> On Sat, 27 Jul 2002, Philip Pemberton wrote:
>
> > > We used one of these extensively at the company I used to work for,
> > > printing telephone service invoices. It was a very reliable printer.
> > That's good to hear. Are they as reliable as a HP LJ-II?
>
> I don't know if they are AS reliable since I don't have any experience
> with the LJ-II, but in my estimation it was damn reliable, having printed
> probably at least a hundred thousand pages in its life with only minor
> servicing required once or twice (and its still good to go, just needs a
> new drum like yours).
Mine doesn't need a new drum - the OPC is fine, I just needed to empty the
waste toner bin on the side of the OPC.
> > > At any rate, Marilynn, our office manager, used to just dump the waste
> > > toner out of the collector bucket. It never seemed to adversely
affect
> > > the printer, even though you're not supposed to do that.
> > I couldn't get the collector buchet off - only one screw on that side,
took
> > it out and it wouldn't pop off. So I pried it apart slightly and shook
the
> > junk into a sheet of newspaper. The green OPC drum was wrapped in a bin
> > liner for protection and light proofing. Put it this way - I'll spend
?40 on
> > four toner cartridges but I'm not going to spend ?75 on an OPC drum
module.
>
> Oh wait. You're talking about a different model than the one I am. I'm
> talking about the 4420. I've never heard of the 4400.
Damn. The 4420 is a totally different beast if the manual is correct - looks
like an LJ-II. The KXP4400 is a small (about 30cm high, 70cm deep and 12cm
wide) machine with a fold-down paper input tray on the right hand side and a
fold-out paper output tray on the top. It looks like it had the option for
an RS232 interface, too. But I can kludge one of those with a PIC16F84 and a
few connectors. And a PCB.
> > > I had two of these (the one from the office and another one I picked
up
> > > subsquently). I just got rid of one I believe as I have no more use
for
> > > it since I got my very nice Xerox XD125f. I still have the other one
but
> > > its fate is nearly decided.
> > Damn... Could have used it as a parts machine...
>
> I still have the other one if you want it, but I don't know if the parts
> are interchangeable with a 4400. Of course, the shipping will be
> outrageous.
Doesn't look like any of the parts are the same. OPC is different, toner
cart is different, RAM is different...
> > Does your one remaining KXP4400 have a RAM upgrade fitted? I need one
for
> > mine. 1MB is not enough for the sort of printing I do, Panasonic want
$400
> > for a 4MB board and most companies over "the Big Pond" don't have any
left
>
> Nope. That's one upgrade we dearly needed but never got around to
> getting.
Curses... Looks like I'm going to end up spending GBP70 on the 4MB module...
Oh, well. The printer was a reasonably good deal for GBP10 second-hand. At
least it was in one piece and had the drum and some toner. I had to replace
the toner cartridge soon after getting the machine, but ?10 per cartridge
(1500 page life IIRC) is hardly going to break the bank. And when I got it,
it only had 3000 sheets run through it and the drum had been replaced -
current drum only has a few thousand pages on it.
Considering this thing was made in about 1994, it's in pretty good shape.
Just FYI, there are some KXPs that use the same printer engine - the
KXP4401, for example, is an exact clone of the 4400 with the addition of a
PostScript module. Hardly makes much difference; I can live with PCL3.
Anyone got some docs on HP's PCL3 "Printer Control Language"?
Later.
--
Phil.
philpem_at_dsl.pipex.com
http://www.philpem.dsl.pipex.com/
Received on Sun Jul 28 2002 - 01:05:01 BST