Have you ever worked on a problem machine you couln`d fix, maybe a lemon.

[Stirton.M]

Broken frames. Yeah I remember a few of those. The most interesting was a Mita DC-1001 (plastic lower frames). Upon arrival I noticed that the top half of the clamshell is sitting slightly askew of the bottom, and its held closed with two or three big loops of masking tape. The complaint is that it jams.

I cut away the tape, and the top half of the clamshell fell off the bottom, with only the wiring harness to keep it attached. I couldn't help myself: I started to laugh.

Me: What happened? (trying, and failing to keep a straight face)
Customer: Well ... we were having trouble changing the toner ... and it fell off the desk.
Me: So you were having a lot of trouble. I don't think you want to fix this.
Customer: What do you mean?
Me: Just in rough numbers, $200 to $300 in parts, and about a day's labor, maybe more. You could buy two new ones for the cost.
Customer: Oh.

=^..^=

D'OH!

[kingarthur]

Have had 2 biz 250 b/w machines, that i've had to write off, the optics were bent due to the customer "sitting" on the glass. though they denied it

[ToshibaTech]

I have had a bunch that weren't worth fixing. I have had a few that after making a trip or two one of the other guys will go look at it and usually see something simple... likewise I have done the same for them.

I don't know that we've ever had a machine that we just couldn't figure out. I mean at some point if you replace enough parts or eliminate enough variables you WILL fix the machine. You usually try to avoid the shotgun approach but when you run into a real "problem child" sometimes that approach beats spending hours and hours on a job. I guess you have to weigh wasting parts vs. wasting time.

I think the worst thing that happens is when you start off by over thinking the problem. At least for me, that is when I find I spend the most time on a machine. When perhaps the problem was very simple, or I am making it into a much bigger deal than it is I.E. the customer doesn't see it as a problem and didn't want/need it "fixed."

[blackcat4866]

... I think the worst thing that happens is when you start off by over thinking the problem. At least for me, that is when I find I spend the most time on a machine. When perhaps the problem was very simple, or I am making it into a much bigger deal than it is I.E. the customer doesn't see it as a problem and didn't want/need it "fixed."

Excellent point. That's why I always ask the customer to identify the problem they want fixed, especially billable ones. Often they don't even see that other thing, or don't care. =^..^=

[JustManuals]

Back in the day when I worked for HP in Long Island NY, I was working on some of their high-speed printers. I believe it was the D640 series. The manuals came in 2 3" thick 3 ring binders. Well, long story short, I escalated the call and HP sent their 'fixer' . He flew in from Detroit, I picked him up at LaGuardia, got him a motel room and we went to the site. We spent 3 days there and another guy from NJ also came. They got it fixed for sure. A nightmare I'm certainly not going to forget soon.

Paul

[Lagonda]

The only thing that beat me was a Ricoh MP C1500 duplex tray. Changed the cct board, all the sensors and clutches and still the thing wouldn't work. I suspect there was a problem in the wiring loom but couldn't prove it. In a fit of rage I threw the thing in the bin and booked a new one out of the store under the pretext that it was cheaper solution then me wasting my time. A year later the copier joined it!
Had several copiers that started working again and I wasn't too sure what I did to fix it. You just give a silent prayer of thanks to the copier gods and move on to the next problem.

[mo0651]

I had a savin 9920. When they first came out. 1 machine in a xray dept.. Fix one issue, 2days later something else. After about 2 months of this thing I asked my service manager for a can of yellow paint. LEMON!!!!!! about 150 other machines of that make ran like tops!

[gwaddle]

The only thing that beat me was a Ricoh MP C1500 duplex tray. Changed the cct board, all the sensors and clutches and still the thing wouldn't work. I suspect there was a problem in the wiring loom but couldn't prove it. In a fit of rage I threw the thing in the bin and booked a new one out of the store under the pretext that it was cheaper solution then me wasting my time. A year later the copier joined it!
Had several copiers that started working again and I wasn't too sure what I did to fix it. You just give a silent prayer of thanks to the copier gods and move on to the next problem.

I like the ones that fix themselves, although sometimes I would like to know what I did. But, like you, most times I just move on to the next one.

[slybot]

had a canon np1215 once that the exposure lamp would cut out after 1/3 scanning of the original. me and my partner in crime, well you name it we changed/metered it (lamp cables, lamp carriage, lamp driver boards etc just to name a few) still could not cure the fault. eventually we binned it due to the 'beyond economical to repair' thing

[DAG COPIERS & COMPUTERS]

Then I had this CANON, I cant recall the exact model, but something like np6221,or np6225? which was displaying a paper jam immediately its switched ON. The owner first took it to some other technicians who were unsuccessful on it before he was referred to me. I replaced all the known sensors in the machine to no avail, substituted both main PCB and dc controller, still NOTHING !
In the end we advised the owner to buy another machine. We still believe that was the " worst" copier brand manufactured and released by canon, at least in this part of the globe