Aficio 2238C questions

[mrwho]

Hello there, guys and girls!

Two quick questions about this machine I know nothing about:

- The developing units come already full with developer? Is it possible (and desirable) to change only the developer?

- Likewise, the PCUs are serviceable to replace the drums, or should we do the entire units?

- How does this machine operate? Does it work similarly to the MPC2050 (with similar speed printing BW and Color)? I'm a bit confused with the service manual claim that the transfer belt lasts 1M prints - isn't it a bit optimistic?

- I can't find part no. B1909510 (pointed to me by my boss) on the parts manual - am I being dumb? What the heck is this?

Thanks in advance!

[Koosie]

Hello there, guys and girls!

Two quick questions about this machine I know nothing about:

- The developing units come already full with developer? Is it possible (and desirable) to change only the developer?

- Likewise, the PCUs are serviceable to replace the drums, or should we do the entire units?

- How does this machine operate? Does it work similarly to the MPC2050 (with similar speed printing BW and Color)? I'm a bit confused with the service manual claim that the transfer belt lasts 1M prints - isn't it a bit optimistic?

- I can't find part no. B1909510 (pointed to me by my boss) on the parts manual - am I being dumb? What the heck is this?

Thanks in advance!

We replace the whole dev units and PCU units. I don't know if there is developer or drums and blades available for the machine.
The machine prints color slower than B/W, and the transfer belt really last that long. I think the part no. for PCU is B1809511 ( I think )

[mrwho]

Thanks for your reply.

I have here part numbers B1492213 and B1492214 for PCUs CMY and K respectively. So, which one should I use? I'm assuming PCUs CMY and K are different, so I'm confused!

About the speed difference, is color printing much slower than bw printing?

Thanks once again!

[Koosie]

The PCU's are all the same, you can swap them around to troubleshoot problems. My part number is wrong though, it should be B1909510 for all pcu's, according to modification bulletin MB149002

[rthonpm]

B1809511 is the part number for the 3228c PCU, which is interchangable with the 2238c PCU: the only difference is an extra pin on the faceplate that you don't need if putting in the 22 series machine. It's plastic so it pops right off. Developer units are unique though. If you have any 32 series machines I'd opt to just carry the B1809511 and pop off the pin if needed. If you just have the 22 series machine then go with the B190 drum, it is slightly cheaper.

The units are designed to be completely replaced, almost like a supply item, so there are no individual part numbers for the developer, drum, etc. Besides, the cost is so minimal and the yields are usually better than rated. In my experience, the drums will fail at close to 200% of their lifecycle judged by the PM counter SPs (SP 7-803) so you can get a good amount of life out of them.

For the 2238c you're looking speedwise at about 38 pages per minute black and 32 colour so the difference isn't too bad. The main drawback is the number of times and the length of the process control for the machine. But if it keeps the colour in good shape then it's a decent tradeoff, especially considering the POS that was the predecessor LD024/32c.

The main thing to look for with the transfer belt is keeping the shiny metal rollers under it shiny. The belt is translucent and the ID sensors use the reflectivity of the rollers underneath in making adjustments so if the rollers get gunky (especially the top one which is under the K developer unit) then you'll start getting process control errors, even if the copies look okay. A good cleaning every so often with some chrome cleaner or alcohol depending on how bad the rollers are will keep the machine happy. Also make sure to replace the transfer cleaning blade on time: it's your belt's best friend.

It's a good machine overall and in the right environment it can pretty much run itself. I used to have about 50 of them out in the field, I'm now down to about 5 or 6, but even those are still running strong.