[Misc] "Compatible" vs "Genuine" Parts - Thoughts?

[Guest]

When possible I try to replace with genuine parts. I don't get to always make the decision though on what to buy (my boss does). On occasion I can't even find a genuine part any more.

Any thoughts on for instance cleaning blades and drums? Compatible as good as genuine? War stories?

Thanks

[blackcat4866]

Re: "Compatible" vs "Genuine" Parts - Thoughts?

I've had spectacularly bad results from aftermarket rubber parts, like drum blades and feed rollers. The drum blades just don't clean or they flip. Back in the Ikon days we were getting Katun feed rollers. The old Canon feed rollers with 350K prints always fed better than the new never-used Katun rollers.

The organic drums seem to have a pretty consistent response, regardless of manufacturer. But back in the Selenium Tellurium drum days, we had lots of problems with short life, and charge memory (that is, previous charge cycles do not entirely erase from the drum).

=^..^=

[sandmanmac]

I've had spectacularly bad results from aftermarket rubber parts, like drum blades and feed rollers. The drum blades just don't clean or they flip. Back in the Ikon days we were getting Katun feed rollers. The old Canon feed rollers with 350K prints always fed better than the new never-used Katun rollers.

The organic drums seem to have a pretty consistent response, regardless of manufacturer. But back in the Selenium Tellurium drum days, we had lots of problems with short life, and charge memory (that is, previous charge cycles do not entirely erase from the drum).

=^..^=

Completely agree! Drums are about the only compatible part I will use unless I'm in a real pinch, or its a time and materials customer looking to 'save' a few bucks
The short lifespans, and just plain abnormal problems I've encountered are not even close to being worth the trouble!

[methogod]

Re: "Compatible" vs "Genuine" Parts - Thoughts?

I use almost all genuine parts, but I do run a bunch of 920s/950s and their generic drums (katun), and aftermarket fuser rollers (a few places, copylite and katun) work well.

Yes, i had a short period where all the bearings on the lower fuser rollers were bad, they are pressed on in this model, so if they break loose it causes problems pretty fast. So when 9 machines all start to fail and all we have are bad fuser rollers, it can be a nightmare.

I find that katun has done better with their feed tires in general work well. They make the green ones which are just like the orange ones for the C451/C650 series, i am sure it works in a much of machines.

as why konica cant make it easy to change them out, that's another story.

[copiman]

Re: "Compatible" vs "Genuine" Parts - Thoughts?

We use a mix of OEM and compatible. I guess it depends on the situation you are in. Best case situation would be to go OEM. Obviously this will cost more. We buy PM kits from the OEM and stock the parts individually. Price wise, this is much cheaper than buying individual parts. Sometimes cheaper than compatibles. Even with the parts you don't want in the kit, like a filter or something, its still cheaper. Check out the PM kits, break it down, and compare. You may be surprised. Worth a shot.

As far as life is concerned, again it depends on what you want to accomplish. Here is an example: OEM drum $100.00 and compatible is $60.00. The yield is 100 copies. If you get 100 copies from the OEM, your cost is $1.00 per copy. If you get 75 copies from the compatible, your cost is $0.80 per copy. Looking at it this way seems to be a good thing. This is the way managers and owners see it. Now for the downside. Pre-mature failures cause service calls. This costs you company money, not to mention you are in the customers office more, and don't think they don't think about that. They also can cause other parts to fail pre-maturely. Like compatible hot roller strippers or webs with an OEM hot roller, or a compatible cleaning blade with an OEM drum. Compatible toners can cause premature failure of charge rollers and cleaning blades. I could go on and on, but I digress.

In my humble opinion, the only way you can influence a manager or owner to use only OEM is to prove it will save money! Maybe start keeping track of the yields you get from consumables (drum, cl bl, charge, fuser stuff, rollers, etc.) on both OEM and compatibles. Over a period of time you will accumulate enough data to show if in fact it is better to go all OEM or not.

One more thing. For the most part, I think some OEM parts will actually go more than the published yield. Good luck in your quest. This has been around since compatible parts were introduced.