Printer Fuser Units – New Versus Refurbished

Laser printer supplies and replacement parts prices can be very expensive, so to save us money some very resourceful people have come up with an alternative to buying new fusers.

Fuser Units
A fuser unit is the part in a laser printer that creates pressure and heat to fuse toner to the paper. Not all of the parts go bad in the whole assembly when they wear out. The main part that wears out is the upper heat roller or the heat sleeve. The coating wears off and causes the toner to not fuse properly. There are replacement rollers and sleeves on the market that you can replace and turn a non-functional fuser into a good working one.

Rebuilding fuser assemblies is not a new thing. Copier technicians have been doing it for years since the first office copier was created. When the fuser wears on any copier they replace certain parts some of which are, the upper heat roller, lower heat roller, bearings, picker fingers, thermistors, drive gears and more. The printer industry has a different approach in that they replace everything as an assembly. People are accustomed to this and when they need a replacement fuser they opt for a new one many times. I believe it is a mind set. A copier service person would look at it as a waste of money. Why buy a new one when you can buy the replacement parts for a fraction of the cost and install them and make it as good as new. You must be cautious when purchasing replacement parts because there are some replacement parts that are sub par, so finding a good parts source is imperative.

Refurbished Fusers

Pros
Cost much less than a new assembly.

Cons
Higher defect rate if you don’t find a quality manufacturer.

New Original Fusers

Pros
You know for sure that what you are getting is as good as there is.

Cons
Cost is much higher than a refurbished fuser. These too can be defective out of the box.

I have replaced many fusers and believe that using refurbished fusers is the way to go. It will not harm the machine and I have seen refurbished fusers last longer than new fusers. You will save money and don’t forget about the recycling aspect. There could be tons of old fuser cores in the land fills if it wasn’t for refurbished fusers. The pros out way the cons when it comes to refurbished fuser units. It is critical that you find quality refurbished fusers with a good warranty and you will save a lot of money while helping keep our landfills from filling up with old fuser units.

Bill Tucker has been in the office equipment and supply industry for over 20 years and has several published industry related articles that help the end-user as well as the technician.

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