OKI Consumables a Year After the Pullout.

[gregbatch]

It's been a little more than a year since OKI pulled out from the Americas. Has anyone seen difficulty (beyond typical post-covid issues) in getting consumables? Have supplies substantially increased in cost (disproportional to current inflation)? I noticed that IntoPrint consumables are substantially higher than OKI, even though it's the same machine. I assume that toners are chipped for IntoPrint, or dealers wouldn't need to sell both.

There has recently been what seems a flood of OKI printers in the used market which leads to these questions.

(And I still don't understand why adding the 5th toner unit triples the price of the printer.)

 

[Shawnd]

I am still able to get toner and supplies as of today for my OKI 931e, not had any issues with backorders, I usually get them in 2days from my order date. I am going to try and run it as long as I can, I have been eyeing some on ebay for a potential backup/parts machine but nothing close enough to make it worth it has popped up yet.

I don't have any idea about the intoprint situation.

I am hoping to hold out long enough that a lower priced HP FI-1000 printhead system will be released, or maybe pickup a used 1175p.

 

[gregbatch]

I am still able to get toner and supplies as of today for my OKI 931e, not had any issues with backorders, I usually get them in 2days from my order date. I am going to try and run it as long as I can, I have been eyeing some on ebay for a potential backup/parts machine but nothing close enough to make it worth it has popped up yet.

I don't have any idea about the intoprint situation.

I am hoping to hold out long enough that a lower priced HP FI-1000 printhead system will be released, or maybe pickup a used 1175p.

Good to hear. I was concerned when I saw all of the OKIs hitting the market. IntoPrint is the (1 of 2 that I know of) official importer of OKI (Powered by OKI) equipment. Imaging Supplies Warehouse is the other (T-shirt Transfers). It is all private label in the Americas now. IntoPrint is also the importer of OKI 9XXX consumables.

I too would love to find a HP system in a more affordable package. Xante had the Rocket, but abandoned the project after a "poor launch" (no pun intended) which would have been in the middle of COVID best I can tell. Not sure that was a sound business decision. They were targeting $50k for that. Still up there, but a good chunk less than the 1175p. Video of the Rocket: Xanté launches their new full color specialty printing solution based on HP FI-1000

Maybe if enough people ask about it they will consider a relaunch.

 

[Shawnd]

I am not a Xante fan, they would price it just enough to be painful but barely affordable and then make a profit on the consumables.

 

[bill kahny]

Can the Head be retro-fitted to an existing inkjet base?

 

[gregbatch]

Can the Head be retro-fitted to an existing inkjet base?

Most likely. That is almost what the 1175p is. And that would be a real smart move for HP. You can get Memjet and Kyocera engines and heads to mount on just about anything. HP should follow. There's a ton of perfectly good bases out there with antiquated heads. They should be put to good use.

 

[jwheeler]

It's been a little more than a year since OKI pulled out from the Americas. Has anyone seen difficulty (beyond typical post-covid issues) in getting consumables? Have supplies substantially increased in cost (disproportional to current inflation)? I noticed that IntoPrint consumables are substantially higher than OKI, even though it's the same machine. I assume that toners are chipped for IntoPrint, or dealers wouldn't need to sell both.

There has recently been what seems a flood of OKI printers in the used market which leads to these questions.

(And I still don't understand why adding the 5th toner unit triples the price of the printer.)

We have the OKI C942dn with white toner and we haven't had issues getting toner from our local supplier.

Watch out buying one with the white toner. It still uses a little bit of white toner with every print. We barely use it and noticed the remaining level was getting lower and lower. The tech told us it's to keep the 5th station components cycling to prevent imaging issues when you do need to use it. He showed us where we can turn that off in the settings.

I've posted some detailed feedback in another posting about our experience with an OKI. In short, they are not good and I'd stay away from any used ones especially.

 

[Shawnd]

@jwheeler I think you have the C941, the 931 is CMYK only.

The 931 has been a solid workhorse for us, most of my issues come from the straight shooter feeder, I need to put new belts on it but holding off because I know as soon as I put $$ into it someone will release the machine I want

 

[jwheeler]

@jwheeler I think you have the C941, the 931 is CMYK only.

The 931 has been a solid workhorse for us, most of my issues come from the straight shooter feeder, I need to put new belts on it but holding off because I know as soon as I put $$ into it someone will release the machine I want

Good catch @Shawnd ! I even say the 942 in the post I refer to, whoops. Just corrected it.

I think we've exchanged messages about this same issue before. If the envelope feeder worked better, I think we'd like the machine more, but it's such a constant battle to clear the jams. It's actually quite fast when it works. We've now retired the machine to just being an oversized email printer. The envelope feeder and catch belt sit in a back room collecting dust. We purchased envelope fusers for each of our Konica's and that's been working out more reliably for us.

 

[gregbatch]

Thanks to all for the feedback. As a mail house we frequently get asked if we can print envelopes, especially with variable data/image. While inkjet is our goal, I think it is impractical until we can get volume up to where we are running regularly and daily, or close to it. On Astro/Memjet based machines the ink consumption for maintenance can be more than that of the jobs being run, if run intermittently. My background is 47 years in printing, some of that as a copier technician. I have experience with Xante Impressia, which has good and very bad features. I've learned realistic calculations for consumable life. Based on that I think a used OKI 931 system is a good starting point. The major flaw in the Xante that can blow your costs several time over is the fuser. The OKI fuser has proven much more durable. After entering all of the consumable costs into my spreadsheet, I get an average cost per #10 of .03 each. It will not be used for anything other than color #9 and #10 envelopes, remittance included. B/W will still run on the D125 with friction feeder on the bypass for .005 each. Larger color will run on Konica/Ricoh. As a mail house, we have extensive experience making Straight Shooters and other friction feeders sing (40k an hour), so that is not a worry. If we can build that market, great. We'll look at inkjet. If not, we'll just keep the OKI. Frankly, it will be nice to have when a client shorts us 100 envelopes that are holding up a mailing. Send us the art and we'll take care of it.

 

[Shawnd]

@gregbatch It is nice being able to turn the printer off and walk away not having to worry about coming back to a clogged printhead.

 

[gregbatch]

Well, now I am looking in another direction. I have previously seen an Epson Workforce Enterprise inkjet printer with a Straight Shooter and conveyor. Like the OKI, it is a straight path from bypass tray to the aux delivery tray. What stopped me was the ink cost. Just OK for envelopes, but not at all practical for anything else. If going that route I would want to be able to do some transactional printing as well. Yesterday, while browsing ebay, I stumbled upon a continuous ink system for the Enterprise. That could be a game changer. I have looked for them before, but never found one. I am now a bit excited about the possibility of a 100ppm 600x2400 dpi inkjet engine. It still needs some investigation, but worth the time. Will it run a #10 long edge feed? That would equate to probably around 170+ a minute. Add full-color transactional printing for possibly less than 1 cent and I'm really stoked. To be continued...

 

[gregbatch]

Well, Epson Enterprise printers are sold through the Business Technology Association (BTA) reseller channel. That means a limited number of dealers and tight service and parts channels. I couldn't find printhead life or replacement costs anywhere. Nor could I find much in the way of user reviews. Might be best to leave this one alone.

 

[gregbatch]

Can anyone tell me if OKI c931 drum/fuser/belt life are hard stops, or can they be used beyond life? Is life calculated on hard clicks or inches (page width)? If a drum is good for 40k based on letter clicks, then it should be capable of 80k #10 LEF. But if it's hard clicks, you are tossing a drum half-way through its life. Same with fuser and belt. Our Xante (Ricoh engine) would run at 0% until you replaced the component. We easily doubled the life given count.

 

[Shawnd]

It is pretty much a hard stop on my 931, I will pop them out and push them back in and get some more out then the error will come back to replace.

 

[gregbatch]

It is pretty much a hard stop on my 931, I will pop them out and push them back in and get some more out then the error will come back to replace.

That really pushes the cost up. I put all consumables into a spreadsheet with their rated life and I get a cost of .05 per click. From your experience, am I high, low or just about right?

 

[jwheeler]

Can anyone tell me if OKI c931 drum/fuser/belt life are hard stops, or can they be used beyond life? Is life calculated on hard clicks or inches (page width)? If a drum is good for 40k based on letter clicks, then it should be capable of 80k #10 LEF. But if it's hard clicks, you are tossing a drum half-way through its life. Same with fuser and belt. Our Xante (Ricoh engine) would run at 0% until you replaced the component. We easily doubled the life given count.

I have the C942, but it's from that same generation of printers...it's a hard stop on the consumables. This has been very frustrating. The printer just stops...you are forced to replace it even if you are ok with quality.

 

[Shawnd]

Black is cheaper, but around .05 for color for usual logos and stuff on an envelope.

 

[gregbatch]

I have the C942, but it's from that same generation of printers...it's a hard stop on the consumables. This has been very frustrating. The printer just stops...you are forced to replace it even if you are ok with quality.

Hmm. I wonder if chips are available. I'd pay up to $50 to get another run out of a drum. That would bring it down to .032 a click.

 

[gregbatch]

YES. Chips are available for under $60 for a set of four.