Printer duty/monthly cycle

[AlexandreAmant]

Many reviews and features talk about duty/monthly cycle for a printer (mostly laser printers).

But what does it represent ?

I understand it is a recommended amount of pages the printer can print in a month, but over which period is that calculated ? 3 years ? 5 years ?

Is this related to any maintenance of the printer ?

Thanks in advance !

@lex

 

[UncleRick]

You got it. They are rating engine life or the recommended maximum number of pages a month you can expect when printer properly maintained.

I remember a guy who leased a machine for four years. The engine life was 12000 impressions (It was a very small portable) or 250 pages monthly based on four years. He was doing 1500 pages a month and then got upset when the printer stopped working after 8 months.

Some printer work better or most consistently when you run them closer to their rated speed. I haven't done ink based printers in many years but a common problem then, I don't know if it still holds true, was if you didn't use it enough the purge unit and head would dry up. Large cost to get that going again. I remember one machine that had 4 heads that cost $3000CND each. Ouch.

Have fun,

 

[AlexandreAmant]

Thanks UncleRick !

For most HP & Lexmark, do you know on how many years they base the engine life ? Is it 4 years as well ?

 

[UncleRick]

Sorry, I don't know about engine life for HP and Lexmark.

In my example I used 4 years as that was the life of the lease and you want the printer to last at least the length of the lease. The machines I work on are not rated in years but in total number of prints. (3-10 million)

Have fun,

 

[AlexandreAmant]

Okay. So these are probably big machines (you mentioned 12.000 for a small portable).

So I can probably expect 200.000 to 500.000 prints for an entry level laser printer, sounds realistic ?

 

[SOHO11]

Hi,

Refer to the manufacturers brochure for the duty cycle. Going over the MAx duty cycle can void your warrenty as well so you should investigate this. end of life cycles for the smallest laser printers on the market start about 120,000 prints