Celebrate Earth Month with Xerox: Save an extra $100 on the environmentally friendly Xerox Phaser 8560 and Xerox Phaser 8860 Solid Ink Printers.

From now through the end of June, Xerox is offering a $100 “Earth Month” rebate on the purchase of the following printers:

Xerox Phaser 8560/N + Free Full Set of Phaser 8560 Ink – $599 (after Xerox rebate)

Xerox Phaser 8560/DN + Free Full Set of Phaser 8560 Ink – $799 (after Xerox rebate)

Xerox Phaser 8560/DT – $1299 (after Xerox rebate)

Xerox Phaser 8560/DX – $1899 (after Xerox rebate)

Xerox Phaser 8860/DN – $2399 (after Xerox rebate)

To claim the $100 rebate, you must visit the Xerox rebate website after you purchase the printer (simply click on one of the links above to purchase). To visit the rebate website, CLICK HERE. The following offer codes must be used to claim this rebate: Phaser 8560: EU85600410E, Phaser 8860: EU88600410E.

Xerox Solid Ink

Xerox Solid Ink Sticks

If you aren’t familiar with solid ink technology, here is a quick recap. Solid ink produces incredible color print quality, it is easy to use, cost-effective, and is very good for the environment. The first solid ink printer was introduced in 1991 and won several awards. A solid ink printer uses solid sticks (or blocks) of no-mess, non-toxic ink instead of toner or inkjet cartridges. The Supplies Guys carry the complete line of Xerox Solid Ink Sticks as well as a high quality compatible solid ink alternative.

So you own one of the world’s most powerful Xerox printers, the Phaser 8560, but now you want to learn more about how to take care of your printer while keeping maintenance costs low. Well the first thing you should do (if you haven’t done so already) is to download the Xerox Phaser 8560 manual from Xerox Corp’s website. The 8560 manual should provide you with a detailed user guide and advanced features guide; installation guide and provide instructions for how to change your 8560 ink sticks and other printer supplies. We wanted to take some time and review common Phaser 8560 maintenance tips which are reviewed below. Hope you enjoy!

Phaser 8560 Ink Sticks

It is pretty clear to state that you should replace your 8560 solid ink sticks whenever your printer says it is running low. However on average one solid ink stick will typically yield 840 pages on a 5% coverage rate. If you are interested in getting the most out of your solid ink sticks, then we recommend you not allowing your printer to cool in-between print jobs (your printer needs to warm the ink prior to printing, so that is why printing in succession can maximize the life of your solid ink sticks).

One of the nicest perks when it comes to owning a Phaser 8560 printer is that there are plenty of options to help keep printing costs down. The two options are to either buy new, compatible solid Phaser 8560 ink sticks by volume (3+ solid ink sticks per color) or to buy bundled solid ink sticks.  Buying compatible solid ink sticks can save you up to 50% over the genuine OEM product. Manufacturers of compatible solid Phaser 8560 ink sticks will typically provide a guarantee to their ink sticks. Retailers of such products should also be offering a guarantee for compatible solid ink sticks.

The second option to help reduce the price of printing is to purchase your Phaser 8560 ink sticks in bundles. “Bundles,” is a term which typically refers to: three or more solid ink sticks in each color  – cyan, magenta, yellow and black.  It would be possible to purchase one bundle and walk away with 16 ink sticks (4 of each color). Buying the compatible solid ink sticks in bulk will allow for you to lower your cost / print on the Phaser 8560 series. If you are not comfortable purchasing compatible Phaser 8560 ink sticks but you still want the perks of saving money, then consider buying a bundled genuine OEM package.

To learn exactly what solid ink sticks are and how they work check out this post titled, Phaser solid ink sticks.

Phaser 8560 Maintenance Kit

Replacing your Phaser 8560 maintenance kit is a routine process for “maintaining” the health of your printer.  The 8560 maintenance kit includes: How often you need to replace your maintenance kit depends in terms of time, however maintenance kits for this printer model typically need to be changed every 10,000 prints (the standard maintenance kit).  Your printer will let you know when it is time for an upgrade Neglecting your printer’s warnings could lead to other expensive repair problems! Now if you don’t feel like changing your Phaser 8560 maintenance kit every 10,000 prints you can opt to purchase an “extended” maintenance kit. This option will allow you to print triple the amount at a significantly lower cost per print. Much like the Phaser 8560 ink sticks, buying compatible 8560 maintenance kits (both standard and extended versions) is a possibility.

Phaser 8560 N to DN Upgrade

The advantage of purchasing a Xerox N to DN upgrade is that it enables you to perform auto-duplexing thus saving time, money and frustration. Auto-duplexing is simply a term that means the printer is automatically printing on both sides (double-sided printing). Adjust the settings on the printer and you will be ready to go.

Other Phaser 8560 Printer Upgrades

Now there are a few quick and inexpensive ways to maximize the performance of your Phaser 8560 printer. If you work at a larger office or if your 8560 printer is constantly being summoned, then you may want to consider a memory upgrade (256 MB or 512 MB are both options) in order to extend your printing queue.  You should also consider purchasing the 8560 productivity kit. The productivity kit is essentially a hard drive for your printer. This will enable your 8560 printer to: print with extended font / form storage, saved personalized printer settings and more. Adding extra paper trays is also a convenient way extend printing capacity (each printer tray holds 525 sheets) if your Phaser 8560 is in high demand. Or if your sheet feeder ever breaks, that can be replaced too. We saved the best, most convenient upgrade for last – the wireless network adapter. The wireless network adapter transforms the Phaser 8560 printer from an Ethernet enabled printer to a fully wireless device. This allows your Phaser 8560 printer to be located anywhere in the office!

How a Fuser Unit Works

Today I wanted to review the HP fuser unit and how to keep an HP laser printer functioning properly by periodically maintaining and replacing the printer fuser. First it is important to review just what a fuser unit’s main purpose is.  Have you ever wondered why or how the paper is warm when comes out of the a printer?

Well you can thank your HP fuser unit for that! The fuser unit is responsible for “fusing” or “embedding” the toner onto the paper using the combination of heat and pressure. The heat is generated from a heat lamp and the pressure from two rollers.  Hence the warm paper. The diagram to the right does a nice job of showing how the fuser unit works.

It is common for HP fuser units to come in two strengths: a 120v fuser unit and a 110v fuser unit, so it is extremely important to order the fuser unit that is compatible with your printer. Using a fuser unit of incorrect strength can cause serious damage to a printer and may even lead to fire hazard.  So when it comes time to order a replacement for the HP fuser unit remember to shop for a replacement either by the manufacturer code or printer model. Let’s say you own an HP LaserJet 5550 printer. It would be wise to perform one of the following searches when shopping for this particular HP printer’s fuser unit; “HP LaserJet 5550 fuser unit,” or “Q3984A.”

HP LaserJet Fuser Maintenance

After learning  that the HP fuser unit is responsible for getting a printer’s toner onto the paper, it should be clear why it is so important to constantly monitor and troubleshoot fuser unit maintenance issues. Think of the HP fuser unit as a car’s tires. The tires keep a car on the road and operating properly, similarly a fuser unit enables the laser printer to perform it’s primary function of printing. So just as it is important to keep tires in impeccable condition, equal attention should be paid to keeping the HP fuser unit in working condition in order to prevent printer damage.  You may be asking yourself, how can the fuser unit damage a printer? Well were you aware that your fuser unit takes up to 90% of a printer’s power usage? If the fuser unit is not working properly then the heat produced can damage the surrounding parts, resulting in expensive and potentially life-ending damage to a printer.

To maximize the life of the HP fuser unit we recommend to refrain from printing on non-standard media from the paper tray and to perform the following monthly tasks: vacuuming or dusting of the assemblies and rollers as well as applying cleaning solutions to remove toner build up. Remember to always wear repair gloves (latex gloves will work fine) when handling your HP fuser unit and assembly rollers as this practice will help reduce contaminating your HP fuser unit with skin oil and other debris.

Replacing your HP Fuser Unit

It is important to keep track of your HP fuser unit’s shelf life, that way you will know when a replacement is necessary. This information can be discovered by referencing the laser printer’s manual (look for the life expectancy chart) and find the fuser unit’s “expected page production life,” better known as the page yield. For instance the HP LaserJet 2200 fuser unit has a page yield of 100,000. This means one could expect their HP LaserJet 2200 fuser unit to function properly for approximately (depending on how the print quality settings are configured) 100,000 printed pages. After the thresehold of 100,000 has surpassed, it is important to monitor the fuser unit’s performance more closely and look to replace the fuser unit shortly thereafter.

If there is no way of keeping track of printed page count (most models will track this automatically), then it is necessary to pro-actively look for other warning signs or red flags including; an increase in paper feed errors or problems, and a decrease in print quality.  Neglecting to replace your HP fuser unit will inevitably lead to printer defects including; damage to printer sensors,  drive gears breaking from over use, heat lamp malfunctions, film sleeve tears, pressure rollers can become worn and scratched, and most commonly toner buildup will develop on the heating and pressure rollers.  Purchasing a replacement HP fuser unit is a small investment that will prevent these printer defects and significantly improve the overall life of your HP printer.

From now until December 31, 2009, Xerox is offering up to a $1200 rebate off of a new Xerox printer purchase if you trade in your old printer. The eligible “new” printer list is below along with the “potential” rebate amount. To find the rebate value of your old printer, visit the Xerox Trade In site by clicking here. On top of the rebate, they will also pay the shipping charge for you to send them your old printer!

If you are not sure if it is time for you to upgrade to a new Xerox printer, check out our recent post which compares the newest Xerox Phaser Ink Printers.