The Cost of CMY Developer

[SalesServiceGuy]

The dealer cost of Toshiba CMY developer is very expensive. You can buy very expensive individual C, M or Y Developer or a more economical three pack for a similar high price.

K Developer is relatively inexpensive and not a concern.

Often CMK Developer will last more than the Factory spec and sometimes not. Sometimes the customer will notice the colors fading away and sometimes not as the copier accumulates more color clicks.

Depending on the model, the factory estimated spec (no guarantee) can range from 56,000 pages to 180,000 pages on a 20 to 50 cpm model.

Depending on the model, the cost to replace the Developer could be the sole reason to declare the copier uneconomical to repair and strongly suggest the customer upgrades their copier to a new one.

This also puts used copiers in a more suspicious light if the color meter read is much above 10k.

How do you handle this in your service contract and do you have a similar experience with other OEMs regarding the cost of color Developer?

[copier tech]

The dealer cost of Toshiba CMY developer is very expensive. You can buy very expensive individual C, M or Y Developer or a more economical three pack for a similar high price.

K Developer is relatively inexpensive and not a concern.

Often CMK Developer will last more than the Factory spec and sometimes not. Sometimes the customer will notice the colors fading away and sometimes not as the copier accumulates more color clicks.

Depending on the model, the factory estimated spec (no guarantee) can range from 56,000 pages to 180,000 pages on a 20 to 50 cpm model.

Depending on the model, the cost to replace the Developer could be the sole reason to declare the copier uneconomical to repair and strongly suggest the customer upgrades their copier to a new one.

This also puts used copiers in a more suspicious light if the color meter read is much above 10k.

How do you handle this in your service contract and do you have a similar experience with other OEMs regarding the cost of color Developer?

Have you tried using black developer in the CMY ? Allow the device to 'flush out' the black toner & replace with YMC etc.

Not ideal but depends on what the savings are to you.

[Rusty.Harris]

Back years and years ago, I did the "I don't have (insert color) developer, used black and ran enough to flush out
the black with the color and it worked.
Wish they almost would go back to just releasing CARRIER, and you mix the toner or some way of introducing the correct
color, then calibrating it.
I think we all know the color developer is pretty much the same as the black, other than the pigment of the toner.
Same with ink cartridges...they make $$$ on the color, versus the black.
I think anyone who has done this has swapped color/black developer, drums, EPU's when doing service work, to rule out
the EPU causing issues when troubleshooting.

[blackcat4866]

I'll confirm that you can sub black developer for another color. Complete the developer change with black developer, reset counters and stir, like you would ordinarily. Don't bother doing color calibration yet.

I made up some test charts to deplete specific colors. These charts have ~25mm void all the way around, so there's no risk of wrapping them into the fuser (~75% fill). Run as many of these as needed to replenish the appropriate color toner from the toner hopper (the number will vary based on model & amount of developer).

Once your color is restored, then perform color calibrations.

As D-FC28x became impossible to get, we started to sub in black, then D-FC25x. Not sure what to use now since that's gone too. I've also tried it with D-FC30x, when the appropriate color was going to take a long time, with success. =^..^=

[Thayer]

I have a fellow tech, he uses black developer in color dev units.

He runs developer stir, then turns off meter counter (in service mode). Runs about 100 sky shots(duplex), covering the lead edge.
Until the color starts coming out, then returns to serivce mode and runs calibrations. Turns meter counter back on.

[copier tech]

I have always wondered why they don't simply supply supply the developer without toner added that way we can replace in any colour.

This applies to all manufactures. Surely its cheaper/easier for them & us.

[BillyCarpenter]

I have always wondered why they don't simply supply supply the developer without toner added that way we can replace in any colour.

This applies to all manufactures. Surely its cheaper/easier for them & us.

Because they would make less money.

[SalesServiceGuy]

I have always wondered why they don't simply supply supply the developer without toner added that way we can replace in any colour.

This applies to all manufactures. Surely its cheaper/easier for them & us.

... for Toshiba on all models less than 55 ppm, Developer is supplied separately from toner.

... on most color copiers, the CMYK Developer is preloaded inside the copier and only has to be released by pulling a mylar.

[Rusty.Harris]

I have always wondered why they don't simply supply supply the developer without toner added that way we can replace in any colour.

This applies to all manufactures. Surely its cheaper/easier for them & us.

Some models back in the 80's, when they were all b&w, you'd get carrier, and had to add the toner to turn it into developer.
The plain paper copier makers just took a page from the ink jet manufacturers.