C4503 PCU conversion

[Gift]

Ricoh New Zealand have a conversion procedure. It's about 10 pages long and time consuming, with various things that can ruin the entire PCU along the way if you do them wrong. It might be cheaper to purchase a whole 3503 for a spares donor, buy the time you include 4 drums and a fuser, as well as a DF that can go on a 5503, it looks pretty good. As well as all the motors and annoying little parts that would be backordered otherwise.

Any chance to share this intel? I had a look and thought it wouldn't be much effort to mod the units but after closer inspection I saw that the dimensesion beween gears/shafts seem slightly different so the BK/COL body is not interchangeable due to these drive related issues. The only thing I can imagine is that you might be able strip the PM relevant parts of a BK unit in order to refurb a COL drum unit but I haven't tried yet nor wouldn't call it a "conversion".

Having a set of PM parts beeing more expensive than a new machine - kinda reminds me of an argument "why people shouldn't buy cheap inkjet/laser home office devices"...

[Richariri]

If you do a little searching, you can find a low meter count operational used machine for around $500-$600. This is often less than some boards replacements will cost. 2 or 3 uses as a parts source and you are ahead cost wise.

that's what we do for MP C3300, 5000's etc.

But the newer machines certainly don't work out cheaper, not in the long run. Because you're left with a bare carcass that no-one will buy off you and you'll have to pay ridiculous prices to have recycled.


On the subject of this thread I was at an interview the other day and the service manager mentioned that they do convert xx03' drums from black to colour, he mentioned it was pretty complicated though.
Personally we've only had black drums fail so far. As soon as I swap out a colour I'm going to try see what I can compare between the two scrap drums (and will post it here because i'll most likely need a little help)

[Gift]

As soon as I swap out a colour I'm going to try see what I can compare between the two scrap drums (and will post it here because i'll most likely need a little help)

I'll follow this thread and try to participate once the first patient is on the table.

[benalvarez]

As I recall when I worked for Ricoh there is a conversion for K to C,M,Y drums. When the plug is analyzed at the end of the drum, the K connection is square with a steel bar embedded in the plastic connection, this bar has to be filed off, as well as given a slant in order to get into the slanted hole, the color drums have a slant on the connection, remove the color drum to make sure the slant is the same. Next you will have to change two wires, I'm going off of memory and I threw the instructions away, however, there are only four wires, giving you a possibility of a limited number of variations (15). These wires are under the drum that make the connection to the mfp. One screw has to be removed to disconnect the connector, take one color drum out, and see where the wires are in relation to the plug, to extrapolate a K drum into a color drum. I have personally done the conversion at least 50 times and it could save you a ton in cash. ""Caution"", if you don't file off the K drum at the appropriate angle you could break the connector in the mfp, very costly, time consuming, and a pain to replace the female connector in the mfp. Hope this helps.

[Zaxxon]

Whats the cost difference on these, K contra CMY?

[benalvarez]

I believe the cost was a ridiculuous difference. That's why ricoh usa did it. As I recall the K drums were less that 50 dollars USD and the color drums were a few hundred a piece.

[Gamut]

As I recall when I worked for Ricoh there is a conversion for K to C,M,Y drums. When the plug is analyzed at the end of the drum, the K connection is square with a steel bar embedded in the plastic connection, this bar has to be filed off, as well as given a slant in order to get into the slanted hole, the color drums have a slant on the connection, remove the color drum to make sure the slant is the same. Next you will have to change two wires, I'm going off of memory and I threw the instructions away, however, there are only four wires, giving you a possibility of a limited number of variations (15). These wires are under the drum that make the connection to the mfp. One screw has to be removed to disconnect the connector, take one color drum out, and see where the wires are in relation to the plug, to extrapolate a K drum into a color drum. I have personally done the conversion at least 50 times and it could save you a ton in cash. ""Caution"", if you don't file off the K drum at the appropriate angle you could break the connector in the mfp, very costly, time consuming, and a pain to replace the female connector in the mfp. Hope this helps.

That's for previous models, you can't do that on Metis range mpc xx03.

[slimslob]

As I recall when I worked for Ricoh there is a conversion for K to C,M,Y drums. When the plug is analyzed at the end of the drum, the K connection is square with a steel bar embedded in the plastic connection, this bar has to be filed off, as well as given a slant in order to get into the slanted hole, the color drums have a slant on the connection, remove the color drum to make sure the slant is the same. Next you will have to change two wires, I'm going off of memory and I threw the instructions away, however, there are only four wires, giving you a possibility of a limited number of variations (15). These wires are under the drum that make the connection to the mfp. One screw has to be removed to disconnect the connector, take one color drum out, and see where the wires are in relation to the plug, to extrapolate a K drum into a color drum. I have personally done the conversion at least 50 times and it could save you a ton in cash. ""Caution"", if you don't file off the K drum at the appropriate angle you could break the connector in the mfp, very costly, time consuming, and a pain to replace the female connector in the mfp. Hope this helps.

We had a tech who would remove the connector and harness from the old color drum and install it on the new black drum. No filing off the corner of the modular plug, no swapping of wires. For those who want to convert, there is a post on the forum that has an attachment with a list of models showing which one could be4 converted, what drum unit to use for conversion and the procedure needed.

[mikadonovan]

I just got my first C5503 in, and I know it's been more than a year since this thread was started, but I thought I'd better ask before ordering parts. Does anyone know a procedure for converting black pcu's to color on this model?

[NeoMatrix]

I just got my first C5503 in, and I know it's been more than a year since this thread was started, but I thought I'd better ask before ordering parts. Does anyone know a procedure for converting black pcu's to color on this model?

http://www.copytechnet.com/forums/at...7094411038-pdf

Black PCU conversion

HTH