Buying a used laser printer - potential pitfalls?

boombap

Hi all,

I'm wanting to buy a used laser printer from a certain internet auction site.

I'm not very familiar with laser printers in general so if anyone could offer some advice on potential pitfalls I'd be very grateful. In particular I'd like to know how about transfer belts and 'worst case scenarios'.

The model which I want is the Oki 8600n which is a colour A3. I know that there are cheaper printers available but I'm specifically wanting an Oki as they are by far the best for some specialist uses for which I intend to use it and if I can get an A3 for a good enough price then I'd rather have that than the A4.

I'm not too bothered if the toner levels are low on the second hand one as that's stuff I'd have to buy at some stage anyway - more replacing consumables which are hard and expensive to fit or find - especially on discontinued models.

Incidentally, the seller on ebay has been quick to answer an initial Q I had, is a Top Rated seller, and is about an hours drive away from me so I can view the printer if necessary.

Any help or advice much appreciated,

S.

RussJK

The main thing is only buying from the 'buy it now' method, as you'll have more protections if things go wrong. You have less legs to stand on for the 'auction' format if anything goes wrong later.

diable

What is the price?

Toner is expensive, what is the page count do the pick up rollers and separation pads need replacing is the fuser unit ok and is there any damage to the drum unit?

And how much is a new one?

Dave_C_2

I can only reply from my experience with a monochrome HP Laserjet III

I'm a keen DIYer and the repair bible is here there are a couple of OKI posts on there.

Basically the laser shines on to a photo-senstive drum which is statically charged. The drum picks up the toner (black powder) from the cartridge and drops it onto the paper (also charged, but the other way) The paper then goes to the fuser assembly where the toner and paper is heated so the toner sticks to the paper. The static charges are dissipated in the process.

First off you want to see it working. This immediately tells you:
The paper is being picked up from the tray.
The paper transport mechanism is working.
The laser is aligned (It's sharp and has no gaps).
The toner is OK
The fuser is OK (the print doesn't smear when you rub it).
The paper is being fed to the output tray

On the laserjet the photosensitive drum is part of the Toner Cartridge. This drum is the cause of much of the woe, so a new cartrige (hence a new drum) cures a lot of problems including
Ghosting (faint repeat images down the page)
Grey lines down the page
Faint images
Muck on the page.
Re-conditioned cartridges are OK - and cheaper!

I had a lot of trouble on the Laserjet with:
1) The Pick-up roller is a real PITA to replace - you have to strip the printer right down.
2) The Fuser roller was damaged - do not try and clean it yourself.
3) Had to replace the fuser lamp

All of the spares were cheap enough, but it was the minimum order of £25 that got me for the fuser roller costing £5

Finally a safety note - do not try and vacuum spilled toner

Hope this helps

A.Penny.Saved

Checkout the photoconductor unit and how much life there is left in it as they can be extremely expensive.

I have an oldish Epson colour laser with Postscript and duplex unit. It has lots of life left in the photoconductor unit, only printed a few thousand pages.

Check the toner costs as it can get expensive. Mine uses up Magenta like some crack head.

boombap

Many, many thanks for all of your help.

The printer is on BIN with Best Offers and I would obviously pay via PayPal should I choose to go for it although my enthusiasm is waning as I realise from reading everyone's replies that I actually know diddly squat about lasers.

The one I'm looking it as £399+VAT and although discontinued other sites are selling new ones for approx £1,200 so it's about a third of the price hence my worries that there's something wrong with it ("too good to be true" and all that). The seller's told me that they actually have a number of these machines in stock and refurb them up once orders are placed. The seller has invited me to come and view them and pretty much pick one but I really wouldn't know what I was looking at.

In answer to Diable's question re page count - an Oki site quotes page count of 26ppm colour and 32ppm for A4 pages.

I really have my heart set on an OKI as it really is by far the best for certain uses (transfer papers etc) but they really are very expensive. I see on ebay's DOTD today they have Samsung A4 colour lasers for £70 delivered which is sorely tempting but I know it woundn't do the job of an OKI. If I were to buy a brand new OKI then I'd be looking at £450+VAT for an A4.

Many thanks again for all of your input - you've all been very helpful

S.

Owain_Moneysaver

squee wrote: »

The printer is on BIN with Best Offers and I would obviously pay via PayPal ...

The one I'm looking it as £399+VAT

If it's for personal (not business) use and you can, pay with your credit card direct to the seller instead of going through Paypal. The seller will probably pay less to accept a cc than Paypal, and you will get additional protection with the credit card.

boombap

Thanks Owain. Apologies for a thicko question but why could I not pay in that matter for a business purchase?

I'm a sole trader with a turnover of under the VAT amount and the purchase would be for both business and personal use (and just to complicate matters it might be used for some work I do for a local cat charity).

Cheers again all,

S.

sharkie

you can pic up a new samsung colour a4 for around £90 from http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&q=colour+samsung+laser&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=3528544377158417382&sa=X&ei=wM1zTcDoLcXxsgbnwamEDg&ved=0CDwQ8wIwAg#

The problem with all of these are expensive toners and consumables. A3 is not as popular as A4 and is more expensive cartridge.

The thing with HPs, they were fairly decent and reliable workhorse printers. These printers were popular, while the Oki's were not as much.

Each colour cost around £150 toner

http://www.reviewstream.com/reviews/?p=79267

Page count ..... How many pages has it printed i.e is it worn out - a bit like a £3000 merc engine with 300k on the clock?

boombap

Thanks Sharkie.

I think I'll shelve my plans to buy the £400 printer as I think I'll end up with a £400 headache.

I don't really need an A3, just being greedy. Time to start researching new A4 lasers I think!

Cheers again all,

S.

sharkie

Just seen this http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/ricoh-colour-network-laser-printer-for-69-99-acer-outlet/892414

now scroll down to dell printer mentioned. The web page said the toners are about £12 each per colour - cheaper than ink