Converting an OKI C9800 into a Xante Ilumina?:)

[RafalWM]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone here knows more or less what it would take to get the Okidata printer working on thicker stock. I know it won't be an Ilumina (that was just for the thread title ), but I was wondering how I could play with the machine to tune it up a bit.
It's a used machine, that cost really little, so I'm willing to take risks. The thing is, it turned out today that I will be getting a much more professional production machine shortly and I would love to have this machine running somewhere near 500 gsm. Or at least over 400 without the wear it has on the drums etc now.
Please tell me your thought on this.

 

[andy1]

Hi,

Sorry I don't know about up-specing the c9800 but I'm looking into an es9410/es3640 which will compare to the c9800 quality wise (I presume). Can I ask if you run 400gsm regularly, and despite drum wear are there any quality issues? I'd be looking to buy the OKI on click charge so drums would be included but I am concerned about colour registration and print mottling.

If you could share your experience it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[RafalWM]

I used 350 matt on my unit, but it was a bit too much. The colors would come off if the coverage was heavy and the machine got quite a beating in the long run. With a pay per click contract you might run into trouble if the drums get ruined much faster than acording to the specs. They might even want to end the contract if they start losing money on your unit, so you have to keep that in mind too.
All in all it's an OK machine at best. The colors are nice, but I can imagine the cost per click will be higher than on a more productive machine.

 

[andy1]

Thanks, something I really need to run is ColorCopy 350gsm, it's a very smooth quite flexible board so my only concern is fusing, I doubt it'll ruin the drums due to it's smoothness. Can I ask which card you had trouble with? I've tried a 330gsm Ivory Board digital guaranteed by a manufacturer and it doesn't print on the Ilumina, even on the Ultra Heavy 3 setting.

The initial clicks are around double that of a Xerox or KM machine, however once you're running 3k they drop to only 50% more than Xerox/KM entry level machines so it's simply a matter of capital and capacity...where the OKI is 4x cheaper than a DC252 but still able to run 20k/month comfortably.

Thanks again,
Andrew

 

[RafalWM]

well I'm not sure if it was my unit or something common for these devices, but I had problems with gloss stock. I could never get a clear white background on gloss. It made marks on the prints. Especially on thicker stocks. I tried replacing a few things, but it didn't help much. Anyway, do you have an option to test out the paper you're interested in at the seller's shop or somewhere they can offer this to you?
Just remember, that there are reasons why the OKI unit is that much cheaper.

 

[easiprint]

that there are reasons why the OKI unit is that much cheaper.

Very true! I've just got out of a contract on an OKI C9650 after 12 months as the quality was just not up to scratch. We had a brand new machine installed on a service contract. We would have issues such as banding, poor colour, etc. Call out an engineer, and the engineer would just say 'well thats the best this machine is capable of'. Excellent machines for an office, but they are just not up to production standards in my opinion. We replaced it with a reconditioned Xerox DC250, which is in a completely different league, and was NOT a lot more to buy than the OKI was.

 

[RafalWM]

Very true! I've just got out of a contract on an OKI C9650 after 12 months as the quality was just not up to scratch. We had a brand new machine installed on a service contract. We would have issues such as banding, poor colour, etc. Call out an engineer, and the engineer would just say 'well thats the best this machine is capable of'. Excellent machines for an office, but they are just not up to production standards in my opinion. We replaced it with a reconditioned Xerox DC250, which is in a completely different league, and was NOT a lot more to buy than the OKI was.

and if you look around you can get a good used one on a pay per click contract. Much better option in my opinion.

 

[andy1]

Hi easiprint,

The es9410 I've been offered is 'ex-demo' meaning it could be anything from customer return to a true ex-demo machine, but either way the sales rep said the 9410 was designed with new toner, drums and a slower run speed to combat the banding and toner issues. I have to admit the samples I've seen are far better than the Ilumina samples, and my own Ilumina output (which is based on the c9600). Whether this lasts or not I don't know, it appears all digital equipment purchases include a degree of risk.

One major issue is toner scatter on glossy stocks, my printer (2006 Ilumina) started out perfectly but over the course of 2,000-3,000 prints it's reached the unsellable stage. I am having toner scatter on all medias, even ones that didn't have it before and I've replaced image drums. Can I ask if one of the items you replaced was the transfer belt? It's the only item I've yet to try and considering I had good output to begin with and the belt is now at 4% I'm betting it's the belt.

Speaking with KM their machines are dearer than Xerox but they also appear to be of better build quality. I have to keep reminding myself of the saying "you get what you pay for" and with the Xerox being substatially cheaper than the KM I'm wondering why.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[andy1]

Thanks Rafal,

I'm based in the UK and the market seems pretty dead-set on selling new items, there's no mention of reconditioned or used units on click charge, but I will definately look into it.

Andy

 

[RafalWM]

Can I ask if one of the items you replaced was the transfer belt? It's the only item I've yet to try and considering I had good output to begin with and the belt is now at 4% I'm betting it's the belt.

yes, I replaced the transfer belt and that helped out with the banding, but from what I've seen it gets used up much faster than the % you see.

 

[andy1]

Hi,

I'm getting banding on the background toner but not on print, but its the background toner itself I want to avoid, as it's happening on every type of paper/card it is out of spec, did the new belt not solve the toner scatter entirely?

Thanks,
Andy

 

[OkiTech]

Oki conversion

Oki conversion

Hi everyone. We had just converted Xerox Phaser 7400 in to OKI-ES3640 GA. We picked up an OKI ES-3640 GA with 1.2 million impressions which was working but it is a lot more that we'd like to have on machine for sale and Xerox Phaser 7400 with 270k, It did take a little more than I had expected - as far as things to change ( I thought it should be just a formatter - LOL) but machine works now as it should, nice and smooth. If you have an OKI running out of life, I think, phaser 7400 can be picked up with low count for very reasonable price and conversion takes (now when I know what is the deal) about 2 hrs...

 

[andywebb]

Converting Phaser 7400 to ES3640e

Converting Phaser 7400 to ES3640e

Hi UnlimitedBT

Very intrigued by you post re converting Phaser 7400 to ES3640e. We have one each of these that we use for short run paperback books. V interested in finding more about how you did this if you are able to share. Many thanks AW

 

[OkiTech]

Hi, sure I can share.
We had to swap the following: (pretty much everything except the engine itself)
Formatter board.
Engine control board.
Fittings for drums (little pieces of plastic)
LED writing heads
Toner cartridges has to be for ES-3640 from then on, But you can poor toner from remaining Xerox cartridges in to Oki as powder is the same.
Wiring is completely compatible.
Fuser is the same
Belt is the same

What is your idea, make 1 out of 2 or have 2 xeroxes or have 2 okis? I have about 4 Oki ES-3640 for sale, we also have 4 of lexmark X945e - same as Xerox Workcentre 7345 - as long as you don't need a thick cover printing, this will give you glossier print for a lot cheaper per page than Oki and it can do glossy paper as well.
I have the set of necessary items to make Oki out of xerox
I have a saddle-stitching finisher for oki if you need one
Where are you located? You can contact me directly [email protected]
Let me know.
Roman.