

[Shadow1]

I am the regional rep. Or as close to one as we have anyway - I'm the high volume "expert" in our district, and I occasionally get calls from techs in surrounding districts

Ricoh always used to have an option for 3 edge full bleed on their older machines, and I have a couple of Pro B/W machines doing a 4 edge bleed (yes it does run dirty and cause problems with toner buildup on the fuser guides, Hot roller wraps, etc.) but the C900 won't do it bleed any edges by default.

Thought about specifying a custom oversize paper, but that's not an ideal solution, and would probably only be able to bleed the 2 sides successfully - I don't really expect it to bleed the leading edge, and trying to oversize the tail slightly might cause jams, and would certainly play with front to back alignment on duplex.

The Full Bleed setting on the print drivers and in the Fiery appearantly only registers the page on oversize paper to be trimmed properly.

[Shadow1]

Update - I have a solution for this finally. Firmware on my C900's were updated by @remote to System Ver 2.5 - not sure if this is on any previous versions, because I sure didn't see it before. Set SP2-111-001 thru 004 to 0. These are the default voids for all 4 edges - you might want to leave the leading edge alone, but we tested it with a blackout sheet and it ran no problem... it is an oil type fuser after all.

[msaeger]

It's good to know what fixed it. I have places doing full bleed on up to 12x18 I never had to help them figure out how to do it so I don't really know how

[Shadow1]

They're probably printing on 13x19 and trimming it down.

I guess I should note this only turns off the margins, there is no real bleed over the edge so alignment and registration errors will show. - we saw a very slight skew problem when printing a blackout. Now I have to fix that...

[msaeger]

No I am pretty sure they were printing on 12x18 and not trimming. I found out they were doing it when they called asking why they could do it on 12x18 and not 13x19

[Shadow1]

The machine can handle 13x19 paper, but the max print dimension is 12.6x18.9

I wonder if your customer had some trick to make it work. Specifying an odd paper size? I'd hate to think there was a solution all along, and Ricoh tech services didn't know about it, or wouldn't tell me about it for some reason when I asked.

Anyway, the SP mode adjustments make it a proper fix. You can specify a full bleed paper size in the fiery settings and it actually does it. Miracle.