How to figure a duty cycle
muz...@aol.com
Does anyone know how to figure a duty cycle, or exactly what one is? From
my understanding it's the number of pages you want to print per day or
month or whatever. But how does that relate to anything? Say I want to
print a hundred pages per day - ok, then what?
Does it have anything to do with the printer cartridge, or is it just the
printer itself. Does it vary from laser to inkjet?
Bottom line, I need to print quite a few copies each day or month and I
don't what a printer that will break down on me. Does the duty cycle mean
that once you go past the stated duty cycle limit (say 10,000 in a month)
the printer will break down on you, or does it mean you will simply have
to do something else like give it a cleaning, replace ink cartridge, etc?
Somebody please help me out if you've got any info.
Thanks
--
Posted via CNET Help.com
http://www.help.com/
John Connolly
per day, and calling for warranty service all the time, they can point out
that you've exceeded the duty cycle # of pages per month, and may need a
rebuild, or a stronger printer.
That's why the HP II/III & 4/5 are such great printers. Canon/HP weren't quite
sure how they would stand up & built them to take it. The cartridges have
almost nothing to do with duty cycle - they are the weak link in all printers,
and you are the technician when you replace a failed one. No one would want to
pay their up to $100 per hour service call rate, if the toner/drum module was
fixed in the printer.
The clever printer OEM MBA's and bean counters realized the economies they
could achieve with later models by turning brass bushings into plastic, and
particularly with the 5L/6L and similar types turning the aluminum/teflon
fuser sleeve into a mylar film which rips quite easily.
J. Clarke
> Ok guys and gals,
>
> Does anyone know how to figure a duty cycle, or exactly what one is? From
> my understanding it's the number of pages you want to print per day or
> month or whatever. But how does that relate to anything? Say I want to
> print a hundred pages per day - ok, then what?
>
> Does it have anything to do with the printer cartridge, or is it just the
> printer itself. Does it vary from laser to inkjet?
>
> Bottom line, I need to print quite a few copies each day or month and I
> don't what a printer that will break down on me. Does the duty cycle mean
> that once you go past the stated duty cycle limit (say 10,000 in a month)
> the printer will break down on you, or does it mean you will simply have
> to do something else like give it a cleaning, replace ink cartridge, etc?
>
> Somebody please help me out if you've got any info.
The duty cycle is something that has been used in engineering for a long
time. It represents the level of usage for which a particular piece of
equipment was designed, and can be expressed in various ways depending on
the nature of the equipment.
When you exceed the duty cycle, then the likelihood that your hardware will
break down or have other problems increases, and the more you exceed it the
greater that likelihood becomes.
With regard to a printer, it will pertain to the print mechanism as a whole,
not to any particular part of it, although there is generally some component
that is the "weakest link" and thus becomes the most probable point of
failure--this isn't a matter of any kind of clever scheming, it's just a
fact of life--sometimes the weakest link turns out to be something the
engineers did not expect to be a problem.
Generally speaking you want to buy a device of whatever kind that is
designed for the duty cycle that you intend, with enough margin for a
reasonable level of growth.
If you want to print 100 pages per day, 5 days a week, that would be 2166
pages/month (100 pages * 5 days * 52 weeks / 12 months) on the average, so
you'd want a printer rated for at least this level of use.
--
---
---John
reply to jclarke at eye bee em dot net
muz...@aol.com
John Connolly wrote:
>
> The manufacturers set this standard so that if someone is printing 24
hours
> per day, and calling for warranty service all the time, they can point
out
> that you've exceeded the duty cycle # of pages per month, and may need a
> rebuild, or a stronger printer.
>
> That's why the HP II/III & 4/5 are such great printers. Canon/HP weren't
quite
> sure how they would stand up & built them to take it. The cartridges have
> almost nothing to do with duty cycle - they are the weak link in all
printers,
> and you are the technician when you replace a failed one. No one would
want to
> pay their up to $100 per hour service call rate, if the toner/drum
module was
> fixed in the printer.
>
> The clever printer OEM MBA's and bean counters realized the economies
they
> could achieve with later models by turning brass bushings into plastic,
and
> particularly with the 5L/6L and similar types turning the aluminum/teflon
> fuser sleeve into a mylar film which rips quite easily.
>
> muz...@aol.com wrote:
>
> >
> > Does anyone know how to figure a duty cycle, or exactly what one is?
From
> > my understanding it's the number of pages you want to print per day or
> > month or whatever. But how does that relate to anything? Say I want
to
> > print a hundred pages per day - ok, then what?
> >
> > Does it have anything to do with the printer cartridge, or is it just
the
> > printer itself. Does it vary from laser to inkjet?
> >
> > Bottom line, I need to print quite a few copies each day or month and I
> > don't what a printer that will break down on me. Does the duty cycle
mean
> > that once you go past the stated duty cycle limit (say 10,000 in a
month)
> > the printer will break down on you, or does it mean you will simply
have
> > to do something else like give it a cleaning, replace ink cartridge,
etc?
> >
> > Somebody please help me out if you've got any info.
> >