Original Toners









Spares






OKI C5550MFP 4 in 1 colour printer, scanner, copier and fax

MMA_top-right-logo

The C5550n MFP is a multifunction printer, copier scanner and fax based on the C5600 print engine. The C5550MFP is more closely related to the C5600 printer than to the C5500 - smae toners and drums.

Aesthetically this thing must count as one of mankind's blunders. It has the odd curved look of the C5000 family combined with a fax/copier control console in the completely different style OKI later adopted.   It is so weird that if it goes wrong and has to be replaced you will almost certainly miss it and may have to buy a Gothic gargoyle as a replacement.

OKI say The C5550n MFP is designed to increase your pace and improve your image.   It is likely to do that before you even turn it on. Joseph Merrick might have escaped the soubriquet "Elephant Man" if he had one of these round the place.

Whilst its features may be dubious the feature-set is pretty good with chunky 5000 page colour cartridges, a bit of extra oomph in the 6,000 page black and options including duplex an extra tray, more RAM and a hard disk. The printer supports standard print languages PCL and PostScript as well.

A problem you might see is that it comes from the age of XP and Vista. That does include Vista x64 but some of the bundled software might not translate into the age of Windows 10.

OKI's document OKI NIP (Non Impact Printers) Drivers Compatibility under Windows 10 says the printer languages are supported but against the scanner driver it says "Not Support".

This may not be quite so fatal as it sounds as hamrick.com's VueScan does support several OKI MFP's including the C5550 MFP (~More below).

OKI A4 colour multifunction device based on the C5650 printer using single pass LED electrophotography.

Print Speed:20 pages per minute colour and 32 ppm mono

Print Resolution:ProQ2400 multilevel with 1200x600 dpi native resolution. Microfine High Definition Toner

Media:Business cards, CD labels and 1.2 metre long banners on media up to 203gsm

Paper Path:Straight paper path gives flexibility and minimises problems

Consumables:Large capacity consumables for minimal user intervention and economy.

Scan: Scan to email, FTP and CIFS/ SMB directly

The C5550MFP is the Multifunction version of the C5650, 5750, 5850, 5950 series

Software:

Document management: Nuance PaperPort , Nuance OmniPage OCR.

Control:

A fax/copier control panel mounted on the scanner above a C5650 printer (so there are two sets of controls - one for the printer and the other for the multifunction).

features picture

Duty Cycle:

Maximum 60,000 pages/month

20ppm colour / 32ppm mono

First Page Out: 9 seconds colour / 8 seconds mono. Warm up time: Less than 60 seconds from power on

ProQ2400 Multi-level technology, 1200 x 600 dpi

Paper Handling:

A4 Multipurpose tray and Tray 1

Multipurpose Paper Input: 100 sheets. Paper sizes: A4, A5, B5, A6, CD Solutions, labels, business cards, banners up to 215 x 1200mm. Paper weights: 75&203gsm

Optional 2nd Tray: 530 sheets. Paper sizes: A4, A5, B5. Paper weights: 64 & 176gsm

Optional Duplex: Paper sizes: A4, A5, B5, 148mm x 210mm 215.9mm x 355.6mm. Paper weights: 75 105gsm

Paper Output: 250 sheets face down, 100 sheets face up

MMA_top-right-logo

MultiFunction Printers (MFPs) can be a bit annoying because they are doubly reliant on the operating system of the user's computer. They need a print driver, and they need both scanner drivers and the various support software. Getting the printer working is not usually the same as getting the scanner working - they are in the same box, they share a network and USB port but they aren't the same thing.

In the OKI C5550MFPs case the printer is supported under recent versions of Windows but (at the time we checked) the Scanner is not.

In fairness to OKI we would say this is a common problem. No printer brand can give indefinite support to it's back catalogue because there is nothing in it for them! Scanner software is usually provided by third-parties and they weren't planning to issue a permanent free licence either (shock news).

OKI do actually provide Unix and Linux drivers for many of their printers, so that gives a way to make the printers work. If you are a Windows user you probably don't want to know because transition between Microsoft Windows and Linux is not always easy.

OKI apparently use a scanner graphics protocol called "netpbm". We can't show that is what they use on these machines (because we haven't got one) but if that proves so then it is potentially feasible to get the scanners working - but only a determined techy will be able to do it - and not for £50. So in that case you want hamrick.com's VueScan

OKI's US brochure says there is a TWAIN driver - but whether that is a reinterpretation of what the scanner natively talks would need verification.

The bundled document management software, Nuance PaperPort and OmniPage that came with the machine weren't intended to work with Windows 10 so they would need upgrading as well. But then software doesn't last ten years.

Scanner Abilities:

Scanner Function: Flatbed scanner with a 50 page Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)

Scan Speed: Up to 20 pages per minute

Optical resolution: 1200 x 1200 dpi, 4800 dpi interpolated. Input 48 bit / Output 24 bit. Contrast 5 level adjustment

Scan to: Email, FTP, CIFS and TWAIN. Format: PDF, JPEG, TIFF, M-TIFF Scan Address: 300

Copy Abilities:

Copy Function: 99 copies. Zoom 25% to 400%

Copy speed: 20cpm colour / 32cpm mono

First copy out: 23 seconds colour, 15 seconds mono

Resolution 600x600dpi

Fax Abilities:

Fax Function:ITU-T G3 (Super G3) 33.6 kbps, 3 seconds/page

Dialling: 10 one touch dials, 200 speed dials. Up to 20 Groups. Broadcast Maximum 100.

Fax memory:1.5MB - approximately 90 pages.

Tray 1:

100 sheets. Paper sizes: A4, A5, B5, A6. Paper weights: 64&120gsm

Processor:

500 MHz

Memory:

256MB RAM

Interface:

USB 2.0 (High speed), Ethernet 10/100Base TX

PCL/PS

System Compatability:

Windows 98 SE, Millennium, 2000/2003, XP(32&64 bit), Vista(32&64 bit)

MMA_top-right-logo

Running Costs

Running costs for a printer are far more important than purchase cost. If you plan to replace one of the OKI C5550's , don't look for a "colour multifunction" - look for a machine that take 5,000 page cartridges.

The printer won't be cheap …

… but cartridges will be much better value.

A typical office printer will get through ten or twenty cartridges in it's life - at a cost ten times what the printer cost to buy. Colour printers have four cartridges - and in this case four drums as well as a transfer belt and fuser - so they can use quite a mountain of consumables.

Print Volume

People are often rather unsure how much they print; it varies hugely. Law, finance and insurance print a lot. Medical and education sector printing is probably higher than average if they give people handout leaflets. Graphic designers and people involved in catalogues and print production obviously print stupendous amounts but only a fraction of it is for their own use.

We have tried to research national averages, but we don't get firm figures. Estimates we have seen suggest Americans average about 10,000 pages per year and the British about 8,000.   Workplace printers are nearly all of this, home printers are used for two or three sheets per day - so less than a thousand per person per year. (But nasty little inkjet cartridges soak up money).

Businesses tend to follow the same process for a long time. The best way to get your own average consumption is probably look back at the invoices. Businesses tend to buy paper by the box; which is 2,500 sheets so if you buy a box each quarter that's at least 10,000 pages per year. It could be significantly more if you tend to print duplex.

The Price of Printers

It may be surprising but printer brands really want you to spend as little as possible on a printer. The reason is quite simple, you will spend more on cartridges. Printers range from about £30 to beyond £3000.

Little printer cartridges print two thousand pages or less …

… big printer cartridges last twenty thousand pages or more (beyond 45,000)

… obviously there is everything in-between.

These printers with their 5000 page capacity cartridge might be described as mid-high end .

There are NO cheap little printers that take big cartridges;   … that just isn't the way the industry works at all.

… and the Price of Print

Printers like this (Office electrophotographic, laser or LED) use a toner, developer, drum and waste compartment to make the page. All these components get used up.

Toner

Toner stands in for ink. A given amount of powder covers so much paper area. Toner might be described as fine-ground plastic (Polyester with a bit of polypropylene). A very broad generalisation is that a kilo of black toner will give 5% cover to about 20,000 pages (or 100% cover to 1,000). Colour may need a bit more.

The toner cartridge is a box with a feed hopper opened by a shutter underneath and a waste valve opened at the same time on one side. The openings work from the locking lever. All that prevents the cartridges being refilled is an RFID chip hidden in a slot to one side. Refillers have to get hold of the chips- but of course that is easy for these old printers. (Not so easy for new ones).

There is quite an active refill industry around OKI cartridges because it is just a matter of clearing the old toner out of the box. Refill franchises can charge more for OKI compatible toner because it is somewhat different to industry norms. Refill toner is unlikely to give as good a colour balance as original and in this case there is the problem that a bad toner will also make a mess of the drum - and possibly the transfer belt.

Drums

Print drums are made from an organoconductive material - plastic semiconductor on an aluminium cylinder. The drum has two or three layers of plastic about a micron thick. The drum holds an electric charge in the dark and ordinarily this repels the like-charged toner. Where the LED printheads have shone the drum discharges and will hold a pattern in toner. As the drum is used the surface layer wears out and streaks or lack of contrast develop.

Nearly all the complexity of the consumables is in the drum units. They hold the OPC itself (the green shiny cylinder) and the precharge, supply and developer rollers. It is possible to remanufacture the drums as well as toners but the job is more complicated so there seems to be less competition.

Belt

The transfer belt carries the media (usually paper) under each of the drums, picking up a pattern from each of them. When paper leaves the belt it goes through the fuser and that "fixes" the image to the page. The belt is also used in printer alignment. There is a certain amount of play in the position of the drums so the printer needs to print some test patterns so that it can get its innards aligned to less than a 600th of an inch. It does this by printing alignment patterns straight onto the belt and then cleaning them off when it has the measures to correct any alignment problem.

OKI have an interesting approach to waste toner. Electrophotographic printers transfer toner from developer to drum, drum to medium. The transfer is stochastic - not every particle transfers so some are left on the drum. The waste mechanism removes residual toner before it builds to a grey background. With these printers the drums incorporate a little elevator that lifts the toner and puts it back in a waste component in the toner cartridge. Some toner isn't on the drum but on the belt, this is collected in a compartment under the belt.

Power:

AC 220-240 VAC, 50 & 60Hz

Printers that use toner to colour the page have a fuser that binds the toner to the page using a combination of heat and pressure. The fuser gets hot whilst it is in use, so all laser printers require mains (line) power appropriate to the country they will be used in.

Power Consumption:

Power Save below 27W, Standby 110W, Peak 1200W, Normal 490W,

Power ave below 27 watts is actually rather high by today's standards where many printers aim to get it below 1 watt. For the costs of that consider a machine left on for 24 hours per day, which is not uncommon practice in an office. Over a year a machine burning 25 watts will use 219 kilowatt hours - and at 2015 electricity prices that is likely to be £26 to 30.   That isn't a reason to scrap old printers - it looks as though it would be environmentally worse to scrap something than to run it - however it is a consideration. Probably best to turn it off at night though!

Dimensions:

670 x 500 x 600mm.

Weight:

37kg

Acoustic Noise:

Operating 59dB, Standby 37dB

Consumables:

ColourPages: Compatible with OKI codeGTIN
Black8,000 OKI C5550, C5800, C59004332442405031713031680 £93.35 +vat
Cyan2,000 OKI C5550, C5800, C59004332442305031713031253 £171.11 +vat
Magenta 2,000 OKI C5550, C5800, C59004332442205031713031246 £171.11 +vat
Yellow2,000 OKI C5550, C5800, C59004332442105031713031239 £171.11 +vat

A complete set of Oki C5650 original toner cartridges is usually available for just under £300.

Drum units are as follows:

ColourPages: Compatible with OKI codeGTIN
Black20,000 OKI C5550, C5800, C59004338172405031713031734 £61.11 +vat
Cyan20,000 OKI C5550, C5800, C59004338172305031713031727 £61.11 +vat
Magenta20,000 OKI C5550, C5800, C59004338172205031713031710 £61.11 +vat
Yellow20,000 OKI C5550, C5800, C59004338172105031713031703 £61.11 +vat
ItemPage Life Compatible with OKI codeGTIN
Transfer Belt60,000 OKI C710 C5550MFP C5600 C5650 C5700 C5750 C5800 C59004336341205031713031543 £107.15 +vat
Fuser60,000 OKI C5550MFP C5600 C5700 C5800 C5900 MC5604336320305031713031536 £197.65 +vat

Warranty:

Warranty was originally 1 year onsite. All warranties on these printers are long ago exhausted.

Options and Accessories:

Duplex unit 043347502

Memory 256MB RAM 01182901, 512MB memory 01182902

Hard Disk Drive 01184501

Second tray 43347609

Cabinet 09004619