Riso RP-3100UI Pressure Roller not lowering far enough to get drum back in

[ebemis]

Hi All,
I have a RP-3100UI machine that has worked decently for the several years I have had it. A few days ago when I had a jam and pulled out the print drum, I noticed the print drum was riding on the pressure roller on the way out. I went to push it back in and the back bottom of the drum housing hits the front top of the pressure roller bearing. I messed with it for a while, then ran test mode 654 print pressure home action, 655 print pressure cycle action, and 658 print spring tension release. The pressure roller plate would move up and down but still not enough to get the drum back in. Eventually I "persuaded" it back in over the still raised pressure roller. I ran some more prints and all was good in print world again. Well today it did it again. It appears it likes the attention. My persuasion did not work as well this time, plus it appears there is more than just a random freak occurrence that needs to be cured. When I open the back I am able to manually push the pressure lever to lower the roller, so nothing is jammed and physically preventing movement. I can see the lever moving during a 655 test, it just does not move far enough. Could the pressure solenoid simply be tired or persnickety? Or is there a more likely option I am not seeing? I followed joelsa12’s advise to edparham on his FR machine and check/wiggled the solenoid wires with no improvement. Does the pressure solenoid crap out often on this model? Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

[joelsa12]

I have yet to see a solenoid go out on the RP series there is a pressure lever that gets bent and will cause your issue. I do not think that an end user will be able to replace this lever and get the machine back timed. I smell a tech visit in your near future.

[ebemis]

Thank you joelsa12. I can see most of the pressure lever and it doesnt appear to be bent (but I have nothing to compare it to). Plus if it were bent would it consistantly not work as opposed to intermittently? Not trying to second guess you at all, as edparham, I am also just a guy with a screwdriver and flashlight too. I think I smell a service visit too, my problem is that I am 1.5 hours from their office, and a "pop in and say hi" visit ends up at $600 in round numbers. Thanks much for your advise! Ed

[joelsa12]

well there is a pressure lever i believe that it is call press. lever B. it can be slightly bent( the naked eye can not see it) and it will cause the press roller not to lock back into the down position. there are other things also. the machine could be out of time caused by the drive gears going bad. so when the drum is in the home position the drum is not. Then the machine would not work at all. this is why i am thinking it is this pressure lever. i have seen this happen before and that would be the only reason that I would come to my conclusion.