Whats Your Best Macguyver

[pspahr]

I'm sure this has been done already but let's see.

What is your best/wierdest/craziest/etc...etc...etc field engineering fix you've done?? I'll start:

On an old Ricoh 5570 the fuser drive shaft transmitted drive from the main motor to the upper fusing roller. This shaft had a bearing on each end of a small metal frame and these bearings would sieze up, eating through the drive shaft and would put the machine down if you didn't have the parts on hand. In a hospital this occurred and the old "we've gotta have it NOW" sob story was given. I removed the shaft from the unit. I found a paper clip and straightened it then wrapped it counter to the rotation of the shaft in the worn area that once held the bearing. I freed the bearings up, lubed them graciously, then reassembled the machine. It ran 3 days before I returned without fail. I replaced the shaft but kept it just in case.......

Not major, but I was proud

[nightshade]

Had a sharp SF-2050 with 2 months left on the service contract. Customer jammed a transparency and all the lower pickoffs dug in and tore the rings out of the pressure roller.

Not wanting to spend any $$$'s on the machine, I carefully pieced the pressure roller back together and mummified (wrapped) it in teflon tape. My manager bet me lunch that it wouldn't hold up for the two months it needed to and would not let me return to the account (just to be sure I wouldn't cheat).

4 months later the machine was traded in and the tape remained!!!

Free lunch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pspahr]

Had a sharp SF-2050 with 2 months left on the service contract. Customer jammed a transparency and all the lower pickoffs dug in and tore the rings out of the pressure roller.

Not wanting to spend any $$$'s on the machine, I carefully pieced the pressure roller back together and mummified (wrapped) it in teflon tape. My manager bet me lunch that it wouldn't hold up for the two months it needed to and would not let me return to the account (just to be sure I wouldn't cheat).

4 months later the machine was traded in and the tape remained!!!

Free lunch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beautiful, man, just beautiful!!!! Well done.

[blackcat4866]

I have a whole host of tricks, like heating paper clips to insert them through cracked plastic.

I think my proudest moment goes way back. We had a new Mita DC-1655 which melted down fusers right out of the box. By the time I got to it, it had its 6th set of rollers and after only 3 minutes the heat roller would warp like a banana and ball up the tips of the upper claws. Out of desperation I had started switching around the spade terminals on the main power relay and got it working. The problem was that the black lower exit guide was long gone. Nobody knew where it went, and I just had to pass some paper to see it work.

I grabbed one of the "T" shaped cross pieces from the suspended ceiling, flattened it out, and fabricated a not-too-pretty but fully functional lower exit guide. This was a feather in my cap. I was still green (only 6 months then). The machine had been bouncing around the shop for a year. The manager had just assumed it would end up parted out.

[BlueCopy]

I like clear duct tape...Broken panel - duct tape... Broken exit tray - duct tape and possibly some wire. Some of my favorites include: Using a paper clip to keep the upper corona in place on an old Sharp 7900. Using a rolled up magazine to keep the transport lift in place on a Sharp SF-2025, worked for 3 months then used a custom bent piece of metal to keep the thing up - still in place today & working great.

[PaulLoveless]

Keep 'em coming, these are great!

[Operator Error]

Aluminum foil yea baby.

I repair all my blown fuses with aluminum foil and man it works great.

[wagon]

I repair all my blown fuses with aluminum foil and man it works great.

Ready. Aim. Fire! (Or at least, smoke.)

[James Hilton]

6085 canon

Hi All,

This is old but it worked.
I had 3 6085;s main paper tray ( high cap ) plastic piece came off , so the elevator would not lift ?
I made some holes and used nuts, and screws to hold it in place.
It worked.

[Rudi]

Ready. Aim. Fire! (Or at least, smoke.)

WASNT ME!!!

[Operator Error]

Just kidding around guys..

[Rudi]

just kidding around guys..

no need to feel guilty ive also done it i actually went outside to look for a peace of foil and got a peace from some kids lunch wrap at a community library.

[deep]

I had once using a thin copper wire as a charger wire for a SF-7370.
Oh!!!Wonderful.......it works.

[blackcat4866]

On the Mita DC131 it was very common for the cleaning corona to break when a piece of paper drum wraps and rolls up into the cleaning corona unit. My customer had seen me restring the cleaning corona many times.

It had been a while since I had been there. When I arrived the customer was very pleased with himself. He had taken a length of 18 gg stranded lamp cord, stripped it and strung one of the copper strands in the cleaning corona unit. It had been working for several months.

Any of you old timers know that the 131 coronas had a leaf spring tensioner and are not the easiest to string, even with tungsten wire. Copper is a special challenge since it is so soft. I was very impressed. =^..^=

[banginbishop]

ok - i know its an old thread but its the 3rd one i've had to do. Taken from a ricoh fuser for the press roller. Sent to an r.t.f. for another engineer who didnt tell me the sensor was broken! glued the circuit pwb back together and cut an old harness down and soldered the 3 strips back on.