Copier Lingo: Bypass Tray

Bypass Tray
The short, straight-paper path of a bypass tray reduces the risk of jamming and allows you to copy directly onto originals - such as colored paper, odd-sized paper, or card stock - that either can't be fed or are inconvenient to feed from the traditional copy paper tray inside a copier. Bypass trays can typically hold anywhere from one to 100 sheets. They are often used in color copiers for printing onto covers or transparencies. (Bypass trays that can hold more than one sheet are known as stackable bypass trays).

Digital Multifunction Copier Capabilities

Capabilities that used to be expensive or simply not available are now standard on today's digital multifunction devices. Remember that you can upgrade many of these features later - if you choose the right copier.

Some machines can be upgraded with a "plug and play" type of upgrade, while others require more extensive hardware fixes. If you are considering adding printing or faxing modules later, ask about the specifics of the upgrade process.

Printing
Add a printer module and network card to a digital copier and it can double as an office laser printer, working at the same speed it makes copies.

A copier can allow your employees to produce dozens of stapled copies of a five-page, two-sided proposal - without leaving their desks. Most offices can benefit from using a copier as a printer as per-page costs can be as little as 20% of laser printer printing costs

Most copiers run standard networking protocols, but you still need to make sure the model you choose is compatible with your network. Involving your IT department in this aspect of the copier purchase decision upfront can save you significant headaches later.

Faxing
With the addition of a fax module, you can send and receive faxes through the copier. You can easily send multi-page faxes using the document feeder, or you can use the copier glass to fax single pages or parts of books or catalogs. Incoming faxes printed as they're received, sometimes into a separate output tray. With a network interface, users can even send faxes from their computers.

Image editing
Digital color copiers can edit your documents while duplication is happening. This can include automatic page numbering, adding watermarks such as "confidential" or "copy", or adding date stamps. They can rotate scanned images to match the orientation of the available paper supply, saving on wasted time and paper from unanticipated errors.

They can also combine images in creative ways, such as copying a two-sided original - say, a check - onto one page, or reducing and combining originals to put 2, 4, or 8 pages onto one.

Stackless duplexing
Digital copiers with enough memory can support stackless duplexing by storing each side of the original page in memory, then printing both sides of the copy. This means the number of two-sided copies you make is no longer limited by the capacity of a duplex tray. You will get your duplexed copies much faster, too.
Automatic sizing

Digital copiers usually offer an automatic sizing function on their machines. This enables the copier to note the dimensions of your original document and adjust itself using preset reduction/enlargement settings, even if your copying paper is a different size than your original.

Automatic shut-off
Almost all copiers now have an automatic shut-off option - it saves energy and decreases wear on a copier by turning the machine off if it has not been used for a set period of time.

Security
Many digital copiers allow you to require that users enter a code before they can make copies. This provides a level of security - preventing unauthorized usage - as well as allowing you to analyze current usage patterns by department. Some machines can also hold faxes or network documents in memory until the correct code is entered, then print them. This prevents confidential documents from being left in the output tray for any passerby to view.

Content Courtesy of BuyerZone

Copier Lingo: Zoom

Zoom
Reduces or enlarges your copies within a certain range, such as from 50 percent to 200 percent. Digital copiers can zoom as high as 400 percent to 800 percent and shrink as low as 25 percent.

Copier Lingo: Copies Per Minute

Copies Per Minute (CPM)
The number of 8 1/2 x 11 inch pages a copier can output per minute. Most color copiers list four CPM speeds: black and white, one color, two-color, and four-color. Four-color speeds are the slowest, typically ranging from 3 to 10 CPM except on high-end machines (which can run as fast as 40 CPM).

Copier Lingo: Stackless Duplexing

Stackless Duplexing
A type of duplexing (making two-sided copies) that keeps the original document as an image in memory rather than physically in a tray. Instead of keeping a stack of one-sided copies until the copier is ready to copy on to their second sides, stackless duplexing lets you make as many duplex copies as you want, without being limited to the number of sheets a duplexing tray can hold at a time. Also known as trayless duplexing.

Copier Lingo: Sorter

Sorter
A series of horizontal bins near the output tray of a copier. The bins move up and down the side of the copier to collate pages in the order that they are outputted from the machine. Sorters are also referred to as finishers.

Stapler/Sorter
A sorter that staples collated documents.

Three-Hole Punching
Some sorters, often referred to as finishers, will three-hole punch collated and stapled copies.

Copier Lingo: Scan Once/Print Many

Scan Once/Print Many
The ability to produce copies from scanned images held in memory. This feature saves on unnecessary handling of original documents and allows users to leave the copier, originals in hand, while the job is being completed. Not available with all digital copiers.

Copier Lingo: Raster Image Processor

Raster Image Processor (RIP)
Used to attach a copier to a computer network, a RIP converts color files into printing instructions for the copier. Also known as a color server or a print controller.

Copier Lingo: Recirculating Automatic Document Feeder

Recirculating Automatic Document Feeder (RADF)
An automatic document feeder that can flip the original document over to copy its backside. If you only have an automatic document feeder (ADF), you can copy a two-sided document, but the copies will be on two different sheets of paper.

Copier Lingo: OHC Mode

OHC Mode
Allows color copiers to reproduce onto transparencies. OHC mode typically runs slower than regular color copying to give the toner time to fuse to the plastic sheets.

Copier Lingo: Memory

Memory
A hardware component that stores data such as scanned pages. Digital copiers require memory to perform certain functions, such as scanning documents, utilizing scan once/print many, or faxing. Different functions require different amounts of memory.

Color Copier vs. Digital Copier

Content Courtesy of http://articlesadv.com
Article By Tony Fliven

Many business professionals think that the days of the copier are over. When you reflect upon how far multifunctional copiers have come, unless you print all the time, you can probably do without these items. However, if you have a large office, you should consider either an HP Digital Copier or the HP Color Copier. Both of these items run on elevated quality HP inkjet cartridges.

Now, it's a great advantage to know these two products overlap in "great quality. Many of the copiers marketed by HP are done so under the banner of both color and digital. HP copiers are an easy fit inside anyone's office and quicker than a track star. They also use very little ink, so the purchase of inkjet cartridges will likely last you quite some time. Now that's some great information! It's rare that a printer use less ink, we all know that's how they make their money, right?

Their are some differences too, the copiers sold under the color title tend to be a bit larger, a bit slower and a bit fuzzier. The digital copiers don't have as many problems, but they also tend to be more expensive. If you are in an office that does enough copying that you need a standalone model but you aren't copying anything that is in any great rush, go with the older color copier models.

Many of today's HP Digital Copiers are surprisingly small. When most of us think of copiers, we think of giant machines that take up a quarter of a room. However, HP has done great job of sizing their copiers down without sacrificing quality. The clarity on the HP Copier is excellent and it's compatible with your home printers. You won't be subjected to extra cost or any extra hassle, either.

Copier Lingo: Four-Color Printing

Four-Color Printing
Uses cyan, magenta, yellow, and black to create all colors of the spectrum. Also known as CMYK printing. Virtually all color copiers use four-color printing.

Copier Lingo: First-Copy Speed

First-Copy Speed
Shows how quickly a copier can print the first page of a document. First-copy speed is a good indicator of how fast the copier is for businesses using the machine on a walk-up basis, since most people copy only one or two sheets at a time.

Sorting and Finishing

Digital copiers can sort copied sets electronically without the use of sorter bins.

Instead of separate bins, the copies are placed in a single tray at a right angle or offset from each other, allowing you to easily identify where one set ends and another begins. Bin-free sorting allows you to make unlimited sets at one time, rather than only as many sets as you have sorter bins.

You may want a finisher if you are frequently going to copy many sets of multi-page documents. The most familiar type of finisher is the automatic stapler, which can be a huge time-saver. More advanced versions include three-hole punches, saddle stitch binding, folding, and more. Finishers are optional on many machines, and usually carry an additional cost.

Need a finisher? Please call Progressive Copier Systems (619) 593-1000 for all your copier needs!