GR3770 Feed tray stuck at the top

[mrjonolewarne]

Hi,

My trusty old GR3770 has gone haywire. The machine stopped feeding paper and it was making a weird clicking noise before trying to take in any sheets. I removed the double feed wheel assembly on the wide axel to see if I could spot anything, which I couldn't. So I reinstalled that and tried to print again, but the sheet didn't feed, and when I removed the single sheet completely, the feed tray stayed stuck at the top instead of lowering. The machine is displaying the 'Check feed area' message and won't let me do anything else.

I've read through a couple threads with the same issue, and in light of that checked the wires, which all seem ok. I've tried test mode 102 which seems to just endlessly run. I've turned it off while holding the reset button too, no joy.

Any other ideas? My technician has retired and can't get to me for a few weeks and I need to get printing asap if possible.

Thanks

[20gaugeO/U]

The tray not going down may be nothing more than a dust bunny in the feed tray paper detect sensor. With no paper on the tray get out the canned air and blow off the feed tray making sure to hit the 2 black sensors that detect paper and length.

Any error message to go with the clicking? Clicking occur the same time as feeding or master making... you have an old machine there

[mrjonolewarne]

The tray not going down may be nothing more than a dust bunny in the feed tray paper detect sensor.

The sensors are definitely clear of debris.

Any error message to go with the clicking? Clicking occur the same time as feeding or master making...

No error message at all and it's definitely not a click Ive heard before in the lexicon of clicks the machine has made in normal use before

you have an old machine there

Yep! I'd love it to keep going a while longer though as upgrading to a newer machine is out of question realistically. I'm not a printer, just a graphic designer who uses the machine as a small publishing tool for clients, so recouping the £2-3k it would cost to get a newer second-hand machine and some drums would take about a decade.

[20gaugeO/U]

So you can run TM 102 and the feed tray cycles all the way up and down???
Now you have the "check feed area" message? When it's displaying this press the * key, it may give a more in depth code (I can't remember if this machine does it). A code or video may help cause there are so many things going on, not sure what is stopping it

[mrjonolewarne]

So you can run TM 102 and the feed tray cycles all the way up and down???
Now you have the "check feed area" message? When it's displaying this press the * key, it may give a more in depth code (I can't remember if this machine does it). A code or video may help cause there are so many things going on, not sure what is stopping it

Thank you for your reply, I've been away so have only just noticed it. I won't be able to check until Thursday but will try to remember to press the star key and run test mode 102.

[mrjonolewarne]

I had a chat on the phone with a service guy (at the other end of the country so not able to visit my machine unfortunately). He asked if I had experienced any jammed drums prior to the failure, which I had. I used a drum that had been lying around for ages and got a clamp error on the morning the machine failed. He's not sure what's causing the tray to stick at the top but thinks the machine's failure to feed might be a timing issue due to one of the belts skipping a tooth perhaps. Hopefully that will be the case and when I can finally get someone to the machine to take a look it'll be easily fixed without needing new parts. Does this sound feasible to the expert ears on here?

[20gaugeO/U]

Yep, belt could have jumped a couple teeth and be way out of time. The belts also like to stretch after many years and copies being run on them which can make putting them back in time kind of like finding a tolerable middle ground for a vs truly in spec