honest opinion on ir 550, 600and ir 330 copioers

[pontiac]

Hi everyone, What do you CANON veterans think of these box's and if you will maybe give me some tips on what to look out for in regards to preventive maintance measures. The company i work for has about 40 of each of these units that it uses for rentals.The average count on the 600,s and 550,s is about 800,000, the average count for the 330,s is about 250,000, The repeat issues are E-066 codes,duplex jams and major feed assy.problems on 550,s and 600,s. On the 330 alot of fuser drive gear issues and adf feed problems mainly double feed issues. I am new to the Canon line and my thoughts so far with these models are not to cool. I feel a lot of issues has been from bad previous service. Don't hold back guys let me what i am in for. Thanks to all who reply.

[Marin714]

iR 550 600 330

These names are not the same as I'm used to, but I'm guessing there ir400's and gp605s. These are cracking (good) machines but showing there age now. They where the best on the market some years ago. Main probs relate to lack of maintenance by techs. If the consumables like fixing rollers and tyres are replaced at least at design life and you check all major areas, fixing, optics drum and paper feed every visit they will be a great asset. If you do this you will have no worries, boring I know but simple answers are often best.
330 tyres 40k, drums 50k, fixing rollers as a pair when worn

ir600 tyres 200k, drums when damaged, fuser rollers 400k or when showing wear. Always change bearings bushing and seps with rollers

Good luck

[yourownfree]

both are workhorses. 330's are easy to get in and get out at the service call, unless you have to deal with the gears and other problems in the fix section, but if you change the fixing upper drive gear everytime you change the roller, bushings, bearings, etc then you wont have to go back again and again. Feed tires are inexpensive and quick to replace. some feed section problems, but learn how to fix the problem instead of replacing the whole unit. as for the 550, it was a great workhorse too. costly to keep up, but like the other post said, that is what you have to do. everytime you leave the customers office, you should feel confident it will go another 250K. That means changing the corona wires too, not the units. Keep them clean every visit. If you want a unit to work properly, you need to treat it properly. If you let it run down then you will have problems. In the long run you will not save money by doing so. keep your machines in shape.

[linuxxpwin]

I agree these are all great machines the only problem I have had with them is that the Exit roller on the fixing unit gives out, and the covers become brittle and fall apart, a few of the solenoids sticks, because of the cushion material on them, this can be remove and the replace I use noise reducers that are used on kitchen cabinets for replacement.


All in all these are good machines.



linuxxpwin

[jrivera]

honest opinion

Hey thanks to all for replys. I started putting together a parts list for rebuilds on these units, mainly cause previous service visits consisted of fixing just what the call was for but not what could be generating the problem. Again thanks for your help and thoughts.

[Hopper]

Great comments folks. I took over an area that had a bunch of ir330's and the tech was rebuilding a fuser assemble every day. Then I took over and did the correct rebuild. Upper and lower fuser roler with bearings, the two plastic gears and the one white spacer. The key was changing the picker fingers. It was too much work and he didn't want to do it. The result was a scratched UFR within months. Change out the picker fingers too!

IR 500 clue is to look for and clean air filters. On or two in the front door, 5 just looking at you on the drum face plate and one main one to vacume out back as part of the rear cover. (it's on the copier base plate).

The doc feeders on the 330 can be a PITA but learn to change out the sep belts and feed roller on the bottom.

Wrinkled copies coming out of the 330 mean the exit rollers need changing, Once it's done you are good to go. One part number is like FA@-0029 or something.

Good luck.

Hopper

[eherrera1004]

my opinion

those copiers machines iR550 and ir 600 are a good machines, but the best performance is the maintenance and the regular parts changes.
In Costa Rica, there are a lot of these printers.
but the ir330 no like a lot but work regular.

[Oze]

Those particular machines are only sold to the U.S/Nth American market so us Aussies and pohmmies(UK members) won't be familiar with the models...but I think they're based on the iR5000 series?
And the 330 is based on the iR2200 range?
I have 2200's in the field at 2million and 5000's over 3 million if that's any help.

[blackcat4866]

Yes, the iR550/600 was the predecessor to the iR5000. The major difference is that the 550 had many separate boards and the 5000 consolidated functions of the circuit boards.

The ir330/400 is the predecessor to the iR2200/2800/3300 The major differences here are the 330 has a regular fairly durable aluminum roller fuser, and the 2200 has the crappy film fuser. The 330 has the DADF-A1 document feeder with 25+ consumable DF tires, and the 2200 has the simpler 2 roller & pad feed system.

Those are just the major differences. =^..^=

[bnmand]

I have 2200's in the field at 2million and 5000's over 3 million if that's any help.

Wow. I have a 3300 at under 100k. I've read that certain parts need replacing after say 120k copies, but do they have an expiry date too i.e. if you don't get to 120k quick enough they're likely to stop working properly before that?

[repeatcopiers]

The IR330 comes with an A1 feeder or a B1 feeder.....my experience is the A1 feeder is the better, we've had alot of issues with the B1.

[BLITZKREAGG]

ir330

If serviced right these machines can be a great asset, and run for a really long time. and I agree that the A1 feeder is far better than the B1 ADF

[prada]

There are a few problems with the 330/400's. Exit assembly tends to cause ripples on exit, this causes jams when finisher attached. (lots of rollers to replace and clean). And the paper feed drive assembly. Easy to remove, sod to strip, usual fault is with the lifter drive. Duplex is a bit of a pig to clean after the usual toner spillage.

Enjoy!!!!!

[OtherTech]

The 550/600 are one of the most reliable copiers I've ever seen, e066 codes are just a wire cleaner issue, (replace charger or check for loose switch at front of charger) Feed issues at this low mileage are probably just the yellow foam seperation roller which goes bad with time or mileage. (replace feed and pickup rollers at the same time . sep FB2-7777-020, feed FB4-2034-000, pick FB4-2033-000 . Duplex issues can be the long black foam roller at the far right of the duplex tray.
These machines were the predecessor to the ir7200, 8500, 105 series machines and were engineered for the higher speeds. They can easily go 3+ million copies with main maintenance being feed tires, corona wires, fuser webs and rollers.