You will not find a machine that can do hole-punch/collate/stapling under a thousand.

If you can find ways around these features though, your cost will be minimum.

Duplex is doable for consumer-level laser jets. However, you'll need to research reviews to find one that works consistently.
Collate seems to be your biggest concern. Luckily, that's something that you can set software-side rather than relying on printer features. It won't work as well as a hardware solution, but it'll save you a few thousand dollars.
Get your top student to help you with stapling/hole punching

If the above caveats are acceptable, you can probably find a machine that fit your budget <$500 and $15/1k pages. I am a fan of HP and to a lesser extend Brother machines, mostly because their ink can be bought cheaply on the web (~$15/cartridge). When you have time for it, just wait for a deal to pop up on http://slickdeals.net on laserjets.

[edit] Here's one that may work right now
Brother HL-2270DW http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3148112
ink ($14/each for 4) http://www.meritline.com/brother-tn450-toner-compatible-high-yield---p-65640.aspx

micronesia

United States24612 Posts

September 15 2011 09:59 GMT

#23

On September 15 2011 11:59 Primadog wrote:
You will not find a machine that can do hole-punch/collate/stapling under a thousand.

I'd be willing to pay a couple of thousand.

If you can find ways around these features though, your cost will be minimum.

Duplex is doable for consumer-level laser jets. However, you'll need to research reviews to find one that works consistently.
Collate seems to be your biggest concern. Luckily, that's something that you can set software-side rather than relying on printer features. It won't work as well as a hardware solution, but it'll save you a few thousand dollars.

The collate would need to physically offset each packet to make it easier to staple them.... a cheap machine won't do that obviously. Stapling packets from a big stack of printed papers really sucks if the papers haven't been offset.

Get your top student to help you with stapling/hole punching

Not an option.

As I said... I need a decent machine.

OpticalShot

Canada6330 Posts

September 15 2011 14:17 GMT

#24

Never knew that office printers were this expensive. With the trend of continual education budget cuts, it's no wonder teachers have a hard time fighting for photocopying.

Why not try to get funding from the school (/board) for this? Is there an option to count your monthly lease payments towards final purchase, if you decide to do that later? I have a feeling that at least a couple tech-savvy staff members (including yourself? hmmm) will learn enough about the machine in a couple months that you won't need servicing plans afterwards. Then again, $146/month for 5 years (assuming fixed) compared to $5766 one-time pay seems like a decent deal, especially considering the fact that dumb old teachers will fuck up the machine in the early months of usage.

If you're going to strictly limit this to personal use, I'd definitely look for lower rates than those.

Oh, and yeah, never go ink. Definitely avoid ink. Laser all the way.

deathly rat

United Kingdom911 Posts

September 15 2011 18:05 GMT

#25

Whatever you're teaching, do it in a way that doesn't require you to print thousands of copies.

or

Plan all the copying you'll need for next term and come in for a couple of days outside term time to get it all done.

Buying your own personal copy machine seems ridiculous

micronesia

United States24612 Posts

September 15 2011 22:19 GMT

#26

On September 15 2011 23:17 OpticalShot wrote:
Never knew that office printers were this expensive. With the trend of continual education budget cuts, it's no wonder teachers have a hard time fighting for photocopying.

Yeah, although it's always a problem to some extent, even when times are 'good.'

Why not try to get funding from the school (/board) for this?

Not going to happen.

Is there an option to count your monthly lease payments towards final purchase, if you decide to do that later?

Yes you can buy after the lease.

I have a feeling that at least a couple tech-savvy staff members (including yourself? hmmm) will learn enough about the machine in a couple months that you won't need servicing plans afterwards. Then again, $146/month for 5 years (assuming fixed) compared to $5766 one-time pay seems like a decent deal, especially considering the fact that dumb old teachers will fuck up the machine in the early months of usage.

Well it would be my personal machine so nobody else would use it. Keep in mind that 5766 quote is not including any service or parts.

If you're going to strictly limit this to personal use, I'd definitely look for lower rates than those.

Yeah this is too much for me to use just for copies for my own class.

On September 16 2011 03:05 deathly rat wrote:
Whatever you're teaching, do it in a way that doesn't require you to print thousands of copies.

This is a good suggestion. I've already cut back on using photocopies as much as is reasonably possible given the many circumstances surrounding my job. I could probably find some more ways to cut back but I still need a fair bit either way so the problem doesn't go away.

Plan all the copying you'll need for next term and come in for a couple of days outside term time to get it all done.

Another reasonable suggestion although it's mainly viable if you either A) always do a ton of work over the summer or B) have a light schedule so you have time to get way ahead with your planning. Both of these don't apply to me and have some other drawbacks that I won't go into.

Buying your own personal copy machine seems ridiculous

Agreed.

The past two days the machine has been working!! Hooray.

KurtistheTurtle

United States1966 Posts

September 16 2011 00:04 GMT

#27

heres an idea, maybe viable maybe not

take a copy machine/maintenance class (if they exist) or find some way to gain this skill
-repair schools for extra $$
-have your own
-(copy for other people for $$ if they reimburse time?)