Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

[i-have-fax-problems]

Can you recommend it?
Thank you.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

I have tested Katun toner extensively for the 3551ci. No problems. But it is on the expensive side as compatibles go.

[i-have-no-clue]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

I have a customer who has two P3155 with "click contracts". A few month ago (because of "save money reasons") they got Katun toner instead of original kyo toner. Now one of the two makes stripes and smearing over the whole page I've never seen before on a kyo printer. You know, a experienced technician knows exactly the kind of stripes and smearing he can encounter, I guess. I'm really not sure if the problem is the cleaning blade/drum or the developer box. I removed the cleaning blade and cleaned the edge of it. Then it was ok several hundred pages. Today the customer called again. Same smearing.
By the way does anyone have a list which Maintenance Kit/Fuser Unit/Developer Box/Drum unit fits in which Ecosys M3xxx and P3xxx. I've googled and ordered a MK 3160 and the drum unit is wrong. I could swear M3160 is correct google said on several sites.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

In my experience, it usually takes running thru about 4 or 5 low quality reman carts before the problem manifests itself on the page. That's mainly because most Kyocera reman carts don't have any developer mixed in with the toner. That's not to say that it can't happen much sooner.

[Tonerkiller]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

Katun sucks!!!!!

[PrintWhisperer]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

First off, until the warranty is up (1yr A4/3yr A3) it's not worth it. Beyond that:


Four factors come to mind when considering the efficacy of 'compatible' toners in Kyocera machines:

1) Particle size: Kyocera has continually reduced the average particle size in the toner for more complete fill using less toner. All the engineering from cleaning to bias voltages etc are designed around this toner.
Aftermarket toners need to ensure a small particle size, and small variance in the sizes of those particles.

2) Additives: Kyocera includes additives designed to prevent drum fogging (ASi machines in particular)

3) Carrier: As previously pointed out, many Kyocera devices use pre-mixed carrier in their toner so the balance of the supply mix is crucial.

4) Fusing temps: All of the above can lead to fusing problems and add to that whether the 'compatible' has a good melt-point.


The real question is:
Whatever the problem you might have, is it worth it to risk it? Are the potential risks problematic for you?
Cost of extra service call
Cost of damaged reputation
VS.
Cost of billing customer for toner which, if you have a problem, someone else has to deal with (OEM)?

Toner inclusive or not, you are always billing for toner. Whether your customer gets to choose is up to you under a service contract.

For large accounts with cheap printers on Managed Services it can make sense to use aftermarket stuff. For that one-off you'd have to make a special trip for or complains alot...not so much.

I can imagine it changes with each customer.

[BBM]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

We do not use compatible toner but would it matter if its a high volume machine compared a low volume machine .

[i-have-no-clue]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

Thank you all,

but what to do when you have got smearing problems with non original toner?
Do you need a new drum (does the surface of the drum change somehow?), new developer box and and original toner.
What can I do, to repair it.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

The truth is that most techs that work for an authorized dealer have little to no experience with compatible toners and they've been told over and over not to use them.


It's not a tech's job to test aftermarket toner and it takes a lot of testing to know if it's good or bad. At one time I was in the aftermarket toner business and there is good aftermarket toner out there. Toner isn't magic and it can be reproduced if a company has the technolgy.

With that said, 90% of aftermarket toner is bad and it fucks it up for the good companies.

[i-have-fax-problems]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

Thank you

how can I repair the printer then when having used non origianal toner and it makes stripes.
Replace drum and use original toner?

[copier tech]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

First off, until the warranty is up (1yr A4/3yr A3) it's not worth it. Beyond that:


Four factors come to mind when considering the efficacy of 'compatible' toners in Kyocera machines:

1) Particle size: Kyocera has continually reduced the average particle size in the toner for more complete fill using less toner. All the engineering from cleaning to bias voltages etc are designed around this toner.
Aftermarket toners need to ensure a small particle size, and small variance in the sizes of those particles.

2) Additives: Kyocera includes additives designed to prevent drum fogging (ASi machines in particular)

3) Carrier: As previously pointed out, many Kyocera devices use pre-mixed carrier in their toner so the balance of the supply mix is crucial.

4) Fusing temps: All of the above can lead to fusing problems and add to that whether the 'compatible' has a good melt-point.


The real question is:
Whatever the problem you might have, is it worth it to risk it? Are the potential risks problematic for you?
Cost of extra service call
Cost of damaged reputation
VS.
Cost of billing customer for toner which, if you have a problem, someone else has to deal with (OEM)?

Toner inclusive or not, you are always billing for toner. Whether your customer gets to choose is up to you under a service contract.

For large accounts with cheap printers on Managed Services it can make sense to use aftermarket stuff. For that one-off you'd have to make a special trip for or complains alot...not so much.

I can imagine it changes with each customer.

^^^ Read this carefully all true. ^^^

Compatible toners are simply not worth the saving.

It WILL shorten your drums life period.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

^^^ Read this carefully all true. ^^^

Compatible toners are simply not worth the saving.

It WILL shorten your drums life period.

And you know this how? Have you spent the time to test every toner out there? Doubtful. In my experience (I was in the aftermarket toner business for over a decade), most techs or endusers try a couple of different brands and have a bad experience and assume that all aren't worth it.

I know for a fact tht there's good toner out there because I've spent the time to test them. I had a test machine for every brand that I rebuilt and ran so many pages thru these machines. I wouldn't paint with such a broad brush unless you can say that you've tested all (or most) of the aftermarket toner.


Now with that said, everyone should stay away from aftermarket toner if you're not willing to do your own testing.

I've heard all this stuff from techs before. I know better.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

Just a little side note:

If you've ever seen chemically grown toner produced by HP, it's pretty amazing. The reason that it's chemically grown is because the particles are much smaller than can be produced by grinding the toner or pulverizing it. The size of the particles are also much more consistent because they have better control by growing it.

If you put it in a bottle, it looks like liquid. That's how fine it is. The particles don't get any smaller than that. I don't care what brand it is.


Anyway, some of the aftermarket companies invested millions of dollars in the technology to reproduce this toner. My old company rebuilt thousands of these cartriedges over the years and sold them to places like Stennis Space Center (NASA) because they wouldn't buy anything but remans.

[i-have-fax-problems]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

But please what I have to replace to get the printer working.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Kyocera Printers and Katun Toner - What are your experiences?

But please what I have to replace to get the printer working.

If you used bad toner, the chances are that it trashed the DV unit. I'd try running all the toner out of the DV units to see if that clears it up. Clean the drums. If that doesn't work, you'll have to replace them.

Are you a tech or end user?