Print Head Assemblies for C203/253 and C353

[AlSyed]

I have some Konica Minolta BizHub C203/253/353 in field. Some time the Print Head assemblies fails and we replace them from the same models. I am wondering if Print Heads for these models are the same? I also read in other post that they came in A, B, C and D series written on them and either should be replaced with the same series and or with the closest one. Some info will help please.

[copier tech]

You may not need to keep replacing these units, there is a firmware update for some issues with the print heads.

[MADSYS]

Print heads should be replaced as a set as they are grouped by a physical characteristic called "bow" by KM. Replacing per unit could lead in color misregistration failure. Bh C203 and 253 have same Part Number, while C353 is exclusive.
Hope that helped.

[AlSyed]

You may not need to keep replacing these units, there is a firmware update for some issues with the print heads.

Would you kindly give more info on this. Thanks a lot.

[copier tech]

This is the "special FW" relating to PH issues.

23736

[tech51]

[QUOTE=MADSYS;400413]Print heads should be replaced as a set as they are grouped by a physical characteristic called "bow" by KM. Replacing per unit could lead in color misregistration failure. Bh C203 and 253 have same Part Number, while C353 is exclusive.

Strictly speaking this is correct. However, a few years back when these were failing at a rapid rate and the print heads were in short supply, we found that any print head would work in any machine regardless of part number or model (those were desperate times). Nowadays I would still only replace them as single units (not a set) but keeping them within a letter of each other if possible. As long as you can get the skew adjustment within spec, all will be OK...

[mascan42]

[QUOTE=MADSYS;400413]Print heads should be replaced as a set as they are grouped by a physical characteristic called "bow" by KM. Replacing per unit could lead in color misregistration failure. Bh C203 and 253 have same Part Number, while C353 is exclusive.

Strictly speaking this is correct. However, a few years back when these were failing at a rapid rate and the print heads were in short supply, we found that any print head would work in any machine regardless of part number or model (those were desperate times). Nowadays I would still only replace them as single units (not a set) but keeping them within a letter of each other if possible. As long as you can get the skew adjustment within spec, all will be OK...

This. If only one color has failed, I wouldn't bother with replacing the entire set - although new print heads only come in sets of 4, so I'm not saving on the parts cost, only the time it takes to replace them all. If you're lucky, it'll be the yellow or magenta that fails, and not the black, where you'd need to remove all 4 just to have enough room to remove the faulty one anyway.

[ni311]

The service manual says that you have to replace the whole set and the parts manual says that are different. But I can assure you that you can replace only one unit without any color registration issues and the print heads works from C353 to C203/C253 and back. Been there, done that...

PS: The firmware didn't solve the laser error codes in my case, the only long term solution was to replace the defective unit