4 Series K Toner Shortage info?? (TN321)

[Rewind!]

Morning All, so there seems to be an apparent nation wide shortage of black toner on the 4 series (TN321-TN512). We are a small independant service/sales company, and if we cant find any from our normal chanells we may be forced to purchase 3rd party non-oem consumables. As much as we hate, and I mean hate using non-oem toner we may be at no other choice. Do you guys have any non-oem suppliers that you could recommend based on track records? your time and responses are greatly appreciated!

Thank you!!

JC

[byronf]

Morning All, so there seems to be an apparent nation wide shortage of black toner on the 4 series (TN321). We are a small independant service/sales company, and if we cant find any from our normal chanells we may be forced to purchase 3rd party non-oem consumables. As much as we hate, and I mean hate using non-oem toner we may be at no other choice. Do you guys have any non-oem suppliers that you could recommend based on track records? your time and responses are greatly appreciated!

Thank you!!

JC

Use TN512,TN-513,TN-516, TN322K or TN324K swop the caps over.

[Rewind!]

thank you for the repsonse, we did think about swapping over the caps, but the shortage also includes the TN-512. I have editited my post.

Thank you!

JC

[3ktlc]

I have tested both Katun and Image Star for this series. Have 2 C554's in our office. 1 with OEM & 1 with compatible. Haver run over 500,000 on the 1 with compatible. Quality is consistent with the OEM one and drums, dev units have all lasted past their rated life.

[scanmc]

I have tested both Katun and Image Star for this series. Have 2 C554's in our office. 1 with OEM & 1 with compatible. Haver run over 500,000 on the 1 with compatible. Quality is consistent with the OEM one and drums, dev units have all lasted past their rated life.

Same here. You may want to try NA trading out of MN.

[copyman]

thank you for the repsonse, we did think about swapping over the caps, but the shortage also includes the TN-512. I have editited my post.

Thank you!

JC


Funny you posted about this. I had heard same thing about the shortage a month ago but for black only. Agree Katun would be only compatible I would have confidence in.

I've been using the TN512 with no other modification except cutting off the chip & chip holder and they fit in C224 etc just fine. I've only had to do the black so far. Not sure about the colors yet, if cutting off chip only will fit? Will report back if / when have to do it to color toner. Assuming it will work same as black.

Hate to contaminate $500 developer units with crap toner!

[robinsonad86]

Is there any machine shortages in America?

In the UK it is pretty much impossible to get your hands on any of the A3 i series machines. This has been going on for around 4 weeks and have been told it might carry on through September

[allan]

TN217 319 613 413 711 712 912 321 512 323...

All the modern dev containing toner are the same.

You can even use TN414 in case of emergency. It does not contain developer and you devtank will eventually run low on developer.

[sanvicente]

Morning All, so there seems to be an apparent nation wide shortage of black toner on the 4 series (TN321-TN512). We are a small independant service/sales company, and if we cant find any from our normal chanells we may be forced to purchase 3rd party non-oem consumables. As much as we hate, and I mean hate using non-oem toner we may be at no other choice. Do you guys have any non-oem suppliers that you could recommend based on track records? your time and responses are greatly appreciated!

Thank you!!

JC

Same here in Mexico. Our regular suppliers are only giving us less tan half of our request, also our US supliers put us in back order because the shortage. Got to deal with katun but in our experience, katun toner in the long run cause a lot of spills inside the machine. Nothing really big, just spills in the laser.

[jha1970]

yup... i have been waiting 2 months now for 4 C250i machines... and still no sign

[suomi]

Notice Regarding Explosion Accident at Konica Minolta Supplies Manufacturing's Tatsuno Factory (third notice) | KONICA MINOLTA (https://www.konicaminolta.com/global/newsroom/2021/0927-01-01.html)

a month or two more?

[emujo2]

I have used TN 322 in the C364e, C558, and C360i with no ill effects. I have been using TN014 in TN-015, 016, and 017. Other than the mess this also works and TN 014 is still available. With the office machines 8 series and above, you can go into service mode and set the "gas gauge" back to 100% without needing a new chip. E

[tsbservice]

I have used TN 322 in the C364e, C558, and C360i with no ill effects. I have been using TN014 in TN-015, 016, and 017. Other than the mess this also works and TN 014 is still available. With the office machines 8 series and above, you can go into service mode and set the "gas gauge" back to 100% without needing a new chip. E
How many copies are made with exchanged toners?

[Jan]

Katun toner works fine on the 224/554-e serie and 308/368-e serie but dont use it on the faster machine's like an 654/754-e !!

[marvin_PL]

I have used TN 322 in the C364e, C558, and C360i with no ill effects. I have been using TN014 in TN-015, 016, and 017. Other than the mess this also works and TN 014 is still available. With the office machines 8 series and above, you can go into service mode and set the "gas gauge" back to 100% without needing a new chip. E

How can i reset it?

[Oystercopy]

I know someone else posted this, and I don't use anything other than OEM, but the people at NA Trading have been very cool to work with and they tell me that their own brand of toner has been EXTENSIVELY tested, both in house and at their partner dealers.

I cannot personally recommend this, but I have used the Katun toners before and I'll never do that again, so this might be a good option.
OC

[femaster]

I know someone else posted this, and I don't use anything other than OEM, but the people at NA Trading have been very cool to work with and they tell me that their own brand of toner has been EXTENSIVELY tested, both in house and at their partner dealers.

I cannot personally recommend this, but I have used the Katun toners before and I'll never do that again, so this might be a good option.
OC

Just thought I'd throw this in here with regards to NA Trading...

NA Trading had told us that same line with regards to their feed tires (A00J563600). "The tires had been EXTENSIVELY tested, both in house and at their partner dealers." Out of the package they looked good, but felt kind of slick. Some of the tires didn't work right out of the bag, refused to grab the paper. The ones that did work we got about 8K to 9K pages on the tires before it was non-stop jamming. By that point, the feed tire was having problems grabbing, and the DFP (seperation) tire had been worn down to almost nothing, was cupped severely, and had turned into a scaly white looking piece of plastic. There was a trail of plastic "dust" throughout the entire paper path in the copier, dead center lined up with the tires. We ended up with all sorts of jamming issues because this plastic "dust" would cover the optical sensors completely, not to mention the issues with the tires themselves not grabbing and wearing funny.

We've also tried their refurbished drums for the 4- and 8-series. Both are hit and miss. The 4- seem to be better than the 8-, probably because of the cheap charge rollers they use in the 8-. Cleaning blades tend to be an issue in both, with about 20% of them ending up leaving black streaks very early into their usable life, or causing a squealing noise due to vibration. Another issue with the cleaning blades is that you MUST keep the drums warm. If you try to use a cold one (winter months), you're guaranteed to have dirty black pages, and a 60% chance that the cleaning blade will flip. Generally if you let the drum warm up, even after you get the black streaky mess, the cleaning blade will regain enough flexibility to start cleaning the drum properly. Then you are black to the possibility of the previous problems I spoke of.

[Vincent128]

This toner plant exploding has also put Lexmark branded konicas toners unobtainable.
I have a customer with 25 XC9235's and we can't get toner for them.

[emujo2]

How can i reset it?

Try searching this site for that info before you blast me with PMs asking the same question over and over again...

[jonbonse]

TN217 319 613 413 711 712 912 321 512 323...

All the modern dev containing toner are the same.

You can even use TN414 in case of emergency. It does not contain developer and you devtank will eventually run low on developer.

Sorry to drag up an old post but do you know if the TN619 toners work in the c224/c258/c250i machines? I know the bottle is larger but i am considering filling the TN321 empties with TN619 toner if it will work?

TIA