Does KM have dropped quality on the entry level MFPs that bad?

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  • nitro912gr
    Advanced User
    • Jan 2021
    • 38

    #1

    Does KM have dropped quality on the entry level MFPs that bad?

    Hello everyone, it looks like that this year I will upgrade the KM c258 to something newer as the service cost is starting to pile up and the machine is closing to 9 years of service in all short of weird stocks that I have passed through it.

    Also while maybe to keep maintaining the machine is still an option, I have noticed that drums and transfer belts are deteriorating faster than they used to.

    I mean I have my K drum at 26% remaining life and it is worst than an older one I have run down to -50% and it was a year without many special paper passed, actually I have printed mostly normal stocks with this one. Also the others drums that are converted K are starting to act up at 65% of remaining life too. The transfer belt didn't made it to 75% before starting to show up lines as well, I blamed it on some heavy stock I passed but I have done so in the past and the transfer belts have managed to almost end of life before starting to show problems.

    My tech guy said to avoid 250i (and some of you have too suggested that is a step back from the c258 on older threads) and maybe try the 251i, but he installed it on a friend recently and the machine simple can't even bake consistently a simple black page, I mean yeah I don't expect production level consistent print here but there where noticeable "waves" on the black print even on 120gsm papers (the worst was in the 300gsm tho). Looks like bigger machines like 450i ones are ok, but is double the cost too. I do had something like this on the c258 too but it is not that bad, I mean after laminating the print it wasn't even noticeable anymore.

    Also colors are feeling a bit washed out too, but not that much to be a deal breaker.
    Can anyone confirm that they have actually lowered the quality for whatever the reason (I don't know, meet environmental standards or something?) I understand that the Simitri V toner is worst than the HD one to be eco friendly but the machine can't even print that black right.

    Or we just happened to get a bad unit here? The tech guys tried everything in deep switches and all but they didn't managed to fix the problem. I have to notice that as a photo copier everything seems to be ok but we do need better quality and media handling than a photocopier and this is why we spent more on this line of machines and not getting something cheaper like a c257i

    Honestly I'm a bit confused to where to go, I want to move on the production machines but I try to finance this option and if I don't manage to do so I have to stay on the lower end of the spectrum, but KM looks like they don't offer something that cover my needs anymore.
  • kingarthur
    Service Manager

    1,000+ Posts
    • Feb 2008
    • 1301

    #2
    The C250i etc, they have "altered" the colours to "compete" with other manufacturers, which hasn't been brilliant. hopefully your tech guy knows about softswitch 153 set to hex 40, which reverts the colour back to previous models. It makes a hell of a difference. After setting it, the image & stabilisation needs to be carried out, followed by gradation

    check your PMs
    Tip for the day; Treat every problem as your dog would.....If you cant eat it or f*ck it....then p*ss on it & walk away...

    Comment

    • nitro912gr
      Advanced User
      • Jan 2021
      • 38

      #3
      Originally posted by kingarthur
      The C250i etc, they have "altered" the colours to "compete" with other manufacturers, which hasn't been brilliant. hopefully your tech guy knows about softswitch 153 set to hex 40, which reverts the colour back to previous models. It makes a hell of a difference. After setting it, the image & stabilisation needs to be carried out, followed by gradation
      I don't know if he does because the machine was not in my disposal for the time they tried things out and by the time I could visit that friend to see in person (and the tech there) he had already shipped it back as it wasn't doing what he need it to.

      I will give my guy a call, he probably have the machine there to test, I don't single out the possibility to simple don't know about the softswitch, but he is that short of guy that can repair a C4065 and at the same time give instructions on the other tech guys he employs how to fix a c258.

      But who knows, I really hope he did in fact missed that because I don't want to switch to other printer brand if the production machine don't go through, I mean it is hard to find a good tech those days and my guy only do KMs.

      Thanks!

      Comment

      • kingarthur
        Service Manager

        1,000+ Posts
        • Feb 2008
        • 1301

        #4
        I couldn't believe the difference it made, I've sent you a couple of before & after
        Tip for the day; Treat every problem as your dog would.....If you cant eat it or f*ck it....then p*ss on it & walk away...

        Comment

        • nitro912gr
          Advanced User
          • Jan 2021
          • 38

          #5
          Originally posted by kingarthur
          I couldn't believe the difference it made, I've sent you a couple of before & after
          Thanks the difference looks exactly like the same prints done in both c258 and c251i I'm not sure what they tried to much by doing this change. To look worst?

          Comment

          • leifstoroy
            Junior Member
            • Apr 2025
            • 2

            #6
            You could possibly try this, modify setting for SoftSW 153:

            Comment

            • doinbox
              Service Manager

              50+ Posts
              • Jan 2013
              • 62

              #7
              We're using 250i's and for us there's been no real difference between the 224, 258, and 250i in terms of quality. All pretty much identical. Have you looked into Fiery print?

              Comment

              • kingarthur
                Service Manager

                1,000+ Posts
                • Feb 2008
                • 1301

                #8
                I had to work out how to remove the customers info before posting the pics, these were 2 prints, carried out on a C550i, before and after changing softswitch 153, the customer was complaining that the C550i, was printing completely different colours to their C458s. Scan ending in 13 is before the change. After I changed the switch, and carried out initialize and image stabilization etc, she couldn't tell the difference between the 2 machines. Just realised you can't see the file number - the before has 153-00 written on it
                Attached Files
                Tip for the day; Treat every problem as your dog would.....If you cant eat it or f*ck it....then p*ss on it & walk away...

                Comment

                • AlaskaCopyTech
                  Technician

                  50+ Posts
                  • Jan 2024
                  • 60

                  #9
                  Sounds like the machine never had a gradation and image stabilization done on install.

                  Comment

                  • 4Toon
                    Trusted Tech

                    100+ Posts
                    • Mar 2023
                    • 102

                    #10
                    154 to 40 and 188 to 80 will help if you want darker reds need fw: RB or higher.. The only life issues we see are fusers not making life. Belts usually have 2x life if you let them, and drums usually do 80%- 120% life. Feed and sep rollers are really bad. Supposed to do 300k but only do about 40-60k if you are lucky. Katan tires we found will do 200k plus. If you have a LCT I have found using all black pickup tires will for all 3 tires will get you around 500k on them before jamming. Brand new, they do make noise due to them having more grip, but it's not that loud.

                    Run graduation. You can also change some settings in your driver to print as an image or photo and not a doc, and that will change the quality a lot.

                    Comment

                    • nitro912gr
                      Advanced User
                      • Jan 2021
                      • 38

                      #11
                      Gradation and stabilization was done multiply times as I was told, also spoke with the "big guy" in Athens the other day that he did tried to print an all black 300gsm "velve"/silk paper on another 251i he had in stock and got the same weird waves or banding if you prefer (it is like the fuser can't maintain the required temp and the toner slips a bit) and today I spoke with another friend who also tried the 251i with same results from different vendor and she eventually moved to 450i to get the desired results.

                      So well either the send the crap ones at Greece or 251i have weaker fuser?

                      I start to look for other brands and if I can finance at least the 450i, the c4065 I was looking for is looking that will not get financed after all but I need something to do some decent printing within the next month.

                      Comment

                      • 4Toon
                        Trusted Tech

                        100+ Posts
                        • Mar 2023
                        • 102

                        #12
                        Originally posted by nitro912gr
                        Gradation and stabilization was done multiply times as I was told, also spoke with the "big guy" in Athens the other day that he did tried to print an all black 300gsm "velve"/silk paper on another 251i he had in stock and got the same weird waves or banding if you prefer (it is like the fuser can't maintain the required temp and the toner slips a bit) and today I spoke with another friend who also tried the 251i with same results from different vendor and she eventually moved to 450i to get the desired results.

                        So well either the send the crap ones at Greece or 251i have weaker fuser?

                        I start to look for other brands and if I can finance at least the 450i, the c4065 I was looking for is looking that will not get financed after all but I need something to do some decent printing within the next month.
                        Any way we can get a sample of the image quality issue?

                        Comment

                        • 4Toon
                          Trusted Tech

                          100+ Posts
                          • Mar 2023
                          • 102

                          #13
                          Originally posted by nitro912gr
                          Gradation and stabilization was done multiply times as I was told, also spoke with the "big guy" in Athens the other day that he did tried to print an all black 300gsm "velve"/silk paper on another 251i he had in stock and got the same weird waves or banding if you prefer (it is like the fuser can't maintain the required temp and the toner slips a bit) and today I spoke with another friend who also tried the 251i with same results from different vendor and she eventually moved to 450i to get the desired results.

                          So well either the send the crap ones at Greece or 251i have weaker fuser?

                          I start to look for other brands and if I can finance at least the 450i, the c4065 I was looking for is looking that will not get financed after all but I need something to do some decent printing within the next month.
                          Try these: Utility à Printer settings à basic settings à Image quality settings à Photo/DTP, and also when you printing from your driver, go to quality and under color setting, select Photo instead of Document. If none of that works, lastly, you could try going into image quality settings again on the MFP and turning Glossy mode on and see if that helps. Glossy mode on poor quality paper makes it look grainy, but I higher quality paper, it looks way better. The downside it does slow down the printer.

                          Comment

                          • nitro912gr
                            Advanced User
                            • Jan 2021
                            • 38

                            #14
                            unfortunately the test prints where discarded when the machine was returned, I will ask the other friend maybe she did kept the tests herself.

                            Comment

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