[Misc] Noisy Y2 Booklet Finisher

[skelband]

Hi!
I have taken delivery of a second hand imageRunner C3080 with a Y2 booklet finisher.

The Finisher is quite noisy when it starts up but with not really having much experience using these units, I don't know if this is normal or not.
On start up, the finisher runs for a while then goes to idle mode.

I will open it up to clean and lubricate etc, but is there anything I should particularly look for, or common wear faults with this unit?

Edited to add that I have tested the booklet/stapling function and it does work well.

Cheers,
skelband

[teckat]

Re: Noisy Y2 Booklet Finisher

Did u check the Sort function ?
Is noise during a tray movement ?
Is noise during booklet use ?

Believe u don't need to lube anything on the unit.
? Noise ---banging, grinding, rotation ?

[skelband]

Re: Noisy Y2 Booklet Finisher

The finisher makes a loud motor running noise when it powers up, then stops at idle after a few moments.
When folding/stapling a booklet, it makes loudish mechanical noises which I guess is to be expected. It just surprised me the amount of mechanical noise it made but I have not used an automatic booklet finisher before so I have no experience to go on.

It's pretty hard to describe really and one person's loud is another person's normal I guess.

I was just interested if anyone had an idea of any common problems with these units and if there were points that I should pay particular attention to when I open it and clean it out.

Tray movement is fairly smooth and quiet.

[roho]

Re: Noisy Y2 Booklet Finisher

The booklet maker is noisy and clangs, normal. I have had a few of these where the white rail that the tray gears couple with get "dry" and dirty causing some bad noise when the bins move. Clean the metal where the white wheeels on the tray rubs on the finisher with alcohol, and put a bit of lube on the white rails. make sure the white rails have not become a bit loose as the screws can back off a little. Any other significant noise will likely be a error code condition.

[skelband]

Re: Noisy Y2 Booklet Finisher

> I have had a few of these where the white rail that the tray gears couple with get "dry" and dirty causing some bad noise when the bins move. Clean the metal where the white wheeels on the tray rubs on the finisher with alcohol, and put a bit of lube on the white rails. make sure the white rails have not become a bit loose as the screws can back off a little.

I checked the rails and they are indeed quite dirty. I've cleaned them off and will lube them a little. The trays are pretty quiet but obviously dirt is going to accelerate wear in this area. The machine came from a dusty machine shop so there was a lot of fluff and dust around the workings, something that I have started to deal with but it's going to be a big job I suspect.

As to the motor whining on power up, I have decided that I'm not entirely sure that it is coming from the Finisher.
Over the weekend, I'll pull off some of the panels and see if I can identify the source. There is a possibility that it is coming from the finisher buffer unit (I don't know if there is anything in there that could make that noise) but it's certainly not very clear when moving my ear around the unit.

For completeness, I will report back what I find.

As an aside, the only other issue that I have is that the printed output lacks density. When colour copying, I can get good images if I turn the copy density up two steps and the output quality is then excellent. Perhaps I have to go through some of the calibration steps as outlined in the service manual. More on that after the weekend. According to the service record, apparently it had a new ITB fitted by service personnel in August last year so that's encouraging, but maybe it was clumsily fitted. We'll see.

[skelband]

Re: Noisy Y2 Booklet Finisher

OK, got to the bottom of the noise. It wasn't anything to do with the Finisher! It is sometimes difficult to locate the exact source of noise.

It was the M12 waste toner motor and its gear chain. It was very rattly.
I managed to locate the source aurally with a piece of pipe. Most of the motors are at the back of the unit; just the waste motor and toner feed motors at the front and most of the noise was from the front left where the waste toner motor is. Confirmed using the service mode motor test facility.

I removed the motor with its cage, oiled the motor's bearings and cleaned/regreased the gears and it is a lot quieter now.
At least at an acceptable level. The motor didn't feel rough to rotate so I guessed that the bearings are OK, perhaps just a bit dry. Most of the noise was probably from the gears.

For anyone else looking at this, you can remove the motor and cage fairly easily:

1) pull out the imaging unit (as per the manual) remove the left cover and the toner hopper cover.
2) take out the 3 screws of the plastic PCB support plate at the front of the toner hopper and drop it down a little: the PCB and its holding plate obscure access to one of the the motor cage's securing screws. You don't need to unplug anything to do this, just be careful.
3) Remove the 3 motor cage's screws. Two at the side, one accessed just above the now lowered PCB plate.
4) Unplug the M12 motor and remove the motor in its cage.

There was quite a lot of toner around the gears and motor cage. Just clean it all up, oil the motor's bearings lightly, remove and clean the gears, put a bit of grease on the gear axles and some grease on the motors worm gear and the other meshed gear and put it all together.

As for the low density, a few clean operations and automatic density calibrations from the Additional Function menu cleared all that up. Prints like a dream now!