Ricoh 2238C Lines on copies....

[the tenor man]

Hello all,

I'm getting some cyan and yellow lines on copies. (They are fairly light but visible..the yellow is so light you can barely see it). They are about 1 3/8" apart...

Any suggestions?

Thanks, The Tenor Man

[Keoke]

there are a numeber of things which will cause this, bad developer, bad transfer blade or drum blade, I cant tell by the picture, run a single color chart from the copier and it will show you better what unit is having a problem.

[the tenor man]

Thanks for your speedy reply...I'll try the color chart.

This machine has been in an unheated building and hasn't had any use for over three years because of a customer bankruptcy. It only has about 13000 total copies on the clock.

I'm not very familar with this machine but it took about 5 hours just to get it up and running...

Thanks for you help!
The Tenor Man

do the marks repeat or are they random? maybe a charge problem?

[blackcat4866]

If your lines are crossfeed, the cyan and yellow drums are not cleaning. That fits well with sitting in an unheated building, sitting idle. You can remove the drum from the unit clean the drum blade with alcohol and a Q-tip, then reprime the drum blade. There is a 50/50 chance it will help. Eventually you'll have to replace the cyan & yellow drum units.

[the tenor man]

The lines are always about 1 3/8" apart and repeat down the page.

I've cleaned the blade on the Cyan drum but it didn't seem to help. Is there anything else I should do?

Also, another problem that I have experienced...sometime the Cyan prints and sometimes there is no Cyan. I thought it may be a toner plug-up in the feed line but could it also be the toner pump? I'm still testing with the old toner and thought it may be that, but the other colors print fine with no drop-outs

Thanks,

The Tenor Man

[The Real JB]

Thanks for your speedy reply...I'll try the color chart.

This machine has been in an unheated building and hasn't had any use for over three years because of a customer bankruptcy. It only has about 13000 total copies on the clock.

I'm not very familar with this machine but it took about 5 hours just to get it up and running...

Thanks for you help!
The Tenor Man

While some equipment is more forgiving than others when it comes to sitting for extended periods between uses, this unit has been subjected to extremes both in temperature and length of time between use.

It is likely that anything related to the toner, cleaning, etc. (i.e. maintenance items) will have to be replaced. If there were any pressure points when it was mothballed, those are now likely permanent deformities.

The bottom line is that this unit will likely need a thorough overhaul before it becomes operational again. I had a 7000 CMF in a climate-controlled environment (my home office), and it still needed a lot of work after sitting for just a few months. It had 20-30K total clicks on the print engine, and 10-20K total clicks on the scanner.

Please keep in mind that Ricoh spec's its products for usage and life. The life expectancy of this box is probably 5 years. 20 years again Ricoh built some awesome boxes with regards to longevity, but I wouldn't consider that the case any longer. After all, how could you sell new boxes if the old ones never wear out?

[Anders Nilsson]

If the machine has ben unused for three years and have been placed in a unattended environment (cold in winter an warm in summer) and most likely with condensing moist i suggest a replacement of all PCU's and Dev.units along with inspection/replacement if needed of the drive clutches after this i would check transferbelt and the transferbelt cleaningunit

[the tenor man]

Thanks for the information...

How would I know if the transfer belt was bad? Are there any special markings or problems that I should look for?

The Tenor Man

[Anders Nilsson]

The transfer belt is like a Transparency film you should be able to look through it, when it's worn you can see white lines on it.There will always be white lines when its used but if they are too many and the belt itself become's "untransparent" the automatic line position adjustement fail's and you will experience bad sync between the colors.When you change this belt remember to change the clean.brush and blade too also clean the metal roller that is in the upper end of the unit "ID Sensors use's this reflection as reference when adjusting line position and image quality" it shall be "Mirror surface".But when you do this take your time and don't rush you'll se that this machine will be a well working unit again and while you'r at it upgrade the firmware in the machine ,a lot happen's in three year's.Good luck
Your's sincerely
Anders