C5503 - Glossy paper

**Stormhammer** · 09-02-2016

I have a customer that is attempting to print out professional looking handouts on thicker glossy stock. It's HP brand and 52 pounds. I've gotten some OK results out of it, but the print out still looks a little mottled. I'm pretty sure this machine just doesn't like this paper. I was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions like perhaps the 80 pound glossy stock that Xerox offers.

**Gary Bowen** · 09-03-2016

Good luck! We have experienced the same thing with a C4503 and I believe we are moving the customer (a print for pay shop) into a "production" colour machine. If you run a solid black test pattern with ANY of the Ricoh Colour MFP's you will notice that the prints are not truly "glossy". We have tried Fuser Temp settings, paper type settings, transfer bias setup and this was on a new machine. We sent samples of the customer paper stock to Ricoh for testing and they came back with the same results - the machine cannot deliver the type of glossy solids the customer wants.

**slimslob** · 09-03-2016

Make absolutely certain that the wrapper on the paper specifically says "For Laser Printers". If it does not, the heat of the fusing can bubble the coating of the paper and occasionally melt the coating to the fusing sleeve. Also remember that the thicker the paper and the higher the speed of the machine, the higher the fusing temperature.

**Stormhammer** · 09-03-2016

The paper does say it is for laser. However, using thick settings rather than glossy settings results in better print results. I increased the fusing temperatures via SP mode, which worked a lot of image quality problems out and got most of the mottling to go away, but it's still there. They do have some faint lines showing up in full black when ran SEF. I think they're still there LEF, but harder to see. I am going back to rebuild the fuser since I don't think this machine has had one done and had plenty of heavy stock ran through it. In the mean time, I think I'll bring in some samples of my own to try to see which prints best.

**Lagonda** · 09-03-2016

Ho hum, here we go again, a customer expecting offset press quality from a photocopier. Explain to them that one of them costs $25k and the other costs $250k and comes with a dedicated operator.
Laser copiers/printers are designed to do their best work on 80 gsm bond paper, anything else, youse pays ya money, youse takes ya chance!

**Stormhammer** · 09-03-2016

Originally Posted by Lagonda

Ho hum, here we go again, a customer expecting offset press quality from a photocopier. Explain to them that one of them costs $25k and the other costs $250k and comes with a dedicated operator.
Laser copiers/printers are designed to do their best work on 80 gsm bond paper, anything else, youse pays ya money, youse takes ya chance!

To be fair, it's what the customer was told to expect out of the machine by both the larger corporation that the franchise is connected to and a salesperson. I looked through their booklet of samples and it says they're supposed to do UV spots too. Sure thing.

**Lagonda** · 09-03-2016

We all want to do the right thing for our customers but sometimes you just have to bit the bullet, say no and walk away. Some customers will understand that you are bound by the laws of physics and can't get the copier to perform outside its design parameters but others believe everything the rep told them. They are the customers that give you ulcers and the rep will never thank you for all the work you do and the grief you cop.

**Qball** · 09-06-2016

Good grief, I'm going through this right now with a customer who bought a MP C2003 and does nothing but full coverage color funeral programs. She doesn't understand why it's not perfect and why it takes so long to spool her jobs. Ugh...

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

**slimslob** · 09-06-2016

Originally Posted by Qball

Good grief, I'm going through this right now with a customer who bought a MP C2003 and does nothing but full coverage color funeral programs. She doesn't understand why it's not perfect and why it takes so long to spool her jobs. Ugh...

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

If it is taking a long time to spool, check that she is using the PCL6 or PCL5c Ricoh driver and not the Microsoft Ricoh class driver. Also check that it is not using a WSD port. I have seen the WSD port take up to 30 minutes to print one page. With the PCL6 Ricoh driver you can setup presets for each of the different items that she prints. I have a couple of funerals that I have done this for. That way all she has to remember is which to preset to use.

**cordless12** · 09-06-2016

Originally Posted by Stormhammer

I have a customer that is attempting to print out professional looking handouts on thicker glossy stock. It's HP brand and 52 pounds. I've gotten some OK results out of it, but the print out still looks a little mottled. I'm pretty sure this machine just doesn't like this paper. I was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions like perhaps the 80 pound glossy stock that Xerox offers.

The customer will usually say "it used to do it"....
i found changing the sleeve cured the problem.. For a while!! As soon as the belt does a few copies it's back! It's seems to be the belt itself putting the pattern on the copy. No solution I found..