I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge or experience of aftermarket vs. original Xerox Colorstix? The aftermarkets are of course much cheaper and are advertised as being of equivalent quality and fully compatible...but I have reservations about that! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
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Colorstix - OEM vs. Aftermarket? 1
- Thread starter greenfrg
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I have alot of experience dealing with the aftermarket ink sticks, their use goes back to the old 340/350 printers. Due to patent and copyright laws these manufactures can not dulpicate the shape and chemical composition. This has caused compatibility problems in the printhead. these aftermarket inks can cause a problem known as ink starvation in the printhead, essentially wiping out an entire bank of color jets, cyan and magenta are the more commom culprits. Once the problem has surfaced there is no going back, the printhead is toast. I have also run into users have have used these inks with success, but the majority have had problems. Other users have used the aftermarket color inks and the OEM black because they get it free, for a reason that has yet to be explained to me aside from compatibility the black ink will be the one that fails and causes the problem. One user of an 8200 used these inks and because they did not have the wedge shape on the bottom this caused ink stick jams in the ink loader because they could not move freely. Finally if you are very particular about your colors they can tend to be slightly different from the OEM but most people can not notice this.
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Thanks Marty - your post was very helpful. My experience with aftermarket inkjet cartridges found them to be a poor substitute and I suspected the same might be the case with ink sticks. I wasn't aware of the possible print head damage though. My 8200 will see nothing but OEM colorstix!
I'm been using aftermarket ink for about a year on my Phaser860 and have just now started to have problems. So far, I am hoping a good cleaning wiill do the trick, but after reading your post it seems I may have a bank (is that about 1/4"?) of jets that has a problem. In this area, my black (yes, using Xerox black because it's free) is faded. Does this sound like a clogged head? If so, what has to be done to correct it? Thanks.
JCDREW,
When I mention a bank of colors I am referring to the diagnostic test print that shows the color bars for each color across the page, and each bar numer represenst a jet and a bank would mean the entire color bank from jet number 1 through 100+ of that color. What it sounds like from your description is you are using the black xerox ink with the 3rd party color ink yet your problems are with the black. This is typical that the compatibilty problems will show up in black. You may have some luck trying to purge the printhead of the ink and or cleanings, my experience has been that once you see the problems occurr the head is toast.
When I mention a bank of colors I am referring to the diagnostic test print that shows the color bars for each color across the page, and each bar numer represenst a jet and a bank would mean the entire color bank from jet number 1 through 100+ of that color. What it sounds like from your description is you are using the black xerox ink with the 3rd party color ink yet your problems are with the black. This is typical that the compatibilty problems will show up in black. You may have some luck trying to purge the printhead of the ink and or cleanings, my experience has been that once you see the problems occurr the head is toast.
Marty is dead on with this one. The aftermarket stix destroy print heads and can't match the OEMs color.
I have seen heads go from missing about 5-8 bars, then do a print head cleaning, and BAM, no more magenta.
I have spoken with a few higher ups at Xerox, in fact they where actual Tektronix employees, that have stated that the melting temps are different. This can cause the aftermarket junk to cook. Think of it like this. Have you ever melted choclate? Once it melts, it is fine. However, if the heat is left on, the choclate starts to clump and turn into a dry hard powder. Make sense?
I have seen heads go from missing about 5-8 bars, then do a print head cleaning, and BAM, no more magenta.
I have spoken with a few higher ups at Xerox, in fact they where actual Tektronix employees, that have stated that the melting temps are different. This can cause the aftermarket junk to cook. Think of it like this. Have you ever melted choclate? Once it melts, it is fine. However, if the heat is left on, the choclate starts to clump and turn into a dry hard powder. Make sense?
I have talked with the aftermarket vendor... they have changed formulations recently and are sending me new ink. I'm going to purge each color and then see what happens. They say they'll replace the print heads if needed...at their expense. At least I'm getting support from them. Xerox only wanted $500+ PER YEAR for a tech support plan... rather ridiculous.
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