Phaser 8650 Solid Ink - standard and pagepack metered

[vulcanpilot]

I have a Phaser 8650 which we bought for printing brocures etc. We have it on a pagepack contract and get all maintenance and consumables supplied.

However, when the printer contract is up, I don't know that I will renew as we are printing far more colour than we originally anticipated, mainly due to the death of our colour inkjet.

I have been told that it is 'impossible' to use standard ink sticks in this printer as it has different shaped ink stick holes, specifically for the 'metered' consumables.

I was thinking that it may be possible to either

a) modify the ink stick by shaving off the bits that won't fit the hole
b) modify the printer by enlarging the holes for the ink sticks
c) make a mould of the 'metered' sticks and 're-form' standard sticks (Is this even possible).
d) replace the plastic ink stick slot covers with ones for the standard printer

I can understand why Xerox would want the metered sticks to only fit the contract printers, presumably to stop the 'black market' sale of what is effectively Xerox property. But I am at a loss as to why the standard sticks won't fit.

Can anyone confirm 100% that the standard sticks won't fit a pagepack printer, and/or whether any of the above is feasible.

Hope someone can assist.

Thanks.

 

[lebproject]

I want to buy the xerox 8560 and I am wondering if I can use the cheap sticks from the 8860. Can I make form blogs melt the sticks from the 8860 and then use them in 8560? has anyone tested this?

 

[Michael52x]

Can you afford new printheads? 3rd party inks are a great buy, but it is the makeup of them that is trouble.
They do NOT produce exact formulations, and wil clog your printhead. Even Xerox ink, if not used for a while, can "curddle" in the jetstacks. Quality is less, and full purging is necessary. You would think that Xerox units are full production "offset" machines. If using only Xerox inks,and regular printing, it will be a great printer.
Try one of their laser, or LED printers.

"Impatience will reward you with dissatisfaction" RMS Cosmics'97