Off-brand / Aftermarket toner or drums

Discussion in 'MGI Digital Presses' started by Justen, May 14, 2012.

  1. Justen

    Justen New Member

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    The company I work for recently bought an MGI Meteor DP60 Pro and put me in charge. I've never run a printing press of any kind and am learning as I go. What I do know is that six months after we bought the printer, MGI raised the prices of their consumables by about 30%. Does anyone know if the toner for this machine is proprietary?

    After hunting around on the Web for awhile, I've learned that the DP60 is considered a souped-up Konica C6500. Will the C6500 toner work in the DP60? What about drums? Or am I simply at the mercy of MGI?

    Any direction you could give would be greatly appreciated. As I said, I'm very green in the world of digital printing and I don't even have the luxury of a trainer to show me around. Thanks in advance.
     
  2. dzung

    dzung New Member

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    @Justen: you can use KM6500 or 6501 mainternance kits. To ink, MGI has chips on their ink bottles, you must unlock it.
     
  3. Justen

    Justen New Member

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    Thank you for your reply. When you say that I can use the C6500 maintenance kits, does that include using C6500 drums? I ask because I can't find any maintenance kits that specifically include drums.

    Also, what does it mean to 'unlock' the toner chips? Does anyone know how to do that?
     
  4. dzung

    dzung New Member

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    Yes, you can use all parts of C6500, 6501, 7000.
     
  5. axel

    axel New Member

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    THESE TO MACHINES ARE THE SAME.YOU CAN USE ALL THE PARTS FROM KONICA 6500/6501/5500/5501 OR DEVELOP ineo6500/6501.
     
  6. Wojak

    Wojak Member

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    Has anyone used these other brands for parts and toners in the MGI? How is the chip issue on the toner resolved?
     
  7. Wojak

    Wojak Member

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    Hi Justen

    Have you resolved your issues etc? Are you running with Konica toner?
     
  8. Justen

    Justen New Member

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    We plan to purchase Konica maintenance kits and drums beginning in July when our price increase takes effect. We haven't tried Konica toner yet because we're afraid it might do damage to the press somehow. Although, it seems that the 'chip' issue can be resolved by simply removing it from the MGI bottles and sticking it on Konica bottles (we successfully removed and reapplied the chips on a few trial runs). Although, this would require having at least a few MGI bottles around, depending on how many times the same chip can be removed and reapplied.

    We recently had an MGI tech come out to service our machine and I asked him, "what is the difference between the MGI toner and the Konica toner?" He replied, "I don't know. They do something to it in France." My opinion is that all they do in France is stick the chip on a Konica bottle, but who knows? Obviously MGI technicians don't.

    My opinion of this machine and the MGI company are very bitter currently.

    Anyone else have better experience or knowledge to share?
     
  9. Justen

    Justen New Member

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    Thank you for the clarification axel. Have you attempted using Konica toner in an MGI press?
     
  10. Wojak

    Wojak Member

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    Hi Justen

    I don't think you're alone with MGI. I'm not sure how you are supposed to make money on this machine because the cost of consumables and maintenance far outways any click charge model (whatever MGI say). I have produced some costings myself and just on toner usage they ain't great... and have no resemblance to the cost model offered by the French company (who don't really know themselves what it costs to produce a sheet).

    On another note, I cannot imagine that MGI manufacture their own toner do you? This would be a massive undertaking and why would they if all they are doing is bastardising the KM machine? Think of all the other companies who used the KM machine (Develop etc)... they all use the same toner and bottles. Just chips are the issue I believe.

    Good luck with it. For my part I can't take the sleepless nights anymore but that's print for you.
     
  11. Wojak

    Wojak Member

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    Has anyone used Konica toner in an MGI machine for a sustained period?
     
  12. don

    don New Member

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    Dear All,
    You can use third party toner or KM toners for your MGI DP 40 or DP 60 m/c.
    I have used the same.
     
  13. xfactor printing

    xfactor printing Senior Member

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    To be fair, I like what MGI has added to the KM engine. But I was afraid of the lack of a fixed consumable price click contract from the start, and it looks like I was right to be.
     
  14. OkiTech

    OkiTech Senior Member

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    The tech you had asked was just being a politically correct as should he tell you the most likely truth- that yes toner is the same, and him saying so would ever came up- he would loose his job instantly so he did give you the right answer. :)
     
  15. gdelamoriniere

    gdelamoriniere New Member

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    Hi all -

    Disclaimer: I work for MGI.

    I came across this post and wanted to clarify a few misconceptions from the original post plus others in the thread.

    First off, the rumored price increase never happened. Consumable & kit pricing remains the same as before.

    There are subtle but key differences between the kits/parts/consumables for the KM units versus the MGI Meteor. In order to ensure optimal print quality and performance from your Meteor press, you should always purchase your consumables & parts from MGI or an MGI authorized dealer. If you choose otherwise, the parts will likely not function as intended (if at all), you will not experience the same production quality and performance standards that you expect from your Meteor and you will find limited support available for any issues you encounter.

    Our customers find that their cost per print is either what they projected or in many cases, it is below what they expected. Many customers produce traditional digital projects such as brochures, business cards, brochures, postcards, etc., and the majority also fully utilize the Meteor’s differentiating capabilities such as production printing from 4x6” up to 13x40”, true envelope production, laser-safe prints for letterhead and envelopes, and the largest range of synthetic & plastic substrates up to 16 pts/ 400 microns.

    I know you’re not in this forum to be fed specs from a manufacturer, but we’re very proud of our differentiators and capabilities, and our customers truly appreciate having this versatility.

    You’re welcome to visit our website for more information on our customer stories, visit our booth (3623) at GRAPH EXPO to see a gallery of customer-produced applications, or contact me directly.

    --
    Giselle de la Moriniere
    Marketing & Communications Manager
    marketing (at) mgiusa.com
     
  16. Wojak

    Wojak Member

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    "There are subtle but key differences between the kits/parts/consumables for the KM units versus the MGI Meteor. In order to ensure optimal print quality and performance from your Meteor press, you should always purchase your consumables & parts from MGI or an MGI authorized dealer. If you choose otherwise, the parts will likely not function as intended (if at all), you will not experience the same production quality and performance standards that you expect from your Meteor and you will find limited support available for any issues you encounter."

    Are you absolutely certain about this, particularly with regards to toner? Are you genuinely saying that MGI France takes toner from KM and does something to it, or re-manufactures it in some way? Or are you passing on sales marketing info from France?

    I do believe MGI should be absolutely clear about this...

    No one is criticising the machine and its capabilities but the business model is wrong for most companies because it is very expensive to produce on this machine (KM toner can be obtained a lot cheaper than MGI toner by the way). The machine is also very difficult to maintain without engineering experience and isn't particularly robust.

    It would be much better under a click charge/service contract scheme and then MGI would see the full extent of how difficult this beast is to keep going commercially instead of just off loading the issues to the end user.
     
  17. buzzbuzz

    buzzbuzz Member

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    any details on how to 'unlock' the toner chips ?
     
  18. kawilliams

    kawilliams New Member

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    Any updates on using third party consumerables on the mgi 40 pro?
     
  19. HollyHaley

    HollyHaley New Member

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    Hello,

    I am an employee of MGI USA. To answer your question, only MGI consumables can be used with the DP 40. The consumables (i.e. toners) have special hardware/software that only work with the MGI equipment. Please contact me with any further questions. I would be more than happy to help.

    Holly Haley
    Marketing Coordinator
    (321) 751- 6755
    h.haley@mgiusa.com
     

  20. ViR2

    ViR2 Member

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    Actually... NO :) We have tried KM toner and it eats up the drums and dev. kit very very fast... I believe they are adding something into the toner or the chip has different programing in it, but basically - what u save on toner, u pay way more on the maintenance parts which run out way quicker.