C280 J-3003

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: C280 J-3003

I think that's the most important thing about these forums. Most of the truly important things we learn are never documented in any manual or bulletin. Quite often the solutions are discovered entirely on accident, and only later attributable to a specific cause.

If there was a theme to the threads I start, it would be: "I was working on something entirely different, and accidentally discovered ... "

=^..^=

Yep, as technicians sometimes we have to think outside-of-the-box. I've had other technicians tell me to never remove things like separation claws because they're there for a reason. But if copiers were engineered perfectly, we wouldn't have a job.

Sometimes I can't explain why it works, it just does and I move on to the next copier on the schedule.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: C280 J-3003

Yes. I can think of no exceptions in 30+ years.

I have attempted to save partially seizing bearings in the past with generally poor results. Especially in the fuser, you cannot use oil. It will smoke and stink, sometimes for weeks. To get high temp grease like HP500 or Uniflor 8172 into a sealed bearing you must unseal it, prying off the cover, which is usually then too damaged to re-install. I will say there have been a few successes though.

Lately Kyocera techs will confirm that we've had a rash of bearing issues on the FK-8550H fusers. What I discovered recently is that the bearing 6901Z is NOT failing. It's the soft pressure roller shaft spinning within the hardened inner bearing race, reducing the diameter of the pressure roller shaft and generating piles of iron dust. I believe if the initial diameter of the shaft was larger and the bearing press-fit, it wouldn't spin on the shaft. It's not like these fusers are serviceable, and we'd have to get those bearings off at any time.
=^..^=

I agree with all of this. I'll add this:

I've seen techs who as part of SOP put oil on sealed bearings as a preventative measure. That's a mistake. All the oil does is attract dirt and causes the bearing to wear prematurely. And it's not getting inside the bearing anyway. I leave those suckers dry and replace when necessary.