Faint ghostly dots printing on paper

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

Just thought I would share this in case someone else ever has this problem. I had an issue where there was faint black streaks on the pages so I cleaned all coronas and charges, reput the coronas in the felt cleaners (they tend to slip out on canons) and cleaned the drum blade. Problem solved.

Well low and behold there were now four almost invisible faint little dots on a horizontal line on the page. There were two rows of them. Typical of me, fix one thing and create a new problem at the same time.

It probably would have been ok, but I'm a stickler for perfect quality prints. Eventually I pulled out the developer assembly and on the mag/charge roller I noticed two itty bitty bumps. I rubbed them with my finger nail and they came off like a scab.

Somehow toner got caked hard. Now the machine has no little faint spots.

[blackcat4866]

If your particular Canon was monocomponent, then that's definitely something to watch for.

I don't know exactly why, but monocomponent toner systems will tend to build up toner over time. The S-blade levels off the toner on the developing roller, so the areas with buildup have less toner available for developing. When the buildup gets thick enough those areas can go to near blank. The buildup can typically be cleaned off easily. I generally prefer the chemical method, but there are those that prefer to use a green scrubbie. I stopped that method when Canon came out with the NP-6230 which had a teflon coated mag roller. The abrasive method destroyed those rollers. =^..^=

[teckat]

Just thought I would share this in case someone else ever has this problem. I had an issue where there was faint black streaks on the pages so I cleaned all coronas and charges, reput the coronas in the felt cleaners (they tend to slip out on canons) and cleaned the drum blade. Problem solved.

Well low and behold there were now four almost invisible faint little dots on a horizontal line on the page. There were two rows of them. Typical of me, fix one thing and create a new problem at the same time.

It probably would have been ok, but I'm a stickler for perfect quality prints. Eventually I pulled out the developer assembly and on the mag/charge roller I noticed two itty bitty bumps. I rubbed them with my finger nail and they came off like a scab.

Somehow toner got caked hard. Now the machine has no little faint spots.

You have contamination in the Developer /better replace or it will damage DRUM

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

Rut ro. Do you mean replace the whole developer unit or dump out the toner and clean the inside out? I think they're around $850 which is better than replacing the $1500 drum. I was going to replace the whole developer assembly in another 250,000 prints or so b/c I think the manual suggests every half million pages, or maybe it's a million I can't remember.

If the whole unit needs replaced, then I have a few more questions:

1. Is it better to replace the whole unit and be done or is it a rebuildable thing? I've seen all the little parts in it and it doens't look fun at all to mess with.
2. If I put a new unit in, does the machine advance new toner on it's own b/c the sensor reads it as empty or am I to put toner in the unit to start with? It's monocomponent.

Thanks a bunches.

You have contamination in the Developer /better replace or it will damage DRUM

[blackcat4866]

Just to clarify, are you referring to a specific model of Canon? =^..^=

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

Sorry I didn't mention. IR 550 and 600's. This was a 600.

Just to clarify, are you referring to a specific model of Canon? =^..^=

[blackcat4866]

Those developing units will last 1M+ prints. The main reason you might see toner buildup on the developing roller is generic toner. When the developer bearings start to go bad you'll start to see voids crossfeed, and quite a bit of noise. =^..^=

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

I've always furnished geniune, but I took over the machine at about 2.5 million pages so prior to that point I can't say. Might be possible someone filled genuine cartridges with generic but kind of doubt it.

I'll have to keep an eye on it. If I keep it clean maybe that will help until it comes time to replace it or if it gets bad.

Thanks.

Those developing units will last 1M+ prints. The main reason you might see toner buildup on the developing roller is generic toner. When the developer bearings start to go bad you'll start to see voids crossfeed, and quite a bit of noise. =^..^=

[teckat]

Don't forget> Inspect all Filters

Especially Ozone one

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

I have to check that one. I did clean out all the other little ones. This machine is starting to drive me bonkers. I turned up some of the voltage numbers to increase the darkness of the black and it worked alright. Then, some graphics weren't printing detail too well, so I bumped up the power to both lasers as much as I could without getting an E100 error code and that gave super nice blacks and improved the graphics image.

Now the new problem. LOL...oh deary deary. The prints went all light and fuzzy like on me. So today I'm going to pull out the developer unit and see if I can't give it a good cleaning just for the interim. I personally don't think the mag roller was getting as good coverage as it probably should but I can't say for sure.

Maybe it is just coincidence but maybe the laser write head thing is dirty or going bad too...kind of doubt it. The E100 code only came up when I really bumped up power to the lasers and I know the manual references the laser head and the PCB board so I'm thinking it's developer unit. I mean it would have to be right. I had to put all the corona charges and electrical figures to about maxed out to get the nice blacks again. I can post them if it helps.

I'm afraid to touch anything b/c lord knows what else will break...it's like everything I touch seems to turn to shit. ::sad face::

Don't forget> Inspect all Filters

Especially Ozone one

[charm5496]

the canon lasers get dirty after a while with a dirty film that can give you some crappy image quality.
also keep in mind that if you put a "NEW" developer assembly in that your image quality will be light until that unit breaks in. This usually takes 100K or so depending on what your customer is running.

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

Thanks Charm. Is there any way to break them in quicker or compensate with the charge figures? Also, I'm going to post on another forum, but if anyone has the part number for the whole developer assembly unit (the one you just slide in with two connectors and 7 screws) I'll most likely be needing to buy one so if anybody has one and pricing, etc., please let me know.

the canon lasers get dirty after a while with a dirty film that can give you some crappy image quality.
also keep in mind that if you put a "NEW" developer assembly in that your image quality will be light until that unit breaks in. This usually takes 100K or so depending on what your customer is running.