Cyan Lines on all color documents?

[Jeremy-Ricoh]

Please take a look at the attached picture, this test page was printed on a Ricoh Aficio 3235C.

The device has about 1000 prints on the counter, and we've had it for about 6 months.

Has the Cyan Photoconductor gone bad, or is it something else? How can I fix this?

[blackcat4866]

Clearly you've got a drum ground problem with the cyan drum unit. The cause for this is usually a scratch or some other flaw in the drum coating. It does not have to be in the image area to cause this affect.

Less commonly, there could be a poor electrical connection between the drum and the drum shaft ground. A dab of conductive grease on the ground contact will cure that.

The picture is a great idea. I think all quality problems should be accompanied by a scan or photo.

[Jeremy-Ricoh]

So if there is a problem with the drum it self I will need to change the Photoconductor right?

The back of the photoconductor has an RJ11 style connector. If it's a grounding problem, would I put some lithium greese on that connector? Or is it grounded in another location?

When writing bugs I try to attach a sample picture whenever possible, so I figured it'd be best to do that here as well.

[blackcat4866]

Yes, you'll probably have to change the cyan photoconductor unit.

No, the drum ground has to be more robust. It's usually a copper or brass contact strip, or bronze bushing that touches the end of the drum shaft. Sorry I can't be more specific. I don't think I 've ever seen this particular Ricoh.

And lithium grease is not suitable. Conductive grease is, you guessed it, conductive. It's usually black colored. I have used Ricoh Part# G004 9668, Canon Part# CK-544.

[paulg]

Have you cleaned the charge roller often if you clean it early on enough the drum will be fine and give loads more copies before it needs replacing.
Drums easy enough to open up two screws just mind all the waste toner in the drum.

A little bit of water on the charge roller if the drum not damaged there is a good chance it will be fine.

[Jeremy-Ricoh]

I replaced the both the Cyan Developer and Photoconductor, and everything is as it should be.

Just before replacing these I had the user print a Windows test page, and the entire page was blue. It was really bad.

This device is not getting enough use, so I'll try to print at least 100 pages a week to it. Hopefully that'll keep everything happy.

EDIT : Oh yea, I was not able to find the Ricoh part numbers for the 3245, but I did find the Gestetner ones, listed here.

Black/Color Photoconductor - gb180951
Black Developer - gb1803005
Cyan Developer - gb1803006
Magenta Developer - gb1803007
Yellow Developer - gb1803008