Ricoh HQ5000 Priport intermittant feed tray

[Smee]

Hi guys - Im completely new to Priports and really dont know much about them. Ive stumbled my way thru faults but now im kinda stuck.

The paper feed tray intermittantly goes up and down....it will go up a little, then down a little then back up etc..Most of the time its fine tho.

Its like it isnt sensing the paper, so I have replaced the sensor and also the wiring harness - the next thing is the board. Sometimes in the input checks the sensor works, then dosnt.

But im just a little hesitant at replaceing the board without knowing if anybody else has had this problem or fixes?

Thanks for any help.

[Fearless V K]

What sensor did you replace? If it was the paper end sensor on the tray, you may want to also replace the paper height sensor mounted above the pickup roller assembly.

(This is from the 7000 manual, but most of these machines work in the same basic manner.)

Table Upper/Lower Limit Detection and Paper Height Control-
When the paper table moves up, the top of the paper stack contacts the pick-up
roller, lifting it up. Then, when the paper height sensor is actuated, the paper table stops.
During a printing run, sheets are fed from the stack, and the pick-up roller lowers.
When the paper height sensor is de-actuated, the paper table motor starts turning
and lifts the paper table until the sensor is actuated again. In this way, the top of
the paper stack remains at the same position during printing.
When the tray lowers, the lower limit position is detected by the paper table lower

limit sensor (not shown), which is located beside the paper table motor.

[Smee]

Thanks Fearless - it was the paper end sensor I replaced so i have ordered a couple of the other sensors to cover all bases - cant remember them now off the top of my head.

They're on backorder so I went back to have another play with the machine to see if I could kinda get it working temporarily. Turns out the client also tried to get it going with his boot I think! He musta pulled out the paper end sensor cause the wiring was loose and all the pins were bent - I actually took the sensor off and opened it up. There was a tiny amount of dust in there so I cleaned it up, reassembled it, and straightened the pins and it seems to be working fine.

I reckon there is still a hard fault, and I will still replace the sensors when they turn up. Maybe wait till they complain again.....