[Nhcoll-l] HONEYWELL, PX940 PRINTER, VERIFIER W/PERPETUAL LIC.

[Bentley, Andrew Charles]

Doug

In answer to your question about supplies, I get the impression that the ribbon pricing from Alpha Systems is pretty standard.  The SDR5+ ribbon is a specialty item that is not easy to source from traditional vendors.  The media on the other hand is another story.  Alpha Systems has been fairly cagey about the makeup of the media.  All we know is that it is matt spun bound polyester.  I have tried sourcing it from other vendors without much luck and when I have found it they are unable to supply it in the 4 inch wide variety that we need without additional cost.  I must admit that I have not tried extremely hard to source other vendors as we have been very happy with the service we have received from Alpha Systems.

Andy
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Andy Bentley
Ichthyology Collection Manager
University of Kansas
Biodiversity Institute
Dyche Hall
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Fax: (785) 864-5335<tel:%28785%29%20864-5335>
Email: abentley at ku.edu<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258
http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu<http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu/>
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From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Douglas Yanega
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2022 10:51 AM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] HONEYWELL, PX940 PRINTER, VERIFIER W/PERPETUAL LIC.


A model no one has mentioned (perhaps very few institutions use one aside from us and the AMNH) is the SATO M-84Pro.

This machine is very old, very clunky, requires very old software to run (we have a dedicated Windows 2000 machine, without which we can't interface with it), and is astonishingly slow. We use it to print barcode labels for specimens, and it prints 13 labels in a row each iteration. Each iteration takes ~100 seconds. That's something like 7 or 8 labels a minute, and we often print thousands of labels in one job, so it sometimes prints all day long to finish a job. It uses datamax rolls/ribbons ("Datamax 4x500 poly tag continuous"), which we have been sourcing from Alpha Systems (alphasystemsva.com).

The plus side is that it is very low-tech, and rarely has need of any form of maintenance. It's nearly 20 years old, and the few problems we've had with it were all something we were able to fix ourselves.

I keep expecting it to die, and I do read threads here regarding other printers, planning for the eventuality of replacing it, but it hasn't happened yet. Perhaps the one thing I'd be curious about is whether there are other places besides Alpha Systems where folks have found the pricing significantly better for the same printing supplies, since it looks like our printer uses the same rolls and ribbons that many others are using. It's been a long time since we've needed to re-order, but it's in the foreseeable future.

Peace,

--

Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum

Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega

phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)

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