Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!BU-CS.BU.EDU!eap From: eap@BU-CS.BU.EDU (Eric Pearce) Newsgroups: comp.laser-printers Subject: Re: OPC belt degradation Message-ID: <8803151506.AA20016@brillig.umd.edu> Date: 5 Mar 88 21:59:15 GMT References: <8803041924.AA15159@brillig.umd.edu> Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: eap@bu-it.bu.edu (Eric Pearce) Followup-To: comp.laser-printers Organization: Laser Printers R' Us Lines: 53 Approved: laser-lovers@brillig.umd.edu We have 32 laser printers that I know of at Boston University. I think this qualifies us as to make some observations on the subject. At last count we have: 7 Talaris T1200 (Xerox print engine, I think) 10 Talaris T1500 or TI 2115 (Ricoh print engine) 15 Talaris T800 or QMS-800 or LaserWriter (Canon print engine) The T1200 is out of production - but there are quite a few still around. It is pretty good for the quanity of printing that goes through it, but it's print quality is poor compared to a working T1500 or T800. We have one that is approaching a million pages printed. It required 7 service calls last month. Apparently they can be refurbished by the factory for some large cost. The two printers with the highest counter values jam and burn paper often. It pretty easy to clear the paper jams and add toner (dry imager in Xerox language). The T1500 is nice when it is brand new, but the print quality goes down hill from the time you replace the first OPC belt. I found the highest counter value to be 83,000. The print quality is good when you put in a new OPC belt and have enough toner in the bin, but the print is smeared slightly. A large light area appears on the lower righthand side of the page after several thousand pages are printed. This does not seem to be unique to just the TI 2115, even though it has recived the most attention in this newsgroup. I would call this a problem with all the printers that have the same Ricoh print engine. The T1500 jams rarely and is otherwise reliable from the hardware point of view. The OPC belt and toner replacement is simple and quick. The T800 is my favorite. I would recommend it to anybody who was looking for a laser printer in this price range and size. I think that it has the best print quality over the lifespan of the cartridge and the printer itself. It tends to print slower than a T1500, but I do not mind waiting a little longer for better quality. The single tray holds a lot less paper than the double tray T1500. I think the reason for the good print quality is that when you replace the cartridge, you are replaceing most of the parts that wear or degrade the print quality. The cartridge replacement is also quick and easy. The printer software is a different isssue. moral of the story: buy a Talaris T800 or QMS-800 that runs PostScript. -Eric -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UUCP !harvard!bu-cs!bu-it!eap ARPANET eap@bu-it.bu.edu CSNET eap%bu-it@bu-cs DECNET ep@buenga * Hanging out in the Q Continuum * BITNET iteap@bostonu