Ricoh CL4000DN Blank stripe on pages

[jsulliva]

My Ricoh CL4000DN started making a very narrow blank stripe (i.e. no toner) down the pages when it prints. Really narrow - about half the width of the letter I. I think it is related to the magenta/red toner as it is most noticeable when pictures print that are heavy in that color, and I can't see it in some blue/light purple sections. Always in the same place down the page.

I would welcome suggestions about what to look for to fix this if I can or what to replace if not. Printer has about 60-70,000 images. All 4 PCUs are new not long ago - didn't start right after they were replaced. though Fuser/Transfer belt unit are original (not due yet per PM schedule). Color is used at higher than the 5% coverage expected typical rate.

Thanks, John

[richardjj]

Hi, I would be looking at the laser slit glass(s) you might have a piece of dirt on it.

[jsulliva]

Richard,
Thanks for the great suggestion.
When I replaced the 4 PCUs, I noticed a bit of toner scattered around the area of those slits.
I wasn't sure if they were glass or plastic/acrylic/something like that.
If glass, I can use something a little stronger than alcohol to clean them.
Thanks again,
John

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[jsulliva]

The plot thickens! I printed some pages at 1200 DPI to see if it looked better. Printed much slower, but I learned something. The blank/white stripe is not solid, like the toner being scraped off by something defective. There are some regularly spaced tiny dots of toner going down the page which are so sparce that they appear to be a white/blank stripe. These stripes repeat across the page at about 21 mm or 13/16 of an inch apart. They only seem to appear in the pictures on the page, as there is a horizontal red stripe about 1/8 inch (2-3 mm) at top and bottom of page that do not have these stripes in them.
Printing at 600 DPI, I get 2 stripes; the first is 3.7/16 in (88 mm) from left, the second is at 6.3/4 (171 mm) from left or 3.1/4 (84 mm) from the first.
This makes me suspicious that I have a driver problem - or at least not a printer mechanical problem.
I'm using the Ricoh PCL 6 drivers in Windows 7. I switched to PCL 6 so I could occasionally print at 1200 DPI. Perhaps there is a problem with them. I will switch back to PCL 5C drivers and test again soon.
Any other ideas or suggestions?
Thank you.
John

[qbert69]

Have you got a scanned sample???

I have seen "voids" ranging from a dirty PCU "slit glass"......to a "void" of developer on the mag roller due to clumping toner at the doctor blade for the developer......to where on the transfer belt there was a crease or furrow the length of the transfer belt which caused a "displacement" or misalignment of the "line screen" of the color when transfered onto the paper. It may be more noticeable with certain line screen frequencies than others....a somewhat "moire pattern"!

Moiré pattern - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Good Luck Sherlock!

[jsulliva]

Thanks for the suggestions. It turned out to be printer drivers in Windows. I removed all the drivers and re-installed the PCL 5C ones and this problem has gone away. Something must have gotten messed up on experimenting with different drivers. Thanks again. I appreciate that you took the time to offer some good ideas to look into for mechanical issues.
John